Rio Grande Backcountry Discovery Trail

[ForceXXI]

Planning a trip for early August to do the Rio Grande Backcountry Discovery Trail in southern Colorado. Here is a link to the forum thread,Rio Grande Backcountry Discovery Trail . Planning on driving down, staying the night in a hotel in Alamosa then the next morning heading to the trail head. Shooting for the first week in August. If anyone is interested, hit me up and we'll try to make it happen.

 

[Heartland Overland]

I would be interested in joining. I had a big trip planned for this summer but with everything going on that has gotten squashed.

 

[ForceXXI]

This damn pandemic has everything flipped upside down. I'm just hoping its ran its course by August.

We're planning on about 4-5 days on the trail, probably have plenty of stops for photos, sightseeing, maybe a side jaunt or 2. I just want to have a relaxing drive through the mountains and enjoy the scenery.

On a side note, which roof rack do you have? I've been trying to decide which one to get but just cant seem to make up my mind. Any pros or cons with the one you've got? I'm just looking for a rack for storage, we dont plan on running a RTT.

 

[Heartland Overland]

I'm running a Gobi rack. It's a solid rack. I have the quick disconnect to be able to lay it back to be able to remove the top if I wanted, dual ladders. Since I bought the overland trailer I dont use it for much. But its definitely a good rack.

Let me know what dates you're thinking for the run. I am pretty flexible as long as work doesnt call me back early or the world doesnt decide to end. Depending on when and how the trails are further west I may just continue on to Telluride for a few days. I was out there last August but missed a couple trails I really wanted to do.

 

[ForceXXI]

I'll have the dates set by the weekend. Have to verify my time off at work.

I've heard good things about the Gobi rack. We'll have to see what the funds will allow... Lol.

 

[ForceXXI]

Looking at Monday Aug. 3rd 8am start. Leaving from Grand Island, it looks to be about a 9-10 hour drive to Alamosa on 2 lane(trying to avoid Interstate). Thinking of a different 1st portion after we leave Alamosa so we don't have to drive 60 miles on the highway to the start point just to end up about 25 miles from Alamosa. Still fine tuning it though.

We'll plan a pre-trip meetup so we can:

A) Get to meet each other
B) Go over any last minute stuff that we will probably forget about.
C) See if there is other stuff you/we/us want to see or do while on the trail.

 

[Heartland Overland]

Planning on going with the flow or planning out places to camp every night?

 

[ForceXXI]

I kinda like the idea of driving til we see a nice dispersed area to camp. From what I saw on the map, there are plenty of campgrounds to chose from if we want amenities. On the gpx file, there are no shortage of campgrounds listed.

 

[Heartland Overland]

Yeah, I was seeing all the campgrounds along the way. Dispersed would probably be better to avoid crowds. Ill look on some maps and see what I can find.

 

[ForceXXI]

Thats what I was thinking. Avoiding crowds is always a good thing...lol

 

[Heartland Overland]

Any plans to hit any places around Telluride or Ouray after the Rio Grande BDT?

 

[ForceXXI]

The wife and I are going over some things and we're thinking of hitting Ophir pass for the badge of honor. Wife doesn't like major shelf roads so some of the trails in that area are a no-go.

 

[Heartland Overland]

There's definitely some heights around there for sure. Last year I hit all the major routes in that area minus Black Bear and Poughkeepsie.

 

[ForceXXI]

BTW, I created a Rally Point to see if we can get another rig or 2. I set the max participants to 4 just to keep the group small.

 

[Heartland Overland]

BTW, I created a Rally Point to see if we can get another rig or 2. I set the max participants to 4 just to keep the group small.

Saw the Rally Point you created. I won't take up a spot on the Rally Point at this time. Just found out that I may be stuck in East Africa a bit longer than expected. But if I manage to get out of here earlier than what they are saying I am definitely interested in joining the adventure.

 

[kilby]

Hey did y'all end up running this? How was it? I'd like to do it this year. Looking for any beta.