Colorado vacation suggestions

Just booked a week-long trip to Colorado in May with the GF. No firm plans except that we will not be staying in Denver, and probably split time between two locations in different parts of the state. Looking for suggestions on things to do, things to avoid, etc. We're both active people, but not living at high altitude I don't want to plan anything too strenuous. So far I've looked at doing the Arkansas River Gorge train and maybe a day of rafting, a few possible parks for some light hiking and photography (we're both photographers, so this is important). Beyond that, I'm wide open. Hit me.

There's a lot of variety in Colorado. What sort of stuff do you want to photograph? We've got red rocks and flat topped mountains around here, then there are the generic Rocky shots, or the plains in the northeast corner of the state. Colorado's little secret: most of it looks like Kansas, with some Utah added in to the opposite corner I'm biased about our area, we've got some cool stuff to see.

A fun thing to do is rent a Jeep and go ghost town hunting. Drive Engineer's Pass, for example, and check out Mineral Point and Animas Forks.

I'm sure CO residents can chime in, but I spent about a month total in the Denver area between 2008 and 2014. I know you said you're not going to do Denver, and I didn't go into town either, I was in the suburbs. Went to places like Red Rock, Golden, then drove Rt. 6 westbound out to the mountains. It was so stunningly beautiful, and incredible photo ops. Rt 6 is an awesome, twisty road!!!

Estes Park & surrounding areas are cool
Hiking near boulder is fun
Mountain biking near boulder is fun
Skydiving near royal gorge was pretty cool

Most outdoors stuff there is a lot of fun. But Denver downtown & close is very cool. Walkable, tons of awesome parks, and just generally an awesome place. If real-estate there wasn't 5x the cost of here, I'd have moved there by now :)

Photography subjects are pretty open, as long as it doesn't look like the Northeast. Dramatic mountains are always good - trite and overdone, perhaps, but the mountains around here are a lot older and duller.

I love the idea of finding (and photographing, naturally) some ghost towns. How does one go about renting a jeep? I'm assuming this is going to be reliant on local businesses, not national chains. Is it likely to be hideously expensive?

I'm a big fan of the hiking in the Colorado National Monument.

If you're into trains, the Durango and Silverton NG and Cumbres & Toltec are both worth doing. If you're in the Ridgway - Ouray area, stop by the Ridgway Railroad Museum (home of the RGS galloping Geese, google them if you're unfamiliar with them), we open for the season May 1st, and I'm on duty on Wednesdays. In addition to being RR guys, most of us at the museum are car guys, too - our President is a Porsche driver who does track days (and built a Mazda rotary-powered X1/9 that was featured in GRM years ago), I drive a C4 and a Mk. 1 MR2, we also have a guy who's into T-Birds and early Broncos.

Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden is also super.

Engineer pass might not be open yet if you're in early May (might be in late May), but you can get to Animas Forks and Ironton by easier routes that will be open, both worth the effort, Ironton is only 300 feet off highway 550, hidden in the trees. Route 550 from Durango to Ouray is spectacular, so is the road from Ridgway through Gateway (great car museum) to Grand Junction - beautiful, interesting and usually pretty deserted. In GJ there's a nice rental Kart track (1-mile course, shifter karts available), and of course, the world headquarters of Flyin' Miata.

Our part of the state (southwest) is amazing for photography, particularly if you get off the pavement. There are lots of Jeep rental places, but we're very high (lots of mountain passes over 12,000 feet), and they may still be under snow. Visit ouraycolorado.com and ridgwaycolorado.com for chamber of commerce sites.

For photographers, you can't go wrong in Colorado. If you try to go to the mill in Crystal (it's the one near Marble), the road is REALLY rocky, take a tour and let them risk their tires.

