My husband and I will be taking a trip to CO/NM in September. We are flying into DEN and out of ABQ. After a few days in Denver and RMNP, we want to drive to the Durango/Mesa Verde area. It looks to be about an eight hour drive, so we are looking for route,stop and lodging suggestions along the way. We will probably leave RMNP in the late afternoon, drive halfway and then get up the next morning to finish the drive. All suggestions are welcome! Thanks.

Are you planning on driving through RMNP to the west side and continuing from there. If you are, there a two basic routes. Both begin the same way--Grand Lake to Granby, then highway 40 to Hot Sulphur Springs to Kremmling. At Kremmling take highway 9 to Silverthorne.
Then one choice is to take I-70 west. Spend the night in Glenwood Springs. The next day continue west to Grand Junction, take highway 50 south to Montrose and highway 550 south to Durango.

Another route after you reach Silverthorne is to take I-70 to Vail(about 25 miles). Spend the night in Vail ( stay in Leadville or Buena Vista). The next day take highway 24 south through Leadville, Buena Vista. Go west on highway 50 at Poncha Springs. Take highway 50 to Montrose, then highway 550 to Durango.

martym,

We had not really thought about which side of the park we would be exiting....time to look a little more closely at the maps!
Thanks for your suggestions. We will trace out the routes and see which one best suits us. Happy 4th!

If you want to leave from Estes Park and not go through the park--just take highway 7 and then 72 through Nederland until you reach I-70 east of Idaho Springs. Take I-70 west to either of the routes I suggested in the earlier post.

martym,

Thanks again!