I've been reading all the posts about Colorado - and am questioning if I"m on the right track. We'll be arriving from the hot and humid east - so I"m thinking the cooler mountain temps will be a pleasant change by August. Goals are introducing the kids to new terrain (first time to CO); some education; bike/raft; a bit of the city, respite from humidity, etc. Right now I"m questioning if I"m on the right track - and would appreciate some feedback before moving on to the details of my planning. I'm considering a loop starting in Colorado Springs, over to Durango/Four Corners, up to Telluride, Crested Butte, Glenwood Springs (the 2 block pool looks too unique to pass up), then over to Denver/Boulder. Can this loop be done in 7 days without feeling rushed? Does this make sense or will we regret not making an effort to go to RMNP and maybe setting up a home base in Breckenridge or the like? I do enjoy being able to stay somewhere 2 nights, mostly, just to settle in a bit. I saw some posts about how SW Colorado is so interesting, and the variety is appealing. My reason for not going to RMNP is because of posts I"ve seen about crowds, the "commerical" Estes Park - which I"m sure we would try to avoid, and the fact that all the Colorado scenery will be unique to the kids (we used to live in Pac NW - so mountains aren't new to my husband & I). I'm thinking with this route the kids will still see plenty of mountains. If this is an okay plan - where would you recommend we pursue the biking; rafting; gondola ride? It sounds like Pike's Peak (cog), or the Durango Silverton train would be two options. Between the two - which might be more interesting? I'm open for any suggestions and feedback. Thanks so much!

Pike Peak Cog is WAY different than Durango Silverton Narrow Rail.

I live near Durango and the narrow gauge is a fun trip. I would suggest taking it only one way and then taking their bus the other way. It gets a bit much to do the round trip and it takes a lot of time. They leave you off in Silverton, where the only thing to do is wonder through shops that are overpriced or eat in not so good restaurants that are also overpriced.

I did the Cog once before I lived here. I came from NYC and went to Denver for a wedding. We took the rail up and my SIL and I both got really bad altitude sickness. We stayed at top for 10 minutes and went right back down. It was neat to see big horn sheep just outside the cog and see snow in early October, but it was really a miserable time for us.

Coming from sea level and going to that high altitude can be troublesome. It took a day for the symptoms to go away. So beware.

You can drive the loop around SW Colorado in a day [I did it recently with a friend from NY who was visiting for just a couple of days] but I wouldn't recommend it.

7 days should be a nice timeframe to see lots of what we have to offer here in sW Colorado.

I have quite a few thread on SW Colorado. Click on my name and you should see posts. They go back quite a ways, so you will have to go through a lot of posts, sorry.

Deb

Hi blue. We've done 3 loop trips of Colorado and each was 9 days, which was fine. 7 might seem a bit rushed - it's a long drive from CS to Telluride.

I like your plans - we loved Ouray and Telluride. Crested Butte is a great town, and the hot springs pool at Glenwood is a treat.

Here's some activities I'd recommend that my kids have enjoyed:

alpine slides - there is one north of Durango and a mountain coaster in Glenwood Springs.

hot springs pools - Glenwood and there's a small one in Ouray

white water rafting - the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. We did the Trimble River near Durango and thought that was sort of lame. The Arkansas is a scenic river with whitewater that's rough enough in places to be fun but not too rough to be afraid for your kids.

Pearl Street in Boulder is a great place to walk around.

I think I am in the minority, but I was not overly impressed with RMNP. I think there is more spectacular mountain scenery elsewhere in the West and I agree with your decision to skip it.

I thought Mesa Verde was fascinating.

My kids loved the Water World water park outside Denver.

We have been in CO when it was pretty hot. Temps in Ouray in the San Juan Mnts. got up to near 90 one summer we were there, and Denver can get quite hot, so you can't really count on a total break from the heat. But I do think you can count a great family vacation in CO!

