Colorado and beyond- July 2014 trip
Hello everyone, We are planning a trip from Memphis to Colorado and back in July 2014. I have listed our preliminary itinerary below. I am hoping you will chime in on best places to camp, things...
Forum Discussion
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 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.
