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Started By
Message
re: Great Sand Dunes NP in a half day?
Posted on 6/9/23 at 1:48 pm to iwantacooler
Posted on 6/9/23 at 1:48 pm to iwantacooler
quote:
May as well see Mesa Verde and Black Canyon of the Gunnison if you haven’t already planned to see them.
The plan is do, in this order: Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Durango, Great Sand Dunes, then back home.
I wish I had more time cause I would’ve loved to have thrown in Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Heck, I wish I could throw in at least one of those on this trip.
Will have to do all of that another trip.
This post was edited on 6/9/23 at 1:52 pm
2
Posted on 6/9/23 at 2:04 pm to PillageUrVillage
Sounds like a good plan.
If you’ve got 6hrs to spare on your trip, you could work in black canyon. It’s about 4.5hrs longer to get to sand dunes from Durango if you stop by black canyon on the way. You can see the main road/overlooks in black canyon in 2hrs or less. If you are a serious hiker and want to hike to the bottom it would obviously take longer there. A bonus would be you get to drive the million dollar highway on the way.
If you’ve got 6hrs to spare on your trip, you could work in black canyon. It’s about 4.5hrs longer to get to sand dunes from Durango if you stop by black canyon on the way. You can see the main road/overlooks in black canyon in 2hrs or less. If you are a serious hiker and want to hike to the bottom it would obviously take longer there. A bonus would be you get to drive the million dollar highway on the way.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 2:11 pm to PillageUrVillage
quote:
Four Corners
everyone says skip this. We went see it. It's alright and cool to say "i'm in Utah, now i'm in Arizona, etc." I guess its a place that's cool to say you've been, but it's really nothing much to see or do.
You have to wait in a dumb arse line to take a picture at the actual point of the 4 corners. You also have to pay like $30 to get in, which seems like a racket for this place.
I'll tell you what everyone told us, don't waste your time or money there. There's nothing really to see.
quote:
Mesa Verde
If you want to see them up close, and get in them, you have to book the tour online. I think they open up like 2 weeks in advance, but you can only book tours online, and you HAVE to have your receipt when you get there to do the tour. Look into that if you plan on doing a tour. If you don't do the tour, there's really only 1 place you can go to see the carved out houses. Good enough for a picture, but you won't get that close to them. Still a great park to visit, but i think doing the tour would be better. We didn't get to do it as we did not realize the situation on booking them in advance.
quote:
Durango
There's supposed to be some farm just north of town, i think it's called James Ranch or James Farm. It's a farm to table market/restaurant. All the fruit and veggies come from their farm, and your hamburger was mooing in the field you're overlooking not too long ago as you eat. We heard nothing but good things about it, but it was closed the two days we were in Durango recently. Same with the Crepes cart restaurant that is downtown.
The Strater hotel is a cool old time saloon if you want to get a drink. They do have some decent sandwiches/bar food, and the waitresses dress like 1860's prostitutes.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 2:11 pm to iwantacooler
I’ll keep that in mind just in case we have the time. Thanks! 
I was only planning on stopping really quick so my kids can see it. I went as a kid and it was just a quick stop. Now they charge $30? WTF? Definitely sounds like a racket.
If I get there and there’s a line we will just keep on driving.
I have an alarm set up on my phone exactly 2 weeks out to book the tours. I’m hoping to do the Balcony House and Cliff Palace at least.
quote:
everyone says skip this. We went see it. It's alright and cool to say "i'm in Utah, now i'm in Arizona, etc." I guess its a place that's cool to say you've been, but it's really nothing much to see or do.
You have to wait in a dumb arse line to take a picture at the actual point of the 4 corners. You also have to pay like $30 to get in, which seems like a racket for this place.
I was only planning on stopping really quick so my kids can see it. I went as a kid and it was just a quick stop. Now they charge $30? WTF? Definitely sounds like a racket.
If I get there and there’s a line we will just keep on driving.
quote:
Mesa Verde If you want to see them up close, and get in them, you have to book the tour online. I think they open up like 2 weeks in advance, but you can only book tours online, and you HAVE to have your receipt when you get there to do the tour.
I have an alarm set up on my phone exactly 2 weeks out to book the tours. I’m hoping to do the Balcony House and Cliff Palace at least.
This post was edited on 6/9/23 at 2:18 pm
Posted on 6/9/23 at 2:28 pm to iwantacooler
quote:
A bonus would be you get to drive the million dollar highway on the way.
man did that drive exceed my expectations. We stayed in Ouray for 2 days. I could easily spend a week in that town, and you can literally walk to anything in the town.
But that drive up from Durango through Silverton and into Ouray is just amazing, especially right now with all the waterfalls running from snow melt.
View along the Million Dollar Hwy
A lake right off the hwy
Saw a moose in Silverton
View of Ouray from a few miles away driving up from Durango
Giant waterfall right before Ouray
The view from a restaurant rooftop in Ouray
The town of Ouray from the top of Box Canyon. you can see Cascade Falls way in the distance.
Looking back at what we drove through to get to Ouray. Also ended up taking a jeep tour that took us up to almost the top of that mountain in the background, and got snowed on quite a bit.
