what you loved in Colorado-- NEW itinerary feedback requests

[jinkies]

I am in the preliminary stages of planning a Colorado vacation this summer. It has to be in August, although it can be anytime that month (school starts after labor day) if there is a reason to go either earlier or later in the month.

Relevant info: 

• Kids will be 10 and 14
• We will have free access to national parks through the 4th grade program, so would like to maximize that
• We love outdoor stuff, but the kids like *different* outdoor activities (of course). We are trying to skew the trip toward my 10 year old's interests because our last trip was heavily skewed toward the 14 year old
• DD loves: finding cool rocks, horses, Western culture (think rodeos, cowboy hats, ranch life), swimming, shopping for souvenirs, anything sort of wacky/weird (like one of a kind museums). She is OK with hiking as long as we call it a "walk" and it is not like a vertical climb up a mountain. (Of course my son loves hiking, and only considers it "real" hiking if you are going up a steep mountain...)
• We will probably only have a week. I *might* be able to work out 9-10 days, but H didn't seem thrilled about that.

What would be your "Can't miss" things to do if you had one week in Colorado? 

I am honestly a little overwhelmed by the national parks and trying to narrow down a reasonable itinerary to see everything we would like. Mesa Verde has been on my list for probably 20 years, but it seems like it would be hard to make that work in one week while also seeing Rocky Mountain National park. Although we would consider flying in or out of Durango if that would make the rest possible without wasting too much time driving. 

I would welcome suggestions for activities, tips for best times to visit various places, places you have stayed and loved, advice for the itinerary, or anything other wisdom you'd like to share!

[mrsGreeko]

I live in CO. I’d go later in the month because the kids here go back to school mid month.

Personally I think it would be difficult to do both RMNP and Mesa Verde in a week, but of course it can be done just a lot of driving. I don’t really like RMNP because it’s always really crowded, but I’ve been there a lot too so it doesn’t hold the same appeal as it probably would for someone who hasn’t been or doesn’t spend a lot of time in the mountains. . And Trail Ridge Road is really interesting. Watch out for altitude sickness up there though. I have lived in Denver my entire life, but I even got altitude sickness along with one of my kids (who has also lived in Denver their entire life) last time we went up there. Only cure is to come down in elevation. Drink more water than you think you need and wear lots of sunscreen and chapstick with SPF.

Your DD might like Meow Wolf in Denver if you end up near Denver.

If you want to see animals, you can likely see elk in RMNP, there’s a bison herd along I-70, that you can walk around (not hike lol) their enclosure. There’s also a bison herd at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. There’s some nice walks out there, it’s free and there are tons of animals. The bison, deer, raccoons, snakes, hawks, eagles, coyotes, etc. it’s free and has a little visitor center that’s nice explaining the history. Personally I like it out there and it’s a nice place to see animals. It is not in the mountains though, it’s on the plains, not far from the airport.

[mrsGreeko]

You could do Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes National Park in one trip easily. There’s not a ton around the Sand Dunes, but there’s some interesting things to do: Zapata Falls, the alligator farm.

There’s some things to do in Durango too.

If you can fly in and out if Durango that’s an option to just stay in the southern part of the state.

[meowmaps]

I'm not a local but having vacationed in Colorado twice I can say that we were based near Boulder with side trips to RMNP, Red Rocks, Colorado Springs, Pike's Peak, and Garden of the Gods in one trip and then at another time tacked on Durango and Mesa Verde. For a first visit I'd probably hit the spots I mentioned near Boulder. My BIL lives there but because of having kids and then Covid it's been five years since we've visited. Wherever you go I think you're going to have a great time!

ETA: We also really enjoyed Fort Collins as a day trip.  

[jg183]

we lived there 12 years ago so my info isn't super current
the towns on the sides of RMNP are grand lake and estes park. Estes Park is the more popular one (on the denver side) but we have stayed in Grand Lake and really liked that too.

Steamboat Springs- LOVE strawberry park hot springs, downtown is more of a country/cowboy town

Colorado Springs- garden of the gods, pikes peak

Denver, Boulder (has many day hikes too)

Sand Dunes is cool but far

Mesa Verde is really cool but really far from everything else, Durango is another cowboy town with its own vibe

[pinotgrig]

I’m just back from a long weekend in Estes Park - it was wonderful! For summer there will be plenty of options for hiking and biking. I liked Gem Lake Trail a lot but it was icy and snowy and we didn’t get to see all te lakes. Bridal Veil Falls would be a good one, too! Lots of cute restaurants and places to stay.

[fernweh]

We took a amtrak from Denver to Glenwood Springs. Which was beautiful but be warned that apparently it’s a thing for rafters/kayakers to moon the train.