Jeep rentals: Several companies in Ouray and Silverton (those are the ones closest to me), they rent Wranglers with serious tires, I rented one for two days last summer when I had cousins visit from back East and we couldn't all fit in my Tacoma. The going rate for a 4-door Wrangler is around $200/day, you pay gas and return it freshly washed by 5 pm, can pick it up the previous evening. Some Ouray companies are Colorado West, Switzerland of America, they are all good. You can also rent ATVs and side-by sides. To check out our area, google San Juan Mountains and Sneffels Range, you should find lots of photos. Some of the area Jeep trail trips are on YouTube, too. Our Jeep trails are generally medium difficulty, nothing like the tough ones in Moab, but extremely scenic, with lots of old mining ruins. Many trails don't open until mid-June, though, depending on how much snow we get between now ant the first of May. Right now there is 30+ feet on some of the trails in the high country. You can probably find trail conditions online through the chambers starting in early May. Keith recommended Engineer Pass, which is very good, and another good one is Corkscrew Gulch, which tends to get opened up fairly early. The counties open them up with bulldozers as soon as they can, out economy depends a lot on 4WD visitors - some trails don't get open until about July 1 some years. Tourist season starts around May 1st, but doesn't really take off until about the 20th when most people's kids are out of school.

Other worthwhile ghost towns include Ashcroft (near Aspen), Alta (near Telluride) and Summitville. Google for descriptions. All the towns Keith and I have mentioned are real ghosts, with no residents and anywhere from 8 - 12 structures.

Last time I was in Colorado we had a memorable trip to the Sand Dune National park. Quite the workout to go hiking to the top.

The funnest bit was at the end when we decided that the AWD Minivan we rented was good enough to take along the shortcut over his and dale rather than loop around to get back to Denver. The only guy I saw have an issue along the trailwas driving a Hummer and it was a bit wide for some spot cause it ate his running board.

For a short trip like that I'd stay in Estes Park. Head in to RMNP all but one day then head to Boulder for that day off day.

I love Colorado, the only reason I don't want to move there is it's too damn land locked. I need water, not puddles within a short distance!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I'm starting to map out a loop which is now looking something like Canon City (3 nights) - Durango (2 nights) - Grand Junction (2 nights). Our flights arrive to DEN early and leave late, so we've got a little additional flexibility to drive on the travel days. It would be a lot of ground to cover; I'm trying to balance seeing as much as possible without running ourselves ragged in the process. Each of those driving legs is about 4-5 hours, but stops for photos and other vital necessities will stretch them out considerably (we did a week in Arizona a few years ago with the same sort of template, and the drives ended up being longer than planned). Need to do some more research and start prioritizing - it's not possible to do as much as I would like to unless I can figure out how to bend space-time between now and May.

I believe it is required for any building in Colorado to have a picture of Crystal Mill on the wall

Jim brings up a good point about snow in the mountains. Based on the snow so far this year, Engineer may be a low-percentage option in May. Animas Forks is pretty easy to get to from Silverton, I drove my Subaru wagon in there years ago. I'm not sure Alta is accessible anymore, last time I was there it was a bit closed off.

I've never been to Royal Gorge, but it is going to take you out of the way. There's a lot of really interesting stuff between Grand Junction and Durango, I'd be tempted to knock a day or two off your Canon City trip and spend more time on the GJ-Durango leg. Maybe spend a night in Ouray instead, it's a gorgeous place. Heck, if you're in Durango you're also near the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings.

Drink lots of water.....seriously. If you are coming from near-sea level, start drinking water on the way out there, and continue to drink at least 2-3 liters a day. Also, stay away from alcohol, or at least be very moderate with your drinking for the first couple of days. Altitude sickness is a real thing....and it can ruin a day or two. Water up when you head to Denver, and especially water up when you head into the mountains. (Denver isn't actually in the mountains--- it's at the foot of the Rockies)

As others have said--- if you can make it out to SW CO--- DO IT! Durango, Silverton, Ouray are some of the most spectacularly beautiful areas in the entire US, if not the world. Your camera will run out of batteries before you run out of material to take pics of.

Steamboat Springs is a great little hideaway ski-town, and off the beaten path from the "big" Summit County resorts. It's a great place to spend some time with your lady. Mt. Evans is pretty close to Denver, and you can drive all the way....nearly to the top of it's 14K+ peak. (did I mention bringing water?)

