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10 days around

COLORADO

As you can imagine, our travel plans changed a bit this year (2020, am I right?), but we still wanted to take some time away to relax and explore together in a safe way. What better than a socially distanced camping & hiking trip around Colorado?!

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Once we got through the 16 hour drive out there (whew!) we essentially planned a big loop around the state, hitting 3 National Parks, 1 National Monument, 8 National Forests, 15 Towns and a million amazing things in between.

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Given the pandemic, we took things a bit day by day and at times had to adjust based on different schedules, regulations, and general safety precautions - but overall we were really impressed at the level of care and safety that each place we visited was taking to responsibly manage during this crazy time and highly recommend it if you're looking for a safe way to get away for a bit this summer.

GETTING THERE & GETTING AROUND

We chose to break the long drive up into 2 days to make it less of a chore and more of an adventure. On the way there we drove the Chicago --> Omaha (stayed over night) --> Fort Collins route and the Denver --> Kansas City (stayed over night) --> Chicago on the way home. We stopped every 2 hours or so for a snack and to run around a park with our pup, Bourbon, which it turns out we needed just as much as he did.

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THE COLORADO LOOP: ​

  • We started in Fort Collins and made our way around the Rockies all the way to Denver (we actually ended up working from here for a couple days after our adventure loop before starting the long drive home, just to make the time in car a little more bearable) 

  • We alternated between tent camping and other accommodations (from AirBnB's, Yurts, pet-friendly hotels, and glamping tents) to keep things interesting and eliminate the time spent setting up & breaking down a campsite so often.

  • We moved around every 1-2 nights, but you could certainly pick more of a home base and do some day trips to highlights off this loop if you're not in to moving around that much.

  • Our trip was also planned knowing we'd have a pup in tow, so I'm sure there are many other options if you're not filtering by only pet-friendly -- (oh, and all of our pictures are of Bourbon now. Sorry, not sorry.)

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ITINERARY

​DAY 1: Fort Collins 

DAY 2: Rocky Mountain National Park

DAY 3: Camping outside Aspen (via Guanella Pass)

DAY 4: Aspen & Maroon Bells

DAY 5: Solar-Powered Yurt in Mountains outside of Basalt

DAY 6: Camping outside Ouray (via Colorado National Monument)

DAY 7: Telluride (via Black Canyon of the Gunnison)

DAY 8: Telluride

DAY 9: Desert Tent Glamping outside the Great National Sand Dunes (via Durango)

DAY 10: Sand Dunes + Drive to Denver (via Colorado Springs & Garden of the Gods)

 

BONUS: (We stayed in Denver for 3 more days and worked from there before heading home, which was really nice after so much outdoor travel each night... I never knew the combo hot shower + A/C could feel so good!) 

DAY 11: Denver

DAY 12: Boulder

DAY 13: Denver

DAY 14: Drive Home to Chicago via Kansas City

DAY 1: FORT COLLINS

STAY:

  • AirBnB near Old Town (walking distance to many breweries & restaurants)

  • We used this as our home base for our Rocky Mountain National Park day trip (Estes Park is about 45min away)

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DO:

  • Sawtooth Reservoir - hiking & swimming

  • Breweries!

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EAT/DRINK:

  • O'Dell Brewing - available for walk-in for their patio. Very spacious and safely managed.

  • Snowbank Brewing - 5 min walk from O'dell for while you're waiting, grabbed a beer and sat outside.

  • New Belgium (patio reservations required due to Covid)

  • Social (cocktails & snacks on patio)

DAY 2: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

  • NOTE: 

    • Due to Covid-19, all of 2020 is running on scheduled timed car entries to RMNP. You need to make a reservation at recreation.gov before you arrive which will reserve your 2 hour window to enter the park. You have unlimited time once in, but you cannot enter before or after your window. We reserved the 8-10am window and arrived right at 8 to enter the park with no wait (and this was even on 4th of July weekend), but made the reservations many weeks in advance to lock in a spot.