We also hiked to hanging lake if your family is hikers at all that was beautiful. Other than that, the Denver Zoo was pretty good as well.

[estrellita]

We went to Estes Park in 2017 (road trip, only stayed there 2 nights I think). We went to RMNP both days. The first day, we did the drive up to the top of the mountain. It was SO BUSY and incredibly slow. Both because of the crowds, and because of the road of course being narrow and steep drop offs. We almost didn't get to stop at the top until we practically begged them because we had a hungry 2 year old and we had no idea this was the only place to get food. So lesson learned, bring food! But the views were amazing, and it was incredible how much the weather changed as you went up. We walked around Estes Park that night, looking at the shops and letting E play at the music areas they had set up. The second day, we stopped to grab sandwiches to bring with, then went out on a couple of the easier trails (I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time and we had a stroller, so we wanted to take it a bit easy). We actually saw a moose in the water like, 10-20 feet away from us on the easiest trail! It was pretty cool!

I haven't been yet, but I really want to go to Boulder also. I've had a couple friends move there and they have absolutely loved it there!

[neonpink]

I was just in Denver! If you have a chance to
Go to the Meow wolf art install. It’s 3 floors of 70+ exhibits and it feels like you are in a movie. It was amazing and I think kids would be entertained and so was I as an adult.

[erbear]

Go to steamboat!

[jinkies]

I have new questions, but thought I would consolidate them into this post so that all the info is in one place! 

I booked our flights and tentatively planned our itinerary as:

1. 2 nights Colorado Springs
2. 3 nights Aspen area
3. 3 nights RMNP area (planning to stay on the Grand Lake side, potentially at YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch)

OK. Here are the questions:

1. I intentionally started in Colorado Springs to allow some acclimation time before going to higher elevations.
HOWEVER, as I started planning actual activities for each day, I realized that for a variety of reasons, it would logistically be better to start in the RMNP area. If we did that, how concerned should we be about altitude sickness? Is it better if we don't go straight there? I looked it up and our town is around 400 ft above sea level. So it's a big altitude change for us.

2. If we don't go to CS for acclimation reasons, should we bother going at all? As an alternative, we could stay west of Denver for the whole trip. If we did that, what would you recommend as the 3rd stop? It looks like west of Denver is just so stunning, and I'm not sure if CS would be a letdown if we ended there?

3. This may sound silly, but one of the reasons for reconsidering the itinerary is that we all want to go to a rodeo, and our travel dates don't align with the days that there are rodeos in the cities we are visiting. If we reversed order, we'd be there at the right times. If we changed up the itinerary, we could potentially attend:

Middle Park Fair and Rodeo (Kremmling), High Country Stampede Rodeo (Fraser), Snowmass Rodeo, or potentially Steamboat Springs Rodeo, but only if we cut Colorado Springs and maybe do Steamboat Springs/ Dinosaur National  monument area as 3rd stop. If you have experience with any of them and would recommend one of over the others, let me know!

I would welcome any insight! Or tell me that the whole route will be insanely crowded in early August and I should reconsider. I'm trying to see as much as possible while keeping driving to no more than 4 hours/day because I don't want to be stuck in a car the whole trip.

[egishere]

Are you flying into Denver?

If you do a switch for Steamboat it would make more sense driving wise to visit that next to RMNP rather than Aspen. I think the rodeo in Steamboat would probably be better than the other two- bigger town. CO Springs is fine and there is some good stuff to do there but I don't know if I would go out of my way to visit there. If flying into Denver- stay there a night to acclimate, go to boulder or CO Springs the next day for a day trip then day 3 on to the mountains. I think you will be fine crowd wise- school starts here usually the 2nd week of Aug so CO people making trips is winding down and the traffic to the mountains is never as bad in the summer as ski season.

[doctoranda]

I live in Denver and have had many friends and family visit from sea level and below sea level. We have taken them into the mountains after 1 night or 2. We have not had anyone getting altitude sickness. I don't think you need to acclimatise in CS. IMHO CS is not worth the visit. But altitude sickness is a weird beast. Mountaineers who have never had it may all of a sudden get it and people who have had it before may not. Just make sure you drink lots of water and eat well. I once met a woman on a trail that did intermittent fasting and low carb and she was in pretty bad shape. The lack of oxygen does make you tired so hydrate and eat well, and if you can sleep well.

[doctoranda]

I am coming back here to correct myself: Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak are worth a visit though! Brain fart.

[brewco]

For a trip in August you have to get timed entry reservations to get into RMNP - just FYI, if you haven't come across that information yet. I don't know how quickly dates fill up. I was looking at Colorado for a summer trip and I am nervous we wouldn't get entry.