Trails from Montana to Colorado

[JM8610]

Figured this would be a good place to get some good spots. Me and the family are riding from Ms and we are going to end up in Montana and ride the rocky's down to Co. Just us in one vehicle and looking for some insight to ride some easier trails (seeing how we will be alone) that would get us some awesome scenery. Wife is very new not to camping but trails and well I guess I kinda am to. I grew up in the mud and looking to branch out. Any info would be great. Also any cool things to do on the way a 9,8,3 year olds would enjoy. Thanks for any info in advance

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[JCarter]

Figured this would be a good place to get some good spots. Me and the family are riding from Ms and we are going to end up in Montana and ride the rocky's down to Co. Just us in one vehicle and looking for some insight to ride some easier trails (seeing how we will be alone) that would get us some awesome scenery. Wife is very new not to camping but trails and well I guess I kinda am to. I grew up in the mud and looking to branch out. Any info would be great. Also any cool things to do on the way a 9,8,3 year olds would enjoy. Thanks for any info in advance

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Depending on what month you roll into CO, a lot of the trails are closed for spring runoff.
If you have never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, I would say it's worth seeing at a minimum ounce in your life. I have taken the wife (hates camping) and x2 5 year olds & 2 years old and had fun seeing the wildlife and going on many short hikes.
The park is right by Estes Park and is not a bad town to explore if you need a recharge from the trail. From Estes I would recomend doing the Peak to Peak Hwy (South) that runs all the way to Golden, CO. There are many trails to go exploring along the Hwy.
An easy trail area with dispersed camping is up by Red Feathers lakes. The area is directly west of Red Feathers Lakes, and there is an old Fire Watch Tower on dead man look out that you can climb to the top if a volunteer is on site. Or you could stay at Red Feather Lakes and go fishing.
If you have never been to Ouray, CO you should go, but I recomend mid to late summer if you want to do all the big name pass trails.

Colorado has a lot to offer, but because you are a single vehicle I would caution you not to push beyond your limits. Things can go wrong very quickly in the back country. If the unfortunate happens, there is a volunteer rescue organization ”Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery” that will recover vehicles from the backcountry if things go wrong and you found your self-stuck.

Hope this helps.


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[Etoimos]

What are your dates and general route/timeline you'd like to follow. We can help fill in the details from there.

 

[JM8610]

Depending on what month you roll into CO, a lot of the trails are closed for spring runoff.
If you have never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, I would say it's worth seeing at a minimum ounce in your life. I have taken the wife (hates camping) and x2 5 year olds & 2 years old and had fun seeing the wildlife and going on many short hikes.
The park is right by Estes Park and is not a bad town to explore if you need a recharge from the trail. From Estes I would recomend doing the Peak to Peak Hwy (South) that runs all the way to Golden, CO. There are many trails to go exploring along the Hwy.
An easy trail area with dispersed camping is up by Red Feathers lakes. The area is directly west of Red Feathers Lakes, and there is an old Fire Watch Tower on dead man look out that you can climb to the top if a volunteer is on site. Or you could stay at Red Feather Lakes and go fishing.
If you have never been to Ouray, CO you should go, but I recomend mid to late summer if you want to do all the big name pass trails.

Colorado has a lot to offer, but because you are a single vehicle I would caution you not to push beyond your limits. Things can go wrong very quickly in the back country. If the unfortunate happens, there is a volunteer rescue organization ”Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery” that will recover vehicles from the backcountry if things go wrong and you found your self-stuck.

Hope this helps.


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Yes that's some awesome information in gonna plug into our trip plans thank you for that info

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[JM8610]

What are your dates and general route/timeline you'd like to follow. We can help fill in the details from there.

My wife took our book to work with the details we have figured I will post info on it tonight.

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[JM8610]

My wife took our book to work with the details we have figured I will post info on it tonight.

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Lodi, Wisconsin 6/3-6/5
North Dakota 6/5-6/6
Montana 6/6-6/9
Wyoming 6/9-6/11
Colorado 6/11-6/14
Kansas 6/14-6/16
Missouri 6/16-6/17
Mississippi 6/18

Once we get into the rocky's we are going to basically travel along the east side. Best way to explain it without labeling ever road and turn we are looking to go down. Hope that helps. Any tips or places that is a must see along that direction would be awesome. Thanks in advance!!


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[Etoimos]

Three days in CO is not many. lol So many trails to run here. The mid part of June is going to limit a lot of them though, as the really high trails don't always open up until late June and into July.

You could spend all three days in RMNP if your family is into hiking. If not, you can drive all the major areas of the park in a day during June. With your limited time, I'd not drive all the way over to the west side (if it is open), but stop at the summit. The west side is not as spectacular and with limited time, there are other places to spend it.

My initial suggestion would be to then head to the Breckenridge area (about 3 hours away). There are about 15 trails in that area, most ranging from 2-4 on Traildamage.com. These trails would get you off the beaten path, but keep you in arm's reach of a ski resort town for the wife to escape to civilization if she needed to. After a night or two in that area you can jump back on I-70 easily and shoot across in to KS.

 

[JM8610]

Three days in CO is not many. lol So many trails to run here. The mid part of June is going to limit a lot of them though, as the really high trails don't always open up until late June and into July.