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  • HIKE: Loch Vale Lake via Glacier Gorge to Sky Pond (10 miles out and back, moderate-hard difficulty, took us about 5.5 hours)

    • We parked at Bear Lake trailhead and took a shuttlebus up to the Glacier Gorge trailhead (masks required and only 14 people at a time on the bus left plenty of room for 6ft spacing.)

    • Definitely go on the early side as the early afternoon is met with either hot sun or mountain thunderstorms in the summer.

    • The very end of the hike entailed a quick rock scramble up a waterfall, but the views right before that climb to Sky Pond are the highlight so you could easily cut that part out if you want a more moderate-difficulty hike.

    • Note: These are our only hike pictures sans Bourbon, as dogs are not allowed in RMNP. We dropped Burb off at Dogtopia daycare in Fort Collins (highly recommend) for the day so we could explore.

DAY 3: DIFFICULT CAMPGROUND (ASPEN) via GUANELLA PASS

  • DRIVE:

    • Fort Collins to Aspen via Guanella Pass & Independence Pass (about 5 hours total, with stops in between)

    • Guanella Pass

      • We drove the long way to Aspen all the way down Guanella pass to Buena Vista and back up to Aspen. It only added about an hour of driving time and was one of the most beautiful drives of our trip. We also got out to hike halfway through to break up the drive and enjoy the views!

      • Stop for a hike

      • Stop in Buena Vista for lunch​

    • Independence Pass​

      • Whew! They don't warn you about those windy cliff roads with no guardrails! Amazing views, but be prepared for some deep breaths and "holy shit, holy shit!"moments

      • Stop at the Continental Divide for a quick walk and photo op!

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  • DO:

    • Hike: Guanella Pass - Silver Dollar Lake Trail (4.5 miles out and back, moderate difficulty, took us about 2 hrs)

      • This trail itself isn't very difficult, but you're starting around 10,500 ft in elevation and climbing another 1,000 so bring lots of water and be prepared to stop and rest as needed.

      • The lake at the end was Bourbon's favorite part, and the perfect place to rest for a snack before the trek back down.

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  • EAT/DRINK:

    • Buena Vista: Simply Eatery & Spoon it Up -- a little health food shop inside an outdoor sports store. We placed an order online and the food was brought out to us by a friendly woman in a mask. We certainly weren't expecting to find healthy sandwich/salad and spinach artichoke hummus in a tiny town at the base of the mountains!

DAY 4: ASPEN & MAROON BELLS

  • DRIVE:

    • Quick drive to Maroon Bells (20 min. from downtown Aspen)

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  • STAY:

    • Limelight Hotel, Aspen

      • Admittedly, this was a bit of a splurge after our tent camping night, but the outdoor patio was perfect for a sunset Spritz and much needed before our jump back into the wilderness.​

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  • DO IN ASPEN:

    • Silver Queen Gondola

      • This pup-friendly gondola leaves from the base of town and takes you up to the top of the mountains above Aspen where you can find a cafe, yoga on the mountain side (check schedule ahead of time), and easy & beautiful hiking trails

    • Maroon Bells - a must do!

      • NOTE: ​Due to Covid-19 you need to make a reservation to enter Maroon Bells as they are only allowing 15 people on the shuttle bus that typically seats 50. Be sure to arrive to the parking lot 45 minutes before your shuttle departure or you may get skipped (we saw it happen!)

      • We originally had planned to visit Maroon Bells at sunrise but couldn't due to reservation availability - we ended up going in the early afternoon and it was still incredible.

      • HIKE: We did the Crater Lake trail (4 miles out and back, relatively easy, took us about 2 hours with some time at the end for Bourbon to swim in the Lake.)

    • Hunter Creek Trail / Rio Grande Trail​

      • You can access these right from downtown Aspen​ which take you around and up the mountains on the North side of the town. Perfect for an afternoon or morning activity that you don't want to dedicate a whole half-day to.

