As per the title, fancy going to Moab and Crested Butte this late summer/autumn. Has anyone done it, or is it too big a compromise with the weather to do the 2 extremes in one two week trip?

The missus is set on the desert ie Moab. Anyone have any other recommendations for a contrasting and good place to go that’s not an epic drive away?

Any other top tips and recommendations welcome!

Cheers

About 12 years ago a bunch of us did a road trip, flew into Denver, few days in Breckinridge, drove to Moab (two days drive iirc) Zion national park, Vegas for a few days, back to Denver via Grand Canyon and monument valley, Moab and crested butte are def doable in a two week trip, if I was going back now. I’d do crested butte, fruita and Moab for sure.
Go for it, you’ll love it!

It’s a few years ago for me as well, but I flew to Denver and drove to Moab over 5 days, doing a different trail centre each day, including Crested Butte. I then did a week at Moab, and drove back to Denver over two days, stopping for another ride on the way.
Watch your timing if you want to do both. I think I went in October, which was great for Moab, but they were just starting to get some snow on the high trails at Crested Butte. Go too early, on the other hand, and it will be unbearably hot in Moab.

Seconding Fruita too – less technical than Moab, but good fun. Lovely little town, too.

Edit: if you’re short of time, you could also fly into Grand Junction, which is pretty much next door to Fruita. Saves you about 5 hours of driving. Also, en route to Moab, check out the ghost town at the turnoff of the 128 off I70 (the 128 is also an awesome scenic route into Moab)

Did this and Durango in 92. Great trip, Crusty Butt was my favourite.

We did this as part of a Denver->San Fran road trip a few years back. I’ll echo what others have said – be aware of the timing.

We did it in June/July and CB was perfect (aside from a giant thunderstorm). Moab on the other hand was brutally hot. We had to do our rides as early as possible in the morning to make it vaguely bearable. Even then we finished one ride in 48C heat!

For bike hire we used the big shop at the bottom of the chairlift in CB and Poison Spider Bikes in Moab – both very helpful. Would have loved to check Fruita out as well, but we were on a schedule…

Exactly what me and the GF are doing later this year. We’ve plumped for September…fly into Denver then riding CB, Moab and Fruita then back to Denver.

thanks folks, some usefull information there.

cheers!

Hi Dave,

I used to run holidays and guide in these areas. What people above have said is all good. It really depends where you want to stay and how much driving you want to do. Assuming you’re flying from Denver, sticking to the I70 corridor will minimise your driving; so that’s Breck/Keystone area (Summit County), Vail area, Glenwood area, Fruita and then down to Moab.
Going the other way, you could go straight to CB (but I’d recommend stopping at Monarch/Salida area) and then on to Moab….possibly consider a detour down to Silverton/Durrango but it’ll be more driving.
Combining the two, I’d probably say a reasonable route to take in some great rides would be:
Breck to CB via Monarch/Salida/Hartman Rocks. BD straight to Moab. Back to Denver via Fruita.

Late August early September may be your best bet to get a balance between crazy heat in Moab and Fruita but still avoid any early snow/crap drizzly stuff in Breck/CB.

I could go on for hours about things you could do and combinations! Love the place! If you want to know anything else, my email is paul at ride-the-world dot co dot uk. – don’t worry we aren’t ‘active’ at the moment so I’m not trying to sell you a holiday!

Should preview posts….when I say “…BD straight to Moab”, I meant CB!

Be sure to stop at Pug Ryans in Dillon on the way through summit county.

Primerib and a pint of Morningwood Wheat.