If you like driving your RV, drive it in Colorado.

Why Colorado? Look at the photos. Around every corner is another great, sweeping vista.

This journal-style post was originally published in 2013. We hope you enjoy the reminiscing – especially the types of RVs we used at the time. If you want to see an even MORE spectacular post about Colorado PLUS all the camping available — go here! 

Today, we drove about 80 miles from Mesa Verde National park in the far southwest corner up Highway 145 to the Matterhorn Campground in the San Juan Mountains a dozen or so miles south of Telluride.

Why Colorado? 

From the semi-arid canyon country to alpine forests, the drive couldn't be prettier. Even towing that new AmerLite Travel Trailer I bought from American RV in Grand Rapids, MI before setting out on this family vacation, my Roadtrek eTrek barely strained at it pulled us up to about 9,500 feet.

Before leaving Mesa Verde, son Jeff and I hiked the Prater Ridge Trail that climbs high above our Morefield Campground campsite following the rim of Prater Ridge, which separates Morefield Canyon and Prater Canyon and offers commanding views of the Montezuma Valley. We got high up on the trail when a fast-moving mountain thunderstorm with lightning sent us scrambling back down.

The storm stayed up on top of the ridge and last night, a spectacular quarter moon peeked down at us. Our granddaughters gathered up every kid in the campground and we had the S'More party of all S'More parties last night. It's amazing how fast kids become friends on a camping strip and how a campground becomes a neighborhood each night, with folks strolling around, looking at the other rigs, talking about the day and the next adventures, sharing tips, and enjoying each other's company as if we were lifelong friends.

Then morning comes and the neighborhood vanishes as the RVs pull off to all points on the compass.

Why Colorado?

Today, we made the drive to Telluride, where we'll spend one night before heading up to Gunnison and the Black Canyon on Monday.

The Matterhorn campground we chose for the night is on a small loop off Highway 145. There are 28 campsites with four of them offering RV hookups of water, electricity, and septic. We let Jeff and Aimee in the trailer and Wendy and Dan in a borrowed Roadtrek SS Ideal use the full hookups. Jen and I are dry camping in a great spot nestled into the woods on the slope of a mountain just across from them. Our eTrek with its solar power and diesel generator lets us use every appliance just like we were plugged in.

There is no Internet in the Matterhorn Campground so I'm now parked in the Roadtrek with two of the dogs while everyone else in the family took a gondola from the Mountain Village resort development to check out Telluride. There's a great 4G signal here so I wrote this week's newsletter, uploaded some photos, and fired off this quick post.

I'm thinking I really need to bite the bullet and invest in a satellite Internet system. I'm missing some big-time family fun because of spotty cell phone Internet.

{{I did eventually figure out a better cellphone system – you can read about it here}}

 

This ebook is a seven-day guided exploration of the State and National Parks in Colorado.

We provide a suggested route and itinerary, links to multiple campgrounds and boondocking spots, and the best spots to see along the way.

Don’t plan your trip to Colorado without it! 

 

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