Beginner Off-Road Trails
Near Colona, Colorado

Parking in the parking area is only recommended for those trailering in. You can unload and ride from there. All others can simply continue onward and access the Park, the various trails around the lake, and the Castles trail. This 8-mile stretch of well-maintained dirt road provides access to the...
Learn more about Buckhorn Lakes Park (Buckhorn Rd)

The maintained gravel Sims Mesa Rd offers views of the Uncompaghre River valley. It becomes a rutted unmaintained Forest Service road as it enters the National Forest. Wildflowers and aspen groves line the trail as it turns into Caprock Road leading to Delores Creek which feeds a small, animal-attr...
Learn more about Sims Mesa/Delores Creek

This is an enjoyable and easy 45-mile trip over Owl Creek Pass between the Uncompahgre and Cimarron Rivers. There can be a few water-filled potholes, but nothing that would stop a passenger car with reasonable clearance. Perhaps it would be muddier early in the year. John Wayne filmed scenes from bo...
Learn more about Owl Creek Pass

In 2020 a locked gate was placed near the west portal (west of the canal dipper) which prevents running the complete trail. The trail can be run from the Uncompahgre River east to the gate but you can not reach the west portal. If you want to see the west portal and the canal dipper you must enter t...
Learn more about Gunnison Tunnel

This is a short spur trail off of the Spring Creek ATV Trail, that goes south through a forest of tall pine trees, aspens, and gambel oak on a wide easy path. There are small embedded rocks in the trail, but nothing difficult and no ledges. It's flat, with hardly any elevation change. The trail ride...
Learn more about Spring Creek Spur A ATV Trail

Easy wide dirt trail mostly through private property with access to National Forest land and dispersed camping at the end. The first third of the trail is a smooth dirt road that can get muddy and slick when wet after a rain storm. Higher up, the trail gets bumpy with a more rocky road surface, but ...
Learn more about East Dallas Trail

This unmarked single track starts at a small dirt area off of the paved Landfill Road that goes to the dump. It is an unmarked trailhead and there are no trail signs in this area. It starts as a wide road with lots of tracks going up the adobe clay badland hills and starting to meander on adobe ridg...
Learn more about Landfill Ridge

This unmarked trail is part of the trail system in the adobe badlands outside of Montrose, Colorado. This trail is fainter and less ridden than some of the ridge line trails closer to the staging areas. The SW end of the trail dead ends at a power line, making part of the trail an out and back, but ...
Learn more about South Landfill Ridge

This is a very scenic, pastoral drive down Cimarron Road into the Uncompaghre National Forest. There are many side roads leading to various forks of the Cimarron River, with plentiful dispersed camping sites along the way. There are access points to Cowboy Lake for fishing, boating, kayaking, etc. I...
Learn more about Cimarron Owl Creek Pass

This is one of many ATV trails in the Flat Top - Peach Valley Recreation Area, which is a 9,700-acre area mostly of adobe clay badlands. From the east end, it starts with a steep climb up a hill that is rutted and an ATV would really have to keep their momentum and consider if the steepness is possi...
Learn more about Dump Ridge ATV Trail

The .8-mile long Spur A is an easy flat two-track that goes along the edge of a hillside, on a shelfy path between scrub oak and tall grass. You'll be overlooking the valley as you ride west, and have a view of Pinnacle Ridge as you ride back east. It has some small dips and big rollers over water b...
Learn more about A Spur

Fox Creek ATV trail is an easy two-track through a forest of pines, aspens, and blue spruce trees, crossing several muddy small stream crossings right away. It climbs up through the mountainside, with small loose pieces of rock in the trail, and wide curves through beautiful aspen groves. There's po...
Learn more about Fox Creek ATV

This is an unmarked single track in the Flat Top- Peach Valley adobe badlands near the town of Montrose, Colorado. It branches off of another similar single track on a ridge line to make a loop on some lower adobe hills. Compared to some of the adobe trails that are closer to the Elephant Skin stagi...
Learn more about Landfill Connector

This short ATV trail, 1.7 miles, connects the Dented Door Spring Road to the Spring Creek ATV Trail. It goes through a forest of blue spruce and aspen trees, the trail almost as wide as a road. The trail is covered in small loose rock at times, but is also smooth hard packed dirt at times, going thr...
Learn more about Dented Door ATV Trail

