Colorado's best DRIVING ROUTES....need your input.

Hi Guys,

I am working on a little project....creating a professionally designed, glovebox size, spiral bound book of the BEST Driving roads in Colorado (Scenic and twisty, along with key destinations along the way), mapped out, plus room for notes, clubmember cellphones, etc. My thought is to make this available to the FCA RMR members -- and get this -- the idea would be to customize the front and back cover to include a glossy of YOUR CAR on your favorite drive! (if I can pull this off).

Start would be the key scenic byways in Colorado, but need DRIVER INPUT.

Obviously, one candidate would be Mt. Evans....see photos below (THANKS Furman) and Peak to Peak, etc. I'd like your input, so please post.

Name of the route:
Description: eg. from where to where, route #'s
Approx distance/time: I will look up the specific details.
Notable stops/scenery, etc.

Keep it coming.....
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Million Dollar Highway gets my vote. US 550 from Ouray to Silverton. Gorgeous drive.

 

+1

But there are so many...

For physical Colorado beauty:
- US-24 from Woodland Park to Hartsel, over Wilkerson Pass, which I swear is the most beautiful place in Colorado.
- US-285 from Fairplay to CO-91/Salida... pretty much all of US-285 is great, but this is the best stretch.
- CO-69 from Westcliffe to Walsenburg: sweeping views of huge cattle ranches with the mountains in the background, and almost completely empty.
- CO-149 from Creede to US-50/Gunnison: goes over Slumgullion Pass; great views and Lake City is a great town.
- US-50 from Gunnison to Montrose: goes past Curecanti N.R.A. and offers great views of the lake.
- US-550 from Ouray to Silverton: "Million Dollar Highway" and some of the best views on Earth. If you drive it and don't stop to gawk you're either a local or you're stupid!
- CO-62 from Ridgway to Placerville: Goes right over the Dallas Divide and offers some of the most gorgeous views of the mountains surrounding Telluride.
- US-34 from Grand Lake to Estes Park ("Trail Ridge Road"): the most beautiful road in Colorado by a wide, wide margin.
- CO-82 from Twin Lakes to Aspen: the climb over Independence Pass is windy, treacherous, and incredibly beautiful.

For driving excellence:
- US-160 from Springfield to Trinidad: straight, flat, and - on the Las Animas County side, which is most of the road - completely devoid of any police presence... the perfect place for top speed runs.
- US-40 from Dinosaur to Craig: a mostly-straight, completely unpatrolled top speed proving ground.
- US-50 from Salida to Canon City: parallels the windy Arkansas River through the canyons in Chaffee and Fremont Counties. Slightly busy.
- CO-12 from La Veta to Trinidad: especially fantastic on the Huerfano County side, which runs from La Veta to Cuchara Pass. Lots of sweeping curves, some switchbacks, and good elevation changes.
- CO-149 from South Fork to US-50/Gunnison: everything you could want in a driving road, except proximity to civilization...
- US-550 from Ouray to Silverton: this would be an awesome road to close down and fling a car through (if you're daring), but it can get busy, especially in the summer.
- CO-160 from Durango to Pagosa Springs: an undiscovered decent driving road; few tight corners but relatively empty with some elevation changes.
- CO-141 from Dove Creek to CO-145: this is an all-out speed fest with some decent curves; it's in the middle of a gorgeous red-rock valley and it's completely desolate. Getting here is the only hard part.
- CO-62 from Ridgway to Placerville: I hear Ralph Lauren likes this one, too.
- CO-133 from Carbondale to Paonia: this road is pretty empty and has a lot of curves, some hard, and significant elevation changes. It also has many very good views.
- CO-125 from Walden to Granby: not the best driving road, but this is the most desolate major road in Colorado by far, and it's not incredibly far from civilization.
- US-34 from Grand Lake to Estes Park ("Trail Ridge Road"): if only you could drive this one fast, it would be one of the best driving roads in the world.
- CO-119 from Rollinsville to Central City/I-70: this is an awesome driving road but being on the edge of metro Denver and metro Boulder, it's relatively well-traveled. Same goes for US-40 from I-70 to Winter Park.
- US-6 over Loveland Pass: I-70 takes most traffic under Loveland Pass now, via the Eisenhower(-Johnson) Tunnel, but US-6 still exists for two reasons: hazardous materials trucks which are disallowed from the tunnel, and people with a little extra time on their hands. From the east, this is an incredible driving road with tons of tight corners, zero traffic, and significant elevation change until you peak at Loveland Pass, when it opens up a little bit and is mostly straight into Keystone. The only drawback here is it's short.
- CO-82 from Twin Lakes to Aspen: over Independence Pass... every time I make this journey, I never fail to see people going hard on this beautiful, curvy road.

I hope that helps a little. I'm trying to go from memory based on a road trip around Colorado I did about two years ago, wherein I visited every county in the state. After 28 days and 6,400 miles, I got a pretty good idea which roads were good and which weren't!

 

http://www.milebymile.com/main/United_States/Colorado/region_byways.html

Some are 4wheel drive. some are paved.

 

Here is some more:http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175326&highlight=roads

There was another one in the Rocky mountain section, but I can't seem to find it now.

 

A lot of my favorite drives are definitely not Ferrari friendly. IE a dirt road that basically runs from here to the springs. Do you still want stuff like that?

 

Hi Cooper.

