Could you please help my son ..Colorado trip planning advice

[HuckFinn410]

Hello,

My college senior son is cutting out on his summer job (last day is this Friday) a few weeks before school starts and he is planning to take a solo adventure to Colorado before he begins his senior year (We live in KC). He is a big strong lad that is well trained in all aspects of camping / survival (thank you dad!). I have zero concerns about him taking care of himself in any situation, including off grid camping / boon docking. Great son…great guy. I am proud of him.

He would be leaving this coming Sunday.

He has a 4 X 4 pickup and all the necessary equipment. His goal is to spend a week or so camping and fishing and enjoying the beautiful country. To maximize enjoyment time and lessen excess driving time, he is hoping to keep the trip to the eastern side of the state.

Does anyone have any good boondocking / fishing suggestions around the Pike National Forest, Arapaho National Forest, etc. …or anywhere around the central/eastern part of the state? His plan is to leave KC early AM on Sunday, drive all day until he gets to somewhere near Denver, stealth sleep somewhere for the night, then start early the next morning to find a good area.

Any suggestions of good areas to fish (that is not swarmed with tourists) and nice areas for boon docking in the back country. He prefers not to fly fish….likes rod and reel, can sleep in the back of the truck or in a tent / hammock, would prefer to see more of Colorado back woods beauty than tourists.

I think that he may be on a scouting trip to determine if he would like to live in Colorado to pursue a career after college. He is a trained auto tech with years of experience and soon to have a 4 year auto tech management degree. He is thinking off road shop, race shop, fab shop, etc. as possible career paths.

Any location suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

Huck

PS. Mods…hopefully this topic can stay in the General area to have the most views, but I understand if you need to move it.

[JAC1982]

HuckFinn410 wrote:
OP here.

Thank you all for your great advice and recommendations. My son is on his adventure. He stayed in the back of his truck last night in a Walmart parking lot in Aurora, Co. off of I-70.

He texted me a picture from Jones Pass this afternoon....46 degrees and the top is still snowed in. That temp sure sounds good compared to the 100+ heat index cr*p that we've had for weeks. he is prepared for low temps, if needed.

Again, thanks for the help.

Huck

Good to know about Jones Pass! I want to take our RZR up there but sounds like it might not be possible this year since we're approaching end of summer. I hope your son has an awesome time in this great state!

[HuckFinn410]

OP here.

Thank you all for your great advice and recommendations. My son is on his adventure. He stayed in the back of his truck last night in a Walmart parking lot in Aurora, Co. off of I-70.

He texted me a picture from Jones Pass this afternoon....46 degrees and the top is still snowed in. That temp sure sounds good compared to the 100+ heat index cr*p that we've had for weeks. he is prepared for low temps, if needed.

Again, thanks for the help.

Huck

[RedRocket204]

JAC1982 wrote:
The mention of Taylor Park reminds me, next weekend, from August 11-14th, there is a RZR Forums ride sponsored by Polaris going on. So the roads in/out of Taylor Park may be pretty busy, at least right before and right after, along with the trails around there. It's a decent sized event, last year close to 650 people, with over 300 RZRs. So yeah, not really a place to go if you're there to enjoy the quiet wilderness 🙂

I was actually out there 2 summers ago when that event was going on and we weren't there for the Rzr event. Myself and two other friends just happened to plan our ATV trip during the same time and believe it or not, it really wasn't as crowded as you might think. The main dirt road in the mornings and evenings did have trains of OHVs going by but on trail, we didn't run into very many people and we still had a blast.

However, I would not go there anytime expecting peace and quiet as it is a very popular OHV area and there are plenty of other places to go in CO for peaceful area.




Per the comment about what rights it is the age old story of people being extremely selfish where things should only be the way they want it. Whatever happened to setting land aside for everyone to enjoy what they enjoy doing, so long as you are not breaking laws? I fly fish, mountain bike, mountaineer/hike too and many would have trails banned for those as well. Should we start going after equestrians and banning them? What about hiking? Seems many hikers use trails and cause damage and then aren't out there doing trail maintenance. What about the cars being used to get to a trail head, aren't those polluting causing damage? Where does it end?

Best solution is having area for everyone to equally enjoy even if the areas are separated into specific outdoor activities.

