Bear Creek

The Bear Creek trail is a longer and rockier ATV trail through the San Juan National Forest in this system of ATV trails north of Bayfield, Colorado. The east end starts on Bear Creek Road and begins as a wide trail between Gambel oak and tall ponderosa pines, riding through extensive open meadows and rolling hillsides. It has many loose rocks on the surface, shallow ruts, and embedded rocks, making 6" tall ledges. The corners can be slippery when they are full of loose stones. This trail is a bit more challenging because it has some rockier climbs and descents and a section with more enormous loose slabs of rock in the trail, with more 6" ledges. You can easily ride over these rocks, but it adds some difficulty. The trail climbs up over 600 feet elevation in the first 2 miles, then descends back down almost 800 feet elevation in the next 2.5 miles. The trail ends when it turns into a road on the west end.