4 Miles to Crystal Mill OMG

[RAS100]

My first off road trip with the new Ranger was a real doosie. We're in Carbondale CO and had heard there was great drive above the town of Marble. Turns out it's one of the most challenging 4 mile stretches in Colorado. Not really steep but very rocky and narrow in spots. Lucky I didn't run into too many large vehicles coming the other way since one of us would have to back up quite a distance. The Ranger handled the road beautifully. I had it in 4 wheel drive high and never bottomed out. Lots of Razer type vehicles and a number of Toyota Tacoma and Land Cruisers made it to the top. Interesting mining community which had it's hay days in the early 1900s. Only a handful of summer residents now and a cool little general store. Authenic two-holer there if needed. Also picked up some great BBQ at Slow Groovin BBQ. Nice day!

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[coblueberryranger]

Did that trail in my ranger over the past summer! Its an awesome drive with all those narrow spots, loved it. And that BBQ place in marble is amazing.

 

[RoadBoss]

went through there a couple times in my FJ cruiser a couple years ago. Love it! good to see a ranger up there too.

If you're up for a real challenge (especially mentally) continue past crystal mill through the devil's punchbowl / schofield pass, down towards Crested Butte. I'm sure it's not quite open for the season yet, but it's one of the most spectacular drives you could ever do.

 

[I Truck Naked]

... I live in the wrong part of the country.

 

[Yellowtoy]

I live in the wrong country full stop....lol..

 

[RAS100]

went through there a couple times in my FJ cruiser a couple years ago. Love it! good to see a ranger up there too.

If you're up for a real challenge (especially mentally) continue past crystal mill through the devil's punchbowl / schofield pass, down towards Crested Butte. I'm sure it's not quite open for the season yet, but it's one of the most spectacular drives you could ever do.

That section is currently closed but I bet it's beautiful. We visited Crested Butte the convention way last summer and it was very nice.

 

[Ranger305]

... I live in the wrong part of the country.

Tell me about it. I love mountain and desert trails and hate the water and beaches - and I live in Miami, FL. lol

 

[Arch Stanton]

I live in the wrong country full stop....lol..

Not these days.

 

[dtech]

My first off road trip with the new Ranger was a real doosie. We're in Carbondale CO and had heard there was great drive above the town of Marble. Turns out it's one of the most challenging 4 mile stretches in Colorado. Not really steep but very rocky and narrow in spots. Lucky I didn't run into too many large vehicles coming the other way since one of us would have to back up quite a distance. The Ranger handled the road beautifully. I had it in 4 wheel drive high and never bottomed out. Lots of Razer type vehicles and a number of Toyota Tacoma and Land Cruisers made it to the top. Interesting mining community which had it's hay days in the early 1900s. Only a handful of summer residents now and a cool little general store. Authenic two-holer there if needed. Also picked up some great BBQ at Slow Groovin BBQ. Nice day!


I've seen Honda CRVs make it up that trail to the the town, IIRC the lady who runs the general store was one of those.

 

[dtech]

Hey to the folks who offroad in Colorado - any suggestions to finding good dispersed camp sites in the CO mountains, I know of several spots I've used in the past , wife and I are tent campers and some areas for camping are much better than others and I'm not a big fan of spending too much time driving down new to me roads to see if there are good campsite.

Does anyone belong to or use Trails Off Road (https://www.trailsoffroad.com/) - was thinkng of joining it the all access for $25 as it says they list dispersed campsite.

TIA for any info

 

[RoadBoss]

Hey to the folks who offroad in Colorado - any suggestions to finding good dispersed camp sites in the CO mountains, I know of several spots I've used in the past , wife and I are tent campers and some areas for camping are much better than others and I'm not a big fan of spending too much time driving down new to me roads to see if there are good campsite.

Does anyone belong to or use Trails Off Road (https://www.trailsoffroad.com/) - was thinkng of joining it the all access for $25 as it says they list dispersed campsite.

