San Francisco to Denver

[Southwest Dave]

One other thought. The Trail ridge road is the highest continous paved road in the USA, but 60 miles west of Denver is the Highest paved road in the USA. Formerly known as Mt Evans scenic byway, it's now called The Mount Blue Sky scenic byway which rises up over 14000ft. You'll have the bragging rights over the lowest point in the USA at Badwater, so you could add the highest (paved) point!

[AZBuck]

I would simply note that as a private pilot flying unpressurized planes, i was encouraged (by the FAA) to use supplemental oxygen above 10,000 feet MSL and REQUIRED to use it above 14,000 feet.

AZBuck

[UKCraig]

Thanks for the continued input, folks!

All hotels now booked and looks like the route is now largely locked in bar certain intentionally spaced days where we might choose to skip a visit or two and re-route if the desire takes us. With regard the extra day we have decided to take that before heading in to Denver thus giving us an extra day in the Colorado Springs area which will allow us to slow down (or squeeze more in if we haven't burned ourselves out by then!)

The Cave of the Winds stop is one that I looked at previously actually however my other half thinks that the kids are a little young still for some of the more adventurous attractions there. We will keep it in reserve though and see how she feels when we are away from the grown up/responsible parent routine just a little!!

The Mount Evans/Blue Sky suggestion is one with legs, for sure. I had seen it before and thought it looked interesting but didn't appreciate its location in relation to where we were planning to be. I will look at getting a reservation for that and we can decide on the day depending upon the weather at the time. It looks like a drive to terrify the passengers which sounds fun!

I am wondering a little about the Hoover Dam tours if anyone has any input. We don't have that much time to spend there really so is it worth going for the full guided dam tour or is the guided power plant tour likely to be sufficiently enticing for a couple of kids? It is a shame that you cannot book the full tour in advance and can only do this on the day; does anyone know if it is worth the risk in waiting for the day to buy tickets? Perhaps you can upgrade the standard tickets on site if there is availability? Sorry for all the questions but I cannot really find an answer to that online.

This is how we are looking for the last few days now:

Thursday 15th August – Day 19:
Great Sand Dunes NP
Drive onwards to Colorado Springs (+/- 2.5 hours)
Overnight accommodation booked: Hyatt Place Colorado Springs/Garden of the Gods

Friday 16th August – Day 20:
Garden of the Gods
Drive up Pikes Peak (reservation required)
Overnight accommodation booked: Hyatt Place Colorado Springs/Garden of the Gods

Saturday 17th August – Day 21:
Drive to Denver (+/- 2 hours)
18:10 Colorado Rockies vs San Diego Padres at Coors Field (tickets booked 17/1)
Overnight accommodation booked: Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown Union Station

Sunday 18th August – Day 22:
Drive out toward Rocky Mountain NP via Peak to Peak Highway (+/- 3 hours)
Drive up Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway – weather dependant (reservation required – available 30 days in advance)
Explore Rocky Mountains NP (reservation required - available 1st July 8am MDT)
Overnight accommodation booked: Worldmark Estes Park

Monday 19th August – Day 23:
Drive Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road (reservation required - available 1st July 8am MDT)
Overnight accommodation booked: Worldmark Estes Park

Tuesday 20th August – Day 24:
Morning in Estes Park
Drive back to Denver Airport (+/- 2 hours)
Take route 34 east through Big Thompson Canyon
Stop at Buc-ee’s in Johnstown
Fly Denver – London (depart 18:35)

As you can see we are going to take the Peak to Peak Highway from Black hawk up to Estes Park so there will be a slight bit of backtracking with Mount Evans but nothing much really. I did wonder about driving through Berthaud Falls and up to Grand Lake before driving east across through RMNP to Estes Park however we quite fancy to drive the Old Falls River Road/Trail Ridge Road loop so we were planning to do that on day 2. Not sure if this is the best solution though; is the Peak to Peak Highway as good as we read? It makes sense on a map to go Denver > Mount Evans > Berthaud Falls > Grand Lake > Trail Ridge Road > Estes Park perhaps but, well, undecided at the moment?

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am wondering a little about the Hoover Dam tours if anyone has any input. We don't have that much time to spend there really so is it worth going for the full guided dam tour or is the guided power plant tour likely to be sufficiently enticing for a couple of kids? It is a shame that you cannot book the full tour in advance and can only do this on the day; does anyone know if it is worth the risk in waiting for the day to buy tickets? Perhaps you can upgrade the standard tickets on site if there is availability? Sorry for all the questions but I cannot really find an answer to that online.

I have done the tours several times -- I think the Full Tour $30 is the best deal at the dam. And I think your kids will find it very cool.

