Colorado attractions

My wife and I went to Estes Park a couple years ago in August. For rafting, we went on the Poudre River, which was a great trip - we departed out of Fort Collins, but there are outfitters that leave right from Estes. If you want any sort of adventure, go with the outfitters that indicate Class III, IV, or V rapids. We did a III/IV trip, which has enough wild rapids to make it fun. We went through some Class II water - it's ok for kids, but I wouldn't want to make a whole trip on just ClassII. The trip we took was about a 4 hour float with an hour bus ride each way. The water is very cold because it's all snow-melt - even in mid-summer. Because we went in August, the river was low - it's better in July - June is very wild because of the fresh snow-melt. Although I've never been on it, the Arkansas River is supposed to be very good - and, I think it's got bigger rapids. But, that's farther south in Colorado. For hiking, you can't go wrong with Rocky Mountain National Forest - there are great trails of varying difficulty. You can spend days hiking in the park - amazing scenery. For something different, we went 4-wheeling in Arapahoe National Forest - it's on the other side of RMNF, opposite of Estes Park. It's not as scenic as RMNF, but the trails for 4-wheeling are a blast. There are several outfitters in Grand Lake. BTW, Estes Park is very touristy - we did not spend much time there. Grand Lake is a pretty nice little town away from the tourist-bustle.

 

I can't imagine you'd go wrong on any of the trails. Most of what we did were the low-difficulty trails - wife has bad knees. And, even those had amazing scenery. Most of them circled lakes with surrounding mountains - depending on the sun, clouds, snow, and water reflection, it was incredible. If you have good legs, you should be able to get to some mind-blowing places. I think your best bet is to download the park hiking maps from their website and get a feel for the area - the map will indicate difficulty and a loose"scale" for scenery. Pick a few to start with....then, ask everyone you meet (willing to talk anyway) as to where-else to go/try. Word of mouth is a good guide...particulary from the seasoned hikers...and there are many repeat-hikers out there. We spent time talking with an older fellow who had been hiking in the park for 30+years.

 

My sister in-law lives in Denver. She says:For white water rafting go to Buena Vista, along the Arkansas river about two hours from Denver. It's a little touristy but for good reason, the river is raging there right now. After, you can camp in the San Isabel national forests west of Buena vista with great views of the collegiate peaks. The camp sites are so well kept and you're just down the street from the Cottonwood hot springs.
For hiking near Estes Park find the Gem Lake Trail head - from Us 34 go North on MacGregor Ave and Turn right on Devils Gorge Road. The trail head is about 1/2 mile down on the left. This is a short but sweet day hike.
For backpacking, pick any national forest and your good. There are several good trails that start near Baily (45 minutes west of Denver on Highway 285). You can take the back way to Guenella pass by taking 285 past Baily about another hour. There are several good trail heads off the pass. Trails on the 285 side are much less crowded that trails on the I-70 side. Avoid 14ers.