Unoriginal, CO noob, what trails questions... (2 Viewers)

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Ladies, gentlemen, scholars, and degenerates alike...

We will be traveling through CO, south to north, for about 3 days, the week before the 4th of July headed to a Cruiser ride in SD for the weekend of the 4th.... in my Tundra...with a small slide in camper...

My 70 year old dad can’t ride 5,000 miles in my FJ55 but he wants to come.

I would consider myself an “experienced” off-roader but will be in a full sized Tundra on 35”s.

Like all CO tourist, we’d like to ride some gravel mountain passes/Alpine Loop-ish stuff.

looking for some must-sees, must-avoids, must eat, or a general great path starting from the southeast corner of the state and headed to the Badlands a few days later. I have had all types of 4WDs from 4Runners on 31”s, to tube chassis on 44”s, to my FJ55 on an FJ80 chassis/lockers/35”s.

Appologies for my dirty noob post, but hoping to get better info here than on MyFace pages and SXS sites.

here is a pic of my old 55 during the last cross country trip on the $1,000,000 HY

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[EricG]

Tincup pass is a good choice, if it's open by then: Tincup Pass OHV Route - https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/tincup-pass-4x4-road

High alpine environment, great views, easy trail. The little St Elmo "ghost town" is kind of cool, and Mt Princeton hot springs are right there also.

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Tincup pass is a good choice, if it's open by then: Tincup Pass OHV Route - https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/tincup-pass-4x4-road

High alpine environment, great views, easy trail. The little St Elmo "ghost town" is kind of cool, and Mt Princeton hot springs are right there also.

thanks! That would be another stop closer to SD than Silverton

 

[OverlandTrax]

Highly recommend you check out the status of any passes on bushducks.com to avoid going up any trail only to find out that its not passable and require a 4 hour detour; much of Colorado's mountain range is still covered in snow right now.

 

[Oneops]

This may be hit or miss. High elevation will just be opening for most of the trails.
Crystal mill, Sand dunes, Bridal Falls, Kokopelli trail man there's a lot. 3 days is just passing through.

 

[subzali]

Check out the backcountry discovery route (BDR). Basically goes from the four corners to north of steamboat. I can’t remember the sw route exactly, but I think it goes over the alpine loop area. Cottonwood Pass or Tincup as a substitute. Turquoise lake and hagerman pass. Up past stagecoach reservoir and steamboat lake.
TBH though that would be a long slog through the state, and would probably be pretty rough on the camper. Tincup is pretty rough, for instance. If it were me I would try to do main roads and hit highlights along the way.
Day 1 You could hit the sand dunes and end the day at valley view hot springs/campground.
Second day do Salida/BV/Leadville and could possibly do Hagerman and end the day at Glenwood. Otherwise take Independence over to Aspen and then to Glenwood if you want and soak in the springs.
Third day head up past Yampa or Oak Creek and you could end the day in Steamboat Springs. Next day find the quickest way to I-80 in Wyoming and continue on your way.

Alternate first day you could take the million dollar highway up through Ouray, alpine loop over to Lake City if you want, stay somewhere around there. Second day you could go through the black canyon of the Gunnison, then work your way up to Glenwood from there.

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Thanks guys!!!!!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Check out the backcountry discovery route (BDR). Basically goes from the four corners to north of steamboat. I can’t remember the sw route exactly, but I think it goes over the alpine loop area. Cottonwood Pass or Tincup as a substitute. Turquoise lake and hagerman pass. Up past stagecoach reservoir and steamboat lake.
TBH though that would be a long slog through the state, and would probably be pretty rough on the camper. Tincup is pretty rough, for instance. If it were me I would try to do main roads and hit highlights along the way.
Day 1 You could hit the sand dunes and end the day at valley view hot springs/campground.
Second day do Salida/BV/Leadville and could possibly do Hagerman and end the day at Glenwood. Otherwise take Independence over to Aspen and then to Glenwood if you want and soak in the springs.
Third day head up past Yampa or Oak Creek and you could end the day in Steamboat Springs. Next day find the quickest way to I-80 in Wyoming and continue on your way.