From experience, they found that there were a lot of no-shows when booking ahead. I would say, if you take the time, get there early and try and get the full tour. If not available, the shorter tour is fine too.

You can ask Dave and Lezli -- they did the tour with us.

Mark

[UKCraig]

Great, will definitely try and do that as it does sound good. I was just concerned about not being able to pre-book tickets for that. I finally found one mention on this website which suggests that, should we book the $15 tour tickets we will 100% get on that but we can hopefully upgrade these tickets on site with a bit of luck.

The Guided Power Plant Tour and Self-Guided Visitor Center Tour are both upgradeable on-site if you would like to change your ticket type.

[Southwest Dave]

You can ask Dave and Lezli -- they did the tour with us.

Yes it was well worth it and the views from the bridge are great too!

quite fancy to drive the Old Falls River Road/Trail Ridge Road loop

Yeah that's pretty cool. The Old Falls road isn't recommended in an RV, so we didn't get to see it. The rental companies don't tend to like their vehicles taking to unpaved roads either. But what they don't know.....;-)

[UKCraig]

The rental companies don't tend to like their vehicles taking to unpaved roads either. But what they don't know.....;-)

I've never been busted for it yet... amazes me given some of the things that we have gotten up to in a rental car. Then again I do recall being involved with a race team who was competing at Mondello Park around 20 years ago. Being an 'overseas' race some of the team flew in rather than driving and one of the trucks was left at base to keep ferry costs down meaning that we had reduced spares. Unfortunately one of the cars went on its roof in qualifying and we needed certain parts to get it back in the game which were not available to us. Fortuitously one of the engine technicians had a rental car which was the same model. I presume that Hertz at Dublin airport were surprised to arrive for work early Monday morning to discover a car that had been returned in their absence missing its windscreen, bonnet, half the suspension and various other bits and pieces. In all honesty I am not sure how the guys got access to the site in an articulated race truck to push the wreck off the tail lift! I'm not sure if the gold insurance package covered everything in that instance (!) but I think that it perhaps goes some way to explaining my belief that most car rental people are not going to care too much about a little bit of dust and maybe the tracking being off a little should we decide to take diversion along a dusty road :)

[BillyGr]

I would simply note that as a private pilot flying unpressurized planes, i was encouraged (by the FAA) to use supplemental oxygen above 10,000 feet MSL and REQUIRED to use it above 14,000 feet.

AZBuck

Although that is (or can be) different from on the ground, depending on what one does prior to this.

When you are/were flying, you were going from low elevations to that height very quickly, where someone touring in the area at elevations of 5,000 feet plus for a day or three will acclimate a bit more before hitting those 14,000 foot points.

[AZBuck]

Sorry, I must disagree. Acclimatizing to high altitudes takes far more than a few hours or even a couple of days. Think weeks to months. Also in a plane, one can easily and safely descend at 1,000 ft/min, while in a car to descend that fast on a road with a 3° slope would require you to drive at about 50 mph. 50 mph will be well above the speed limit on a mountainous semi-paved road. Anyone driving roads at these altitudes should be familiar with the symptoms of hypoxia and be at least willing to turn back if they start experiencing such difficulties on the ascent.

AZBuck

[BillyGr]

Sorry, I must disagree. Acclimatizing to high altitudes takes far more than a few hours or even a couple of days. Think weeks to months. Also in a plane, one can easily and safely descend at 1,000 ft/min, while in a car to descend that fast on a road with a 3° slope would require you to drive at about 50 mph. 50 mph will be well above the speed limit on a mountainous semi-paved road. Anyone driving roads at these altitudes should be familiar with the symptoms of hypoxia and be at least willing to turn back if they start experiencing such difficulties on the ascent.

AZBuck

It does NOT take months (or even weeks, maybe a week to week and a half at most).

On that trip I had previously posted, they would fly (in a normal plane, of course) from NY State (near the Hudson, so barely above sea level) to Denver (5,280 feet), then often (when it was open) drive up either Pikes or this Mt. Evans the following day.

Everyone would feel weak (but no one ever had physical issues that were dangerous).

Near the end of the loop (10-12 days later), they would be in Rocky Mountain National Park and hike up (or as far up as weather allowed) Long's Peak, which involves far more effort than driving up the first day did, with none of the impacts that were felt the first day.

Obviously, if someone only has a couple days, they won't be as good as someone who has 10 or 12, but still will be better than these people were 24 hours after leaving NY, with only one overnight at Denver type elevation (that is, it gets better bit by bit, not zero improvement for a week then suddenly you are good).