we go to colorado a good bit and usually go thru taos, nm and then head to pagosa springs, co from there. a good bit of trails and good scenery in that part of north new mexico to see along the way. durango is nice and has a lot. there are good dispensaries there and also the old steam train you can ride to silverton. that is a great experience. between durango and oury on hwy 550, there is silverton and a lot of offroad trails and passes to go on as well as a good bit of boondocking. we took engineer's pass years back and although it was pretty rocky and slow going, it was a great offroad excursion. there are old abandoned mines all over and old abandoned equipment that is neat to see. i think youll enjoy hwy550 and everything in that area. going to gunnison, there is the black canyon national park that is pretty amazing.
not sure if youve been to that area before and what all you want to do, but there is also the mesa verde cliff dwellings about an hour from durango and that is really cool to see and a lot of scenic driving there as well. its a little further, but there is also four corners where you can stand on four states at one time. its a tourist thing for sure, but still fun and not far from durango and the drive to it is kinda scenic...i mean its desert, but coming from the swamps, its scenic for us. there are also a good bit of dirt roads that go out into the desert.
you can also go up to ridgeway from durango and hang a left and go west into utah and there are arches and nice things to see that are only a couple hours away. find a good colorado specific map on amazon and look at the area from durango north to montrose and youll see there is a LOT to do and see there.
a little ways northeast of pagosa springs on hwy160 is wolf creek pass and the continental divide. there is a jeep trail right there on the divide that is really nice to take. i went in my tundra and it was a little tight in places. but still doable and a very scenic trail. just keep your eyes open because there are trails all over.