At high altitude......slow down.....breathe. Just walking across a parking lot at 14K feet can be strenuous for some. Don't push it too much, and you'll be fine as long as you are in semi-decent shape.

Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park is a fun trip--- although it can be crowded. Expect to see massive Elk within spitting distance to your car---- they have zero fear of humans within the park......but you'll want to give them a bit of room.....they are gigantic! Take Trail Ridge Road over the mountains on the back-side of the park. IIRC, it's the highest paved road in the U.S. the views are amazing, and the landscape is unique, and really cool.

If you head South to the Royal Gorge, be sure to walk across the suspension bridge, which I think is the highest in the US. You can see the little tiny inflatable boats traveling the rapids beneath you. For a different perspective--- go for a white-water rafting trip on the Arkansas river (under the Gorge) and you'll see how far up it is. Depending on the water level, the rafting can be pretty intense!

CO is a wonderful place with tons to see and do. Have fun!

Joe Gearin wrote: (Denver isn't actually in the mountains--- it's in Kansas but you can sometimes see the mountains in the distance)

Fixed that for you

Just arrived in Colorado today on my third trip here, twice in the winter for skiing and once in the summer.

Having been to the Canon City area, I'd second the recommendation to cut your time there. My dad and I did a half day rafting trip on the gorge, which was awesome and I totally recommend, but other than that I think your time is better spent elsewhere. The suspension bridge thing is a total tourist trap and costs some exorbitant amount of money (I wanna say like $30+/head) just to walk on the damn thing. Also, we found Canon City slightly sketchy. There is a massive federal prison complex nearby, including a super max facility that has hosted the likes of the Unibomber, Timothy McVeigh, and other similarly respectable human beings.

No worries about water - I drink anywhere between 2 and 4 liters a day, depending on activity level. And my cameras don't use batteries.

Thanks again for all the information. It's very possible that I will cut down to two waypoints/base camps. Research will continue.

Isn't there some weird little Miata shop out there somewhere that's worth a visit?

Ooo, if you're going to be messing around the San Juans, you have to start by listening to C.W. McCall. He loves the place and wrote songs about Wolf Creek Pass, Black Bear Road and the Silverton Train amongst others. Actually ended up the mayor of Ouray and a narrated slideshow he put together is a fixture of the town.

Plus they're pretty fun.

Cool stuff! My wife and I are going to Colorado end of May! I'm planning to drive up to the Pikes Peak summit. Any recommendations for that area?

I attempted to move to Durango in 1991 when it was the mountain bike capitol of the world... Riding at the Purgatory ski area was great, and I'm still impressed by the scale of the views.

PowerKraut wrote: Cool stuff! My wife and I are going to Colorado end of May! I'm planning to drive up to the Pikes Peak summit. Any recommendations for that area?

Definitely check out Garden of the Gods.

Powerkraut, If you are adventurous, you should hike to the top of Pikes peak. :) It's spectacular to sit there about the tree line and see the views overlooking colorado springs. Can't wait to get back there for the PPIHC in June.

You can also check out the Rampart Range Rd. on the back side of GoG if you got a 4wd.

I'm a driver not a hiker Garden of the Gods is definitely on the list and the Cliff Dwellings. We also would like to do an ATV tour and maybe zip-lining. Any operators you can recommend?

02Pilot wrote: No worries about water - I drink anywhere between 2 and 4 liters a day, depending on activity level.

No, trust me, you DO need to worry about drinking water. I'm very physically fit and the first time I went out there, it kicked my butt. I thought I drank enough water, but nope. Got a nasty headache, and I almost never get headaches. I also tried to do my workout, even at 70%, and struggled bad. If you're drinking between 2 and 4 liters a day, go to 4 and stay there the entire trip.

We were offered an opportunity to relocate to the Denver suburbs (Littleton) in 2008/2009. If it weren't for the insanely wacky winters they have, we'd have gone in a heartbeat.