Short time in Co...
 

My husband and I are making a quick trip to Co. in a couple of weeks. It is unexpected and I don't have a lot of time to plan. We are flying into Denver and spending the night and then driving to Boulder on Sat. to see a football game. That leaves us with 4 full days of sightseeing. We will be flying back out of Denver on the following Thurs. We want to go to RMNP and maybe Pikes Peak. Should we concentrate our time in the park and then maybe driving down to Breckenridge and then back over to Denver? I don't know if Pikes Peak is worth seeing if we have seen the park and I am worried about altitude sickness. Thanks for any replies I get. Everyone is very helpful on the sight.

I would agree with the RMNP to Breck to Denver plan. I don't know if the trip south to Pike's would really be worth it. There's enough to see in the area around Boulder and Estes.

ditto

Skip Pike's Peak. It is an hour or so south of Denver and not very interesting unless take the back roads through Deckers, etc. You can get the view and feeling by driving over Loveland Pass on the way to Breckenridge. Have you had problems with altitude sickness in the past? Where are you coming from?

I am coming from Jax. Fl. I have never been anywhere that I would have to worry about it. I just saw where everyone was talking about it and so it concerned me. Thanks for the advice.

Altitude sick is not well understood or predictable. Your can have four trips and be sick on the fifth or have problems the first time and never have problems again. The conventional advice of drinking lots of water and avoiding booze is good but that is good advice in general. AND the range of reaction is slight headache to flat on your back unable to move. Unless you are a smoker or your lungs are impared in some other way, you mostly likely will not have any problem. I wold worry about it.

If you enjoy backroad driving, the suggestion offered of Pikes Peak via Deckers is a good one. My friend and I secured a homemade map at a Deckers quick stop and toured a few off-roads in the area. We had wanted to find a small "mountain" to climb. We stopped at one uprising of dirt, rock, and trees and gave it a try. Perfect, just one hour of climbing placed us on a rock crested top with this view: Continential Divide the west, craggy mountains to the North, Pikes Peak to the east, and a beautiful valley to the north. We knew that we were the only human males that had ever been on this upcropping because there were available dozens of light rocks perfect for dropping off the 100 foot high side of the. We also found a little state park that had incredible rock formations created by the small stream running through the park. Rather than actually go to Pikes Peak, I might opt for Cripples Creek. Bypast the casinos, take a mine tour and then head for Colorado Springs using the back way, a gravel road that follows an old railroad bed through some pristine mountain vistas--up close and personal. Colorado Springs has jewels of its own including the Air Force Academy and the cheesy Seven Falls and Garden of the Gods. Return to Denver via hgw 83 for a different perspective of Colorado. Good luck, Colorado is a great vacation destination.

Bleason