Colorado's Best Travel Destinations: A Comprehensive Guide

Colorado is a popular destination for outdoor adventurers, skiers, nature lovers, and history buffs. The state boasts a range of natural attractions, from snow-capped peaks and national parks to hiking trails and hot springs.

Colorado is home to several renowned ski resorts, including Aspen, Telluride, and Crested Butte, as well as vibrant cities such as Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Estes Park. The state also offers an array of cultural attractions, including museums, art galleries, and historical sites such as the Ute Indian Museum and Fort Garland.

Some of the most popular natural destinations in Colorado include:

- Rocky Mountain National Park

- Mesa Verde National Park

- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

- Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Rocky Mountain National Park

The Rocky Mountain National Park is Colorado's most popular national park, attracting over 3 million visitors each year. The park offers something for all kinds of travellers, from snow-capped mountains and alpine lakes to challenging hikes and relaxing scenic drives.

The park is located approximately 55 miles northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It spans 415 square miles, encompassing a spectacular range of mountain environments, from meadows found in the montane life zone to glistening alpine lakes and towering mountain peaks. The Continental Divide runs directly through the centre of the park, with the headwaters of the Colorado River located in the northwestern region.

The park features over 300 miles of hiking trails, offering exhilarating hikes and quiet walks. Visitors can also enjoy scenic drives, wildlife watching, horseback riding, rock climbing, and backpacking. The park is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including elk, bighorn sheep, moose, marmots, pika, and many other wild creatures.

Some of the most popular things to do in the Rocky Mountain National Park include visiting Bear Lake, hiking to Emerald Lake and Dream Lake, and driving the beautiful Trail Ridge Road. The park is accessible through Estes Park or via the western entrance at Grand Lake, with five visitor centres located throughout the park.

The Rocky Mountain National Park is a must-visit destination for anyone seeking to explore the natural beauty and outdoor adventures that Colorado has to offer. With its stunning scenery, diverse wildlife, and array of activities, it is no wonder that it is one of the most visited national parks in the country.

Mesa Verde National Park

The park was established by Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and occupies 52,485 acres near the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. For over 700 years, the Ancestral Pueblo people built thriving communities on the mesas and in the cliffs of Mesa Verde. The park protects the rich cultural heritage of 27 Pueblos and Tribes and offers visitors a spectacular window into the past.

The first occupants of the Mesa Verde region were nomadic Paleo-Indians who arrived in the area around 9500 BC. They followed herds of big game and camped near rivers and streams, many of which dried up as the glaciers that once covered parts of the San Juan Mountains receded. Starting around 7500 BC, the area was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rock shelters in and around the mesa. By 1000 BC, the Basketmaker culture had emerged from the local Archaic population, and by 750 AD, the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture.

The Pueblo people survived using a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century, they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which the park is known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by severe and prolonged droughts, they migrated south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico.

Today, visitors to Mesa Verde can explore the rich history and cultural heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people through guided tours of the cliff dwellings and other archaeological sites. The park offers hiking trails, a campground, and facilities for food, fuel, and lodging during the peak season. Mesa Verde National Park is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in history, culture, and the great outdoors.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a stunning natural park located in western Colorado. Managed by the National Park Service, the park offers breathtaking views of steep cliffs, towering spires, and ancient rock formations. Here are four to six paragraphs highlighting the beauty and attractions of this incredible destination.

Geological Wonders and History

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is characterised by its deep, river-carved gorge with sheer walls. The Gunnison River, which flows through the canyon, drops an average of 34 feet per mile, making it one of the steepest mountain descents in North America. The extreme steepness and depth of the canyon are the result of various geological processes, primarily the erosive force of the river itself. The ancient volcanic activity and uplift events in the region also contributed to the formation of this natural wonder.

Things to Do and See

The park boasts two primary entrances: the south rim entrance, located 15 miles east of Montrose, and the north rim entrance, 11 miles south of Crawford. The south rim is open year-round, while the north rim is closed during winter. Visitors can enjoy scenic drives along US Highway 50 and Colorado Highway 92, as well as hiking trails that offer breathtaking views of the canyon. The Painted Wall cliff is a particularly striking feature, with its stripes of colour.

Wildlife and Nature

The park is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. Native plants include aspen, Ponderosa pine, sagebrush, and wildflowers. Wildlife enthusiasts may spot black bears, coyotes, bobcats, elk, river otters, and pronghorns, among other species. The canyon is also a haven for birdwatchers, with resident birds such as American dippers, eagles, hawks, owls, and Steller's jays.

Outdoor Activities

In addition to its scenic beauty, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison offers a variety of outdoor activities. Fishing is popular in the highly regarded waters of the Gunnison River. Climbing is also a draw, with many advanced climbers attempting the challenging routes. Rafting opportunities exist in the region, but the run through the park is only suitable for expert kayakers due to its technical difficulty.

Practical Information

When planning a visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, it is important to keep in mind that it receives relatively few visitors, with an annual average of about 190,000 tourists. The park offers camping facilities, with the east end being the most developed for camping and other activities like boat tours and fishing. The west end provides river access by automobile and guided tours of the canyon. The north rim has a small, primitive campground and is accessible by automobile.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Colorado is known for its incredible natural beauty, from its snow-capped peaks to its national parks, hiking trails, and ski resorts. The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is one of the best places to visit in Colorado. Located in Saguache and Alamosa Counties, in south-central Colorado, the park is home to the tallest sand dunes in North America, rising up to 750 feet (229 metres) from the floor of the San Luis Valley. The dunes are estimated to contain over 1.2 cubic miles (5 billion cubic metres) of sand and cover an area of about 30 square miles (78 square kilometres).

The park offers a unique outdoor experience, with activities such as sand sledding, hiking, horseback riding, and fat biking. Visitors can also enjoy floating down the park's stretch of Medano Creek, which has a unique surge flow where small underwater sand ridges create surges of water that resemble waves. The park is open year-round, but the best time to visit is during spring and fall, as summer can bring scorching sand and thunderstorms.

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has a rich history, with evidence of human habitation in the area dating back about 11,000 years. The first historic peoples to inhabit the area were the Southern Ute Tribe, and the area also has cultural connections to the Apache and Navajo tribes. In the late 17th century, Diego de Vargas, a Spanish governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, became the first European to enter the San Luis Valley. The park was established as a national monument in 1932 to protect it from gold mining and concrete manufacturing and was later redesignated as a national park and preserve in 2004.

The park and preserve offer a diverse landscape, with grasslands, wetlands, forests, alpine lakes, and tundra surrounding the dunes. The dunes themselves are composed of reversing dunes, transverse dunes, and star dunes, and the area includes a sand sheet that feeds the dune field and covers about 90% of the sand deposit. The park is also home to a variety of wildlife, including mammals such as pika, yellow-bellied marmot, bighorn sheep, black bear, and coyote, as well as over 250 species of birds and several types of reptiles and amphibians.

Colorado Springs

The city is a great choice for outdoor enthusiasts, with hiking and biking trails, ski resorts, and hot springs. The surrounding area is also home to several renowned ski resorts, including Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs. For those seeking a more relaxed pace, there are quaint downtown neighbourhoods, such as Manitou Springs, with its unique shops and restaurants.

The city is easily navigable by car, and some attractions are also accessible by public bus or on foot. Colorado Springs also has a bike-share program, PikeRide, offering bike rentals for as little as $2.

Frequently asked questions