Lowdown on Off-road parks

[Chili]

BTW, what did you think of Great Sand Dunes NP?

We definitely liked the other side of the mountain, where we camped the first night and below. So I'm sure we'll stay there again, maybe two nights this time.

As to the park itself, it's cool but I couldn't see spending more than a few hours there. Would't mind getting on the dunes, as we didn't this year. I really wish we had gotten that bear on video! Or, I should say I wish I had known how to properly lock the video on my dash cam.

[fordracing19]

Medano trail?

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[Jose]

We definitely liked the other side of the mountain, where we camped the first night and below. So I'm sure we'll stay there again, maybe two nights this time.

As to the park itself, it's cool but I couldn't see spending more than a few hours there. Would't mind getting on the dunes, as we didn't this year. I really wish we had gotten that bear on video! Or, I should say I wish I had known how to properly lock the video on my dash cam.

Ya I was tempted to stay two nights but really wanted to catch up with you guys. Definitely two nights next time. Coming in from the north was definitely worth the extra hour or two it took to get to drive the whole trail. And I agree, I wouldn't mind checking out the dunes but only for a couple of hours; the other side of the mountain is what I really enjoyed.

Medano trail?

Yup. Just a few pictures. I have a bunch of unedited video of driving the trail. It was really fun but a little tight in spots for my truck especially since there's only room for one vehicle to get by with turnouts sparsely spaced out.

[fordracing19]

Fun little trail. I was up there in Sept.

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[Jose]

Fun little trail. I was up there in Sept.

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What were the temps like then?

[fordracing19]

What were the temps like then?

40's that day, then I pushed on the Rocky Mt National park.

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[quikag]

I have a ‘13 LX570 (Landcruiser), it’s stock with Michelin Defenders. Could I go out and bang around in bridgeport without scratching the paint or is there a lot of brush? I don’t mind throwing the truck around but I don’t want to jack up the paint. I’d love to take the wife and 12 month old son for a day of fun. (He’s already making vroom, vroom sounds).

[yellowstang]

I have a ‘13 LX570 (Landcruiser), it’s stock with Michelin Defenders. Could I go out and bang around in bridgeport without scratching the paint or is there a lot of brush? I don’t mind throwing the truck around but I don’t want to jack up the paint. I’d love to take the wife and 12 month old son for a day of fun. (He’s already making vroom, vroom sounds).

I want to do the same in my F-150. I found a few Youtube videos that seem to show a good amount of area without trees to scuff up the paint. They have "easy" trails (green and blue I think) that I need to start with, not having been 4 wheeling since the 80's when I lived in Colorado.

Here is a map of the trails

http://www.cityofbridgeport.net/DocumentCenter/View/629/Paul_OHV_AerialWithRegulations?bidId=

[Jose]

40's that day, then I pushed on the Rocky Mt National park.

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Nice, it was "considerably" warmer when we went, I think mid 70's and a little humid because of the intermittent rains. This was in mid July.

[Jose]

I have a ‘13 LX570 (Landcruiser), it’s stock with Michelin Defenders. Could I go out and bang around in bridgeport without scratching the paint or is there a lot of brush? I don’t mind throwing the truck around but I don’t want to jack up the paint. I’d love to take the wife and 12 month old son for a day of fun. (He’s already making vroom, vroom sounds).

I want to do the same in my F-150. I found a few Youtube videos that seem to show a good amount of area without trees to scuff up the paint. They have "easy" trails (green and blue I think) that I need to start with, not having been 4 wheeling since the 80's when I lived in Colorado.

Here is a map of the trails
http://www.cityofbridgeport.net/Docu...lations?bidId=

From the videos I've seen and what Craig has told me, it isn't that bad. But I'll wait for him to chime in. I know going through Medano pass, it was pretty tight and I thought for sure I would have "pine stripped" my truck really bad but I was worried for nothing. I'm sure most of those trails have bee
"massaged over" some

[Chili]

There's a good mix at Bridgeport and even the most timid could probably kill a couple of hours looking around, at least. Plus there's a nice pavilion with a ton of parking that is a good lunch spot. It sits high so you can see around teh whole park and further. Check out the Satellite images:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Northwest+OHV+Park/@33.2331357,-97.7988263,1150m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x864d8a88971561dd:0xd5595a6c1a4f9127!8m2!3d33.2385509!4d-97.7895743?hl=en&authuser=0

It's the highlighted area (entrance is the upper right corner) and I actually goofed and cut off some at the bottom. It goes south of the power lines also, to the clearly seen road in all of the trees, just above the buildings :

[Chili]

Oh, just one big piece of advice.. If it's muddy, or there are big puddles in the center low area of the park, don't run through it. Whatever that clay or mud is out there is a fucking nightmare to get out of the engine bay and 2.5 years later I still deal with that shit. Huge regret!!

[Chili]

Fun little trail. I was up there in Sept.

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Lea and I camped right at the top of Medano Pass (just overnight, on the way to the loop). We came all the way up Medano in the dark and set up camp at almost midnight. I got really good at setting up camp in the dark, I actually set up in the dark every night I camped last year (2 sites with Lea, 2 with jluv).





I think I posted this somewhere on here, but this was the trip from Lake City to our camp site on the loop last year. I had just changed out the starter at jluvs, so we were running late:

[Jose]

Dully noted on the mud. I did a little "mudding" in an area by my house at Mountain Creek Lake and that was some of the smelliest mud I've ever been through and it was a PITA to get out; took my weeks it seemed.

Speaking of your spot at the top of Medano Pass, I was amazed that you were getting cell reception there LOL! Craig was able to text me the location he was camping at and we met them there when we finally made it in.

[jluv]

How does the weekend of Feb 9-10 look for y'all? Either day works fine for me.