Colorado Advice

[baggio16]

I figure y'all are the experts on the trails in your awesome state! We are driving from Minneapolis.

Anyways, I'm planning on a quick weekend road trip out there the weekend of June 22nd. I was thinking we'd be doing the Alpine Loop and Black Bear pass in the Telluride area. I'm assuming my stock Rubicon should do the trick?

Unfortunately, this trip I only have a day and a half (maybe two) in that area. What would be a good plan on tackling those two routes?

Also, we were planning a day in the Boulder area front range. What trails would you guys recommend out of that area?

I know there is a book that people recommend on Colorado off-roading, but I can't seem to locate where I saw it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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[Tech Tim]

This one is pretty good, they have a few others for the surrounding areas too.

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Colorado-Backroads-4-Wheel-Drive-Trails/dp/1934838047

Also check out some of Rick Russel's Sidekick Off Road videos covering Colorado.

http://www.sidekickoffroad.com

 

[Rumblefish]

Also try this website, it has .gpx files as well. https://www.trailsoffroad.com

 

[COSJL]

I figure y'all are the experts on the trails in your awesome state! We are driving from Minneapolis.

Anyways, I'm planning on a quick weekend road trip out there the weekend of June 22nd. I was thinking we'd be doing the Alpine Loop and Black Bear pass in the Telluride area. I'm assuming my stock Rubicon should do the trick?

Unfortunately, this trip I only have a day and a half (maybe two) in that area. What would be a good plan on tackling those two routes?

Also, we were planning a day in the Boulder area front range. What trails would you guys recommend out of that area?

I know there is a book that people recommend on Colorado off-roading, but I can't seem to locate where I saw it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Black Bear is more of a test for the driver's nerve, your stock Jeep should be just fine.
I have seen people do the alpine loop in their rental SUV's so should be pretty easy for the Rubicon.
If you don't mind driving on pavement, I would suggest Trail Ridge road while in Boulder. Have fun and post pics!

 

[Tech Tim]

@baggio16 don't know how long you'll be in town, but if you are around on Saturday the 30th, try to make it out to our Denver location for our OPEN HOUSE.

Link to the official thread


Same goes to @COSJL , @Rumblefish and any other CO peeps.

 

[rizej]

@baggio16 Not sure if your still planning on heading down to Ouray/Telluride the weekend of the 22nd but if so I'd pay close attention to the 416 Fire and whats open. As of right now I know Highway 550 from Silverton - Durango is closed and they closed the San Juan National Forest. This is a good link to information about the fire itself (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5822/).

 

[kkuntz01]

I figure y'all are the experts on the trails in your awesome state! We are driving from Minneapolis.

Anyways, I'm planning on a quick weekend road trip out there the weekend of June 22nd. I was thinking we'd be doing the Alpine Loop and Black Bear pass in the Telluride area. I'm assuming my stock Rubicon should do the trick?

Unfortunately, this trip I only have a day and a half (maybe two) in that area. What would be a good plan on tackling those two routes?

Also, we were planning a day in the Boulder area front range. What trails would you guys recommend out of that area?

I know there is a book that people recommend on Colorado off-roading, but I can't seem to locate where I saw it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Jeep rental places in the area have been sending out stock sports with not recovery points so I wouldn't worry too much about wheeling a stock Rubicon on any of the trails you're thinking about. As @rizej mentioned, you'll want to keep close tabs on the forest fire that's been going on in the area as will have a big impact on where you can or cannot go.

As @Tech Tim shared, this is the book you want to have with you on any trails you plan on running as it's one of the best resources for planning and wheeling. I myself have the Fun Treks books for CO, Moab and CA. You can also check out the web site traildamage.com for additional information. A tip that was once shared with me when planning trails is to try and plan your trail selections in a sort of loop or pick trails that start where another one ends. One example would be if you're planning to run Black Bear Pass (awesome trail BTW), you pick that up on HWY 550 and that drops you in Telluride. You can do lunch in Telluride, or continue on and pick up Imogene Pass and hop that over to Ouray.

 

[baggio16]

Thanks so much for the info! The book was awesome and really helped out. We were planning on going to the Ouray area, but decided with the fire, to stay away from there. From some great trails in the Boulder, Montezuma, and CO Springs areas.

You guys are so lucky to have so many amazing areas to explore. You know a 20%+ percent lean into a cliff was good fun to freak out my dad!

I'm already starting to think about my next trip out. Hopefully this year.

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