Colorado 2016

concord 05 wrote:
My husband and I travel the month of September each year. Beginning to plan for next year and Colorado is where we are heading.was wanting to get some suggestions. We travel in a 31 foot motorhome with a tow car. My husband enjoys seeing wildlife and we both enjoy beautiful scenery. We are not hikers and at our age don't relish driving a MH over 12000 foot mountains. We like setting up in one place for several nights and touring in our car. Coming from Missouri and would like some ideas. Looking at highway 14 over to Walden but not sure of the road. Also liked the look of Rifle state park. I know any trip to Colorado includes mountain driving but just don't want any of the white knuckle driving and narrow roads, Which are fine in the car just not in the motorhome.

Looking at highway 14 over to Walden but not sure of the road.

The road is fine, albeit in need of some repair work on the lower stretch through the Poudre Canyon. Keep in mind that, a goodly portion of that drive will be in the Poudre Canyon. While there are twisties, it's not overly steep. The main twisties are in the Narrows sections of the canyon, primarily in the lower part near Poudre Park and again near Rustic. Once you get to Rustic, the drive is probably similar to what you've experienced in the Missouri hill country. It's a steady climb, very subtle for the most part. When you get to Chambers Lake, from that point up to Cameron Pass, it will be somewhat steeper, but it's certainly not a bad drive. You'll top out at about 10,400 or so, then downhill (again not bad) to the Colorado State Forest SP area, the visitor's center, and Gould, before you get to Walden. It's 22 miles from Gould to Walden and can be a grand drive as the colours in the area begin to change.

And since it's September, keep in mind that campgrounds will begin to close. In the Poudre Canyon, if you're interested in USFS locations, there's an abundance of them, but they begin to close around mid-September. The further west you go in the Poudre, the sooner they close. Some of the CG on the lower stretch will stay open until late September.

On the west side of Cameron Pass, there's the Ranger Lakes CG, which is part of the Colorado State Forest SP. There are electric hookups at all sites, and a central water source near the entrance (have at least 50ft of hose). Sites are nice, but are open, since trees have been cut down due to beetle kill. There's 2 other CG nearby in the SP system there, but they are boondocking sites, and in my opinion, not as attractive.

Commercially, there's a former KOA campground (North Park CG - they apparently lost their franchise with KOA) in Gould. It's somewhat run down, but they do offer full hookups. Again, lots of trees cut down due to beetle kill. Not much available in Walden as far as camping, there's a new CG/RV Park in town, but it's very small. Don't know much about it. And there's a place out by Lake John, that's gotten terrible reviews in the past and is way out in the boonies. Caters to the fishing crowd.

Fuel. It's few and far between. Make sure you have a full tank before entering the Poudre Canyon. There's fuel in Rustic and further up at Archer's Resort (hard to get to the pump) and that's about it. It's 56 miles from Archer's to Walden, where the next available fuel is located -- at the only 2 fuel stations in the area.

The area is renowned for fishing and hiking. Since you're not into hiking, that leaves fishing. And there are some nice drives if you want to take your toad out once you find a place to your liking. That whole area of North Park, around Walden, is very beautiful, and they get some early colour change due to altitude and latitude.

There's a wonderful drive up the Laramie River Road, with lots of big ranches and forests and great views of the Never Summer Mountains. There's also a drive you could take from the Laramie River Rd up the Deadman Road (not as bad as it sounds!) to Red Feather Lakes, and then down the Manhattan Rd to Poudre Canyon...a loop drive, if you will. Lots of beautiful scenery.

I sound like a travel brochure! But I spend a lot of time up in that area and know it intimately. It's well worth a stop and time to explore.