The leaves are changing.........in Colorado

[classified]

Got a chance to run out west for a few days. Rental car place had nothing but wranglers in the lot, so that seemed like a sign from God.

We started out in Idaho Springs and rode a dirt road that took us into Central City called the Oh My God Trail. Beautiful views and lots of old mining operations, as most of our back country exploration found.

We then took apex trail system up to Rollinsville where we grabbed a snack. Everything was pretty easy until our last 1/4 mile into Tolland. Here I had to use low range a couple times.

We then doubled back to Tolland and took Rollins pass up to Yankee Doodle Lake. This road was out and back, but very cool. The road it self kind of rough. At the end of the road you start a steep hill climb toward a tunnel that starts at the very top of the mountain, but you only get so close due to a land slide.

We then took the pavement back to Idaho springs for sleep. About 40 miles of 90% dirt road and took all day after spending a couple hours in Central City. This doesn't include a number of actual 4x4 trails that we passed and drove up until we felt uncomfortable and then backed out or turned around.

The next day we only had a few hours before we had to be at the airport, so we hung around in Idaho Springs on Trail Creek road and South Spring Gulch. Lots of 4x4 trails in this area. We took one road that was just labled Forest Service Rd and was about all I wanted to put a rental jeep through. But we made it and ran into an old man in a JK Rubicon that said he had been running those trails since his brand new 70 something CJ5.

If you like running scenic dirt roads with a little bit of wheeling out of necessity built in, I fully recommend renting a stock jeep and exploring the west. Plane tickets, gas, and the jeep cost us about $300 a piece for two people. As long as you stay on designated roads and remember not to take one thats going to get you in trouble, you can see parts of the world that most tourist dont even know how to think about getting to.

I was driving so just a few pictures

[patman]

Great pics. Sounds like a fun trip

[TravisMac]

Thats a great way to leaf-look. Was the rental a sport or rubicon? I was a little surprised when I was at Avis that they had multiple rubicons in Vegas

[classified]

Thats a great way to leaf-look. Was the rental a sport or rubicon? I was a little surprised when I was at Avis that they had multiple rubicons in Vegas

Sahara. The lot was 2 Durangos, 1 Rouge, 2 Gladiators, 1 Red Sahara, and about 15 yellow sports.

We watched 4 groups in front of us turn down the red jeep and take a yellow one because of the crack in the windshield.     This thing was way nicer than the fully loaded Ford Edge we had last month. Even rode better intown and on the highway. And had 4wd.

2wd didnt stop us from taking the Edge desert exploring last time

[tjsahara00]

That's awesome....thanks for posting

I treasure our GATR 2017 Moab/Colorado trip. Only difference was adding the cross country
trip made it special too. Only got to go one time but it will leave lasting memories forever.