Alternate first day you could take the million dollar highway up through Ouray, alpine loop over to Lake City if you want, stay somewhere around there. Second day you could go through the black canyon of the Gunnison, then work your way up to Glenwood from there.

This looks awesome! Come or go as the time and snow allows!

I knew my question was unoriginal! Ha!

 

[subzali]

Sorry I thought you said starting in the SW corner. Starting in the SE corner I would probably skip the million dollar highway stuff (esp. since you've already seen it and it's much further out of your way). Sand Dunes are really cool if you've never been, though it will be hot in July.

If you want to stay more eastward, you could hit up the Royal Gorge outside of Canon City, then go up to Colorado Springs/Manitou (you could drive up the back way up Hwy 9 through Cripple Creek, it's a cool dirt road), and then drive up Pikes Peak. That and/or Mount Evans is/are always cool. From Pikes you could drive up to Woodland Park and either take Rampart Range Road (40 miles of washboard) or Hwy 67 up to Deckers. Go left at Deckers and stay on good pavement to Buffalo Creek (fishing/hiking/mtb everywhere in that area), or go right and road turns to dirt, and you could loop past Foxton and work your way back to Hwy 285. Really cool scenic canyon there, tubing, fishing, Colorado Trail goes through there, etc. You could then go up to Evergreen, which has a cool downtown area, then go down Bear Creek to Morrison (stop and check out Red Rocks ampitheater and maybe The Fort Restaurant), then head up to Golden. Downtown Golden is cool, tubing on Clear Creek, restaurants, etc. then take the Peak to Peak Highway between Golden and Estes Park, good Indian Restaurant in Nederland, and if you wanted to take a side trip at Rollinsville you could head straight west and check out the Moffat Tunnel or even take the old railroad grade up to Yankee Doodle Lake. Or if you wanted to stay a little further east you could go up through Boulder (interesting place - Pearl Street Mall has people watching, restaurants, Boulder Creek/hiking/fishing/tubing/climbing/biking), then up to Lyons do the famous Oskar Blues restaurant. Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park are worth a stop and at least a quick driving tour - Fall River Road up to the visitor center on top is worth it IMO, and then you come back down Trail Ridge to Estes. There is a big YMCA camp in Estes which is worth looking into for lodging/camping options. As you continue north, you could check out Red Feather Lakes area possibly, or come down Big Thompson Canyon down to Fort Collins. Horsetooth Reservoir is a cool place to stop.

Anyway, that is a lot, but the point is there are a lot of interesting things to see/do without even having to go west too far. It would help to know what kinds of tourist attractions you are looking for - outdoor activities? Or get out and walk to snap a few photos type places?

 

[SAS]

starting from the southeast corner of the state and headed to the Badlands a few days later.

Mission Wolf near Gardner, CO (a wolf sanctuary, not a tourist attraction) is a small place but remote and you can camp nearby (serenade by wolves!)
then drive over Greenhorn Mountain (easy 4x4 road) and visit Bishop Castle the next morning
drive up to Canon City, take the Shelf Road (easy 4x4 road) north to Victor/Cripple Creek, then drive to Divide
From Divide, you could go west into South Park, go north through Alma and over Hoosier Pass (paved) into Breckenridge then on to I-70
From Divide, you could go west into South Park, go north through Fairplay and over Kenosha Pass (paved) and left on CR60 (Webster Pass, 4x4 road) to the summit

From the summit of Webster Pass, which is also the "end" of Red Cone (more difficult 4x4 road, not recommended) you have a choice to turn around and resume Hwy 285 north, or
continue north and go through Montezuma, take another easy FS 4x4 road to Keystone and Hwy 6, drive past Arapaho Basin ski area then go east on 70, or north on hwy 9 to Kremmling; from there go north and travel east in Wyoming, or take hwy 40 easterly toward Granby, then Estes Park area (and north Front Range).

In lieu of Webster, Guanella Pass (CR 62 from Grant, CO at Hwy 285) may be an option as it's paved and gets "almost as good" views.

Hope this helps-- @subzali has you covered pretty well on points north of here!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

@SAS @subzali y’all are awesome! Thanks!
Just got hone late from work and will have to digest this tomorrow.

