Going back to CO again this summer. This time taking my wife and daughter. Looking for suggestions of top sites to see and do along this itinerary. Trip will be 12 days July 13 - 25, 2016. Land in Denver and then straight to Boulder for a college tour and then staying over to enjoy Boulder. Get up maybe hang out more in Boulder but then want to show family Garden of the gods and 7 falls lunch at the Broadmore Hotel. Overningt 7/14 Canon City. Day3 Rafting the Royal Gorge then off to the Mount Princeton Resort for 2 nights. Day 4 jeeping in the area, day 5 casually get up enjoy the hot springs and then head to Aspen for 2 nights. Day 6&7 seeing the sight in Aspen. Then heading to Glenwood spring for a night see the sights in that area (Glenwood canyon, other suggestions?) Then to Breckenridge for 3 nights (so looking for things here white water rafting, jeeping, hikes, etc) then from here we are either going to spend two days in Denver or we have friends in Evergreen. I have heard that there is some good rafting in Idaho Springs area but looking for suggestions here as well. We are a high adventure family. We like big water Class V and IVs. My son and I rafted the numbers, the royal gorge several runs on the Animas (Rockwood canyon) was awesome. Hiked around Teluride, Ouray. We jeeped in the Buena Vista area but the Silverton area jeeping was unbelievable so not sure if there are some areas in this new trip that someone could suggest we see. My son does want to go back to St Elmo again so we will do that on Day 4 above bit I am sure there are other areas around our trip that you would have suggestions. Breckenridge we are going to be around the longest so need some suggestions. Thanks in advance. There is a lot to see in do so was trying to keep a tight circle by starting in Denver and ending in Denver this trip. Last trip was not bad with the driving we flew into Denver out of Durango and did and saw the sights along the way.

Thanks Dave

Paragraphs would help (LOL).
You might enjoy a day of fly fishing around Breck.

Glenwood Springs is only 41 miles from Aspen and there is a good bus service between the two.
Glenwood Springs has the world's largest hot spring fed swimming pool. There is a good hiking/bicycle trail along the Colorado River through the heart of the Glenwood Canyon.
There is also a gondola ride up to the Glenwood Caverns.
There is a lot of rafting on the Colorado east and west of Glenwood Springs.

There are a lot of rafting companies in/around Idaho Springs that run rafting trips on Clear Creek, however since a lot of it runs right alongside I70 I don't know if you'll enjoy it as much as the Royal Gorge (less scenic).

Just south of Breckenridge there's a great hiking trail, Mohawk Lakes, that has some alpine lakes, a huge waterfall, as well as old mining cabins and equipment. You can also take an (easy) 4wd road to halfway up the trail to cut the distance in half. Not sure what your fitness level is, but also just 20 min south of Breck is Mt Quandry, one of the easier 14ers if that's something that interests you. There seem to be mountain goats by the trail frequently.

In the summer Breck also runs the lifts so you can hike towards the top of the mountains with less effort. They also have downhill mountain bike trails off the lifts so you can rent a mountain bike, take it up the lift, then bike down.

Have you thought about switching up the order you're doing things? You're going to be backtracking a bit going Denver - Boulder - CO Springs.

Oh also if you're looking to be in the Idaho Springs area there is a 4wd road that goes behind St Mary's Glacier to the base of James Peak, where you can stop and see either with less of a hike. It's cool road, only class 3 I believe but great scenery.

Wow this is some great information. Yes sorry I should have broke up my run on sentences to paragraphs that's.

We are a pretty fit family so yes the downhill mountain biking is something we were going to do in either in Breckenridge or Aspen.

Also the little side trip to Boulder is for a college tour that first day we land. My son is a soccer player and a diver so we are meeting with the coaches and touring the campus on July 13th. We will get that out of the way and then make our trek going to through Colorado Springs which is just something to do along the way to the Royal Gorge if you have a better suggestion of what to do on the 14th we can consider. My son and I have already been to Colorado Springs and we thought we should show it to the girls but I could easily spend another day in Boulder if there is a lot to do. I have been to Boulder before on business and do not remember doing much there but it was a business trip so in and out. Plus since Boulder is only about 45 minutes from the airport and then we would be-line to CO Springs so probably just a half hour of extra driving but I did first consider going the other route.

There were several things that steered me to the route I am on. Going from Buena Vista to Aspen I wanted to take the Independence Pass so I thought better use of driving time to go that route vs. the opposite way it would be out of the way but I can be wrong. Plus are there some nice things to see as we go along the pass (pull-off areas?) We drove the million dollar highway last time and that was spectacular.

FWIW, Breck has a number of great hikes nearby. Stop in the tourist center and they can set you up. Or google Summit County Hikes and I bet you can find some great info.

In Breck, a lot of people rent bikes and head north. There is a nice activity center with an indoor pool and slide, plus a rock climbing wall if memory serves. Peak 8 has activities, including lift up, ride mountain bikes down .

Colo springs: Cave of the Winds could be on your agenda.

Glenwood springs has rafting from the east back into town, but it wasn't high skill rafting, and parts may be more like a float trip. The adventure park and cave are pretty cool, too, as is the hanging lake hike nearby.

For better rafting, we drove through Canon but stayed in Salida. Not particularly impressed with Salida, but rafting brown's canyon was very enjoyable. My recollection is difficulty depends on what part you start on.

Thank you yes we did the Royal Gorge last year and it was great. We actually stayed at the Best Western in Canon City - Great Breakfast there. We are going to repeat that trip again this trip. We did Cave of the Winds last year so going to skip that and do the 7 falls and lunch at the Broadmore I think the girls will enjoy that more then do some hiking at the Garden of the Gods. I think for other rafting we would like to find something around Aspen or Breckenridge but it may not be big enough water for us. So I may have to backtrack and do the Numbers again.

Thanks

Okay we now have a change in events. We land in Denver @ 10:30 AM on our 1st day. I do not need to be in Canon City until 6 PM or so the next day so trying to figure out what to do and best spend our time. We really have not carved out much time for Denver should we?

We could spend a day in Denver on our last day before we fly out. Do not leave until 4 PM on the 25th. Reason not spending much time in Denver is that CO has so much beauty outside of Denver. Having lived in San Francisco, Chicago and now being on the East Coast (Boston / New York) my kids do not really want to waste time spending time walking around in the city.

My original Plan was to go to Boulder and see what we could see that 1st day and then spend the night. We now have a college tour the next morning at the University of Denver which is just a short distance from downtown. Is there anything to see and do in that area and should we spend more time there. Right now we plan to do the tour and then head to CO Springs to have lunch at the Broadmore (is it worth going to see the 7 falls?) I read some reveiws and folks were disappointed. If we do not do tat it will leave more time for the Garden of the Gods. Looking for suggestions Thanks

Dave

Now youo have two full threads going.