Mountain Love – Colorado 2016

Touring Colorado

Colorado was one of the first epic trips that John & I went on. One of the first places that I instantly fell in love with! Where I found my love of mountains.

We took this trip before Aitbnb was really popular. And we were too poor to afford a hotel room.. So we rented a Dodge Durango to tour Colorado and to sleep in.. Pretty spacious actually!

Our Travels

We flew into Denver, and picked up our rental vehicle and then got the hell out of there! We did as much touring as we possibly could in an eight day vacation! From the rocky mountains to the Sand Dunes covered in snow! It was all so breath taking!

Loch Vale Trail

Loch Vale was our first stop! An absolute beautiful hike in the Rocky Mountains! The different type of birds had me amazed! We brought snowshoes in case they were needed. It was about 50 degrees, but the snow was up to our waste in some parts, but the air felt so different in Colorado VS NY. We were in T-shirts, hiking in snow up to our waste! Pristine beauty! The view of the canyon and the surroundings are absolutely breathtaking!

Flattop Mountain!

Don’t let the name fool you! It was was still a climb! But worth every Minute! Flattop Mountain was about 1,430 feet in elevation gain and about a 3.5 mile hike. The place we rented our snowshoes from advised us that mid day the storms get bad. Colorado is considered the lighting-prone state. Colorado is one of the most deadly states for lightening. And you should be off of the mountain by mid afternoon. We got to the top at about 12p.m, so this was on my mind most of the time!

This was the first time I felt like I was on top of the world!

Our Favorite Places!

The Rocky Mountain National Park

The Rocky Mountain National Park is in Northern Colorado and encompasses protected mountains, forests and alpine tundra! Even if you aren’t an avid hiker, you can still experience the beauty of the Rocky Mountains!

The Hot Springs!!

Colorado was the first place I experienced hot springs! We went in some rather gross ones, and we went in some awesome ones too! Check them out!

Rattlesnake Arches

Rattlesnake arches is a must! We definitely took the rental off-roading for this one! It is located near Grand Junction, Colorado and features TONS of beautiful wild flowers! The lizards were my favorite!

Bridal Veil Falls, Telluride

Telluride is our all time favorite mountain town! At 8,750′ Elevation, it’s a former Victorian Mining town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, set in a box canyon amid forested peaks at the base of a popular ski-and-gold resort. Bridal Veil Falls is a 365-foot waterfall at the end of the box canyon overlooking Telluride!

Mesa Verde National Park

If you are into some history- Mesa Verde National Park is a must! Mesa Verde National Park is in southwest Colorado. It’s known for its well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, “Cliff Palace”.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is in southern Colorado. It’s known for huge dunes! Trails lead to forests, wetlands and alpine lakes. We slept in the Durango, of course, and we woke up to inches of snow on the vehicle! It was the end of May!! Not what we expected! But, we still took a trip to the Great Dand Dunes National Park, which was also covered in snow! People were snowboarding down the sand dunes, while kids were playing in the glacier water on boogie boards!

Additional Helpful Information

There are camp sites and rest areas that will allow you to pay to use their showers if you are indeed like us and sleeping out of your vehicle!

Where we slept!

We ended up detailing our dodge durango before returning back to the rental place because of all the dust!!

We would go back to Colorado in a heartbeat!

Thanks for Reading!
Cheers!

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