I actually did mean SW to NE, but that’s just because I thought the best mts were there.

we will have the pop up camper. How hard is it to boondock out that way? I kind of want to go ahead an get a room in ouray or something in case we need it during the busy season, but we do have the ability to just sleep anywhere too.

Thanks again!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Well, this is the very early stages of planning.
I am a little concerned about some of the passes still being snowed in last week of June, but that’s when it has to be.

Some short hikes, ghost towns, good food, amazing scenery, a few scary passes, all that sounds good. Maybe not super tourist stuff, but they may be best things to do. Will have 2 high energy 12 year olds and a medium energy 70 year old.

honestly, we didn’t take many trips when I was a kid, and just going off for two weeks is a new thing for me that I trying to take my kids on. We’ve done 3/4 days at the beach or in TN, but this is the first trip of many living out of the Cruiser or Tundra for 2 weeks.

thanks again

 

[subzali]

I am not as familiar with the extreme SW or northern parts of the state, but generally if you are in national forest or BLM land there’s a pretty good bet you can find a place to boondock somewhere. look up the forest service offices along your way-the forest maps are free and show dispersed camping spots.

Towing a popup I would absolutely not do Tincup pass. I would not take a popup over Webster pass either.

passes to consider on any of your potential routes:
-Marshall pass
-old la Veta pass
-Cumberland pass (would not do Hancock pass)
-cottonwood pass (paved now)
-possibly hagerman pass. It’s been 15 years for me though.

You can find boondock camping:
-whole valley around Taylor reservoir
-roads north and south of trout creek pass
-possibly off Weston pass road
-hwy 9 between canon city and cripple creek (shelf road area)
-Marshall pass area

lots of other places depending on where your route takes you

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

@subzali pop up slide in

thanks again for all the info.

trying to find the balance between over planning and then just going with it. I know the weather will effect it up until the last week probably.
Can’t wait for the trip!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

My nerd book showed up today!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Got my BTT (bed top tent ) today.

About the same price as a new hard shell RTT but sleeps 4 and 5 can play cards in it. Needs a little love, but a awesome start.

We transferred the Phoneix from one 2011 Tundra Rock Warrior onto another 2011 Tundra Rock Warrior in Kentucky and I cruised back to Alabama.

Four Wheel Camper traces its roots back to Phoenix and the aluminum frames. This is a good intro to see how much we will truck camper camp.

Have always been a backpacker and tent camper. Big time up grade for us.

The ole Land Cruiser is still around for when we truly tent camp.

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

CO folks again—-

—would it really help much with the snow melt to go to SD first, and then CO on the way home?

CO from July 5th-8th as opposed to June 28th-Jul 1st?

 

[SAS]

—would it really help much with the snow melt to go to SD first, and then CO on the way home?

CO from July 5th-8th as opposed to June 28th-Jul 1st?

Potentially, but then again perhaps only marginally...depends upon what the weather is doing now and the next 4-6 weeks (meaning if there are snowstorms at elevation during May, then the later date may be an advantage). But generally, almost everything is open by July 1 (there are some exceptions).

You could check weekly for weather in/near the places you intend to travel. Look at the 10 day forecast each week and see when/where there may be snow above 10k feet.

(April 27th 2021) An example: Two feet of snow: 'Winter storm warnings' activated as forecasters make big predictions | OutThere Colorado - https://www.outtherecolorado.com/news/two-feet-of-snow-winter-storm-warnings-activated-as-forecasters-make-big-predictions/article_4ccff884-a76d-11eb-9f83-4bec879dd538.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

By early to mid-June, there will be 4x4 reports popping on sites like trailsoffroad.com, bushducks.com, and county websites (San Juan County, Montrose County, Eagle County, etc).

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

@SAS thanks!

we have to be back sooner than I thought. The decision will have to be made to go to CO first for 3-4 days, with more time, with more possible snow, or go after the 4th for only 2 days.

Land Cruiser life problems!

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Got the new-er tow rig! Give everyone some leg room. My nicest truck ever and it’s still has 93k on it! Will get a few upgrades before we roll out.

we are moving in a few weeks, have to stow the camper for a few weeks. It’s ready to go right now in theory, but there is at least a day of work I want to do to it. Only had to take out two years of 401k retirement to buy some 2x4s. This way I can work on it off the truck.