Thanks for your suggestions...I think I'll continue on with some planning...and will return with more questions, I'm sure!

Continue investigating options...and of course one link leads to another. Based on various posts - it seems like rafting the Arkansas River outside of Colorado Springs is a winner. Along the way I've found a spot for rafting through Arkansas Valley Adventures which is 14 miles north of Buena Vista or 19 miles south of Leadville. I hadn't intended to go this "interior" at this stage of the trip. Am wondering if I should find a different location to raft - or if this would be good. I don't want to make the mistake of planning the rafting trip here and adding the travel time - if we could do an equally good trip at one of the spots already on the itinerary. Royal Gorge may be closer to CS - but the outfitter I spoke with seemed to think our kids would be too young for that (11 is the youngest).
Other questions:
If we do go to BV to raft - should we start from Denver vs. CO Springs and reverse the trip to Denver, BV, Glenwood Springs and then to the SW corner?
I read great things about how wonderful Crested Butte is. Other than scenery and a quaint town - is it worth making this a stopping point with tween/teens? It seems like we'll be seeing plenty of "scenery" on our road trip...but hate to miss something special.

blue - sometimes rafting companies say they raft the Arkansas out of, for example, Breckenridge, but that just means that they bus you all the way to the BV area. Find out where you will be putting in - you might have long bus ride to get there if it's not around the BV area.

I think if you go to Telluride and Ouray you can skip Crested Butte. It's a cool little town, but so is Ouray. And the advantage of Ouray is it's on the way to Durango on 550, whereas CB is 30 miles one-way off the main road. With a 7 week itinerary that's also including the San Juans, I think it's worth skipping. (I find that quaint small towns and beautiful scenery are pretty wasted on my kids, anyway).

We did the Colorado trip with our 13 and 16 year old last summer and loved it (I know where I want to retire!). We, too, visited from the hot, sticky weather and thoroughly enjoyed the cool nights and fresh days (we went in July). We didn't branch out to as many places as you listed but made Breckenridge our home base which worked out very well. White water rafting was so much fun we did it twice. We did the "Brown's Canyon" trip first - a class 3ish with wonderful scenery. Our second trip was the "Numbers" trip - a class 4 with some exciting waters. We went with the Performance Rafting Company out of Buena Vista. A very experienced elderly gentleman named "Dan" was our guide - he was great and the kids loved him. Royal Gorge (didn't do the rafting) was a big hit with all of us - recommend going there. We decided our trip out to Glennville was not really that exciting. The pool was interesting but we chose to pass. It was a warm day and there were lots of people dipping into the toasty waters of the huge pool. Having escaped the Florida summer heat for a couple weeks, we had no intention of sitting in an outdoor hot tub in 90's degree weather. But the drive to and from Glennville is beautiful and worth seeing. We spent a day at the Breckenridge outdoor adventure park and took a few runs down the alpine slide - fun! We also rented mountain bikes and rode the ski lift up so that we could maneuver the trails back down to the base. This adventure was enjoyed by all but beware of the tiny, extremely hard bike seats - ouch. One run (took us an hour) for my daughter and me was enough (any more would have been torturous) but the guys couldn't get enough. So the next day we split up - the girls set out for some power shopping at Silverthorne outlets and the boys went back for more mountain biking. This time they rented bikes in Keystone and rode the trails of this serious track system. My son is into BMX riding and this was a challenge for him (not to mention his 45 year old dad!). Most of the other days were filled with hiking. We loved loading up the backpacks and hitting the trails on foot. Keep in mind that though you may be doing lots of driving from one location to the other, you will be taking in so many great sights. Our kids had no problem sitting in the car for driving excursions (necesssary some days so that our aching muscles could have a rest). I hope this helps you a bit. Enjoy your trip.

Keep in mind that by August the rafting season will be waning - the rivers may drop pretty low by then. Many companies still go, but its not the same at all as going in June or early July. In buena vista, buffalo joes is a good rafting company to go on the arkansas. Several of the companies there look very fly-by-night, and Buffalo Joes has been around a while - well established. They have a website.

