July in Southern Colorado, where to?

[Huckleberry]

Would like to spend several days in Southern Colorado. Anyone have suggestions for a extended camp of maybe a week?

[traveldawg]

Durango: train ride; drive the $M highway; San Juan scenic drive; shopping:

Cortez: Mesa Verde; various Anasazi ruins; 4 corners

Delores: Mesa Verde; various Anasazi ruins; relax

[Dick Noble]

Which part? East is kind of barren. West - like Durango, is wonderful. Pagosa Springs has great camping, fishing, hiking and hot springs. Durango has the narrow gage steam train. If you take this do the one way up and bus back. Make reservations now -- ii may already be to late. The four corners area is OK for sight-seeing -- it is a desert all around it.

[JCZhome]

Ouray, Silverton, Durango on the Million Dollar Hwy. A say trip to Telluride is also well worth it! Silverton has a nice RV park if you're coming in from Durango. I would not suggest going to Silverton from Ouray with a trailer. As a matter of fact, I'll take that a step further and recommend against taking that route with any size of trailer.

[INLTApilot]

My daughter and SIL live in Alamosa.
Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park is neat but stay off the dunes in the afternoon (the sand gets INCREDIBLY hot).
In the middle of nowhere about 20 miles north of Alamosa is a hot spring fed swimming pool that has an RV park (disclaimer - I have never stayed there). The pool is nice and the scenery better.
The Stations of the Cross in San Luis is interesting.
The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad in Antonito.

[Gene Thompson]

I will second the comment on staying away from the Ouray- Silverton drive. Day trip only. NO RV's!!

[Likes to tow]

For those not familiar with the drive from Ouray to Silverton this stretch of road is breathtakingly beautiful but unbelievably dangerous in places. Colorado does not believe in guard rails and in some places there is no room for guard rails!! The white line at the edge of the road is three inches from a straight down plunge hundreds of feet!!! You won't believe it. How it got the name of Million Dollar Highway is rather interesting and some different opinions float around. I like the one where some people who have traveled it will say "I would not travel this road for a million dollars." Some people pull 5th wheel RV's across to Silverton with great caution. There is only a few places that are extremely dangerous but the overall experience makes it worthwhile. We stayed in a really nice RV park near Montrose and made it our base camp for a week of sightseeing and driving all the beautiful roads to Durango, Silverton and Telluride. It worked very well and I was not pulling anything. Just drive slow, take your time and don't let anyone crowd you into driving too fast in the scary spots. I was drawn to this highway like a moth to a fire. We drove over the million dollar highway three times. What a rush!! Go on youtube, there are several nice videos of this drive. It's a must see if in the area.

[DougW9876]

Montrose is centrally located to allow day trips to Silverton/Durango, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado National Monument, and Telluride.

[goldsp8]

I agree with likes to tow. I love driving that road. But I am also very comfortable with my equipment and my ability to stop or pull whatever is needed. I know 2 of my sisters would die if that even looked at the pictures of that road. So to me it depends upon your comfort level. JHMO

[2hams]

For those not familiar with the drive from Ouray to Silverton this stretch of road is breathtakingly beautiful but unbelievably dangerous in places. Colorado does not believe in guard rails and in some places there is no room for guard rails!! The white line at the edge of the road is three inches from a straight down plunge hundreds of feet!!! You won't believe it. How it got the name of Million Dollar Highway is rather interesting and some different opinions float around. I like the one where some people who have traveled it will say "I would not travel this road for a million dollars." Some people pull 5th wheel RV's across to Silverton with great caution. There is only a few places that are extremely dangerous but the overall experience makes it worthwhile. We stayed in a really nice RV park near Montrose and made it our base camp for a week of sightseeing and driving all the beautiful roads to Durango, Silverton and Telluride. It worked very well and I was not pulling anything. Just drive slow, take your time and don't let anyone crowd you into driving too fast in the scary spots. I was drawn to this highway like a moth to a fire. We drove over the million dollar highway three times. What a rush!! Go on youtube, there are several nice videos of this drive. It's a must see if in the area.

You don’t want to tow the Million Dollar Highway. It is beautiful country. My aunt lived in the next town west of Ouray; she always said that there were no guardrails because they would just slide down the mountain. Her story on the Million Dollar Highway was that either it cost a million dollars to build or that they towed a million dollars in silver over the road. Telluride (aka to ell you ride) is an interesting town, but has lost some of the charm it had in the mid 1960s.


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