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  • EAT/DRINK:​

    • There are dozens of restaurants in Aspen, and all had spacious outdoor seating that felt really safe. (We still tried to limit out time in public and mostly got take-out to eat on the balcony of our hotel room.)

    • Bear Den Cafe - great breakfast/brunch

    • L'Hostaria Ristorante - great Italian for dinner

    • Aspen Brewing Company - beers & pizza

DAY 5: SOLAR-POWERED YURT OUTSIDE OF BASALT

  • DRIVE:

    • Basalt is a quick 20-30 minutes from Aspen - a nice reprieve in the middle of our trip!

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  • DO:

    • We enjoyed the morning in Aspen (see Day 5 activities) and then stopped in Basalt at Capitol Creek Brewing before arriving to the Yurt. We stopped at Whole Foods to grab some groceries and made an amazing pasta dinner using the fresh herbs from the eco farm below the Yurt.

    • The AirBnB hosts who live on the farm below will even give you a tour of their eco farm if you are interested!

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  • EAT/DRINK:

    • Capitol Creek Brewing - open and spacious and super dog friendly!

    • Basalt seemed to have a handful of cute restaurants as well that we would have checked out if we didn't make dinner ourselves.

DAY 6: CAMPING IN OURAY + COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT

  • DRIVE:

    • Basalt to Ouray via Colorado National Monument (about 5 hours total with lots of stops)

    • Hike: Devil's Canyon Trail (right outside Colorado National Monument)

      • It was already in the mid-90's by 10am so we cut this hike short when Bourbon wouldn't budge from the shade 1 mile in and ended up in our backpack. It was still a really cool change of scenery before heading to Colorado National Monument. (If you are planning to hike in Colorado National Monument, you can probably cut this out as the scenery would be repetitive.)​

    • Colorado National Monument

      • Due to high heat and dogs not being allowed on the trails, we opted for the scenic ~40 min drive through the park on Rim Rock Drive​. It was a gorgeous drive with many scenic overlooks

    • Mesa Park Vineyards​

      • Randomly, there is a mini wine country in the valley outside of Colorado National Monument. It was incredibly hot and the wine was alright, but we were the only ones there​ and it was a refreshing change of pace to enjoy a drink overlooking vineyards in the desert valley.

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  • STAY:

    • Ampitheater Campground (reservations​ on recreation.gov - we had campsite #24 and it was incredible)​

      • ​The town of Ouray sits at the base of a bowl of mountains which look down on the town like a... you guessed it. We absolutely loved this campground - the mountains all around us turned pink at sunset and if you close in the picture of our tent you can see the deer that wandered through during dinner! 

      • Note: Bears are very active in this area, so be sure to lock up everything with a scent (even toiletries) in your car before you head to bed so you don't end up with an unwanted nighttime visit!

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  • EAT/DRINK:

    • We packed a cooler of groceries to make at our campsite (plus our Yurt farm grocery haul), but Ouray Brewing looked adorable and had a big spacious rooftop, and we did grab some delightful ice cream and chocolate from Moose's Chocolates on our way out of town.

DAY 7 : OURAY to TELLURIDE via BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON

  • DRIVE:

    • Ouray to Black Canyon of the Gunnison​ National Park (1 hr)

      • Similar to Colorado National Monument, we opted for the ~30 minute drive through due to the heat and limited dog friendly trails. This seemed to be the most popular way to view the park ​and it didn't feel like we missed anything.

    • Black Canyon of the Gunnison to Telluride (1.5 hrs)

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  • STAY:

    • Mountain Lodge Telluride (in Mountain Village)

      • There is a free gondola that runs 6am-Midnight connecting Mountain Village to the town of Telluride (it's about a 20 minute ride.) We loved staying up in Mountain Village and it was easy enough to get to town for food and activities.​

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  • DO:

    • Hike: Chief Ouray Mine Trail (4.5 miles out and back, moderate difficulty, took us about 2 hrs)

      • We spent the morning hiking around our campground before heading out. This trail was steep and hot (we got started a little late), but so worth it at the end for the view and waterfall overlooking a cliff.

