Colorado Vacation

[Gordon Kumpuris]

Thinking about driving my two girls from AR to Colorado for a week in late June or the first week in July. They are 12 and 16. Could probably scare up a raft to take to get a little wet once or twice. Wondering where would be a good place to base out of?? Buena Vista perahaps?? Salida?? Any recommended campgrounds? Inexpensive motels perhaps? Is it super crowded? Are campgrounds available and are they packed?? I assume that hiking opportunites abound. Other activities that might be of interest??

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[sugarmtngal]

Gordon,
The reason I like Durango so much is cause it's
similar to Fayetteville AR with a great river thru it!
The Animas has many classes of water and
you can never get bored; especially the children.
There is a great campsite with built in swimming
pool, showers, bathrooms, horseback riding, and the family
that owns it are wonderful people! Very safe! north of River Bend and
about 15 minutes from downtown Durango. Last year
they charged me $ 25 per day for tent setup:)
Last week I got a hotel room for $36 per night,
but that's out of season; hotels/motels run
$70 and up! Lots of rafts and the train ride up to
Teluride/Silverton area is spectacular! And if
you decide to want to raft for an adrenaline rush
definitely RockBox area.....Level 4,4,5,5,
All if Colorado is wonderful......
Gretchen

[GN YAKN]

I want to go.

You can't beat either Salida or Buena Vista. See when the FIBARK festival is in town and try to catch that in Salida. Good music, festival, arts, crafts, food, downriver boat race that is hysterical, uphill, and downhill foot race that is insane.

Camp grounds aren't bad at all. There is a National Forest campground at about 9,000 feet just outside of Buena Vista that is nice. Hiking, wildflowers, mountain biking opportunites are limitless. Plenty of rafting outfitters that can take you down Brown's Canyon or throught he Royal Gouge. (Yes the spelling is wrong but pay the price to walk over the bridge and you'll understand why I call it the Royal Gouge and not Gorge!"

Park and Play holes in BV and Salida. Drive up to Leadville and take your bikes for a ride on a paved path that goes through all the old mining sites. Go on over to Breckenridge for a day trip.

Hell, take me with you!!!! (Durango IS nice too, ride the bus up and the train back if you ride the train and be sure to go to Ouray!)

Dave

[mtnmanyaker]

A bunch of us from Fayetteville are going the week of the June 14-20 and FIBARK is that weekend we're going to stay somewhere around salida it's really nice up there.

[Gordon Kumpuris]

Ok let's say I was arriving in Colorado on a sunday evening or a Monday. Any thoughts on campgroud availabilty in and around Buena Vista? Does it get booked up like you see here at our lake sites? What is the name of the place you mentioned Dave? National Park, State Park??
Basically I don't want to drive for two days only to find a campground that says no vacancy!!

[okieboater]

http://parks.state.co.us/parks/arkansas ... gHome.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/rockymtn/si.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check these two sites out for camping along the Arkansas River Bank and in the National Forest area.

[Big Daddy D]

Last time I took the family, we stayed at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. If you don't want to stay in a cabin or at the lodge, there's a campground a few miles up the canyon. You can still swim at the hot springs and play on the waterslide for a small fee. It's conveniently located between Salida and Buena Vista

http://www.mtprinceton.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BDD

[GN YAKN]

I couldn't remember the name of the resort but Big Daddy D is onto a great idea. Cindy and I walked around through the Mt Princeton HS's and it was pretty cool. They have a huge pool that your girls would love. Very centrally located to BV and Salida and just 4 - 5 miles from the rafting outfitters. Good suggestion.

[okieboater]

Princeton also has motel type lodging up the hill. Francine and I stayed there several times when she was running shuttles for us. We have had dinner in the Princeton "big house" and it is pretty much a hi dollar event but very nice treat. This was a long time ago and may have changed.

The Hot Springs Princeton pool is great and highly recommended. Beware of the sun cooking you if you stay multiple hours (easy to do)

You can camp up the road from Princeton in the National Forest and these are some of the best camp sites I have seen in many trips to these types of camps.

