Colorado is the most beautiful place to live . . .
Hi all!
I'm new to the web site but have been camping for several years. We're taking the jump and headed West from Maryland for 8 weeks, summer of 2014, before we become servants to our son's baseball schedule when he begins Travel and Tournament ball the following year! We have a Heartland Elkridge 5th wheel, a 9 year old (10 at time of trip) and a small dog (Lasa Apso). We plan on stopping in Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods etc), Durango (Narrow Gauge Railroad), Grand Canyon (of course!) and lots in between and up and down.
Looking for suggestions of other sights, places to stay that are central to many sites near one location, travel routes and ANYTHING else I should know!!
We don't want to overdue it or exhaust ourselves (we may try shorter trips in the future) but are looking for memorable trip.
Thanks for your input!
I second the trip to South Dakota . . .
We spent eight nights there in Custer at
http://www.bigpinecampground.com/smaltolarg/photos.html the week before the Sturgis rally this past summer (2013) and had a great time!
Custer is close to just about everything . . . Devil's Tower (Close Encounters Of The Third Kind), Mount Rushmoore, Crazy Horse Monument, Flintstone's Park, Custer State Park, Deadwood, Sturgis, Wall Drug (gotta go - I bought a new hat there), Badlands . . . and much more!
But . . . (isn't there always a 'but'? ) . . . ???
South Dakota is a whole separate vacation all on it's own, so you may want to plan that for another trip!
We live in Colorado, so we are trying to see the whole state with our travels in our RV . . .
So much to see in Colorado . . . wish we had more time to spend seeing it!
We are originally from southern Michigan, but have lived out here in Colorado for almost 20 years!
We always try to do a 10-day to two week trip every August for our wedding anniversary (which in 2013 was our 22nd wedding anniversary trip to South Dakota and our fourth camp out in our new 2013 Heartland Trail Runner), and three years ago we did the very area you are talking about!
This trip was in our old 1978 Coachman travel trailer . . . not our new Heartland Trail Runner!
We live in the north Denver suburbs, so when we left our house we headed south on I-25 to Colorado Springs and then angled west on 115 to Canon City and the Royal Gorge on Hwy 50, where we spent two nights at one of our favorite campgrounds
http://www.royalviewcampground.com/ (we've stayed there many times and love this place - they know us by name and know our favorite camp site), then we headed west on Hwy 50 to the Great Sand Dune's National Monument and spent one night there.
After leaving the Dune's, we headed west on 160 to Durango and spent three nights at the Durango KOA.
We checked out Mesa Verde (you must go there . . . plan on one whole day), and Silverton (we didn't do the train ride from Durango, but probably will next time) from there, then we headed north on 550 out of Durango to Montrose, then east on Hwy 50 back to Gunnison and spent three nights there at the Mesa RV Park
http://www.mesarvresort.us/ , where we discovered a whole new place in Colorado to spend a whole vacation!
Nearby is the Blue Mesa Resevour (it is so huge it's unbelievable), Black Canyon National Park (I call this the Colorado Grand Canyon - we spent two days checking it out), went 4-wheeling near Crested Butte, and Taylor Canyon (about 10 miles north of Gunnison on Highway 135 (main intersection in downtown Gunnison heading north) for those who like to fish and go 4-wheeling, ride dirt bikes or quad runners (if you are into this, you've
GOT to go up Taylor Canyon - there is a huge resort at the top of the canyon devoted to 4-wheelin' and quad-runnin') . . . we loved this canyon so much that two weeks later we went back for our annual Labor Day Weekend camp out (at the One Mile State Forest Campground), and are seriously considering going back there during the summer of 2014!
From there we headed back home . . . we took Hwy 50 east to Poncha Springs (near Salida), then headed north on Hwy 24 and picked up Hwy 285 back to Denver.
But you can take Hwy 50 back to Canon City, then head north on 115 to Colorado Springs!
Colorado is the most beautiful place in the world . . . come enjoy it like we do!
I have more pictures if you want them . . .
