Many of those early buildings can still be seen all across the South Park and many are still in use today. They built their houses, churches, and stores of logs and stones. The land that had only been a summer hunting ground for the native people, soon saw families braving the high winds and winter snows to make it their year-round home. Soon mining camps became towns and rough homesteads became ranches. The gold rush brought both the affluent and the poor, soldier and settler from the Midwest, the East and even Europe to the high, wild country. One-third of those settled in Park County where miners found millions of dollars of gold. Within a year and a half, the population of the area known as Colorado jumped from a few thousand Native Americans and a few hundred mountain men to more than 30,000 people. When, in 1859, a prospector found nuggets and flakes of gold near what would soon become the city of Denver, the discovery triggered a stampede of gold-seekers and families looking for a new life in the Rockies. Pursley was trapping beaver and Pike had a report to complete. In that 1806 meeting, neither man was interested in gold. Colorado Springs has a nice regional airport that some visitors prefer when not visiting the Denver area.Millions of years later in what was soon to become Park County, a trapper from Kentucky named Jim Pursley told Zebulon Pike, an explorer mapping the newly acquired western land for President Thomas Jefferson, that he'd found gold in the South Park, a big high-altitude basin in the middle of Park County. To visit western and SW Colorado with less driving, you can fly in to Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango, or perhaps Gunnison or Eagle. The famously scenic Durango-Silverton train started its spring season May 5 this year so if that was something you wanted to include, it should work even with your original dates. 9 day itineraries from Denver to Mesa Verde usually involve either two longish but scenic driving days or a couple of one night stays en route to and from SW Colorado to break up the drive. If you wanted to go further and include Durango and Mesa Verde National Park, you would probably want to add two or three nights in Durango or split between Durango and lodging at Far View Lodge inside Mesa Verde. If you've ever seen the original True Grit with John Wayne & Glen Campbell, you've seen some scenery from this area. you find Ouray, which oozes small town charm and ranks high on the picturesque scale. Not far away is Ridgway, a smaller community a little higher elevation than Montrose, and then a little further south at 7700 ft. Nice, historic town, but not what most people generally think of as "quaint," even though there are quite a few buildings remaining from the early days of settlement and statehood. Montrose is less than 6000' in elevation, and is near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park south rim, which is a great place to visit in May. Another interesting day trip from Montrose or from Grand Junction is a loop on the Unaweep Tabeguache Byway including the Hanging Flume, Gateway and the world class Gateway Auto Museum. If you wanted to venture further, Montrose/Ridgway/Ouray (south of Grand Junction and west of Salida>Gunnison/Crested Butte) are some other small towns not previously mentioned, and with 9 days you could visit Gra Junction/Fruita then base in one of those for three nights and visit some of the SW area, including Telluride and perhaps Silverton before heading back for departure from Denver. Redstone (near Carbondale) is another historic village that is very high on the picturesque scale and there's lots to see in the Glenwood/Carbondale/Redstone/Marble/Aspen area. ![]() ![]() Even Breckenridge or Gunnison, possibly Great Sand Dunes could be done as day trips. From there, Salida/Buena Vista would be a good base for the Collegiate Peaks Byway, Leadville, Twin Lakes. If you visit Colorado Springs area, Manitou Springs sounds like a good fit for the type of town you want to visit. Last year, sadly, we were jeeping, hiking and 4wheeling by April.) (At least we all hope there's snow left in May!!! We need the water. ![]() You do have a chance of snow in May, but temperatures are warm enough that roads clear quickly and you're left with beautiful snowcapped peaks with the snow etching the high crags. If you want to visit some of the more picturesque or quaint mountain towns-especially ski towns- it might be better to wait till around mid-May if possible when things begin to start gearing up for Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer season in the mountains. Answer: Since you aren't really planning on hiking, you won't need to worry much about muddy trails unless you hoped to do other activities which would take you out on the trails, except for possible closures or reduced hours at shops/activities/restaurants.
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