This post was edited on 6/9/23 at 2:52 pm
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:13 pm to TeddyPadillac
Sheeeeeit. I think I’m gonna have to try to get to Durango early and take that drive in the afternoon. We have the Durango/Silverton train ride booked already and we will be getting j to town the day before.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:23 pm to PillageUrVillage
Skip Four Corners, it is sucky and depressing. Seriously, do whatever you have to do to skip it. Not only is there nothing to see but the indians selling trinkets is sad.
Mesa Verde is awesome. You have to get the tours, it is super cool. Hearing the guides talk about how it seems that they all just packed up and left one day is wild.
Hit up Carvers in Durango. Beers and food are super solid.
Mesa Verde is awesome. You have to get the tours, it is super cool. Hearing the guides talk about how it seems that they all just packed up and left one day is wild.
Hit up Carvers in Durango. Beers and food are super solid.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:25 pm to idontyield
Yeah after learning this recent info, I think we will definitely skip it.
Thanks for the tip!
ETA: Our road trip starts on 6/25 and we’ll be home by 7/2. I’ll be sure to share pics from the trip upon our return!
quote:
Hit up Carvers in Durango. Beers and food are super solid.
Thanks for the tip!
ETA: Our road trip starts on 6/25 and we’ll be home by 7/2. I’ll be sure to share pics from the trip upon our return!
This post was edited on 6/9/23 at 3:27 pm
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:45 pm to PillageUrVillage
quote:
Sheeeeeit. I think I’m gonna have to try to get to Durango early and take that drive in the afternoon. We have the Durango/Silverton train ride booked already and we will be getting j to town the day before.
You'll see a little bit of it on the train ride, but the best part of that highway was from Silverton to Ouray, which you aren't going to see on that train ride.
We didn't do the train ride. I figured the kids would get bored on it as it only goes like 20-30mph the whole time. The wife and I would have loved to done it and drinked, but that thing is expensive as hell. opted to just drive and take our time stopping along the way.
If you're going from Durango to GSDNP, then going up through Ouray is really out of the way. I say it's worth it just for the drive, but if you plan on going back to southern Colorado, then i'd save that town and trip for another time. It's too awesome of a town to just drive through.
We started at 4 corners, Mesa Verde, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Turquoise Lake (over looks Mt Elbert), Buena Vista, Great Sand Dunes NP.
The kids said the best part of the trip was rafting in Buena Vista (we rafted in Durango first and good thing b/c rafting the Arkansas was 10xs better), close second was the Dunes, and then the jeep tour in Ouray.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:47 pm to PillageUrVillage
quote:
Yeah after learning this recent info, I think we will definitely skip it.
and that $30 goes to the indians.
Then my wife has to go and let the kids buy some shitty indian trinket toy from the indian vendors that surround the 4 corners, that they both broke within an hour b/c it was shittily made. spent like $100 here when all i wanted to do was stand on a piece of concrete in the middle of nowhere and say i've been here.
Posted on 6/9/23 at 3:55 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
If you're going from Durango to GSDNP, then going up through Ouray is really out of the way. I say it's worth it just for the drive, but if you plan on going back to southern Colorado, then i'd save that town and trip for another time. It's too awesome of a town to just drive through.
A lot will depend on how the timing of things play out on our trip. While in Durango if we have enough time to spare and nothing else planned, I'll make the drive. I do plan on future trips to Colorado, especially Rocky Mountain National Park. So maybe I can plan to return one day.
I really appreciate all of the info. It definitely will help with this trip. I've been to all of the places we have planned before as a kid. I think that trip was in 1995 if my memory serves me right. Sounds like some things have changed over the years. I remember taking the Mesa Verde guided tours and we scheduled it the day we were there. There was no online booking.
ETA: Same with the train ride. My mom said we just showed up and bought tickets. I went to book online about 4 weeks ago and I was lucky to get tickets! A lot of cars and seats were sold out already!
This post was edited on 6/9/23 at 4:00 pm
Posted on 6/9/23 at 4:41 pm to PillageUrVillage
quote:
A lot will depend on how the timing of things play out on our trip. While in Durango if we have enough time to spare and nothing else planned, I'll make the drive.
We planned on two nights in Durango and we did everything we wanted to in about a day. We got there at lunchtime the first day, did the downtown stuff that day. went rafting the next morning and done by 1 and we were ready to go to a new town.
If i could have done it over again, i would have scheduled the rafting the first day and just got up early to drive there and start that tour, get back from rafting and go downtown for the evening, spend the night and head out the next morning to the next destination. We chose the rafting instead of the train ride, but it's about the same time committment.
Posted on 6/29/23 at 12:37 am to TeddyPadillac
Just wanted to update and thank y’all for the suggestions. I will share lots of photos after our vacation in its own post, but we made it to Ouray today and it was phenomenal. We are staying the night in Durango and are doing the train ride tomorrow. Mesa Verde on Friday, and Sand Dunes on Saturday.
ETA: Carver’s is walking distance from our hotel and we plan on eating there tomorrow after the train ride.
ETA: Carver’s is walking distance from our hotel and we plan on eating there tomorrow after the train ride.
This post was edited on 6/29/23 at 12:40 am
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