Colorado Summer Road Trip

This summer we hit the road in our RV "Glenda" the day school was out.   First stop was Vail Colorado.  We found a great campsite close to town that still felt rugged but had easy access to town.  There weren't any hookups but we've set our RV up to go off grid for a few days with bigger batteries and solar panels.

This campground was great as it had a paved walking and biking trail connected to it that was once the road.  

We spent some time walking around downtown Vail.  There's a nice walking trail through town and to the Betty Ford gardens.

On the next day we biked from Frisco towards Vail on paved trails.  It was a steady 8 mile climb and then we turned around for a fast paced coast down the mountain.  We saw a goat and a baby moose on our ride.  The elevation was around 10,500 feet after our 1,500 foot climb.  I expected we would struggle at that elevation but we all did fine.

Thankfully mama moose was nowhere near baby.

The scenery was pretty with the river and mountains.

Next stop was Golden Colorado.  We stayed in Clear Creek RV park which was right in town and on a fast moving creek.  There were paved trails from this park as well.  

It started to rain so we decided to get ice cream and wait for it to pass.  

We were able to get back before the big storm came through.  It was a treat to be able to watch it since we don't really have lightening storms in our area.  

The trail had some fun bouldering areas.

This trail was neat because it was a restored flume that was used during mining days.  The flume was used to deliver 16 million gallons of water a day to the community below.  

We visited the Colorado School of Mines to give Avery an idea of what different colleges offer.  He loved the lab with the giant wall of 3-D printers.

Denver's Meow Wolf was "Convergence Station".  It was the biggest of the 3 and our favorite.  This one had a train theme with each of the stations opening up to a parallel universe.

Next stop was Ouray.  We stayed at 4-J campground in town.  

Bee worked hard to pull us here.  We had some steep mountain passes between Golden and Ouray.  Monarch Pass was a steep pass at 11,300 feet and a 7% grade made for a very slow drive pulling the RV.

Alia wanted cake so Scott whipped one up for her.  She says it was the best chocolate cake she's ever had.  I think when you camp, every food is the best you've had because you're so hungry.

Ouray is a sweet little mountain town tucked between the mountains.

Ouray had a lot of fun shops through town.  Luna loved this sign.

There was a great park in town near the pool and pond.  We would come here in the evenings to throw the frisbee and wait for the sun to set over the mountains.

The pool was geothermal.  

There was a neat fish pond near the city pool.

In 2020 the town created a 6 miles perimeter trail that is up in the mountains, going around the whole town.  

This spot was called baby bathtubs.  It was the perfect stop along the way after being really hot.  

We did one of Ouray's Via Feratta's, the downstream trail.  It was an amazing, adrenaline filled experience and one we would all love to do again.

Our last Colorado stop was Telluride.  Even though Ouray coined itself as America's little Switzerland we felt that Telluride reminded us of Switzerland more.  The town had gondolas and lots of trails to bike, hike or ski.  The town was pretty but too built up and we preferred Ouray.

Davis street!