Colorado Road Trip W/ Kids 2025- Day 8…..Colorado Dreamin

While not all the days on this trip were super-huge driving days, we did have 2-3 that stood out with lots of mileage…this was one of those days.  From our campsite near Denver at Cherry Creek State Park, up through Leadville and then down to Pagosa Springs…it was an ambitious trip to say the least, especially rollin in an EV for these huge mountain miles.  Read on to see how we did….

What, us wanting to push the mileage so we could see a bunch of cool things and test our EV at altitude and lots of driving miles?  Nope…not us….except yes, we did it and had a good time doing it.

We headed out of our spot at Cherry Creek State Park after packing the camp, on a gloriously pretty summer day that would hold all day…especially as we were heading west.  Through Denver, we headed up and down Route 70 until we found the 91 turnoff to get to Leadville.  The roads in this area are steep, even the freeway Route 70 was steep and I think if would be interesting to drive it in the winter, I would not really look forward to it.  But I had always wanted to go see Leadville, a city sitting at 10,151 feet above elevation and known for its mining….but known to me for its slew of famous races- a very hard single track bike race, a 100-mile ultramarathon ranked as one of the top hardest races in the world (big mountains and big altitude) and a 29-mile donkey race that’s the hardest in the world.  Yep, my kind of place.  So we headed up there to check it out, grab some lunch and see the area.  It didn’t disappoint, I’m in love.  Now I have a complete trail map of the Leadville Ultramarathon hung in front of my treadmill for motivation….whether I ever do the race isn’t the point….it’s there for me.  Here’s Leadville:

Once the HelmsMistress found coffee and we did some light shopping and wolfed down a great lunch, it was time to get on the move again.  We continued down the valley on the 285 through Buena Vista and into Salida, where we found the Rivian Adventure Network Chargers.  They worked perfectly, giving us the juice we needed for the rest of the drive up and then doooown to Pagosa Springs.  Here’s a quick peek at Salida:

After Salida, we did some big mountain miles and even steeper downhill miles on the 285 before transitioning to the 160 to do the drive down into Pagosa Springs.  While there, we stayed in a hotel just on the outer edge of town recommended by the Kellers.  What a find this was, one of our favorite motels and restaurants on the trip.  Motel SOCO and the El Camino Bar and Grill are one and the same…retro cool with a welcoming family vibe and live music (if that’s on your list).  Note:  I’m kicking myself for not taking pictures of the hotel and bar, not sure why I didn’t, but I’m sure I was just in a manic hurry mode….not unusual.  After checking in, we were ready to relax after our long day & drive so we asked for their expert recommendations on where to go soak in Pagosa’s famous hot springs.  These folks had great recommendations, but told us we could soak for free if we didn’t mind a very short walk.  So we followed directions and made our way to Nathans Hippy Dip.  Parking was available up close as it was the end of the day and weekday so that was easy, and the walk could not have been closer.  We found a pool that other folks were just leaving that was close to the river, so we could soak in the hot water then jump in the river to cool off.  It was perfect…..and completely free.

After a nice long soak, we headed back to Motel SOCO for a welcomed shower and great meal to top off a good driving day.  We had seen Leadville, Buena Vista, Salida and Pagosa Springs for just a short sliver of time (and loved them) and had a safe drive.  It was a good day.  Here’s the springs in pics: 

Sadly, Pagosa Springs and the surrounding areas were hit with record flooding in mid-October 2025, equaling the 3rd and 4th largest flood events in the last 100 years.  There’s a chance that if you go through this area things may not be cleaned up and repaired due to the extent of the flood damage.  My hope is that Pagosa Springs is able to rebuild stronger and better.

One of my goals of this entire summer road trip was to go through and check out Leadville.  I know it has altitude but we liked the community and it seemed like a neat place.  I bet it’s just not the same in the winter, that’s when we should really check out all these places.  

Here’s some of the other posts I’ve written about this road trip: 

Colorado Road Trip W/ Kids 2025- Day 1

Colorado Road Trip W/Kids 2025- Day 2 On The I-40

Colorado Road Trip W/Kids 2025- Day 3 Colorado or Bust!

Colorado Road Trip W/Kids 2025- Days 4-7….Donkey Hooves