The Kings Ditch single track is part of the Flat Top - Peach Valley Trail System, a huge area outside of Montrose, Colorado made up of many adobe ridge line trails and ditch trails in the lower arroyos. This trail in particular features both the ridge lines and the ditches. From the NE end of the t...
Learn more about Kings Ditch

Spalding Park is a short ATV trail through the Uncompahgre National Park in the Owl Creek Pass area. From the north end, it goes through the flat valley below the Old Owl Creek trail, between scrub oak and aspen trees. When riding south, you have an amazing view of the Pinnacle Ridge almost the whol...
Learn more about Spalding Park ATV

County Road 12 turns into the rutted dirt trail of Cow Creek. It is a narrow trail with few places for passing vehicles. There is a stretch of shelf road as it ascends and parallels the Ramshorn Ridge with Cow Creek running along the bottom of several gulches. You will encounter several creek crossi...
Learn more about Cow Creek

Ponds Express is a 50" trail in the adobe badlands of Peach Valley recreation area near Montrose, Colorado. The trail has a smooth clay surface, and follows several ridge lines on the adobe hills. It might be a bit narrow in certain spots on the ridge line for an ATV, but is very easy for a dirt bik...
Learn more about Ponds Express ATV Trail

This trail begins at the entrance to Double RL ranch, which is owned by Ralph Lauren. It is a great option if many of the passes are closed in the area, since the road stays at a relatively low elevation. There is an overlook that reveals a gorgeous, mostly hidden canyon. Keep a safe distance, as th...
Learn more about Box Factory Park

The east end of Lou Creek ATV Trail starts out as more of a continuation of the Cowboy Lakes ATV trail, climbing up the mountainside on an easy two-track. It comes to the intersection with the Fox Creek ATV trail, and heads south, then zig zags through the Uncompahgre National Forest until it ends a...
Learn more about Lou Creek ATV

Parking in the parking area is only recommended for those trailering in. You can unload and ride from there. All others can simply continue onward and access the Park, the various trails around the lake, and the Castles trail. This 8-mile stretch of well-maintained dirt road provides access to the...
Learn more about Buckhorn Lakes Park (Buckhorn Rd)

The maintained gravel Sims Mesa Rd offers views of the Uncompaghre River valley. It becomes a rutted unmaintained Forest Service road as it enters the National Forest. Wildflowers and aspen groves line the trail as it turns into Caprock Road leading to Delores Creek which feeds a small, animal-attr...
Learn more about Sims Mesa/Delores Creek

This is an enjoyable and easy 45-mile trip over Owl Creek Pass between the Uncompahgre and Cimarron Rivers. There can be a few water-filled potholes, but nothing that would stop a passenger car with reasonable clearance. Perhaps it would be muddier early in the year. John Wayne filmed scenes from bo...
Learn more about Owl Creek Pass

In 2020 a locked gate was placed near the west portal (west of the canal dipper) which prevents running the complete trail. The trail can be run from the Uncompahgre River east to the gate but you can not reach the west portal. If you want to see the west portal and the canal dipper you must enter t...
Learn more about Gunnison Tunnel

Parking in the parking area is only recommended for those trailering in. You can unload and ride from there. All others can simply continue onward and access the Park, the various trails around the lake, and the Castles trail. This 8-mile stretch of well-maintained dirt road provides access to the...
Learn more about Buckhorn Lakes Park (Buckhorn Rd)

The maintained gravel Sims Mesa Rd offers views of the Uncompaghre River valley. It becomes a rutted unmaintained Forest Service road as it enters the National Forest. Wildflowers and aspen groves line the trail as it turns into Caprock Road leading to Delores Creek which feeds a small, animal-attr...
Learn more about Sims Mesa/Delores Creek

This is an enjoyable and easy 45-mile trip over Owl Creek Pass between the Uncompahgre and Cimarron Rivers. There can be a few water-filled potholes, but nothing that would stop a passenger car with reasonable clearance. Perhaps it would be muddier early in the year. John Wayne filmed scenes from bo...
Learn more about Owl Creek Pass

In 2020 a locked gate was placed near the west portal (west of the canal dipper) which prevents running the complete trail. The trail can be run from the Uncompahgre River east to the gate but you can not reach the west portal. If you want to see the west portal and the canal dipper you must enter t...
Learn more about Gunnison Tunnel