Beginner Off-Road Trails
Near Nucla, Colorado

This is an optional sightseeing route of historic Radium, Uranium, and Vanadium mines off the main Rimrocker trail in the Uravan area. It generally has a graded dirt or gravel surface but short stretches of rutted, rocky, and deteriorated dirt roads. The trail surface can become muddy and slick with...
Learn more about Long Park Mine Tour

25 Mesa Road is an ideal scenic route for beginners, families, and offroaders looking for a relaxed journey across the beautiful Uncompahgre Plateau between Delta and Nucla. This wide, well-graded dirt and gravel road is accessible to almost any vehicle, including high-clearance two-wheel-drive vehi...
Learn more about 25 Mesa Road

Love Mesa Road is a sweeping, 20.1-mile high-elevation adventure that immediately demands your attention with a steep, aggressive initial climb right off the trailhead. As the path quickly gains altitude, it breaks open to reveal some of the absolute best scenery in the entire region, treating drive...
Learn more about Love Mesa Road

This is a 12-mile loop trail off Divide Road beginning 30 miles from Montrose. We did this trail by following a fence line up the east leg to join the original Roubideau Jeep Trail. We then followed the original trail northwest until intersecting a better road. We followed this better road south do...
Learn more about Roubideau Jeep Trail

Powerline is a fast and flowy trail that makes a nice loop with Red Canyon Trail. The trail is open to dirt bikes only, but starts and ends on the powerline maintenance road. In between the sections of road is a great single-track climb through thick aspen groves (when ridden south to north) with sw...
Learn more about Powerline Trail

Cottonwood Road (FS 504) is a beautifully maintained, highly scenic 5.9-mile transit that immediately immerses off-road travelers in a spectacular, dense aspen forest. Right from the start, thousands of tall, mature aspen trees line both sides of the relatively wide, two-lane dirt track, creating a ...
Learn more about Cottonwood Road - FS 504

Portis is the second loop in the Thunder Trails and has similar difficulty to the Thunder Loop. Going counterclockwise, it goes over chunky slabs of rock and embedded small rocks in the trail, making for a jarring ride. It has tight turns through the gambel oak and pinyon pine trees. It stays up on ...
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Naturita Rim is the third loop in the Thunder Trails. This loop is easier than Thunder and Portis as it has fewer rocks. It is more like a continuation of Portis, continuing through the same terrain of gambel oak, but with tall ponderosa pines rather than pinyon trees as you head south. It has small...
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Goshorn is the furthest south loop in the Thunder Trails. Going counterclockwise, it starts on a grassy hillside, but then quickly enters the gambel oaks and aspen trees. It goes along the rim of the mesa, overlooking the valley below. It has embedded small rocks and tight turns similar to the other...
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Roundabout is a short single track through the Uncompahgre National Forest north of Norwood, Colorado. You can access it through a couple of dirt roads off of the main Divide Road that goes through this whole area. The trail goes through tall pines and aspens, with great views of the Uncompahgre Pla...
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The Aspen Loop is a fun 5-mile-long single track that makes a loop off of Divide Road in the Uncompahgre National Forest. It's mostly a fast and flowy trail, not too narrow, with minor features like small embedded rocks, small roots, and potential for downed logs. There are lots of little roots stre...
Learn more about Aspen Loop

This is a 50" trail that connects Divide Road to the Dry Creek ATV trail, passing the Buck Spur Singletrack along the way. The entire route is a wide path through spruce trees and aspens. The ground is mostly flat, with lots of little loose rocks, and shallow ruts, but no big obstacles. There are lo...
Learn more about Dry Creek ATV Spur

This fun and easy ATV trail goes between the Buck Singletrack and the East Fork Dry Creek ATV Trail for 4 miles through the Uncompahgre National Forest. The north end starts as a powerline trail, being a wide smooth path in a pine and aspen forest. It starts descending, with small loose rocks in the...
Learn more about Dry Creek ATV Trail

Buck Trail is generally a tight and curvy trail going through fairly thick vegetation. There are some meadow clearings with nice views. The trail has consistent sections of roots and loose rock throughout that are 6 to 8 inches or less. When the trail is ridden counter-clockwise, there is one fairly...
Learn more about Buck Trail