The sw area is gorgeous, but I also love RMNP - but I also like to hike a lot. If you are not going to get out on a trail, then I could see why some people might think RMNP could be unimpressive. By car (or train, etc.) other areas might seem cooler than estes. There is certainly nothing about Estes Park the town I would be excited about (crowds, shops, nothing special IMO). If you like to hike and plan to do it then RMNP is well worth the time.

I will second the other notion of doing an alpine slide somewhere (Breckenridge and WInter Park both have one). Rafting if the water is high enough still would also be a top priority for adventuresome teens.

Mountain biking in keystone (ride the lifts up, bike down) would also be a fun challenge. Its much, much harder than it looks though so be ready.

I would limit your time in Denver - theres plenty to do there, but compared to the mountain stuff, it pales in comparison (to me anyway).

blueslipper - your itinerary does seem ambitious. Just a few thoughts as a Coloradan, from a historical perspective, Mesa Verde in SW Colorado is a gem. Look at DebitNM's posts for more info. A stay at the lodge there would be very southwestern(but no TV's?). Also, we love Glenwood Springs(not Glenville!)Perhaps you have to live in Colorado to appreciate the warmth of a hot springs pool, after a long snowy winter. Frankly, one of the coolest experiences is sitting in the pool while it is snowing! The pool does have a water slide(in the summer) which my tweens like. As we ran into 2 families we know from home (Franktown,CO) last fall, it is popular with the "locals". Glenwood does have an attraction that includes a "fairy cave" tour & alpine cart ride. We did the tour last fall break & it was pretty cool & entertaining. The stalagmite vs stalatite thing & a lot more. Great views of Glenwood Canyon, but may be crowded in the summer. The drive through Glenwood Canyon is special. If you have a day in Denver, my kids like Elitches (amusement & water park), Water World & the Museum of Science.
I would limit my stays in mountain towns, ie Telluride or Crested Butte if you want more than one night anywhere. If you can find the book The Colorado Guide by Bruce Caughey, I highly recommend it.

Thank you all for the tips and suggestions. I'll continue planning a little more and check back for more feedback. I really appreciate everyone's opinions!

I'm still mulling over this summer vacation. My husband & the kids prefer to stay at one place a few nights in a row and not hop around too much. I also enjoy staying put for at least two nights at a time, but I also like to see and do many different things on a trip. I also like to mix in some urban sights too - but don't feel like I have much in this trip. After reading all the CO posts - I really want to make sure and hit the SW part of the state. Here is a rough plan - what do you think? Too much, too little, not enough variety?
Day 1 - Marathon 15+ hours of driving to CO Springs
Day 2 - Relax - do something low key.
Day 3 - Garden of the Gods; travel to Buena Vista in late afternoon
Day 4 - Full day rafting trip in BV, night 2 in BV.
Day 5 - Travel to Durango; alpine slide, chuck wagon dinner?
Day 6 - In afternoon, head over to Mesa Verde and stay in park
Day 7 - Mesa Verde, stay in park night 2
Day 8 - Telluride ("free" gondola ride?). Check out Ouray - hot springs
Based on what we've done so far (feedback please!) - I'm torn on what to do next. Should we try to hit Glennwood Springs? There is a hike I read about - Hanging Lake/Sprouting Rock - that I really wanted to try, but are there other hikes with waterfalls and lakes that we could enjoy which are south? OR - should we go from Ouray to Denver or Boulder before heading back east? We'd like to avoid the Dem. Nat'l Convention -so am thinking we may want to avoid Denver. I had read good things about Boulder - but after 8-9 days in CO - we might be ready to head back home (east) after Ouray. Thanks for any opinions!

blueslipper - I would plan for Ouray on the way to Durango, or you'll be doubling back a bit down the road after Telluride.

