Heading to Albuquerque in the Autumn. Probably flying into Denver so a little road trip. I've been to Denver before but nowhere else round there. What worth seeing and doing on the way? Ideally outdoorsy, wildlife and scenery stuff but open to suggestions. I see its not too far out the way to decent Biking. We won't have kit so where might be good for hiring a bike and having a little play, ideally with a bit of lift assist not too "OMG I'm going die RedBull Rampagey"? Basically we don't have a route or a schedule so trying to gauge how far to drive out the way and how long to stay for (within reason)
Eat some fried chicken.
Get your car washed.
Score some crystal meth.
Pikes Peak nr Colorado Springs, 4 corners is cool but a bit underwhelming. Monument Valley.
If you are going up to Utah you can do some early Rampage stuff and it's not that scary!!
https://www.trailforks.com/region/virgin/?lat=37.223795&lon=-113.162976&z=14&m=trailforks
From there you have Zion NP too
Moad on the way back round will be warm still but good
Round trip number 2 on the list 😉
Zion +1 also Arches and Bryce in UT.
White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in NM
I've spent a long time in that area one way or another. For me, highlights in no particular order would be:
-Black Canyon of Gunnison
-Bryce Canyon in Utah
-(Drive to Moab via Castle Valley - similar but more dramatic than Monument valley imo) Rent a bike from town, get a shuttle up to Burro Pass, do the whole Enchilada back to town, then drive up to Green River Overlook in Canyonlands NP to watch the sunset.
-Silverton / San Juan area and pretend to be a cowboy.
- New Mexico direction I don't know too well and it was many, many years ago but I seem to remember "the painted desert" was quite interesting / scenic (possibly near the petrified forest which is also different / interesting)...neither are forced to be in New Mexico either, I just know we headed in that direction!
- Any number of beautiful Rockies passes to soak up the view / detour over even if you just stick to the I-70 corridor.
If I could only visit one National Park in that area it'd be Zion but it's not exactly on the way.....