The Evergreen is the place for breakfast in BV.

Last few times I have been in BV, we ate lunch in the new cafe in the housing development down Main St along side the river. I have had 4 or 5 of the menu items there and all were good. This is close to CKS, so you can shop there as well.

Hamburgers in the DQ by the park on the main drag are also a tradition.

I have heard that Jan's is also a good place to eat breakfast, just never strayed from Evergreen's great food.

Public Shower in the Rec Center just across the ball fields from the play park.

Drive up the road to Cottonwood Pass and there is a hot springs setup there as well. Not as classy as Princetons but still fun.

[RandyJ]

Memorable campgrounds, off the top of my head:

• Twin Lakes, north of Buena Vista. Great views, good location. Easy day trip over Independence Pass to Aspen.
• Ouray - amazing place - campground right above town. Million Dollar Highway from Silverton - amazing. Echo Canyon in town - amazing. Did I mention Ouray? Amazing.
• Buena Vista - some primitive camping up above town to the east. Take the next left past KOA, work your way up the dirt road sort of to the top of the hill. Great views. Had a sweet spot there last year. Ate dinner on a sofa-shaped boulder and watched a beautiful sunset and moonrise.
• Primitive camping up on Clear Creek (Ark River)
• Needleton on the Upper Animas. Ride the train in, get them to drop you there at the footbridge, do some day hikes, catch the train back out the next day...or the next...or the next ;-). Superb alpine scenery and camping. Take your warmies - almost always chilly up there. Might need backcountry permit.

[Tmuse]

Sweet camping up the clear creek valley of the Arkansas, some nice camping up on mt. princeton and there is an old ghost town which is St. Elmo, really cool place. the hot springs are great to. Crested Butte is also a neat town, great boating on the local creeks, rafting over near Almont on the Taylor river. Lots of fishing, Hiking, Horse back riding. Nice sunsets, and it gets dark around 10 pm. And the list goes on and on. Have fun!

[paddledog]

We have always camped at Frog Rock
4 miles outside BV, a great drive with two tunnels brings you into town,
or you can paddle to town for breakfast.
Free camping with no amenities. Just a couple hundred feet from the river.
You just have to move your camp at least once every two weeks.
If you paddle to town,
the BV wave is the last thing you go through before the town takeout.
Pay showers and good free bathrooms at the town takeout.
Buffalo Joe's outfitter is right downtown along with a great little dinner
and a well stocked adult beverage store. A grocery store is on the south end of town.
If you plan on staying more than a couple days, sign up for their discount
card. It is worth it.

It is called "Elephant Rock" by the rock climbers who use the nearby sheer walls
to climb and train. We sit in the evening and sweat just watching them climb.
It is on a dirt road that is great for mountain biking with lots of little roads/trails
taking off from it. Most of the Collegiate mountains are to the west giving great
sunsets.

Just my two cents...........

[Gordon Kumpuris]

Wow! Excellent information folks. Keep it coming! I'm getting excited. Hope my girls are 1/2 as excited.

Now if it's not too much to ask, please think like a teenage girl. By that I mean don't think like a smelly kayaker . They will camp (I think) but they want the experience to be as yuck free and pleasent as possible. Clean and readily accessible showers and bathrooms are critical for instance. Also I will likely be the lone adult and my oldest does not drive yet so they pretty much have to go everywhere I go. I might be able to sneak in an hour or two at a playspot but any activities will have to be pretty much family friendly. Is the weather still fairly mild during late June/early July in Buena Vista?
And again have you guys experienced any crowded campround problems. Don't want to show up to find No Vacancy signs.

[Tmuse]

Great weather in the day, little chilly at night, good for a fire. You can always put them on a raft and do some kayaking with the raft company.If you need showers you can find some camping that is geared towards the rv users that have tent pads. Not to crowded that time of the year, of course colorado is a huge state, takes for ever it seems to get around. I will think of some more info. We are going out the last week of June for like 9 or 10 days.

[hdh]

Several of the arklatex folks will be out the week of fourth of July!

Harlan