Hanging Lake is a very nice hike to a beautiful place.

There's alot for a family to do around Glenwood Springs - the hot springs pool (has large slide) and there's a touristy area nearby with an alpine coaster and zipline. The hike is nearby, too.

I would skip Boulder and all that extra driving.

We've done 4 trips to CO to do all we've done - there is so much to see in that beautiful state!



I'm not excited about your two nights in BV. Compared to other parts of the state, I don't think there's a whole lot to see or do there. Is Salida that far away? (Don't have map in front of me and don't recall how far it is). There are some nice little shops to browse there in the evening if you stay around there.

I agree about the 2 nights in BV. I was thinking about getting there the night before since we're doing a rafting trip in the a.m. Then I thought we'd just spend night 2 there as well so we wouldn't have to check out that morning - and we might not be up for driving after being on the river all day. I'll look at some other options. Thanks!

We love this part of the state. When we drove back from that area once, on our way to Glenwood Springs, we came down through Marble. Just outside the tiny town of Marble, there is a GREAT hike going up to the old marble quarry. Looking down into it is AWESOME. (Think Ayn Rand's Fountainhead). It's quite a short hike and you'd be up and down in two hours.

If you're anywhere near, don't miss it.

In Glenwood Springs, the pool is nice to do once. Just across the road, the vapor caves are pretty corny but you will never forget the experience. Good on a chilly evening.

Also, I just spent a week in Durango. Do your kids skateboard? Along the riverwalk, you'll see an AMAZING skateboard park!

Before they come out West, your kids might enjoy reading a Will Hobbs book, especially Bearstone. Will lives in Durango, and writes about the landscape, its history and throws in an adventure to boot. Adolescents love his books.

Sounds like you're really going to have an unforgettable trip. Enjoy!!

Definitely do the Durango/Silverton train, but as one poster suggested, just ride the train one way and take the bus back. Make sure and book the open air cars--the inside rail cars are stuffy and it's hard to get the full flavor of the trip. Our kids loved the train.

I think you have some great things planned but agree that skipping Boulder is probably best this trip. Otherwise you'll be too rushed.

Pack for two seasons--summer days in Colorado are HOT, but the nights cool down rapidly.

I think your plan of getting to Buena Vista the night before the raft trip and staying the night after is a good one--for the reasons you stated. You might consider staying at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, it's close to many of the rafting companies http://www.mtprinceton.com/ -it has a restaurant and hot springs pools and gorgeous scenery--plus you can drive on down the road to St. Elmo, an almost ghost town, if you have the time and energy after the raft trip. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CP-StElmo1.html

Thanks for all the feedback. I"m getting more excited as I read these posts. I've jotted them all down and adding them to my list. Thank you for the links, I'm going to check them out.

Martym - I'm so disappoited - Mt. Princeton is booked the time we will be there. Do you have another suggestion for accomodations for a family?

Here are a couple of other options. Did the folks at Mt. Princeton have any suggestions?

http://www.cottonwood-hot-springs.com/

http://www.lasmanosbandb.com/accomodations.htm

Dear Blueslipper,
You will love CO. Buena Vista is neat to stop and sit for a day or two. Don't think that isn't a good idea. It is, especially coming to the altitude. It is ok to stay there for a day or two. Driving from there to Salida is a few hours, then from Salida to Durango.....That's quite a ways. If your tweens are up for it, keep in mind, they may get tired.
You will enjoy whatever you decide, but be aware, the weather this year has been extremely snowy. Today is sunny, but last week there was snow. Pack for both cold and warm weather. Durango will be neat. You could rent a bike there and ride around. From Durango going north to the Montrose/Gunnison area, the ride is beautiful. Most beautiful. Tremendous. Breathtaking. One thing to consider, there are many towns you want to see. Consider (but you don't have to) picking fewer towns, allowing you to slow down, and take in the area. Relax, you'll be on vacation!