Colorado trails suggestions

[Godwin]

In less than two weeks my family and I are headed out to Colorado and we will be there for a week. Oldest son will be attending a CAP activity in Colorado Springs so we're using that as an excuse to visit the state. After dropping off the CAP attendee the rest of us will have an entire week (Saturday to Saturday) to roam around. I am trying to nail down some destinations. Three widely spaced destinations I have in mind are Florissant Fossil Beds NM, Great Sand Dunes, and Dinosaur NM. I'm looking for some guidance for in-between places. I've gone through the Charles Wells books and have come up with a list of possible trails. This is where I could use your help. I have many more trails listed than we could possibly do so what I need is to narrow the list down to only one or two from each short listing because time will be limited. The trail Area and Rating come from the books. Colorado Road and Rec Atlas is on order and I should have that later this week.

We'll be in a stock FZJ 80 w/lockers and pulling a M416 trailer so I want to avoid trails where having the trailer could present problem (i.e. getting into a tight situation such as a switchback and needing to back the trailer).

Looking for scenic areas or other areas of interest with good camping and want to avoid crowds. Areas with easy shorter hikes would be a plus (will have a 5 year in tow). And I'm thinking that what we need are longer rather than shorter trails since these may offer more to do or see.

The trails are listed below and thanks for your help.

Trail/Road Region Area Rating
Baker Pass N 1 M
Old Flowers Road N 1 E
Pole Hill N 1 M
Pierson Park Road N 1 M

Stillwater Pass N 2 E
Switzerland Trail N 2 E

Byers Peak N 3 E
Rollins Pass West N 3 E
Rollins Pass East N 3 E
Kingston Peak N 3 M

Hahn’s Peak N 4 M
Buffalo Pass N 4 E

Coffee Pot Road N N 5 E
Red & White Mountain N 5 M

Cinnamon Pass S 1 M
Clear Lake S 1 E
Last Dollar Road S 1 E
Ophir Pass S 1 M
Yankee Boy Basin S 1 M

Italian Creek S 2 M
Paradise Divide S 2 E

Fourmile Area S 3 E
Marshall Pass S 3 E

Hagerman Pass S 4 E
Mosquito Pass S 4 M
Wearyman Creek S 4 M
Weston Pass S 4 E

Boreas Pass S 5 E
Deer Creek/Saint John S 5 M
Georgia Pass S 5 M

Mt. Herman S 6 E
Shelf Road, Phantom Canyon S 6 E

Hermit Pass S 7 E
Medano Pass S 7 M

 

[black95]

Try going to Traildamage.com, and click on the "trails" tab.

They seem to have been around for a long time and have lots of writeups on almost every trail in the state. You can click on trails and read about them, plus there are pictures. I think this will help you best to make your own decisions, I have been on a lot of these trails, but stopped giving advise, as I sometimes forget the limitations of a stock vehicle.

As for being busy: Well....... It's summertime in Colorado, there are going to be people everywhere. Usually though, the harder the trail, the less people on it, and try to stay away from areas the Charles Wells book recommends for ATV's, usually the ATV'ers are the biggest nuisance to me.(too much dust and they move too fast)

hope that helps!

 

[wesintl]

most of those passes are nothing more than gravel roads or dirt roads with some pot holes. A stock 80 will be fine. I know most of those but not all. I probably wouldn't recommend going on italian with a stocker pulling a m416 unless you have exp with it. It's doable though there's a scree field with a shelf to negotiate. have fun