/soapbox rant

[d3500ram]

Yea... it is one of the last few places to be able to exercise our rights and freedoms of riding toys. Eco-enviromentalists are shutting down roads right and left. Did not know that there are events as you describe going on there now. Was there last about 5 years ago and it was active.... can't imagine what it is like now!

[JAC1982]

The mention of Taylor Park reminds me, next weekend, from August 11-14th, there is a RZR Forums ride sponsored by Polaris going on. So the roads in/out of Taylor Park may be pretty busy, at least right before and right after, along with the trails around there. It's a decent sized event, last year close to 650 people, with over 300 RZRs. So yeah, not really a place to go if you're there to enjoy the quiet wilderness 🙂

[Acdii]

We got back last this week from Utah, and camped overnight at Chatfield. It's a state park just outside of Denver. Wow is all I can say. He is in for one great experience.

[d3500ram]

Grit Dog has some great suggestions for beautiful drives that offer camping spots:

FairPlay to Buena Vista over Mosquito? Pass.
Mosquito should be open by now- it can be closed even into late July because of snow pack. I got turned back many years ago attempting it in mid July. A decent 4WD truck needed (no crossover types vehicles.)

Georgetown to grant.
This is Guanella Pass. It has been open for a couple of years now after being closed for many due to a rock slide. it is fully paved now and can be traversed by any type vehicle.

Como to Breckenridge.
Boreas Pass. Dirt/ gravel road that any type vehicle can do. This in conjunction with Guanella makes a nice day trip, but start early in the day. VERY crowded with traffic with leaf peepers when the Aspen change color in the fall.

Buena Vista to ? To the west of BV.
This is Cottonwood Pass over the divide that drops into Taylor Park area and is absolutely gorgeous! All vehicles can traverse this pass.

[Grit_dog]

He better plan on moving there if that's what he's in to and has never been, cause he won't want to leave. He'll be tempted to start exploring as soon as he gets into the mountains but tell him to resist the urge of the front range and stay on the hiway til he gets in the mtns a ways.
So many cool drives. FairPlay to Buena Vista over Mosquito? Pass. Georgetown to grant. Como to Breckenridge. Buena Vista to ? To the west of BV.
Grand Mesa from the highway at the lodges over to electric mtn and down to hotchkiss.
White River NF from Coffeepot TD in gypsum all the way over to rifle or glen wood or up north to ?
Will be the trip of a lifetime.
All the nat forests have free motor vehicle use maps that would be a good start as to where to go

[HuckFinn410]

Grit dog wrote:
It's only 600 mi to Denver, so easy 1 day drive. Nothing to see in Eastern CO that you can't see in Kansas!
My advice would be skip the front range, spend 2 more hrs on 70 or 285 and drop the first night somewhere close to the Divide. Still summer and lots of Denverites clogging up the front range.
As far as backwoods great places to camp and fish, the entire western slope mountains is FULL of places to go.
I'm only really familiar with a small part of it, but Ouray area, San Juan Mtns are some of the most spectacular scenery and jeep trails in the country. Many can be run with a normal full size 4x4 truck. Definately a top destination to do some back country boondocking. It was a short trip with the gf s family that sealed the deal of me having to move there when I was his age. Went 4 wheelin all day every day!
Camping and fishing in the White River NF from just east of Vail all the way out to Grand Mesa is phenomenal.
Just have a CO topo map or gps maps w forest roads and go have a blast.
Couple quick fishing reccomendations that may be really hard to find (but I'm sure there's plenty more along the way, haha).
Mahan Lake, up Spring Creek outside of Kremmling. East side of Elliots Ridge.
Hike in couple miles from end of road down below the ridge. May have to ask locals where "spring creek" is in silver thorn or Kremmling.
Outside of Gypsum/Eagle up in the white River NF. Sherrif lake and the one next to it. Great fishing as well. Catch trout and stocked muskies (at 9000', weird, fish n game stocked tiger muskies in some of the lakes and tarns up there to kill the invasive species and save the trout). Hookjng a little Muskie on a 3 or 4 wt fly rod is a kick!
Blue River, out of Silverthorne. Gold medal catch n release stream but awesome fly fishing especially the northern areas behind private land halfway to Kremmling.
And the Eagle River, right in town, in Gypsum, great fishing for browns and rainbow. Try in the Willowstone Subdivision. (Lol, lived there, not many people fished that stretch through the subdivision).
So there's 4 of about 1000 good spots.

