Colorado National Park Roadtrip

November 2025

My husband and I spent a week visiting the last three National Parks on our Colorado list: Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes. We explored Rocky Mountain National Park last year, so if you're interested, you can check out the blog post I wrote about that adventure as well.

In this blog post, I’ll share a rundown of everything we did at each park, our overall impressions, and some of the other fun activities we squeezed into the trip. It was a full, fun, adventure-packed week, so let’s dive in!

Park 1: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

On our way to the park, we drove through what I can only describe as a snowy winter wonderland. The only other time I’ve seen that much snow was a few years ago when my husband and I visited Asheville, North Carolina. It was absolutely stunning! I’ve included some photos so you can see a bit of what we experienced. As we got closer to the park, the snowfall eased up. There was still a blanket of snow around the entrance sign and on the mountain peaks, but most of it had already melted inside the park itself.

Once we entered, it felt almost like a ghost town—definitely the quietest I’ve ever seen a national park. We only passed about four other groups of people the entire day, so we must have visited at just the right time. The only downside was that the North Rim was closed for the season, which meant we couldn’t hike the trail we were most excited about. Hopefully on our next visit we’ll get to tackle the Long Draw Trail. Instead, we explored the Chasm View Nature Trail and the Painted Wall View Trail—both short, but offering incredible views of the canyon. We also stopped at Gunnison Point, another stunning overlook, and drove the full stretch of Black Canyon Scenic Drive that was open. Along the way we spotted a few deer, which made the already beautiful drive even better.

Overall, it was a gorgeous and memorable visit.

That night we stayed in a cozy cabin in Paonia, where in the morning we got to see more deer but this time right outside our window.

Between our visits of Black Canyon and Mesa Verde, we stopped in Ouray, Colorado which is known as The Switzerland of America. We visited the Hot Springs of Ouray and this was a very fun and relaxing excursion. After our time exploring Ouray, my husband drove us along The Million Dollar Highway which was an incredibly beautiful scenic drive. During this drive as we drove up higher in elevation, we experienced another winter wonderland. We pulled off to Molas Lake Park, and enjoyed some of the snow and took pictures.

Park 2: Mesa Verde National Park

Prior to and during our visit to Mesa Verde we stayed in a Yurt just outside of Durango, Colorado. Staying in the Yurt was such a fun experience. The roof of the Yurt was an open dome which allowed you to see the stars at night. I've also attached photos I took during our stay as well.

Mesa Verde was a unique park full of history. Mesa Verde is home to over 4,000 archeological sites dating back to 550 A.D. This park protects the cliff dwellings, pithouses, pueblos, and different sites of the Ancestral Pueblo people. One of the more famous structures of the park is the Cliff Palace, which we were in awe of when we saw it. My husband and I stopped at nearly every overlook and high point along the way to take in the panoramic canyon views.. A few favorites were: Sun Point Overlook and Long House Overlook. During our visit, we hiked the Petroglyph Point Trail which is a moderate 2.5 mile loop. I loved this hike. There were so many great viewpoints and it was fun to hike through narrow rock passages. I've also always been fascinated by petroglyphs so it was very cool to see them and try to picture how the Pueblo people may have gotten around and carved the cliffs. In the park, we also came across a wild horse! If you visit, I also recommend checking out the park museum, which is one of the oldest constructed in the National Park Service. We hope to return in the future in either the spring or summer season when you can tour the cliff dwellings with a park ranger.

Park 3: Great Sand Dunes National Park

In my opinion, Great Sand Dunes is an underrated National Park. While some people might see it as nothing more than giant piles of sand, the dunes paired with the surrounding mountains and landscapes, are absolutely stunning. When we got to the park, the sky was overcast and rain was on the way, but luckily it held off during our visit.

From a distance, the dunes look deceptively small, but as you start walking toward them, you quickly realize just how massive they really are. My husband and I set a goal to climb as close to the top of the dunes as possible, and I’d say we made it about three-quarters of the way. Hiking in sand is no easy task, at one point we were climbing a steep dune on all fours. If you want a fun (and challenging) workout, this is the place to do it!

The closer we got to the top, the colder and windier it became; storm gusts were whipping around us, adding to the adventure. We spent about two hours exploring the dunes, and on our way back to the car, we noticed several groups had turned back before getting very far. This is a great park for families and to bring your dogs.

Additional Excursions

This trip was full of adventure, hiking, and sight seeing. When we weren't at the parks we spent time with friends that we were visiting, enjoyed a wedding, and did some antiquing in Colorado Springs, Golden, and Denver. I came home with much more than I left with...oops.

My husband and I have now visited 17/63 United States National Parks. We are a little over a quarter to seeing them all. On our travels back home, we created our own individual rankings of the parks we've visited and how they stand in our eyes (1 being the best and so forth). Here are our lists, just for fun.

Until the next adventure,

Kassidi