Re hiking in the mountains in September/October - from Denver, what are the top one and two day walks? And for any two day options, what accommodation is there? (I'm used to camping or national park huts in New Zealand, happy to upgrade a bit depending on options.)

If you want to hike in the Rockies, Rocky Mountain National Park is about 70 miles from Denver. Late September/early October is a beautiful time to be in the park during the fall colors and the elk rut.

So many hikes to choose from...but not sure what kind of mileage/difficulty you desire. Here's a great list of the top hikes:

http://www.rockymountainhikingtrails...p-10-hikes.htm

Stay in Estes Park as it's just outside the park. You'll want to make reservations ahead of time since that's one of the busiest times in the park. This site will give you great information accommodations.

www.visitestespark.com

Colorado does not have a system for multi-day hikes (walks)with huts as you have in New Zealand. There are many opportunities for multi day backpacking trips in the National Forests but do remember snow starts to fall in September at the higher altitudes.

There is, however, the 10th Mountain Division Hut System in the Vail area (at least a 2 hour drive from Denver) Here is their website--http://www.huts.org/ Looks like they will be closed in October but open in September though there will probably begin snowing in the higher mountains by late September. The trails in the hut system are at least two hours from Denver.

Hi,

Thanks for this - yes I'm only going to be in Denver a month and my friend is working Mondays to Fridays in the city. I told her I'll stay in the mountains and research good walks for her weekends! Thanks again for your guidance, the huts look interesting martym, also that top ten hikes is useful wave.

Where will you stay in the mountains?

Well I'm not that far into planning yet to answer where I'd stay - potentially the huts as mentioned above, or basing ourselves somewhere like Estes Park and do day trips as suggested above above! What are the standards and prices of backpacker type accommodation in the region - can anyone give a hint?

In general there aren't many "backpacker" type accommodations in the mountain towns near Denver. One exception I'm aware of is the Fireside Inn in Breckenridge, which is very nice and has inexpensive dormitory rooms:
http://www.firesideinn.com/

Most hikers would typically just find a cheap motel in the area where they want to hike. September/October is a "tweener" season, so you could find some reasonable rates.

The 10th Mountain Division Huts are very nice, but note they all involve hiking into them, packing your own food and doing your own cooking and cleaning. My only personal experience with them is when our group had booked the entire hut. I have heard the reservation system is a bit complex. Someone else in the group handled that on my trips, which have all been in winter.

In addition to RMNP, (which is fabulous!) these are other great hiking areas close to Denver, to make the driving time worthwhile. Some of these are:

Indian Peaks Wilderness (west of Boulder)
Area around Breckenridge or Leadville (fabulous fall colors, typically in late September)
Gore Range (Vail can be used as a base)

If the high country weather is bad then there are plenty of great lower elevation hikes by Boulder and Fort Collins, and other towns west of Denver. The Lost Creek Wilderness, southwest of Denver is another interesting lower elevation option.

Depending upon how the season has gone, you could even consider trying to get up some of the easier nearby 14'ers such as Grays and Torrys, Bierstadt, Quandary, or even Elbert (our highest). Some years we have a long stretch of high pressure weather which makes these peaks possible into the first couple weeks of October. On the other hand, an early September storm could put them off limits to general hiking for the duration of the winter.

Good luck and have a great visit.

I guess what I'm not clear on is that you will have a car?

Hope so, there are no train stations at the trailheads!

Good question Gretchen - yes my Denver-based friend will have a car (she is also new to that country, just moved there from France for a year). Thanks heaps for all these ideas, makes me want to get there tomorrow!