Solid gold! Thank you very much....

[Grit_dog]

It's only 600 mi to Denver, so easy 1 day drive. Nothing to see in Eastern CO that you can't see in Kansas!
My advice would be skip the front range, spend 2 more hrs on 70 or 285 and drop the first night somewhere close to the Divide. Still summer and lots of Denverites clogging up the front range.
As far as backwoods great places to camp and fish, the entire western slope mountains is FULL of places to go.
I'm only really familiar with a small part of it, but Ouray area, San Juan Mtns are some of the most spectacular scenery and jeep trails in the country. Many can be run with a normal full size 4x4 truck. Definately a top destination to do some back country boondocking. It was a short trip with the gf s family that sealed the deal of me having to move there when I was his age. Went 4 wheelin all day every day!
Camping and fishing in the White River NF from just east of Vail all the way out to Grand Mesa is phenomenal.
Just have a CO topo map or gps maps w forest roads and go have a blast.
Couple quick fishing reccomendations that may be really hard to find (but I'm sure there's plenty more along the way, haha).
Mahan Lake, up Spring Creek outside of Kremmling. East side of Elliots Ridge.
Hike in couple miles from end of road down below the ridge. May have to ask locals where "spring creek" is in silver thorn or Kremmling.
Outside of Gypsum/Eagle up in the white River NF. Sherrif lake and the one next to it. Great fishing as well. Catch trout and stocked muskies (at 9000', weird, fish n game stocked tiger muskies in some of the lakes and tarns up there to kill the invasive species and save the trout). Hookjng a little Muskie on a 3 or 4 wt fly rod is a kick!
Blue River, out of Silverthorne. Gold medal catch n release stream but awesome fly fishing especially the northern areas behind private land halfway to Kremmling.
And the Eagle River, right in town, in Gypsum, great fishing for browns and rainbow. Try in the Willowstone Subdivision. (Lol, lived there, not many people fished that stretch through the subdivision).
So there's 4 of about 1000 good spots.

[TyroneandGladys]

West Spanish Peak

Trinchera Peak

Blue Lake campground

[Thom02099]

d3500ram wrote:
It goes without saying, but as a reminder: Be careful when backwoods camping of being aware of the fire danger status. Mindful camper will be aware of any bans, but moreover, how far deep woods to go and the ability to get out should something spark.

So far this year there are not any statewide fire bans but we have had a few wildfires. The one in Nederland (west of boulder ~20 miles) a few weeks ago was started by transient campers.

There have been a couple of years past that I would not go into the woods because it would be a tinder box. Getting out was a concerned that caused me to erred on the side of safety.

^^^^^^^ This. Most excellent advice.

H E R E - Fire Bans is the most current information on fire bans/danger in Colorado. There is an interactive map at this link, with a very sizable area of Colorado under some sort of fire restrictions. Make sure your son is aware of this link, it could be very valuable for him.

[d3500ram]

It goes without saying, but as a reminder: Be careful when backwoods camping of being aware of the fire danger status. Mindful camper will be aware of any bans, but moreover, how far deep woods to go and the ability to get out should something spark.

So far this year there are not any statewide fire bans but we have had a few wildfires. The one in Nederland (west of boulder ~20 miles) a few weeks ago was started by transient campers.

There have been a couple of years past that I would not go into the woods because it would be a tinder box. Getting out was a concerned that caused me to erred on the side of safety.

[RedRocket204]

Not fly fishing will leave him mainly to larger lakes, not the remote high country ones, which the larger lakes will generally have people. Make sure when he is buying his fishing license, that he gets the regulations also as there are many, many spots in CO where it is fly fishing catch and release only or other areas that are also non-bait fishing. Also know that rivers can have different regulations depending on the part of the river you are on. CO is very particular about lessening fishing impact in certain areas and it is up to the fisherman to know the regulations and abide by them. "I didn't know" will not help if you are violating the regulations.

Lakes are generally more for bait fishing. If he will be trying to find more remote, high country lakes, those are not really very good for fishing and may not even have fish in them.

Per the area recommendations, around Buena Vista/Salida would be a good area to go to and not too far west.