I recommend Rocky Mountain National Park. Depending on when you make it here, there is a road you can drive in one side of the park and exit out the other. It opens in the MAy/June time frame and closes in the fall sometime, depending on when the snow starts falling. Its called Trail Ridge Road, and its the highest continuous road in the USA. On the west side you have the town of Grand Lake, on the East is the town Estes Park. Both nice little towns to grab food and souvenirs. Estes Park by far is more touristy and has a lot more shops, but as far as touristy places go I like it.
If you go to RMNP there is tons of hikes along the way that you could chose to do. While not along Trail Ridge Road, one of my favorite short hikes in RMNP is Emerald Lake from the Bear Lake trailhead. 1.8 miles(one way) / 650 feet of vertical. There is a bunch of other lakes right there as well if you wish to make the hike longer. I believe that trailhead is open year round, so even if the Trail Ridge Road is closed, you should still be able to make it to the Bear Lake TH. Call the park to confirm.
and here are some pictures i took when i was last there .... there were millions of ladybugs .. it was amazing
Those are some increadible pics. I had a somewhat similar experience at Dinosaur National Park with crickets all over the road. It literally looked like the ground was moving. I did not want to smush any but you could not find a clear spot on the ground.
The roads in RMNP are currently under construction, just FYI.
We've found great hiking at local Open Spaces, these are down South (Franktown) but free:
Gateway Mesa Open Space (loop)
Mitchell Creek Trail (off of Gateway Mesa)
Hidden Mesa (have to cross Cherry Creek Trail from CO83)
Hidden Mesa (loop- you can park at the top in a neighborhood for hiking only)
Dawson Butte Ranch (loop)
All of these are hiking (as opposed to like the paved parts of the Cherry Creek Trail System)
There is also Castlewood Canyon State Park which has hikes on both sides of the canyon, which is worth the entry fee if you're visiting.
I agree with a previous post. Devils head is a great location. You can 4 wheel up there, hike it, atv it, dirt bike it, camp it. Great all around place to do just about anything! Going this weekend actually! Have fun!
there is this 4wheel trail in bolder county that i've been wanting to try. they call it T-33A Plane Crash and you 4wheel to this hiking trail where you can go see where a plane crashed about 45 years ago.
here is more information TrailDamage.com - T-33A Plane Crash
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