What places in Colorado are worth visiting?
Telluride, Ouray and Durango are all amazing. I'd go in the winter, but you better have 4 wheel drive and snow chains.
>>2743878Bring lots of money to spend. Don't cause trouble or be annoying. Don't stay too long.
SW and NW Colorado are great. Denver is extremely overrated, generic Midwest city with bad traffic and high prices. There’s absolutely nothing in Colorado east of Denver, just plains.
>>2743878Grand Mesa is like a piece of Minnesota in the desert of western Colorado.Fort Collins is lovely for bicycling and has a fair bit of street life. Manitou Springs has a lot of cute hippie-ish college girls visiting in the warmer months.Victor has awesome fall foliage and a kickass bakery. Limited camping options nearby, however.Chaffee County, where I live and work, is absolutely overrun with visitors in the summer, but strangely enough the number of hikers in the high Rockies has declined since 2019.Crusted Butt is really bougie, but has some great hikes. Who knows about the dispersed camping, wigger trash keeps ruining lovely free campsites all over Colorado and the Forest Service then builds log barriers and posts camping prohibitions.I liked Silverton. Met a girl there who liked me, we were smoking weed on the roof my truck and a sheriff's deputy came by but he didn't give us a hard time. Met her again the next summer, she was a lousy lay and threw me out of the house in the morning.Pagosa Springs has seen tons of new development, but there's hella cool spots in the Weminuche Wilderness.The San Luis Valley is bleak and dusty, but you can find endless free camping far from the crowds all along the west side of the valley. Great hikes in the Sangre de Cristos as well.Hiking down from Mosca Pass into the Great Sand Dunes National Park to avoid paying the entrance fee is heckin awesome.
>>2743878Black Hawk CasinoShotgun Willie’s Topless only strip clubThat’s literally it. The people suck too
>>2744486>SW and NW Colorado are great. Denver is extremely overrated, generic Midwest city with bad traffic and high prices. There’s absolutely nothing in Colorado east of Denver, just plains.I sort of like it more than say....Ohio, because my neighbors/friends have more money to have fun in Denver
>>2744054This guy knows. The only thing good about Denver is the airport lol
>>2744817The 16th Street Mall should be pretty cool for people watching once it's completed. Last time I was there back in October I was impressed by how many intelligent & good-looking young white people there were out socializing and enjoying the 75 degree autumn sunshine on a weekday afternoon. For a while Denver was in a slump and you saw more crackhead bums around downtown than respectable people, but I think it's beginning to turn around. Nasty sewer smells plague the downtown area, unfortunately.
I'm planning on visiting Colorado in March. I'm a South texas native so I'm 100% not prepared for the winter difference. What clothing is recommended? Snow boots and snow jackets?
My uncle's liquor store :)
>>2745941It can be 70s in March, or a howling blizzard. Expect most days to be breezy and invigorating with more sun than clouds, nights to be bitterly cold and calm. Waterproof shoes are a good idea.
I have June Colorado trip planned Day 0: Drive 11 hrs to Moab.Day 1: Moab into Mesa Verde, do Cliff Palace tour and overlooks, head north via Lizard Head pass to Telluride. Eat in Telluride and ride the free(!) gondola. Head north to Ouray if time permits, then up to Black Canyon of the Gunnison to dispersed camp.Day 2: Black Canyon of the Gunnisson overlooks and Warner Point. Head from Gunnisson to Aspen via Maclure Pass. See Aspen area main sights (Maroon Bells, Aspen town) then descend Independence Pass to an intermediate point between Twin Lakes and Estes Park. If not totally exhausted, push as close as possible to Rocky Mountain National Park. Dispersed camp.Day 3: Enter RMNP no later than 6 AM. Hike Bear/NymphDream/Emerald/Haiyaha Lakes, then head across to The Loch/Lake of Glass/Sky Pond. Around 12 miles hiking total, expected to take all day. This night I would stay in a motel.Day 4: In the early AM take Trail Ridge Rd to RT-9 south on to Fairplay. From there continue south to Great Sand Dunes NP. Climb the tallest dune in Great Sand Dunes then head south following the Culebras. Hopefully I can be in Taos by around 6 and get dinner then head to Santa Fe for the night. If im too exhausted ill just stay in the sand dunes.Day 5: Drive from Santa Fe to Sedona, stopping in Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon.Day 6: Sedona then drive back home.This route:>hits all 4 National Parks in Colorado>does not backtrack>visits almost every major mountain range of Colorado (both sides of the Front Range, Sawatch Range, San Juan, Elk, Gore, Sangre de Cristo, Mosquito)
>>2746849that's crazy, have you done this kind of road trip before? that is a fuck ton of driving for such a short amount of time, you won't have time to enjoy anything. personally I think you should just focus on the SW of the state, spend the best part of a day each at Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde and Black Canyon and then spend the other 2 days hiking in the San Juans. save RMNP for another time, it's not even that great, the San Juans are the prettiest range in CO in my opinion (followed by the Elk). but that's just me. Honestly CO in general is not that spectacular, it's nice and there's plenty to see and explore but none of it is "must see". The National Parks are all just ok, not bad, better than most of the parks in the Eastern US but worse than most of the parks in the Western US.
