denver and beyond

[lisaannswift]

we are attending a conferance in June in Denver and want to tag on a week before to see wider colorado and wyoming if possible - with yellowstone if not too far- what would be a good route and how many days would this take and still be fun !!

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The big loop from/to Denver that would fit into a week (barely) would include (clockwise) heading up to Yellowstone via Cheyenne and Lander, WY and entering from the south through Grand Tetons National Park, then exit to the east. perhaps hitting the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Devils Tower, and the attractions around Rapid City, SD such as Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands, Wall Drug, etc. before turning south back to Denver. Either outbound or inbound you can also visit Rocky Mountain National Park north of Denver. A loop that size would require 3˝ days of driving, so with that in mind you can cut back or not as you see fit.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

With a week you could manage a trip to Yellowstone and back and 'catch' a few sights along the way or see quite a bit of Colorado with less miles to cover so you might want to do a little digging around the Forums, Map centre and other RTA pages to see what appeals to you the most.

To start, you have Rocky mountain NP 'just' up the road and if you continued to Yellowstone via the Grand Tetons you could create a loop by coming back either through Salt lake City and Moab [Arches and Canyonlands] and along I 70; or towards Rapid City where you will find places such as Mount Rushmore, Custer State park, Badlands NP and so on. Either option would be 3 to 3.5 days of solid driving to get around and you will have to like being on the go for it to be 'fun.' You would need at least a couple of days at Yellowstone to get a feel of the place.

A Colorado/Utah trip and you could head to Arches and Canyonlands at Moab and then head Southeast to Durango [Mesa Verde NP] and then North on the very scenic US550 ['Million dollar highway] through the mountain towns of Silverton and Ouray and then US 50 would take you past the Black canyon of the Gunnison, through Currecanti Nat. Rec. area and over Monarch pass. Pikes peak, Cave of the Winds and Garden of the Gods are found in the Manitou Springs area where you could head to on the way back to Denver.

There are many more options so have a look around and when you have a couple of dots on the map for sure we can help to 'fine tune' your trip.