You could spend all three days in RMNP if your family is into hiking. If not, you can drive all the major areas of the park in a day during June. With your limited time, I'd not drive all the way over to the west side (if it is open), but stop at the summit. The west side is not as spectacular and with limited time, there are other places to spend it.

My initial suggestion would be to then head to the Breckenridge area (about 3 hours away). There are about 15 trails in that area, most ranging from 2-4 on Traildamage.com. These trails would get you off the beaten path, but keep you in arm's reach of a ski resort town for the wife to escape to civilization if she needed to. After a night or two in that area you can jump back on I-70 easily and shoot across in to KS.

Those are rough time frames and could change. If days are added they'll allow more day in Co

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[Squaretyre]

Those are rough time frames and could change. If days are added they'll allow more day in Co

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Montana is a Big State and if entering through ND take you better part of days drive just to reach mountains. If into the badlands and dinosaurs, some trails near Glendive MT. Otherwise look us up in the Billings area, lots just outside of Yellowstone from easy to hard and dont miss Red Lodge to Cooke City if only the drive alone.


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[ToplessSpyders]

Hey guys, I could actually use some help with this too. Planning a trip for next summer. Montana>Wyoming>Utah>Colorado. I'll keep an eye on this thread, I think it would be useful as well but don't want to hijack this thread though.

 

[Squaretyre]

My only suggestion would be to not try and cover so much ground. Pick a couple states perhaps and spend more time there. Any of these states could keep one busy on new trails for months.

Otherwise come on up, love to have you.

p.s. bring a coat. :)

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[JM8610]

Hey topless I dont mind more info you obtain I will see lol

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[JM8610]

So finalized trip planned. On the 5th of June we will at my Rushmore to see it for first time. After that we will head into Wyoming. We are cutting out ND and Mt and primary focus on Wyoming and Colorado

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[ToplessSpyders]

Hey topless I dont mind more info you obtain I will see lol

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Hey JM, I'm planning on doing Summer 2019. So far the plan is to Start around Glacier National Park, MT. Make my way South East to Wyoming, Do Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Jackson Hole. Then Straight shot South, enter Utah around Flaming Gorge Recreation Area, South to Moab quickly. From Moab south on Lockhart Basin Trail. Exit on the south of that trail, go east to Monticello and continue to Tulleride to do Black Bear Pass and then beyond to other areas of CO, probably Rocky Mountain National Park and end in Denver. That is a VERY rough idea of the trip, planning to do that in about a 2 week time frame. Still have to plan out real time day to day stops, but that is the general direction and idea of what I'm planning.

 

[JM8610]

Sounds awesome we will focus a lot of your time of the 19 day trip we are doing going through Yellowstone grand teton and Jackson hole

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[Jdubb]

Figured this would be a good place to get some good spots. Me and the family are riding from Ms and we are going to end up in Montana and ride the rocky's down to Co. Just us in one vehicle and looking for some insight to ride some easier trails (seeing how we will be alone) that would get us some awesome scenery. Wife is very new not to camping but trails and well I guess I kinda am to. I grew up in the mud and looking to branch out. Any info would be great. Also any cool things to do on the way a 9,8,3 year olds would enjoy. Thanks for any info in advance

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If you come to Colorado around the Ouray area let me know we would love to show you some easy moderate trails! We do a lot of trails in June July and aug! Let me know if we can help

 

[ToplessSpyders]

If you come to Colorado around the Ouray area let me know we would love to show you some easy moderate trails! We do a lot of trails in June July and aug! Let me know if we can help

Hey Jdubb, are you familiar with the Alpine loop? If so, would you say the whole thing is a must do?

 

[Jdubb]

defiantly it’s beautiful country up there! We are headed to Imogene on Saturday to go do some wheeling we are heading up tomorrow to make camp and go play! When do you plan on being in Colorado? Governor basin, Imogene, engineer Poughkeepsie, cinnamon, black bear are all must do trails

Hey Jdubb, are you familiar with the Alpine loop? If so, would you say the whole thing is a

 

[ToplessSpyders]

defiantly it’s beautiful country up there! We are headed to Imogene on Saturday to go do some wheeling we are heading up tomorrow to make camp and go play! When do you plan on being in Colorado? Governor basin, Imogene, engineer Poughkeepsie, cinnamon, black bear are all must do trails

Planning a trip for August 2019, allocated 2 days to Tulleride/Ouray Area. Was thinking Imogene Pass to Yankee Boy Basin to Black Bear first day. Then second day Engineer Pass to Cinnamon Pass and if you are saying
Poughkeepsie Gulch is a must do, then take that up back to Ouray. Two EXTREMELY long days I guess, do you think it's doable?

 

[Jdubb]

Planning a trip for August 2019, allocated 2 days to Tulleride/Ouray Area. Was thinking Imogene Pass to Yankee Boy Basin to Black Bear first day. Then second day Engineer Pass to Cinnamon Pass and if you are saying
Poughkeepsie Gulch is a must do, then take that up back to Ouray. Two EXTREMELY long days I guess, do you think it's doable?

Poughkeepsie is def the hardest has a fun wall you gotta climb! Black bear is def the shortest pass engineer and Imogene are a good half day cuz you can go everywhere I’ll pm you and give you my info and you can hit me up when you come down