Colorado and beyond- July 2014 trip

jdphillips73 wrote:

REWahoo wrote:

jdphillips73 wrote:
I may have to cut back on the sight-seeing stops along the way to Colorado and spend more time there as many have suggested.

I agree. If it were my trip I'd spend the bulk of my time in the Colorado Springs and Buena Vista areas. You will love it.

I have 5 days in colorado springs and 4 days in buena vista.
recommendations for things to do? me/wife/3 year old, but we're very active.

While in BV, try a jeep rental tour. There's some gentle passes to try, and the trips can vary from solo to guided tour types. Just DON'T try Mosquito Pass unless you've done a LOT of 4wheeling before!

Here are a couple of web sites--there are many more. Still sounds like a great trip

Buena Vista Sports

Summer in Buena Vista and Salida

Personally, if you could, I would take a day from Springs and add it on to B V.

REWahoo wrote:

jdphillips73 wrote:
I may have to cut back on the sight-seeing stops along the way to Colorado and spend more time there as many have suggested.

I agree. If it were my trip I'd spend the bulk of my time in the Colorado Springs and Buena Vista areas. You will love it.

I have 5 days in colorado springs and 4 days in buena vista.
recommendations for things to do? me/wife/3 year old, but we're very active.

jdphillips73 wrote:
I may have to cut back on the sight-seeing stops along the way to Colorado and spend more time there as many have suggested.

I agree. If it were my trip I'd spend the bulk of my time in the Colorado Springs and Buena Vista areas. You will love it.

Oklahoma City places to stay:
Twin Fountains (near many of your attractions)
or
Lake Arcadia

Things to Do:
Sandridge Sky Trail
Drive through Tornado Ally (Moore, OK) :)

Ken - not sure why it did not go thru on the PM but I re-checked everything and should be good to go now. Or, can always use LaurenH517@gmail.com Thanks.

Great information!! check your pm.

Additional, regarding some of the suggestions from other posters.

For some of the routes that have been recommended, it's really not difficult to drive in the mountains. It was suggested to head over to Buena Vista area and that's a great suggestion...and an incredibly beautiful drive getting there.

From the Denver metro area, if you take the suggestion and go on I-70 west to C-470 and then south to US285, that's a great way to go. US285 is, for the most part, 4 lane roadway all the way to Pine Junction, with only a few areas where it goes down to 3 lanes, and even fewer where it's 2 lanes.

West of Pine Junction, there's a rather significant hill to go down into Bailey, and then you take the canyon up to Kenosha Pass, a really easy drive on 2 lane road. Kenosha pass tops out at ~10,000 ft and there's a pull off to enjoy the vistas to the south...into South Park. It is like looking at Heaven on Earth ! ! !

The drive from Kenosha to Fairplay and on to Buena Vista is easy. But a few cautions. It's at high elevation -- that part of South Park is mostly above 9000 ft but it's relatively flat. Fairplay sits at 9600 ft so the air is a bit thin...but will be cool. That's definitely worth a stop to see South Park City, a recreated Old West town.

From there to BV, you'll have a few other passes but they are easy ones as you drop down into the Arkansas River Valley. THAT is a beautiful location as well! As others have said, there's lots to do there, you could easily spend a week there and not run out of things to see and do.

For your Loveland CO stop, currently, the only place I could recommend without hesitation is Boyd Lake State Park; I live one lake over to the west! In July, you'll need to get reservations early; they fill up quickly on the weekend. Plan to come in during the week if you can.

Also, since it's a reservoir used for irrigation out east in Weld County, the water level may be low. They fill it early in the season (last year it was filled nearly completely in early May), but drought and agricultural draw off can lower the level quickly. In spite of that, this is a wonderful place to stay. There's a bike trail that one can take to downtown Loveland and beyond if you're so inclined.

As Lauren stated, the Riverview Park was the best place in the flats area to stay. They may be able to get some sites open by July. There's a few other parks in the area, and of the remaining, I'd recommend the Carter Valley CG west of Loveland. I can't recommend Johnson's Corners or Loveland RV Resort, simply due to road noise and both are usually crowded with long term residents

If you plan to go up into Estes Park, US34 will likely be the best/only way to go, without delays. CDOT is currently working on some stabilization of the canyon walls and my guess is they will be done before tourist season kicks in.

US36 between Lyons and Estes Park is another story. There is significant construction going on there due to the flood damage. There's a lot of rock that has to be moved, as CDOT is completely re-routing the roadway to a higher elevation in places that parallel the river. Right now, and for the next 20 weeks or so, they will be doing blasting and they state that delays of 30-60 minutes will not be uncommon. It will be years before US 36 is back to normal.