Winter Trails in Colorado?

[whoisdp]

I'm road tripping home to Colorado for Christmas from the 20-27th. Wondering if any Colorado folks can recommend any trails that are decent and won't be fully snowed in for December? Or at least just some scenic drives? Last Christmas I spent some time in the Estes Park/RMNP area and I've done Yankee Hill back when I had a Jeep. Not looking for anything crazy. Just something to take some winter photos.

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[cetihcra]

Is there a specific area that you're going to, or that you'll consider a home base? How far from said "home base" do you want to travel on any given day?

r

 

[UnregistredHypercam2]

Largely depends on the snowfall at that time and where you are looking. Trails closer to the front range are a safer bet as they're more frequently traveled. I ran switzerland a couple times over the winter. Way more fun in the snow and ice, and not completely infested by SxS's.

 

[dtech]

phantom canyon is more of a road, don't think it's plowed in the winter but scenic. you could also try reaching out to those clowns at TFL and see where they are doing their winter off road tests, IIRC it's somewhere northwest of Boulder.

 

[whoisdp]

Is there a specific area that you're going to, or that you'll consider a home base? How far from said "home base" do you want to travel on any given day?

r

I'll be in Aurora most of the time but I'm willing to drive a few hours for some fun.

 

[whoisdp]

Largely depends on the snowfall at that time and where you are looking. Trails closer to the front range are a safer bet as they're more frequently traveled. I ran switzerland a couple times over the winter. Way more fun in the snow and ice, and not completely infested by SxS's.

Thanks! I'll check out Switzerland.

phantom canyon is more of a road, don't think it's plowed in the winter but scenic. you could also try reaching out to those clowns at TFL and see where they are doing their winter off road tests, IIRC it's somewhere northwest of Boulder.

I haven't checked out too much that's south of Denver except the Eleven Mile Canyon area so maybe I'll give that a go. Thanks for the tip.

 

[cetihcra]

Phantom Canyon is a cool road, but it is definitely a road (no clearance required). Go up Old Stage Road from COS, then Gold Camp Road, then do Phantom from the north. All can be icy depending, that's not ideal, but all are cool roads. One of the tunnels on Gold Camp is supposedly haunted.

Switzerland isn't a bad option, don't do Switzerland North...completely different animal. Take a look at the maps on onX and find trails that are less than 10k' with minimal vertical gain, those are the best bets...probably in the 2-3 difficulty.

r

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