Nah, I would really like to stick with pavement!

 

Here's one I used to do when I lived on the front range. From Castle Rock, take Wolfensberger road west to the end on CO105. Turn left and follow to the next stop sign near Palmer Lake. Turn left, then an immediate right onto County Line road headed east crossing I-25 and then on to a stop sing on CO83. Turn left onto the open 2 lane with lots of sweepers. On a hill when the road curves right, bear left onto Lake Gulch Rd. which has many interesting curves. At the stop sign, turn left and you are back in Castle Rock. You can also pick up CO105 from its start in Sedalia if that's more convenient. Another great run is from Sedalia towards Deckers. This is a very twisty road that's especially great for 3X8's. Eventually, it turns to gravel. Turn around there and enjoy both directions.

I'll think of more later.

Dave

 

Will the book be for sale?

Aaron




http://www.theintriguedetail.com/

 

Hi Aaron

My "plan" (we'll see if I can pull this off) would be to have the guts standard with the driving routes, points of interest, and then offer it to the RM FCA guys and customize the cover and back with a favorite photo of your car. Target will be under $20.00....nice novelty.

Nice winter project while its zero degrees. Cant even detail the car....too cold. Objective would be to have this done by Spring for the driving season.

John

 

Nice, keep me in mind.

 

I'm in for that. Thanks for doing it.

Don't forget the peak to peak highway, beautiful.

 

You can drive that one fast, but only in the fall after labor day weekend. Most of the park rangers are teachers and are gone then, the gates are wide open to the public for no charge. My buddy and I used to make the trip twice a week to have Chris-Craft generators rebuilt over in Estes and 80 or 85 was the norm on the stretches. My old Jetta Wolfsburg was a sure blast at Rock Cut when the road turned to the left and sank and at good speed your stomach would drop, all the while knowing the cliff was right there! : - )

In the old days we used to ride Snowmobiles over the top during the winter, back when the James family used to own the lodge on top, and one time we stopped to cook hot dogs and realized the logs we were kicking were on top of the lodge there on top of trail ridge road, the snow was about 20 to 25 feet deep at that time.

Berthod pass in my Maserati is also a treat, it's nothing like the old Berthod pass, but it sure is fun to have the car start flexing in the corners on the way up the east side of the pass.....

 

Marksheffel Road is a great place to drive any exotic car on. Not you mention you could snake right through the Springs without the traffic its just awsome to drive on.

 

Wow guys, this is a REALLY cool idea!

 

I have driven my fair share of Colorado scenic roads. Being European, I prefer the handling challenges of a twisty mountain road to any high-speed run. It's in the curviest roads that the real drivers show what they're made of. It's on roads like these that I found myself unable to shake off a Honda S2000 in my F355 - simply he was a much better driver than I was, and power counts for nothing on these roads.

So, my favorites in Colorado:

1) Route 149 from Gunnison towards the south. It goes to Slumgullion Pass (11,361 ft.) and is one of the most beautiful roads in the USA - and completely empty too. Make sure you have a full tank of fuel. It's longer than it seems.

2) Route 128 from Arches National Park / Moab (Utah) all the way to I-70 towards Grand Junction (CO). Awesome curves in the middle of a desert canyon. One of the best drives I ever had at night.

3) Rocky Mountain National Park. Scary switchbacks up to 13,500 ft. Beware of National Park cops though - they are everywhere.

4) Route 92 from Sapinero to Hotchkiss. Awesome curves climbing up, then it flattens out.

5) From Littleton, day trip (did it last year in a Maserati): Take 285, 126 and then 67 back. It's also beautiful the other way round.

 

From I-25 30 miles South of Pueblo, exit to Hwy 165/Colorado City. Take 165 thru CO City, Rye, and San Isabel. 2 lane road, high altitude, no traffic, many many twists. Stay on 165 until it ends at Hwy 96 at a tiny spot in the road called McKenzie Junction. Turn right, and take 96 down through the canyon. Depending on the time of day, reverse and repeat, or make a decision when you get to Wetmore. It's the middle of nowhere, but the roads are worth it.

From Colorado Springs, take Hwy 24 to Woodland Park is a quick fun ride.

Another stretch of Hwy 24 from Leadville to I-70 is great fun!

 

Hey John. Great idea and photos. I want to play! Nice speaking with you tonight but I forgot to ask an important question. Can you recommend an independent Ferrari service place?
Thanks, Keith 720-933-4893

 

Gotta go with Scuderia Rampante, and Dave Helms. He is right here in Boulder.

 

This one is so crowded. It gets better the farther west you go (until you get past Wilkerson Pass).

 

You should sell your book using Nice Drives. They are local and we are detailing one of the guys cars.

http://nicedrives.com/

 

Once you get over the pass, that long straight stretch of road going into Hartsel is pretty fun! You can see the whole road coming down the pass, then open it up for 4 or 5 miles. You could see a cop long before he was in range! Flat as a board and straight as an arrow.

I remember in my younger days, opening up Dads Suburban, 6 of us in the truck and ski gear for a week. Got the old beast up to 95!

 

Very true - you do get a view of the whole road and it's a long, straight one. Plus, I think the other side of the pass is Park County, and they hardly have the manpower to sit on a desolate two-lane highway running radar since all the population is at the other end of the county. I wonder how fast one could run that road if it was totally empty...