Breckenridge opens the western road
Breckenridge is the eastern edge of this region. Once the trip crosses into Summit County, the map should stay focused west instead of stretching back across the Front Range.
From Breckenridge, the useful road network hands the trip toward Gunnison country, the Roaring Fork, Montrose and the Western Slope.
The western road has more than one hub
Gunnison and Montrose make the most sense around Black Canyon, Curecanti and the central Western Slope. Grand Junction is the better reset point for Colorado National Monument and the far-west mesas. Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley have their own lodging and event network.
Farther south and higher, Lake City and Creede are the useful edges for the Snow Mesa / Colorado Trail country. That branch is not a normal road-trip stop: the Bortle 1 Willow Creek dark-sky point is a hiking and backpacking objective.
That is why this region should feel broad and overlapping within western Colorado rather than reaching back to Denver.
Pick a corridor and stay with it
Choose two or three nights that belong together. Let the route files connect those pieces and save the rest for another run west. Driving time is part of the trip here, especially when the last hour happens after dark.
The Colorado Trail dark-sky point is the exception to the road-loop logic. It belongs on the regional map because the sky is exceptional, but reaching it means leaving the vehicle behind and planning around alpine terrain.
This is foreground country
Canyon rims, mesas and mountain valleys can matter as much as the stars. If you are carrying a camera, this is one of the strongest parts of the state for letting the landscape stay visible in the night.
A slightly brighter sky over a great canyon can make a better photograph than a darker sky over a parking lot. And if absolute darkness is the goal, the Snow Mesa high country now gives this region a Bortle 1 option that is earned on foot rather than reached by road.