The San Juans - Four-wheel Routes

ere are some of our favorite routes along with ratings and comments to help you decide which ones you want to do.

Jeeping is a wonderful way to see the mountain sights, and it's fun driving. If you've not done this before the Ouray area is the one to start with. There's no other area with so many routes that are both scenic and, for the most part, drivable with little extended experience or heavy duty equipment. And despite the impressions many of us have before we try the sport, it needn't be a daredevil experience.

While there are many who load their vehicle up with heavy modifications and towing, winching, lifting and survival gear, we take these trips to enjoy the scenery and explore abandoned mines and towns. Bravery not required ... fortunately for us since we're inherently 'chickens'.

If, while driving at home, you're in the habit of staying on the road you'll have no difficulty with most of these routes. For the sake of yourselves, others ... and the environment, be sure you know how to do it ... properly. Neophytes, and many old-timers, will benefit from our Jeeping Tips.

Route Ratings:
(Applicable to dry, "normal" conditions ... always check with local sources before driving.)

Class 1	Easy	Class 2	Only moderate difficulty
Class 3	May be difficult for inexperienced or incautious drivers - care required	Class 4	Difficult - not a good choice for a first route - may have troublesome spots
	Class 5	May be dangerous - requires skill and experience - use extreme caution

GPS

f you have a GPS receiver for back-country navigation here are a couple of links from which you can get waypoints:

USGS GPS Waypoint Registry - Thousands of points nationwide.

Routes

Black Bear Road - Class 5
The rental companies probably won't let you take a rental on this trip which begins at Red Mountain Pass. No doubt with good reason. We're pretty confident about our four-wheeling, but we'll get more experience under our belts before we tackle it. In the meantime we'll probably splurge for a tour over this pass to see what it looks like. The views are reported to be superb. Narrowness of path and 'steps' are part of the difficulty; the most difficult part, though, are the narrow switchbacks requiring at least three-point (if not more) turns ... often with one of the tires precipitously over the edge. Passengers are advised to walk that portion and help with directions to the driver.

Four-Wheeling Resources

4WD Adventures: Colorado - Unquestionably the most comprehensive guide to four-wheel adventures in Colorado. Sections cover getting you and your vehicle ready for 4WD adventures, extensive background on towns, ghost towns, people and events that have shaped the state; animals, plants. 16 detailed routes in or near the San Juans, as well as dozens of other Colorado routes. All routes include detailed maps, driving directions and GPS waypoints. Other books contain a bit more of this or of that, but this book is the single most comprehensive coverage of all topics. A trifle pricey, but if you want to buy only a single book, this is it.
Guide to Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails - Excellent trail guides to over 60 Colorado routes, including 18 in the San Juans; detailed route maps. The most detailed specific coverage of the San Juan routes.
Southern Colorado 4-Wheeling - The San Juans - Descriptions and maps of 25 routes in the area, the most extensive route coverage.
Colorado Byways - Backcountry drives for the whole family - 80 of Colorado's best adventure roads. Maps and descriptions sometimes limited, but the coverage of Colorado routes is the most extensive. If you'll only be driving in the San Juans the first four books would be preferred.

In addition to the four books above, Smith's books contain extended background on many of the areas you'll visit while traveling off-road.

Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Lake City Colorado from Trails Illustrated, 1992/95 (ISBN 0925873926.) Hiking map at 1:66,667 scale with 80 foot contour intervals; waterproof and tearproof; based on USGS info and other US agencies. Also useful for four-wheeling, and in fact indispensable unless you carry several USGS 7.5-minute quadrangles. Other maps in the series cover adjacent areas and other areas of interest to four-wheelers. Available from Adventurous Traveler Bookstore.
Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer - Complete road maps of the state at a scale of 1:160,000. Not as useful for four-wheeling as a more-detailed map (as above) but the only resource available for some areas.
Maptech Terrain Navigator: Colorado/Telluride - 300 USGS topographic maps on CD-ROM in both 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale. This volume covers the entire San Juans Available from Adventurous Traveler Bookstore.
4-Wheel Freedom: The Art of Off-Road Driving - Useful for beginners and experienced hands alike.
Jeep Owner's Bible - Getting the most from your Jeep.
4X4 NOW - A useful site with a collection of information relating to four-wheeling, including a selection of books, maps and videos.

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Route Ratings: (Applicable to dry, "normal" conditions ... always check with local sources before driving.)

GPS

Routes

Four-Wheeling Resources

San Juan Visitor Information

Route Ratings:
(Applicable to dry, "normal" conditions ... always check with local sources before driving.)