Rampart Range to open Wednesday, May 7th

[Dougie]

The South Platte Ranger District reports Rampart is scheduled to open Wed, May 7th.

He reported they had to close it this spring to remove hundreds of felled trees due to snow. He said after years of drought, the 7 feet of snow wiped out lots of trees. He said we would be very pleased with the Power Line Trail (690).

Saddle up boys, see you next weekend.

 

[HomeMadeSin]

Sweet!  The dustbowl (aka Pueblo Motorsports Park) was getting old.  I'm in for it next weekend!!!!!!

 

[CJ Rider]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up, Dougie! We've already started our Wednesday/Thursday night runs at 717a and Rainbow Falls; it'll be nice to continue up north too! Anybody know if the Sprucewood Inn is open for lunch?

 

[MX175]

I'm headed to Rampart the middle of June. It'll be our first time back since 1990. We had been going about every other year since '73 or '74. Being from Illinois, we can get nose bleeds on hills more than 20 feet high. Can't wait to get back.

We are also looking to hit some high country and big scenery. Can I get any suggestions for legal areas of single track? There will only be 2 or 3 of us and we have plans already for taking I70 over to Grand Junction. Something around Vail or Copper Mtn. would break up that trip nicely.

Thanks for riding responsibly and keeping Rampart open,

 

[CJ Rider]

Hey MX175- Are you looking for high-country, big-scenery jeep trail (Black Bear and Imogene Pass near Silverton, CO) or high-country technical (Taylor Park not far from Gunnison, CO)?

 

[MX175]

If I have a choice between a jeep trail and a technical single track (with the same scenery) I'll take the single track everytime. We'll be GPS equipped. I like opening her up on some fire roads occasionally, but we go to CO for single track not jeep trails. I've got a line on some maps in the area west of Colorado Springs. We haven't been in Southwest CO since we rode the Dur-Sil train in '79(?).

 

[CJ Rider]

Well OK then... The Divide/Woodland Park trail system is west of Colorado Springs and south of Rampart Range. Some of the trails starting at Rainbow Falls actually connect up to Rampart. You can also get to the Captain Jacks trail system right out of Colorado Springs. That area is multi-use, so be considerate of others there. We ride those places after work in the summertime a lot. You can get to the Taylor Park area in about three hours from Colorado Springs, through Buena Vista, and up over Cottonwood Pass. Definitely get a good map for that area because it's high altitude, changable weather, tough riding, and a long distance to get to gas. There're no good trail signs on any of that, so carrying that GPS and purchasing a good map before you arrive are prolly not a bad ideas.

 

[W.P.EXC]

I've been up on the 690 this last weekend and the weekend before and there are still places unpassable due to the snow in the shaded areas, I'm not talking hard to get through but no way your getting through! The rest of the trail system is good to go though. just those few areas on top that are still holding snow. It shouldn't be long now till it's completely gone! Probably be riding there alot since the fires jacked up alot of the Divide system. You were right about the down trees our first ride was full of creative riding around trees, but they were all taken care of as of this last weekend. I think it's finally the riding season!!!

 

[Zman]

Has anyone heard how riding is lately around Ouray or Telluride? I heard that they were getting less bike friendly.

 

[Road/Dirt Rash]

I'm having trouble finding the website to get my out of state orv permit. It is still required isn't it? any help is appreciated.

 

[Road/Dirt Rash]

Hey, got it already. As for single track, there is quite a bit around the Salida/ Sargents/Pitkin area that is not quite as high up as around St Elmos/tincup/Taylor park. Don't sell the two traks short though. as some of them are pretty demanding, and quite breath taking.

 

[W.P.EXC]

Hey CJ Rider, What are your wed.& thurs. night rides like? How many people you got going? I might have to check it out sometime if it's not private party only. Me and a few guys used to ride on Wed. nights but seems we don't do it that much anymore. At any rate we should hook up and go riding sometime since we are neighbors, it's always good to have plenty of options for people to ride with. Maybe I already know you? I live on Montana vista, where do you live?

 

[CJ Rider]

Wednesday night rides vary depending upon who shows up! This past Wednesday, there were four really fast guys and then me and a twelve year old zippy little dude. We went fourty miles in a couple of hours on 717 out to Double Face Wall-O-Rock and all over there. We all stayed as one group, but we've been know to brake up into two groups if the speeds differ too much or if the fast guys just feel like jammin. I live on Teller two doors down from Luke (fast guy) and only a couple of streets over from you. I don't think we've met yet, but we are neighbors so we should! Next Wednesday, we're planning to meet at the Rainbow Falls parking lot at around 5PM. Should we look for you?

 

[W.P.EXC]

CJ Rider, I would like to hook up with you guys sometime but right now is a bad time. We rode 717 this weekend and my friend and neighbor had a horrible crash and broke both bones in his lower leg, if that wasn't bad enough he had blood clots that went through his heart and into his lungs, they didn't expect him to live, but fortuanately they got a filter put in his vein before anymore clots could pass. He isn't out of the woods yet but he's stable for now. Not sure what type of permanent damage he will have. Near death because of a broken leg, kinda scary huh?

 

[CJ Rider]

Oooch; yeesh, I'm sorry to hear about your friend... 'hope he gets "out of the woods" soon so he can get back into the woods in a good way!

 

[Abercrombie]

There are some places near Divide that you can ride in the Pike National Forest, its pretty good riding, nothing too hard. We go up there on the 4-wheelers a lot, but I haven't ridden a dirt bike there yet.