Mama wants to do fun stuff in Denver and I want to experience Colorado outside of the city. We have a week to get there and back and have three kids (15,12,10) in tow. The kids would love to swim somewhere, do some super easy rock climbing and a few short hikes along the way.

11 comments

  2. Waterworld is a big water park just north of Denver, y’all might have fun there.

  3. It’s out of the way but [Capulin](https://www.nps.gov/cavo/) is a small (and geologically young) volcano in northeast New Mexico that has a small hike you can do around the rim.

    If you or your kids have even a passing interest in science or nature, it’s a neat spot. I highly recommend it but then I’m a geologist.

  4. Only take I-25 until Santa Fe and then 84 up to Abiquiu for some great swimming. You can then go to Ghost Ranch where Georgia O’Keeffe live for years and do a nice little hike up box canyon. Echo campground is just a little further up 84 and a great little 10 min stop to shout into a box canyon.

    You then keep driving up 84 toward Pagosa Springs, and if you even want to go longer before swimming, or just want to get another dip in, Lake Heron is fantastic.

    From Pagosa Springs to Denver is pretty straight forward with tons more to see, especially if you take the detour to the Great Sand Dunes. Happy to give other tips but this journey is up to around 9 hours now without counting how long you want to spend at different sight. Would highly recommend doing a camping trip and turning it into two days of days mostly spent out of the car, but I know that’s not possible for everyone.

  5. Oooh! I’ve done the trip from El Paso to Colorado Springs many of times in my college days. I have a few recommendations for you:

    I recommend getting off I-25. If you want to see national parks. You can go through western Colorado. Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and Mesa Verde National Parks are great (I liked the cave dwellings, but if you’re not a huge history buff, you can skip Mesa Verde). Rocky Mountain National park is awesome too but it’s very crowded and you need reservations. It’s also a little out of the way.

    Once you get to Denver, Elitch Gardens is a decent amusement park. For swimming, Water World is an awesome Water Park. It used to be one of the largest parks in the country. It’s probably too cold to swim in the reservoirs in the mountains.

    In New Mexico, Santa Fe and Taos are beautiful

  6. Go via Cortez (CO). Visit Teec Nos Pos for the really good Trading Post store with a lot of Native American crafts (note: some are blankets that take months to make by hand and are priced accordingly, some are more affordable).

    Visit the Four Corners monument. It has a market place with half the stalls selling tourist tat and half selling actual Native handicrafts. Buy local, not made-in-China.

    Even more optional, but really does get you to see and do a lot: go to Chinle and stay there for a couple of days. It’s right by the Canyon de Chelly, which is a … huge. Like the Grand Canyon is huge, and in some ways more impressive (the Grand Canyon is bigger, but you can’t get so close). You can both go into the canyon at the base, and drive along the sides and stop and go to the edge to look over. Don’t fall in. There are many places to overlook the canyon. If you choose this option, it’s probably easiest to do the Navajo National Monument, then Monument Valley, then either go via Mexican Hat or via Teec Nos Pos to the Four Corners.

    Optional: Divert to Monument Valley. Look at the buttes. The self-drive road around the base of the buttes is rough, and I don’t recommend it in ordinary car. Real SUV/truck will be OK. The approach road to the Monument Valley visitor centre, and other roads to other attractions, are good, it’s just the road around the actual buttes that desperately needs some serious attention from a grader. I damned near got my rental car stuck and I know what I’m doing on rough roads, so I really don’t recommend it unless you have good ground clearance. There’s also a good selection of Native crafts at low-to-medium prices.

    Kayenta has hotels, restaurants (mostly faster food of various sorts, the Amigo Cafe is a bit better than most and is not a chain, it’s independent).

    Extra-Optional: Divert to Navajo National Monument. Do the full walk (it’s a very gentle hike…) down to the view to the ancestral Pueblo dwellings. Bring binoculars if you have them. This is a really interesting and under-rated place.

    Going past Cortez (which is also an OK place to stay), check out the Canyons of the Ancients national moument. The museum and main visitor centre is not far from Cortez. A bit further away, into the remoter landscape, is the Hovenweep National Monument where you can walk around the ancient and quite well-preserved Pueblo structures (houses, etc).

    There are other pueblos in the Canyons of the Ancients too, but some have rather rough roads that may not be accessible without high ground clearance (truck or a real SUV). If the road looks too bad, turn around or don’t turn off the main road. You could be stuck for a while if you get stuck.

    Ensure you have plenty of water and some food at all times, and fill up your vehicle when you pass a gas station. It can be worth taking a small cooler and filling it with ice sold at some general stores and gas stations. Don’t put drinks in the ice, instead pour drinks into reusable cups (e.g. Starbucks cups) and add ice.

    I’d like to repeat: The Navajo Nation and areas around are fascinating to visit, but the people there get a rough deal economically and from past history that continues today. Please try to spend any money you do spend on local things, local businesses. Please be a respectful visitor that contributes to the local economy of the people who let you visit their lands.

    Thank you.

  7. If I were planning a backroads trip, I would get off I-25 at Santa Fe and use US-285 and follow that until you hit Buena Vista, Colorado, and then instead of following US-285 you just keep going straight with US-24 until Leadville, and turn onto Colorado-91 and follow that until you meet I-70 at Copper mountain, and that will spill you into Greater Denver. It’s about 2 hours longer than just staying on I-25.

  9. I literally just did this drive. The drive up 159 and across 160 in Colorado is a lot prettier than 25 in the south

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