Road trip to Colorado

[browning2480]

There are some hikes around the Springs where you can get to old military plane crashes. There is a website that tells you where they are. Could be cool for your kids

 

[C.patterson]

Went last year with my wife (right before covid). I wish I would have thought about half these ideas. We basically spent most of our time in Co Springs and Breck. I wanted to avoid Denver.

 

[HunterHawk]

Near denver
Waterton canyon- bears, sheep, possible rattler, fun little easy hike.
Red rocks whether there is a concert or not.
Small mtn towns.. golden is cool and close.. Georgetown little further.. silverthorne 45 mins or so
Mtn towns can suck if during weekend traffic though

Co springs
- zoo there
-garden of the gods
- caverns not far
-great wolf lodge$$$ but fun

Through colorado
-hot springs
-rafting
-hiking
-camping
-mine tours

Bring bug spray.. skeeters and tricks seem to be pretty tenacious this year

Need any help while you're out here hit me up.

 

[cnelk]

Thanks guys. Just checked out RM national park and we cannot get an access pass for the days we are there Trying to decide what to do now with that part of the trip in the Denver area...

Check after 5pm the day before you want to go. They give out 25% reservations

EDIT:

Timed entry permits will be mandatory for all Rocky Mountain National Park visitors from May 28-October 11, 2021 due to significant increases in visitation to public lands in Colorado and COVID-19 concerns. The park is divided between two permits:

Bear Lake Corridor: reservations required from 5am-6pm. Arriving before 5am or after 6pm does not require a permit.
Rest of Rocky Mountain National Park: reservations required from 9am-3pm. Arriving before 9am and after 3pm does not require a permit.

Reservations open one month before arrival – for example, if you plan to visit sometime in August, 75% of tickets will be released on July 1. The remaining 25% will become available at 5pm the day before arrival, however, it is not guaranteed that you will get a permit if you wait. Permits issued using the reservation system will allow park visitors to enter the park within two-hour windows of availability. You can buy permits here, which cost $2.

 

[180splitg3]

There’s a railroad museum in Golden that people love and it offers a short ride.

Colorado Railroad Museum - Still On Track!

Welcome to the Colorado Railroad Museum. Located in Golden, Colorado, the CRRM is your basecamp for everything Colorado railroading.

coloradorailroadmuseum.org

Golden itself is few minutes away and you can tour the Coors brewery. Golden is worth walking around and has a few good restaurants, and there’s a couple of hikes you can do (almost right in town) that will help burn off the kid’s energy and give you great views of Denver/Golden.

Thanks - the coors brewery is not allowing tours right now we also wanted to tour coors field, the Denver mint and the Olympic training center - all closed to the public for now

 

[Carr5vols]

We prefer mt Evans over pikes peak, St marys glacier is pretty neat for the kids, if in gleenwood hike up to doc holidays grave, sand dunes are pretty cool to visit.

 

[Phaseolus]

One of my favorites is The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It’s worth a few hours. Mesa Verde is pretty cool to. Moab is going to be stinking hot. You can get into RMNP after 3PM without reservations.

 

[180splitg3]

Thanks for all the replies guys. We decided to stay further south and skip Denver. We are planning on going to the Glenwood caverns adventure park and staying in Glenwood for one night. Then we will go to Moab and Canyonlands park, then stay in Colorado Springs for two nights. We have booked a side by side tour self drive tour for Moab.

My wife remembers going to the flying W ranch as a kid - has anyone been there recently? Looks like it was closed for several years...

 

[crazydocB]

Hey guys. I'm heading west on a short road trip with the family in a few weeks. We are heading to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park, Arches National park in Utah and then staying in Colorado Springs to head up to Pikes peak. Any suggestions on what to do along the way either at the parks or around these areas? My boys are ages 11 and 9. We have discussed ziplining and Whitewater rafting - I'd be open to any other suggestions as well if you care to share - thanks!

The whitewater rafting on Clear Creek west of Golden is a great idea.

 

[KsRancher]

Make sure you take your wife on the canyon swing and haunted mine drop. My wife very much dislikes scary rides. But I got her to go on them with me and she had a blast

 

[LongWayAround]

@180splitg3 you're probably aware but I-70 is closed near Glenwood because of mudslides.

 

[180splitg3]

Hey guys. Wanted to follow up on our trip. Our first stop was Colorado Springs. Went to the Cliff dwellings, went up to the summit of Pike's peak (after waiting 4 hours for the fog to clear) and spent some time at the garden of the gods. After that we went to Moab and did a side by side tour through hell's revenge. This was one of the highlights of our trip - some of the terrain we went over was very steep! Also some really cool overlooks along the way. Day two in Moab we spent at Arches national park. This was one of my favorite parks I have been to - just so different than the other parks I have seen. After this we went to Glenwood Springs and spent a day at the amusement park. My boys loved this as well. My wife was pretty freaked out on a few of the rides! Some of you may have heard that there was an accident at the park a few weeks ago. It happened on a ride we went on - I can't imagine what that family is going through right now...

Overall it was a good trip. Lots of driving but we saw quite a bit. Here are a few pictures...

 

[thegrouse]

Looks like some good memories

 

[Clixxer]

Go to Dead Horse state park inbetween Arches and Canyonlands. Some of the most beautiful scenery at the end i've ever seen.

 

[Seth]

Happy you all enjoyed the trip. Great scenery on that loop.