Must go where in CO and Utah??

[capnjim]

Hey Guys,

I'll be in Fruita CO by the weekend and then down to Moab in a week or two.

I'm in the area for a month or so.

I'm looking for a few awesome trails / roads that I must drive and BLM camp on.

I'm in a EB van, 6" lift, and 35's. Not a ton of real 4x4 technical experience.

In CO what are your favorite passes with awesome views and great off the beaten path campsites?

In Utah?

An added bit of info. We are big into mountain biking so trails close by are an added bonus.

We do have a travel trailer but we'll be leaving it in an established campsite in town.

Thanks for any help.

I promise to post photos!

Jim

2006 Ujoint EB 6.0PSD

[chaos]

in Utah?

mountain bike specific>>
Moab is still gonna be HOT... and going to be a couple weeks early for Outerbike to.
If you are going to make it to southwest Utah, then hit up Brianhead if you haven't been there yet.
Awesome trails to be shuttled and some decent lift assisted trails on the weekends.

[Jeffrey]

I don't have much experience in CO, but I certainly do in UT. If I were to suggest one, do the Burr Trail Road out of Boulder, UT. Spectacular scenery. When you drop down into Capitol Reef NP, head north back to route 12. Then to Escalante and check out some places along the Hole In the Rock Road, and Spencer Road (generally unmapped, but right at mile marker 70). Another good one out of Escalante is along the Kaiparowitz Plateau on the Smokey Mountain Road. If you have time, it's 80 miles to Big Water, UT (where there is very little water). A bit more west is the Cottonwood Road a bit east of Kanab and it comes out in Canonville. Can be done the other direction, too.

[loren85022]

I recently posted a 7 day CO/UT trip report http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11634. There's a few spots on the list I think qualify as 'must go.'

[Gooseberry]

BrianHead and you could camp at Navajo lake. Some real fun trails to ride around the lake and virgin river rim trail is shuttle drop at one end but worth the views. Also Parkcity is a must and has everything you could dream of ridding. The one place I have yet to get to is north of Salt lake I think in Logan that is another ski resort but has trails like Parkcity. BLM camping Around Salt Lake is hard to find.

[jage]

Imogene Pass great camping coming up the Ouray side, we stayed at a flooded mill. Didn't make it over to Telluride. Don't try Black Bear Pass, my understanding is Jeeps are too big.

Medano coming up from Great Sand Dunes National Park. Don't boondock until you get to the Beaver ponds.

Black Canyon near Durango, North Rim ... or so I hear! Never made it myself, but we love the Durango area.

In Moab there is a campground called Horse Thief- if you drive past it a mile down the road you can boondock. If you're not into boondocking at that moment, Horse Thief is a little known good spot.

None of these are related, but these are the top ones I can think of if you're winding up anywhere near them. Oh and Franktown of course, but I wouldn't recommend coming down to the plains just for that.

[Pschitt]

If it's still hot in Moab, go up the La Sal Mountain, they are plenty of nice mountain biking trail there and it's not far away... In this area but for hiking, I like the Needles - South of Canyonsland National Park - and Beef Bassin (North of Bridges National Monument).

[JoeH]

so much to ride, a month is not enough time

Regarding the Brian Head/Navajo Lake area recommendation: the Tee Ah Ah campground on the east side of the lake is nice. A counterclockwise loop with Virgin Rim and back around the lake is a nice 14 mile loop. If you are in that part of SW Utah, Thunder Mountain is not to be missed. You can use the bike path along hwy12 to make a 12 mile loop or you can go big and add in Casto Canyon and Cassidy Trail.

Moab-so many options but this time of year I'd stick to the La Sals. There's plenty of nice camping off the La Sal loop road. You can ride the upper half of the Whole Enchilada or work in some of the lesser known trails.

Moab is close to Durango so I would hit that over Telluride. Not that the T-ride area doesn't have merit but the sections of the CO trail that can be accessed via Molas, Bolam, or Kennebec Passes are high alpine riding at it's finest. You could also drive from Ouray to Telluride over Imogene.

If you dial in a specific itinerary I can help with more detailed ride descriptions and/or other sources of info. Skidmap is a great resource. I'm jealous

[capnjim]

Thanks guys you all Rock!

I'm going to sit down over a beer or two and figure out a plan.

Leave trailer here, go in for two nights and BLM camp and ride, back to trailer etc...

Thanks guys!

Jim

[jage]

This is the camping over Medano (been looking for these pics and it came up in the slideshow):