Durango/Mesa Verde area

StarryNight

Retired Colorado Chapter Leaders
Don and I are planning on going down to this area mainly for the Mesa Verde/4 corners archeological sites. Any feedback of your trips including places to see that are "not in all the books" to this area will be beneficial (pluses as well as minuses are welcome).We are planning on staying @ Riverside Resort & RV Park, which is just north of Durango. Thank you!
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
We have stayed 3 times at Durango Riverside Resort! We love Durango, and have been there many times (before and after getting an RV). We haven't seen a better RV park in the area. We love it there. Good folks, good park. Park is gravel, and sloped toward the river, so bring leveling blocks if you need them. Watch for deer on the other side of the river in the evening. We've gone (mild) river rafting on the Animas River, and rented a 4x4 Jeep to go up and over the Alpine loop, over Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass, near Silverton and Lake City. Riding the steam train to Silverton is really neat, I recommend the bus trip return. (a really long day if you ride the train back.) The Durango Mtn. ski resort is open during the summer and has a fun Alpine Slide, as well as mountain bike rentals.

BTW, Jeeping over these passes is not "tear 'em up, racing, off-roading" like you might think. It's crawling along a narrow, barely improved rocky, bumpy path at about 10 mph, and seeing amazing scenery, foliage, snow, waterfalls, rivers and and wildlife... with very little sign of man. If you happen to meet oncoming jeeps or 4-wheelers, you find a way to pass carefully, and rarely are you passed from the same direction. We traveled right at 69 miles in 8 hours, in one day. It was truly awe-inspiring! Here is a link to our blog about this: http://mammothtravels.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeeping-no-mammoth-allowed.html
 

TedS

Well-known member
Include Aztec Ruins and Chimney Rock. There was a recent article about a site, walking site, with Puebloan ruins not as well known or developed as Mesa Verde; if I find it I will get back to you here. Four Corners Monument just to say you were there and stood in four states.
 

lorax

Well-known member
You might consider a night or two in Mesa Verde. It is an amazingly peaceful campground. You will camp among the deer.
Ted
 
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