TIA for any info

I've tried various apps, and never had much luck, though I have used the free version of trails offroad for reading about the actual trails. But I feel like heading towards dispersed camp sites that are marked on a map usually ends up in the site being occupied by the time I get there, or there just tend up being lots of people around, which to me defeats the idea of being out in the wild. Also this time of year lots of trails are still closed, and this year there's a lot more people out on weekdays than typical summers. Honestly I typically use the satellite view on google maps. Once I know the approximate area I want to go, I'll just zoom in, and you can usually see if there's many pull offs on the side of a trail. and most trails on national forest or blm land do typically have dispersed camp sites throughout.
Sometimes this approach means I'll end up driving an hour + longer than I wanted to, but sometimes it also means I'll find the best and most isolated place to camp on the entire mountain. Or if you're reading about a specific trail, it will usually say if there's dispersed camping along the way, then you can just pull off into a spot that looks good as you're driving along.

 

[dtech]

I've tried various apps, and never had much luck, though I have used the free version of trails offroad for reading about the actual trails. But I feel like heading towards dispersed camp sites that are marked on a map usually ends up in the site being occupied by the time I get there, or there just tend up being lots of people around, which to me defeats the idea of being out in the wild. Also this time of year lots of trails are still closed, and this year there's a lot more people out on weekdays than typical summers. Honestly I typically use the satellite view on google maps. Once I know the approximate area I want to go, I'll just zoom in, and you can usually see if there's many pull offs on the side of a trail. and most trails on national forest or blm land do typically have dispersed camp sites throughout.
Sometimes this approach means I'll end up driving an hour + longer than I wanted to, but sometimes it also means I'll find the best and most isolated place to camp on the entire mountain. Or if you're reading about a specific trail, it will usually say if there's dispersed camping along the way, then you can just pull off into a spot that looks good as you're driving along.

Appreciate the reply - I'm 68 yrs old, have been in CO since 1979 and recall the days where one could head out for a weekend of camping without reserving a campsite, places like Dillon, Grany, Turqoise, Twin Lakes etc. But after a few yrs we tired of the established campsites and took up backpacking - plus I'd do a few back trips with my buddies to some great alpine lakes in various areas of CO - Sangre, HC wilderness, Snowmass, San Juans, Flattops and so on. Back is now pretty badly arthritic so backpacking is out but still like to get away from the crowds - if that is possible here anymore. We'll occasionally stay in a developed campsite but only in September when crowds are less.

 

[dtech]

I've tried various apps, and never had much luck, though I have used the free version of trails offroad for reading about the actual trails. But I feel like heading towards dispersed camp sites that are marked on a map usually ends up in the site being occupied by the time I get there, or there just tend up being lots of people around, which to me defeats the idea of being out in the wild. Also this time of year lots of trails are still closed, and this year there's a lot more people out on weekdays than typical summers. Honestly I typically use the satellite view on google maps. Once I know the approximate area I want to go, I'll just zoom in, and you can usually see if there's many pull offs on the side of a trail. and most trails on national forest or blm land do typically have dispersed camp sites throughout.
Sometimes this approach means I'll end up driving an hour + longer than I wanted to, but sometimes it also means I'll find the best and most isolated place to camp on the entire mountain. Or if you're reading about a specific trail, it will usually say if there's dispersed camping along the way, then you can just pull off into a spot that looks good as you're driving along.

Also see you have a trooper - we had a 1997 Passport (rebadged rodeo) that was a good off road vehicle, 10.5" ground clearance, we had it for 8 yrs before giving it to our son - who ran it till 280k miles before buying a Taco last fall . The Passport was indistructable - the only items that needed replacement besides maintenance items were the starter, valve cover gaskets and the front power window regulators. Amazingly the alternator belt was the originally.

 

[Yellowtoy]

Not these days.

I feel for you guys over there with everything going on...
Im afraid Americia is loosing its way in this crazy world..

 

[Gizmokid2005]

Hey to the folks who offroad in Colorado - any suggestions to finding good dispersed camp sites in the CO mountains, I know of several spots I've used in the past , wife and I are tent campers and some areas for camping are much better than others and I'm not a big fan of spending too much time driving down new to me roads to see if there are good campsite.

Does anyone belong to or use Trails Off Road (https://www.trailsoffroad.com/) - was thinkng of joining it the all access for $25 as it says they list dispersed campsite.

TIA for any info

I subbed to TrailsOffroad a while ago, and there's quite a few trails that don't get released to the free version and the information on the trails is usually really solid and well written. It's still a bit sparse on the actual number of trails, but they're constantly adding more. For the $25 for an annual membership, it's well worth the price IMO.

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