This is an almost 3-mile-long ATV trail through the Uncompahgre National Forest. It's very easy for the entire route, riding through some really great scenery through spruce trees and aspen groves. The entrance is unmarked when it starts at the intersection with the Dry Creek Trail, but it immediate...
Learn more about East Fork Dry Creek ATV Trail

This short ATV trail starts in a big meadow at the Spring Creek Trailhead, which is also a great dispersed camping area. The east end picks up after the end of the Spring Creek ATV Trail, and it continues west. The ground is a bit rutted and chopped up, with a little bit of sand, but it stays pretty...
Learn more about Spring Creek Spur B ATV Trail

Beginning immediately off E 23 in Escalante, Little Mesa is a highly rugged, one-way backcountry adventure perfect for those looking to escape into quieter desert environments. Open to a wide variety of trail users—including full-size 4x4s, SUVs, ATVs, motorbikes, and even horseback riders—the route...
Learn more about Little Mesa

Dry Mesa South is a highly scenic, 7.3-mile backcountry trail that officially begins on public National Forest Service land, taking explorers directly through a beautiful but active cattle grazing area marked by a rustic metal entry gate. Open to a remarkably wide variety of outdoor enthusiasts—incl...
Learn more about Dry Mesa South

Mailbox is a fast and scenic trail accessed from Divide Road. The trail is fun to ride in either direction. When ridden northeast to southwest, this trail starts very fast and open before getting to a loose and rocky descent that is devoid of any notable features. The trail then moves through some a...
Learn more about Mailbox Trail

Little Black Point is a heavily vegetated, deeply immersive 2.3-mile loop trail that treats explorers to a beautifully rugged desert experience. Please note that this secluded route enforces a strict seasonal closure from December 1st to April 30th to protect the local environment, but is otherwise ...
Learn more about Little Black Point

This is an optional sightseeing route of historic Radium, Uranium, and Vanadium mines off the main Rimrocker trail in the Uravan area. It generally has a graded dirt or gravel surface but short stretches of rutted, rocky, and deteriorated dirt roads. The trail surface can become muddy and slick with...
Learn more about Long Park Mine Tour

25 Mesa Road is an ideal scenic route for beginners, families, and offroaders looking for a relaxed journey across the beautiful Uncompahgre Plateau between Delta and Nucla. This wide, well-graded dirt and gravel road is accessible to almost any vehicle, including high-clearance two-wheel-drive vehi...
Learn more about 25 Mesa Road

Love Mesa Road is a sweeping, 20.1-mile high-elevation adventure that immediately demands your attention with a steep, aggressive initial climb right off the trailhead. As the path quickly gains altitude, it breaks open to reveal some of the absolute best scenery in the entire region, treating drive...
Learn more about Love Mesa Road

This is a 12-mile loop trail off Divide Road beginning 30 miles from Montrose. We did this trail by following a fence line up the east leg to join the original Roubideau Jeep Trail. We then followed the original trail northwest until intersecting a better road. We followed this better road south do...
Learn more about Roubideau Jeep Trail

This is an optional sightseeing route of historic Radium, Uranium, and Vanadium mines off the main Rimrocker trail in the Uravan area. It generally has a graded dirt or gravel surface but short stretches of rutted, rocky, and deteriorated dirt roads. The trail surface can become muddy and slick with...
Learn more about Long Park Mine Tour

25 Mesa Road is an ideal scenic route for beginners, families, and offroaders looking for a relaxed journey across the beautiful Uncompahgre Plateau between Delta and Nucla. This wide, well-graded dirt and gravel road is accessible to almost any vehicle, including high-clearance two-wheel-drive vehi...
Learn more about 25 Mesa Road

Love Mesa Road is a sweeping, 20.1-mile high-elevation adventure that immediately demands your attention with a steep, aggressive initial climb right off the trailhead. As the path quickly gains altitude, it breaks open to reveal some of the absolute best scenery in the entire region, treating drive...
Learn more about Love Mesa Road

This is a 12-mile loop trail off Divide Road beginning 30 miles from Montrose. We did this trail by following a fence line up the east leg to join the original Roubideau Jeep Trail. We then followed the original trail northwest until intersecting a better road. We followed this better road south do...
Learn more about Roubideau Jeep Trail