ROSE FAMILY JOURNAL

Colorado is a place I could go back to every year (month?) and never get tired of being there. There is such a variety of towns throughout the state, and truly, a variety of scenery. While there are so many mountains in Colorado, they are not all the same.

I love the seemingly endless options to hike, to bike, to camp, to swim, to ski, to relax, or to enjoy city life. We have been there a few times, and since we cannot just stay in one place for a vacation, we put together what turned out to be an incredible road trip.

Here is the plan (screenshot of route below and linked to Google Maps)

I would recommend a four wheel drive vehicle if you want to go on some beautiful hikes — including the ones listed here. The roads to the trailheads at many places around Colorado are not the most maintained.

However, you can always find pretty recent/current conditions on road conditions on Alltrails.com.

Stop One: Denver, Colorado

Flying into Denver, Colorado is almost always your best option. We planned our trip on short notice, so we were not able to find an affordable rental car. However, we lucked out in finding a 4WD vehicle on Turo.com and it was excellent for our purposes!

Denver is a great place to get adjusted to the altitude for a day before doing anything too strenuous. I love walking (and eating) up and down 16th street mall. It is a pedestrianized street that is about one mile long. You can even hop into the U.S. Mint for a free tour on how currency is printed!

If you are ready for a hike day one or have more days to spend in Denver — check out the ones we recommended on our big cross country road trip or one of my favorite hikes close to Denver is St. Mary’s Glacier.

Stop Two: Ouray, Colorado (YOU-ray)

We REALLY wanted to see Ouray, Colorado on our trip, so we decided to head there first. All of the nature, outdoor options, gear shops, and cute downtown area were 10 out of 10 stars. The options for vegan dining was disappointing though. We hope next time we go there will be more options OR we will be better prepared with our own packed food.

In Ouray, we scored a campsite at Amphitheatre Campground. This was perfect, because it is a car camping spot and you can hop on the Perimeter Trail and hike around downtown from the campground. Perimeter Trail can be found on Alltrails >> Here!

The next morning, we drove out to hike the Lower, Middle, and Upper Blue Lakes trail near Mt. Sneffels based on a recommendation from the employee of an outdoor gear shop in the downtown area. The trail is the most beautiful and pristine nature I have experienced.

You will want 4WD to get to this trailhead, and you can easily hike to the peak of Mount Sneffels from here. We opted to not, because it started hailing on us, and we had plans to hike 14ers on an upcoming day in the trip.

Stop Three: Great Sand Dunes National Park

David’s sister lived in Colorado for a few years, and she recommended Ouray and Great Sand Dunes National Park. She even claims the Great Sand Dunes might be her favorite National Park! We arrived and were not fortunate enough to score a first come first serve campsite in the main campground that night. However, as we were talking to the park ranger at the backcountry camping office, we learned that we could hike out .5 miles to a campsite in the backcountry.

This was exciting news, because we definitely had a better experience at our backcountry campsite perched up above the hills and looking over the sand dunes than we would have at the crowded car camping campground.

One important note: make sure you are driving the speed limit on your way to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We unfortunately got a speeding ticket on the way there.

Stop Four: Buena Vista, Colorado

We are rock climbers and Buena Vista is a great option to stop and climb up close to your vehicle. We did not have a guidebook for the area, nor did we do much research before arriving. However, we just hopped on a few routes that looked climb-able for us at a spot called Bob’s Rock. The area IS on Mountain Project >> Here!

Stop Four: Kite Lake Campground

This was another big day on our trip (and happened to fall on my birthday). We hiked the “DeCaLiBron” Loop Trail of four 14ers: Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron, and Bross in one day. These were our first 14ers either of us have ever hiked, but we were hooked! It was beautiful and such a challenge to accomplish. A true highlight of the trip and year. However, looking back at the pictures, all I can think about is how I ever decided it was a good idea to hike in those heavy Lowa Hiking boots — yikes!

Stop Five: Colorado Springs, Colorado

We headed to Colorado Springs, because I had a dear friend and former college roommate who lives there. The town is fun and has so much to offer, and is worthy of a stop on your road trip around Colorado.

If you love road trips like we do, check out all of our road trip ideas like the one around the Big Island of Hawai’i!