Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 4 corners - SW Colorado vacation ideas?

Colorado National Monument.

It's an enormous mesa with a road to the top,...nice hiking on top of it,...great views.

We went two summers ago, stayed at the Purgatory ski resort. Did the train ride for the second time, saw 2 bears, a couple elk, and some mule deer on the ride.

The Million Dollar Highway north to Ouray sure is fun, had my wife laying down in the back of the suburban while dad and her grandpa were laughing at her.

Million dollar highway.

Pics from our '10 trip

Ice Lake

Animas Forks



Clear Lake


Bullion King Lake

I'm going to Lake City first of Aug. Going to be fun.

Quite a few dude ranches in that area. Take horses up into some of the high meadows on an all day ride. Did that near Mancos when I was younger and it was memorable.

That's what we did on the advise of some seasoned riders, and we were happy with the decission.

Bristoe, I think you've confused Grand Mesa with Colorado National Monument, I live on the slopes of Grand Mesa and have an excellent view of CNM, but, it's not a mesa. I wouldn't recomend either over the Durango area for a visitor.

Lived in Sliverton 25 years ago when working at the mine there.
Take the train up and bus back. Dont get an open car. Pay the extra for a closed coach. Make train reservations early, if you can.

RipSnort:

Wilson Peak, Mount Wilson, and El Diente Peak are fourteeners located between Durango and Silverton. Most people camp in the gorgeous alpine basins above timberline. Wilson Peak is accessed via Silver Pick Basin and a lot of people camp at an obvious old mine building. Mount Wilson and El Diente Peak are accessed via the upper Dolores River Basin and Navajo Lake is a good place to camp. They are all beautiful and you can see some ski runs from the top of all of them. None of them are truely technical although there is some exposure on El Diente, which you could probably get from the Dunton Meadows Road (USFS road 535) in one day if you were in great shape.

KC

Yep, yep. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a "must do" if you go to Durango.

KC

And dont be a flatlander....dont ride the brakes on downhill grades, keep it geared down and dont get scared and think that you are gonna drive off the edge of the highway and down a cliff by riding the center line, you wont.

Thanks for the tips guys. I should have mentioned in the OP that we'll definitely be doing Mesa/Verde and we'll be doing the one way trip on the train. But is it better to ride UP on the train or BACK on the train or does it even matter? (We'll be sharing tickets). Thanks for the closed car suggestion!
Age ranges in the group will be from infants to 70 years old and everything in between so the activity level will probably trend toward 'less adventure' than more I'd imagine to try and incorporate as many as possible. No cliff climbing for sure.
Most won't be into it but I don't care I'd like to give it a whilrl, any good places to get into some fish? Again there may be kids involved so simple and quantity would be nice? We'll have to rent everything obviously so another consideration.
Thanks again.

And oh yeah, thanks for the Alpine Slide suggestion, I'm sure the kids (and those at heart) will like that.

Telluride has the condos and restaurants, a decent playground for the young ones, and nice views from town, although you can run into some snooty, liberal people. You can walk to trails from downtown (which can get crowded during peak times) and drive a short distance to get more breathing room. Stay in town, not the Mountain Village.

We'll be staying at a large ranch out of any town.

All good info. The confusion about Co. Nat. Monument still needs clearing up, though- it's the rock formation area that forms the south ridge of the Grand Valley- drive up through it either from Grand Junction or Fruita. Grand Mesa- world's largest flattop mountain- is to the East. Both are considerable distance from
4 Corners area.

The embers from the train are true, but they didn't bother me. First time I rode the train was early April, we got an inside car, but halfway through we put on the coats and went outside and stayed there (train was far from full). In my opinion you can see a lot better on the open cars, and a few embers never hurt anyways.

The Colorado National Monument is pretty, but if it's rock formations you wish to see, then Arches National Park near Moab beats the pants off of Colorado National Monument. I'd love to direct you to the Grand Valley (Grand Junction area where I live) but, there are better places for you to see on this trip.

We are an hour or two from the area you are talking about but if you pass thru Gunnison, I can take you fishing or out on the raft or to the shooting range...

Of course if our schedules work out.