Itinerary: Denver, Colorado to Zion
The Mile High City of Denver is itself a destination for tourists, but the route to southwestern Utah from Denver is a majestic blend of mountain forests and red-rock country.
From Denver International Airport, the visitor can venture up or down along the Front Range, visiting Rocky Mountain National Park to the north, or Pike’s Peak to the south. Or the visitor can check into the historic Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver, with museums, fine dining and entertainment within walking distance.
I-70 is the quickest way to travel west, past the resorts of Colorado Ski Country and punching through the spine of the Continental Divide via the Eisenhower Tunnel. Wilderness areas and ritzy ski towns abound throughout the central Rockies of Colorado. The hot spring pools in Glenwood Springs will relax sore muscles from hikers or mountain bikers on Colorado’s Western Slope.
As you approach Grand Junction, keep an eye out for fresh peaches in local orchards, or find one of the growing number of vineyards and buy a bottle of wine. Wine, food and plenty of life’s finer things flow freely at the Colorado Mountain Winefest, held September 16-19, 2010.
Nearby is Colorado National Monument — a foretaste of the redrock country you’ll see in abundance in the Four Corners area and beyond into Utah.
Driving south to Durango, you’ll go through more orchard and vineyard country, and pass near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. You might want to check your radiator in Montrose, ’cause you’re going to climb up to Ridgway and then Ouray (the Switzerland of America) before topping out Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet.
From Silverton on down to Durango, you’re surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the San Juan National Forest. You’re also traveling roughly parallel to the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in the Animas River. The locomotives used to pull today’s train remain 100 percent coal-fired, steam-operated. The locomotives are 1923-25 vintage and are maintained in original condition. This is a big deal for train buffs, young and old.
Mesa Verde National Park is a 90-minute drive away from Durango. There’s 600 cliff dwellings set amid jaw-dropping cliffs. Some archeological sites are open to the public on a seasonal basis only, so be sure to check ahead and arrange a ranger-led tour.
Drive through Cortez and Dove Creek and enter Utah on Highway 492. Monticello is a great base camp for exploring nearby national parks — Arches and Canyonland to the north, Capitol Reef to the west and Grand Canyon to the southwest.
Or you can venture over to Page, Arizona near Glen Canyon Dam. Highway 89 will take you past the Vermillion Cliffs of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, over to Kanab — famous for numerous western TV shows and movies. From Kanab, it is a short drive over to Mt. Carmel Junction and thence to the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel — one of the engineering marvels of the last century — and on into Zion National Park. If you’re driving a big RV rig, be sure and make advance arrangements for a guided escort through the tunnel.