>>2744054surprised to see durango on here lol. i've been a few times and it's fine for nearby skiing, and it's cool to take the train and go up to silverton and stuff, but imo there's not much else there
>>2746869there are granola girls at the college desperate for some good dickin
>>2746866I have, I did all 5 parks in Utah in 5 days.For example, in one day I hiked the Navajo Loop in Bryce after visiting all viewpoints, drove RT-12 and got a coffee at the Kiva Coffeehouse, did Cassidy Arch and Hickman Natural Bridge in Capitol Reef and had the tent set up in Goblin Valley as the sun was setting. At the end of the day I was so wired, didn’t feel tired at all. The driving was absolutely incredible, driving is a big part of the experience, especially RT-12, arguably the greatest stretch of road in the United States. I could’ve spent 2 days in Capitol Reef, but one could argue the best way to really see it is to take the Burr Trail over and drive its length - which no one does.For me the driving is a big part of why I want to do this trip, I want to drive over a number of mountain passes and see a bunch of these little mountain towns and there are a few places I’m really eager to just ogle the mountains at. I do love standing in the mountain air. I don’t see how I could spend a whole day in the sand dunes. After I’ve hiked the highest dune and just enjoyed it for a while I can’t see what else I’d really need to do (my experience at Kelso). Same with Black Canyon, it’s maybe 2 hrs driving along the rim max, then Warner Point, then… what? I can’t imagine spending half a day there, as beautiful as it is. I can just stare at it for a good couple of hours and feel satisfied that I will remember it well enough. Hiking down into it seems exceptionally difficult so that’s a non-starter. Mesa Verde I really want to do the guided tour to Cliff Palace (which is like 2 hours), if I can get that in, I’m more than satisfied with that leg of the trip.Im definitely spoiled by the Sierra Nevada, based on what I’ve seen, the Colorado Rockies are less rugged and filled with numerous roads whereas the Sierras are basically an untouched wilderness by comparison.
>>2746897>driving is a big part of the experiencewell that's where we differ I guess, the driving is just the means to an end for me, how I wish for self driving cars to just take me to where I want to be and then I can escape into the wild for a while. But I do agree that Colorado has a lot of nice drives, lots of high mountain passes and even driveable summits due to the mountains not being that rugged. But I still think you're underestimating how long some of these drives are or how long things will take. I've spent a lot of time in the Sierra myself, I love it mostly for the waterfalls and the Sequoias but not so much for general scenery beyond Yosemite Valley. Tahoe area is fine, and the Minarets area is nice also, but the Southern Sierra in particular just looks kind of drab and gray to me. The San Juans and Elk are very colorful by comparison, both the mountains and the vegetation, nice mix of red rock, green vegetation, blue lakes, and in the fall, yellow. The fall colors in the Sierra were underwhelming. You're right about the vast wilderness though, which is another part of the reason that I like the San Juans also, has some of that same feeling. also, the highest dune (Star) is a tough hike and you probably don't want to do it in summer unless you start before sunrise. High Dune is the one most people do and doable in a couple hours if you're fit, still tough going up sand though, and hot.Warner Point is actually probably my least favorite viewpoint on the south rim.
>>2743878Pretty much all of it west of i-25.
Is Glenwood Springs good? Thinking of taking Amtrak there
>>2743878The whole thing. Natural beauty, a city ruined by liberals, and a plains area destroyed by immigration and globalization. You get the full American experience.
>>2747121i like glenwood a lot but i wouldn't exactly describe it as a destination. idk if you can even go to hanging lake again yet. the hotsprings is pretty much what you end up with when you don't have autistic japanese bathing rules. i would say glenwood is more of an attraction in the summer when you actuslly can use the river but in the winter it can be a relatively affordable gateway to the mountains with a lot more local charm than anywhere upvalley even though that mostly comes in the form of truckers and homeless people
Nothing in Colorado is as beautiful or interesting as its equivalent in a neighboring state. Name any one thing in CO, I'll give you a better alternative in WY, UT, or NM, and as a bonus you won't have to deal with Coloradans in order to access it.>>2747156I can tell you live in the Springs
>>2747912what spots in WY do you like anon?
>>2747912Campsites 9000' or higherNone of those other states have anywhere close to the number of high-altitude summer campsites that Colorado has. >won't have to deal with ColoradansI don't have to deal with them in Colorado either, apart from sharing the roads with them. Coloradans are anti-social toward strangers by nature; their politeness is always a facade.
>>2747156Sounds like you've been to Fort Morgan, kekThey should change its name to Mutt City.
>>2747912Nah, Colorado's mountains are great, they're colorful and pretty, especially the San Juans and Elk, I prefer them over any other mountains in the lower 48 besides maybe the Glacier NP area. I also love the Sierra but more so because of the waterfalls and Sequoias and not the mountain scenery. And especially in fall, no other area in the west can touch Colorado's fall colors. And more /trv/ than /out/, Colorado's mountain towns are the best, and there's tons of them for different fancies. Telluride is the most scenic mountain town this side of the Alps, it's what you picture when you think mountain town. Ouray, Crested Butte and others aren't far behind. Aspen, Steamboat, Breckenridge etc have more amenities like shopping and night life but still have that cozy, isolated mountain town feel. Jackson is good but it's almost "too" isolated, and thus has "bigger city" amenities like shopping areas with big supermarkets and parking lots. Also it's not actually that scenic since it's not actually adjacent to the Tetons or the ski area, and it doesn't even snow that much in Jackson proper so it rarely has that cozy, heavy snow look. Park City is good too, but it doesn't feel that isolated, very close to SLC of course but also that whole valley area east of the Wasatch is basically SLC suburbs at this point. Also the mountains it's directly adjacent to are not actually that big either.
>>2743878Jefferson County Jail, feels like home bros can't wait. Last time I was there we had tv, food, comfy beds, was allowed to go to work and I got to sleep in my own clothes. Surrounded by friends, was awesome bro
