Rev it Up! 4-Wheel-driving the mountains of Colorado

Old slough used for mining.

So, my dear friend Gayle gave me a delightful book Guide to Colorado Backroads and 4-Wheel Drive Trails as a going away present.  I was actually very excited about this book since my husband is 1 part city boy, 1 part BBQ master, and 27 parts "backroads and 4-wheel-drive trail lover."

We were looking for a mountainy thing to do this weekend, especially to get away from the 100 degree weather, so we turned to Gayle's present.  This book categorizes trails as Easy, Moderate, and Difficult. Since the descriptions on most of the Difficult trails included terms like "probable roll overs and body damage"  we decided to try the trails marked Easy then work our way to the death trails.

We followed the Snake River a lot of the way, but this is a
creek that we had to cross twice.

However, according to the book Chihuahua Gulch trail looked amazing even with it's Moderate rating and TWO water crossings.

To be honest I'm not a huge 4-wheeling hobbyist.  I never saw the temptation of riding around rocks and cliffs while being tossed around the cab of a pick up like an old yogurt container. The kids and Kurt LOVE it so I usually just went along.  I was so clinched that I feel I ran a marathon instead of sitting in John Rambo (Kurt's truck).

Harp in John Rambo.

Yet after this trip I am hooked.  The scenery was breathtaking.  The thrill of water crossings and riding the edge of cliffs is like the ups and downs of a rollercoaster.  Next time we are finding one with a campsite and maybe even THREE water crossings.  It's an amazing way to see the glorious mountains of Colorado.

And if you don't buy it, just look at the pictures:

Indian Paintbrush

View from the top!

This is one of the wildflowers  we saw along
the trail.  Rocky Mountain Columbine
(the state flower).

One of the water crossings.  When we waded through it
reached up to Kurt's knees.  This did not deter my mighty
4-wheel companions.