Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route

[Green Boot Adventures]

Hey all, I hope everyone is well in the midst of all the uncertainty of this pandemic. I've taken the past few days to plan out my annual Colorado trip and wanted some feedback on the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route (COBDR). I've invited my sister to tag along and am incredibly excited to spend this time with her! She has never done anything like this so I am thrilled. I plan on running the entire COBDR from north to south and assess it will run me 5 - 6 days with a backstop of 7 days. The tentative date of the trip is August 2020, pending guidance and travel restrictions from my work.


Here's a brief overview of the route in I will be taking. I'll throw the GAIA route overview down lower. The COBDR route will be in BLUE. For those that don't know, the GPS tracks can be downloaded from Backcountry Discovery Route's website at ridebdr.com I am looking for recommendations on any activities or must see's and do's to make this trip as memorable as possible. Some of the ideas I'm looking at are horseback riding, airplane or helicopter tours, canoeing/kayaking, museums, coffee shops (obviously), restaurants, etc.

1. Wyoming/Colorado border
2. Gypsum
3. Leadville
4. Buena Vista
5. Lake City
6. Telluride
7. Cortez
8. 4 Corners Region

Here's my current rig setup for reference. Not pictured is the newest modifications which include King 2.5 Extended Travel Shocks on all 4 corners, Total Chaos UCAs, Dakar leaf pack, and Matte Dark Bronze SCS wheels. On order is a C4 Fab Hybrid Bumper, RCI skids, and sliders.
























Looking forward to any inputs and ultimately the trip itself! Take care!

 

[KMDADV]

I’ll be watching this as well. 5 of us in 3 rigs are planning to do this route in August.

edit to add: We will be running south to north.

 

[USStrongman]

I was unaware of this route. Read up on it on the site you mentioned.

Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route (COBDR) Map & Information

If getting high is your thing, Colorado offers some of the tallest mountains passable by motorcycle in the US.

ridebdr.com

 

[Stormcrow]

We did this route a few years ago. Overall, it's great. The southern sections, in my opinion, are better the northern ones, especially the northern most section to/from the Wyoming border. If you have some extra time during your trip, I'd recommend staying a day or two around Telluride to do some of the passes and trails around there that aren't part of the COBDR.

 

[Green Boot Adventures]

We did this route a few years ago. Overall, it's great. The southern sections, in my opinion, are better the northern ones, especially the northern most section to/from the Wyoming border. If you have some extra time during your trip, I'd recommend staying a day or two around Telluride to do some of the passes and trails around there that aren't part of the COBDR.

Great suggestions...Telluride is an absolute must!

 

[SteveD]

Great suggestions...Telluride is an absolute must!

Check out the Alpine Loop, this can get you from Lake City over to Ouray and then your choice of 3 passes (In Degree of Difficulty easiest to not- Ophir/ Imogene/ Black Bear) to get into Telluride.

 

[Stormcrow]

Check out the Alpine Loop, this can get you from Lake City over to Ouray and then your choice of 3 passes (In Degree of Difficulty easiest to not- Ophir/ Imogene/ Black Bear) to get into Telluride.

And if you’re shooting for August, all of the passes should be open (they usually start opening in mid-July). We’re actually going back up to that area at the end July because we enjoyed our time in that area so much when we up there for the COBDR. The area around Buena Vista might also worth spending a day or two in. we didn’t have time to linger, be it kind of has a semi-Moab feel with some big rock formations.