The Pagosa/Durango thread got me wondering.

Every summer, my family takes a trip to Red River, New Mexico. We love it. We like to ride our SxS on the trails, love the weather, fish a little, love the restaurants and shops, etc.

This year, we did something a little different and went to Pagosa Springs for a few days and then went to Red River for a few days to end the trip. Just to see something new. We had a great time.

Are there any other cool mountain towns in the region that would be worth visiting for a few days? We would still want to end up in Red River, as that place is very special to us, and we love it there.

Thought about going to Durango next year, but not sure if that would be a fit or not.

Durango is great, too. Not quite as compact but there is a Ton to do in the Durango Silverton Ouray 550 corridor. Hiking, fishing, offroad, camping, rafting, the train, etc. I'm up there every winter to ski and most summers to fish and camp. Town has respectable restaurants and 3-4 pretty good microbrews, plus Ty of touristy shopping if you like.

We also love Red River, especially since we can one-shot it over there from DFW in a day even with small kids. My favorite trip included 2 nights in McCrystal Campground during our ISD's fall break. It happened to line up with the hunters in camp with their once-in-a-lifetime elk tags and the annual horseback cattle roundup.

Silverton and Ouray are the closest places I've found to the vibe/immediate trail access of Red River. I like them both better than Red River but they're a lot farther away.

Ouray. Do the alpine loop, hurricane pass, etc.

Also look at creede and lake city. As others have said, Silverton, Durango, etc.

We just bought some property in South Fork.

As mentioned Durango, Ouray, Silverton. I'd add a couple of smaller ones in Lake City and Creede as well. All kinds of great little mountain towns.

My parents do a trip to the mountains and mix Creede, CO and RR.

mpl35 said:

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As mentioned Durango, Ouray, Silverton. I'd add a couple of smaller ones in Lake City and Creede as well. All kinds of great little mountain towns.

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My grandson ran and finished the hundred mile race in Ouray. Beautiful area.