Denver/Yellowstone/Salt Lake City Road Trip

Note that I-25 is an extremely boring drive. It will be beautiful after that though. I've spent a lot of time in both of those cities. What are you into? What kind of places are your hangs?

I-70 west of Denver is amazing. And Utah contains the most beautiful landscape the US has to offer. Cut off I-70 and enjoy Arches National Park while doing that.

And weed is insanely easy to get in Colorado. It's literally like going to a liquor store.

EDIT: Oh, and a bunch of great SLC suggestions are here.

Lodging in Yellowstone, LOL Yeah forget about that, it's not worth it. Better to head into Livingston or Bozeman for lodging.

I'd forget Denver, the drive north is boring as hell. Hit SLC, and take 80 north to 189 in WY to 191 north to Jackson to check out the Tetons, then north into Yellowstone. You could then head into MT and hit up Big Sky for some of their summer events. Hiking, Biking, Golf... Then if it was me, I'd hit Bozeman, and fly out of there.

When you are in Denver, make sure to have dinner at The Buckhorn Exchnage.

If the timing works out, a meal at the Mammoth Hotel Dinning Room is worth your time as well. Last time I ate there, the bison top sirloin was absolutely fantastic.

Picasso3 said:

sweet satisfaction, my wife rejected my plan, cooked up a denver, yellowstone, glacier national park, fly out of spokane plan and called her dad to see what he thought we should do. She stayed on the phone for about 45 minutes while he slowly developed a plan eerily similar to a loop from denver almost identical to what i'd had minus montana.

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Your loop is my neck of the woods. Denver is a cool city, worth a stop in. Go buy some gummies and eat at Blue Pan Pizza (best pizza I have ever had). Boulder is a really fun town too. If I could only do Den or Boulder I'd be hard pressed to pick. Go to Boulder and do the climb to Royal Arch (less than 5 hours in and out). Go to Estes Park, check out The Shining hotel and then go to Rocky Mountain National Park right by Estes Park and do the Bear Lake trail to Emerald Lake (again, less than 4 hours in an out)-- if there is one hike you have to do, that's it.

Jackson WY and the Snake River Gorge are awesome. Don't miss them. Go whitewater rafting in the Snake River near Jackson.

Obviously the Grand Tetons are just fucking astounding. If you are looking for an amazing but very doable hike in the Tetons, start at Jenny Lake and hike to Lake Solitude and back. Watch out for grizzlies.

You could spend weeks in Yellowstone alone. IMO Old Faithful is a waste of time. Pick some spots ahead of time in YS. Like everyone is saying, figure out a way to find lodging well away from YS. I won't tell you some of the places I had to sleep when we went through the YS area in August 2015.

Haven't spent a ton of time in Montana, but Enis was a really cool little town that we spent some time in (also I thought the Lake Hebgen and Earthquake Lake areas were really cool).

I'm not sure how you could go right past Moab without stopping. Moab is a crazy little town with the weirdest collection of people from the most disparate walks of life. Obviously you need to check out Arches National Park right outside Moab. But there is this sweet little trail that mostly only locals know about that you should really check out. It's called Mill Creek Waterfall trail. Pick up trail by following Powerhouse Lane out of Moab until the end of the road. You follow a little creek that turns into a river that cuts through the rocks and eventually leads to an awesome swimming hole/waterfall you can jump off. Follow the trail past that though- it gets even cooler and less traveled. Pics of Mill Creek Trail:

Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park:




Lake Solitude in the Tetons:

I hiked in Rocky Mountain once but I only did Chasm Lake. Thought that was pretty badass. But yeah, Estes Park is definitely worth checking out while there.

Of Colorado towns I prefer Ft Collins. But I like beer and the number of great breweries that are only a mile or so away from each other is astounding.

Picasso3 said:

We stopped by Sharpsburg battlefield today and ended up just getting the 80 dollar annual national park pass in anticipation of hitting a ton up out west.

Damn now I'm wondering if we need to spend more time in the Denver area

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If you have the pass you should devote some time to RMNP definitely. I would personally put Arches/Needles and RMNP both over YS. Fort Collins is great. I like Boulder better for nightlife but I'd live in FC in a minute if it was close to work for me.

You could spend a lot of time in the Denver area and never run out of things to do.

That pass is a great deal. There are 1000's of smaller non natl' park area where you can use it. BLM areas in the SW, and Forest service areas all over. Wild life refuges...

If you like the outdoors it's totally worth it. I have had one every year for the last 20 years.

As a Denver resident I will second the advice to try the Buckhorn Exchange. It is an excellent meal, and the site itself has craploads of history to it.

My buddy lives in Denver. Has for 6-7 years. He says to visit Red Rocks (state park). If you can, attend a concert at the red rocks amphitheater. He Google recommended that.

Boulder is okay. They have a huge outdoor mall kind of thing, but it's really expensive. He says stick to the parks and stuff and you'll have fun.

"The aquarium is decent. I don't know, Denver sucks."

He's thinking of things for you to do.
Art museum, botanical gardens, zoo... Gourmet breakfast place called Snooze. No reservations, and usually a long line, so go on a week day.

Wash or Washington Park. It's in Denver city.

You could watch a Rockies game. There's also tons of Micro breweries. One he suggests is called River North. Or Brekenridge Brewery.

Ok, that's all for now.

Did you go to Copper Onion? It's so damn good.