Cool Towns to Stop In for a Night (Utah, Colorado, WY)

[Backyard]

Fruita isn't much of a town, I guess. It's more or less part of capitol reef NP. There's a historic cabin that they have open keep me if as a gift shop where you can buy jams made from the orchard's fruit and ice cream. There's a couple campgrounds there where you can pick as many apples as you want to eat while you're staying and I think it's a pretty small suggested donation to be able to take some with you. The orchard's of apples, peaches, etc are left over from when settlers moved into the area.

Torrey is a just a nice little town with a couple of good restaurants, a few shops, and a couple of art galleries.

Through Teasdale there's at least one little trading post shop and there's a lot of beautiful hikes around there where you can find petroglyphs, etc. Some internet searching might be required to find the best points if interest.

Then of course that whole area has some amazing hikes, archaeological sites, and drives like to cathedral valley. It's a pretty great, less crowded NP.

Thanks for the reply! Have done some homework on the Big 5 Parks, so we've got the shoes and trekking poles packed for at least 1 good hike in each.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

So what makes these towns "awesome"? The wife and I will be all thru this area next week on the bike and always looking for the unique.

The reason Torrey is amazing in my opinion, is it’s really one of those untouched gems. It is a super small place, but I enjoy that. It has a few places to eat and grab groceries, which is enough for me. Its sandwiched between two amazing places:

1) Capitol Reef National Park. It’s probably the least popular national park in Utah, but has massive amounts of land and things to see and do on that land. If you mountain bike or rock climb, this is your place.

2) Boulder Mountain. A tall, heavily forested mountain covered in lakes and wildlife. I used to hunt and fish there with my dad as a kid (good luck with that now, because the draw for it is pretty stingy from what I hear).

As stated, Fruita is pretty much a pioneer ghost town, but kept up for historical purposes. It’s full of really neat orchards, which are always covered in deer and elk.

 

[Kimber7man]

I would agree that Moab - just passing through and getting food/beers - is not really anything special. It’s an overpriced tourist town, with almost all of the food/beer offerings being mediocre.

Moab is a special place, but anymore you kind of have to have insider info to tap into that. Or spend at least a few nights.

We‘re taking the boys out there for a few days to do the parks, whitewater rafting, and a UTV trip. Any insiders have suggestions for places to eat/grab a local brew?

 

[HighUintas]

We‘re taking the boys out there for a few days to do the parks, whitewater rafting, and a UTV trip. Any insiders have suggestions for places to eat/grab a local brew?

Well.... For beer, there's Moab brewery. I think that's the only one there. Their beer is pretty good quality compared to a lot of other Utah breweries. It's certainly not exciting beer, but it is good. Their jalapeno corn bread and honey butter is really good. Other than that, their food is just meh.

 

[butcherboy]

Ouray, Telluride. Silverton, Durango, Pagosa Springs. All good stops but like others have said, Telluride and Ouray will be more touristy. Ouray has a really nice hot springs and so do Pagosa and Durango. Durango has a lot of breweries and restaurants. Not far from Durango is Farmington, NM. Nothing really special but has lots of restaurants and a couple of good breweries. It would be a little bit out of your way unless you travel the freeway to Gallup, then Shiprock. Head east to Farmington and then head north to Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Grand Junction.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Well.... For beer, there's Moab brewery. I think that's the only one there. Their beer is pretty good quality compared to a lot of other Utah breweries. It's certainly not exciting beer, but it is good. Their jalapeno corn bread and honey butter is really good. Other than that, their food is just meh.

There’s also Eddie McStiff’s which has much, much better food and drink in my opinion.

 

[wildwilderness]

Fruita CO, vs Fruita UT very different