    • Black Canyon of the Gunnison​ National Park

      • This added a little over an hour in driving to our day -- if you don't have the extra time, it's probably not worth squeezing in, but was a fun experience to check off another National Park and was really cool to see.​

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DAY 8 & 9: TELLURIDE

  • DRIVE:

    • None! We picked Telluride as our longer town stay in the trip and are so glad we did. This town is absolutely adorable and it filled with beautiful hikes, cute restaurants and shops, gondola rides and gorgeous sunsets.

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  • STAY:

    • Mountain Lodge Telluride (in Mountain Village)

      • There is a free gondola that runs 6am-Midnight connecting Mountain Village to the town of Telluride (it's about a 20 minute ride.) We loved staying up in Mountain Village and it was easy enough to get to town for food and activities.​

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  • DO in TELLURIDE:

    • Hike: Bear Creek Trail

      • You can access this from the town and it's a wonderful pretty easy morning hike with a waterfall at the end.

    • Hike: Bridal Veil Falls

      • You can park at the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls trailhead and hike up the road or the forest trail -- or, if you get there early enough and have a strong 4x4 vehicle, drive up the gravel road and park up the top so you can do Silver Lake Trail that starts at the top of the waterfall!

    • Town Park is full of outdoor activities and the Creek that runs through town was popular for puppy swims and floating down the river. There's a path that runs along the creek that was popular for running (or you can rent bikes and take it to Telluride Brewing from the town.)​

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  • EAT/DRINK:

    • Telluride Brewing Co (not downtown, but biking distance. We stopped on the way out of town on our last day)

    • Black Dog Pizza

    • GNAR tacos

    • Butcher & the Baker - awesome breakfast & brunch

    • Smugglers Union Brewery - great beer, cocktails, and extensive food menu

    • Cowboy Coffee Truck - awesome coffee

    • The entire main street in the town was closed to traffic and spread out for spacious outdoor eating. We spent both nights grabbing food take-out and enjoying it outside while watching the sunset. (I guess coronavirus was good for one thing?)

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DAY 10: GREAT NATIONAL SAND DUNES

  • DRIVE:

    • Telluride to Durango (2 hrs)

      • We stopped at Animas Brewing - which was awesome. We had planned to explore Durango way more (it's apparently very dog friendly!) but it was 100 degrees so this was our only stop on the way to the Dunes.​

    • Durango to Rim Rock Resort - right outside Great Sand Dunes National Park (3.5 hrs)

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  • STAY:

    • Rustic Rook Resort

      • Literally a line of tents in the middle of nowhere, with the mountains in the distance. Glamping at it's finest! We were able to see the Milky Way above us at night and the sunrise over the mountains was breathtaking! 

      • They give you breakfast burritos to heat up on the grill in the morning, but there are NO other food optionsunless you plan ahead, so definitely bring food & drink (and a cooler with ice!) with you - they have communal grills if you want to make dinner there.

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  • DO:

    • Great Sand Dunes National Park!

      • It literally feels like you are in the Sahara - who knew this existed at the base of the Rockies?!

      • We went at 6:30am right after sunrise to beat the heat, apparently the sand can get to 100 degrees or more in the Summer by the afternoon on hot days!

      • We hiked up to the tallest dune (about 600 ft in elevation) - which was the hardest hike I've ever done - 45 degrees uphill in sand is no joke! But it was totally worth it and sledding down the dune was the most fun ever. (We rented sand boards and sleds from where we stayed - not sure where you get them otherwise!)

      • This was SUCH a fun and unique experience, but a lot of driving for 1 night and morning, with essentially nothing else to do around it - so this is probably a good one to skip if you're not up for the drive (we had to get back to Denver from Telluride anyways)

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