Trails and Camping near Boulder, CO

[RiverDogg]

Hello everyone. I apologize for my first post here consisting of asking for guidance. I also see that this is somewhat of a duplicate, but I kind of need some input pretty quickly and thought maybe some of you would have some thoughts to share. (I am searching through trails.net right now.. thanks TC.) I am part of an ever growing Jeep fan base in Nebraska. We play hard, but play by the rules and enjoy involving our families in our recreation.

A few of us flatlanders are scheduling our annual trip to CO for mid July. Does anyone have some input for particular trails or campgrounds they would, or would not recommend? As far as trails go, we will have small children and wives strapped into our Jeeps. I am sure they won't mind unloading for a more technical section every once in a while, but for the most part the trails should be mild enough that they can stay in the Jeep with a low chance of injury (barring Murphy's law of course). That being said... we have plenty of flat gravel roads here and are drooling for some real trail action. Most of our rigs are running 35s, most with one locker (some locked front and back), about half the group runs some sort of winch. 3-4 Jeeping families will be making the trip.

We will base or operations near Boulder. We have some small (pop up) campers to pull out if need be, but are also thinking of possibly staying in a cabin if available. One of the guys found this site for Dory Campground. We are meeting in a couple of days to hash out camp grounds and look at trail maps. Any input is greatly appreciated!!! :D

http://www.campingfriend.com/DoryHillCampground/default.asp?file=Home

[~tc~]

Check out Bunce School Rd (look also for plane crash T33), Middle St Vrain, and Coney Flats. Lots of camping around there, and you can connect all three together for a good day wheeling.

[ArloGuthroJeep]

When are you going to be out there? That determines which trails will be open.

[jimfoo]

Looks like he said mid July.

[ArloGuthroJeep]

Doh, knew I was missing it.

[ColoradoXJ]

camp in rocky mountain NP (longs peak campground) and then hit trails N-S along the peak to peak highway. Middle Saint vrain, coney flats, caribou creek, eldorado mtn, jenny creek :thumbsup: be a long day, but worth it for sure!

[rubbersidedown]

camp in rocky mountain NP (longs peak campground) and then hit trails N-S along the peak to peak highway. Middle Saint vrain, coney flats, caribou creek, eldorado mtn, jenny creek :thumbsup: be a long day, but worth it for sure!
X2 plus I'll add in Kingston Peak!

[zoriloco]

If in Boulder, Carnage is a must.

http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=4

If you are willing to drive to Colorado Springs, Eagle Rock is a great trail as well.

http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=39

And one of my favorites Jenny Creek

http://www.traildamage.com/trails/index.php?id=17

[otisdog]

The wife and I stayed at this FS campground last summer and really liked it.
http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Kelly_Dahl_Co/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70577&topTabIndex=CampingSpot

Not too far from Boulder and just south of Nederland - trails nearby:
Boulder Carnage and Lefthand Canyon
Kingston Peak -access to all the St Marys network
Jenny Creek
Middle St.Vrain and Coney Flats - Bunce School Road.
Jim

[blevault]

RiverDogg, for a good reference check out Funtreks.com website and books by Charles Wells. The book that covers Rocky Mountain National Park is "Guide to Northern Colorado Backroads and 4-Wheel Drive Trails". Lots of trails of varying difficulty with good descriptions detail. Also his books include GPS way points that are especially helpful if you are not familiar with the area.

[RiverDogg]

Thanks for all the quick replies. After several hours on traildamage I think I've got a good idea of what some of the hot spots and scenic routes are to give us a good mix. Carnage is a definite for sure!! One of our group has a relative employed by the parks service near Denver, so he has an abundance of maps and can get the skinny on places. We just need to know what we are talking about when we ask I think. I will check out funtreks tomorrow and maybe do some searching ref. Wells.

Keep the ideas coming and thanks again! :D

[ColoradoXJ]

www.staythetrail.org has downloadable trail maps too... and they'll all be legal routes :thumbsup:

[GPP33]

How long will your stay be? A day trip or two up I-70 could be worth your time for runs like Spring Creek, Bill Moore Lake, Red Cone and Wheeler Lake.

A trip Notrh of Boulder would take you to Moody / Crystal Mountain as well as others up the Poudre Canyon such as Green Ridge and Kelly Flats.

[RiverDogg]

We will have three full days of wheeling. Other than normal forest service roads I have narrowed down a couple of different areas that we are interested in trying out. We will be staying at Dory Hills, basically west of Denver at Hwy 46 and Hwy 72.

The areas of interest are north and southwest of there. You guys know the area. Can we travel from Dory Hills, catch say Spring Creek, Jenny Creek and get back by supper time? Same question with Bunce, Middle St. Vrain (north) and Fireman Hill, Left hand Canyon and that area (southwest).

Is it possible to knock a couple three of these trails out that are in the same general area and make it back? We will all have families and young children, so we will need to get them fed and to bed at a reasonable time.

Thanks again for the guidance. :D

[otisdog]

Well looking at that map of Dory Hills what's southwest of you at Downieville would be Spring Creek. Also quite close to Spring Creek is Red Elephant Hill/ Mill Creek. Those would be enough to keep you busy for one day. You do Spring Creek and if that's not enough you run up Red Elephant. Hopefully all this stuff is open by then.
North of you are Jenny Creek - Middle St. Vrain/Coney Flats, Boulder Carnage, Left hand and Fireman's Hill etc.
Carnage and Left Hand would probably keep you busy most of a day.
Middle St.Vrain and Coney Flats go hand in Hand and usually are run together. You could do those and catch Jenny Creek on the way back towards your campground.
Jim

[RiverDogg]

Yeah, I thought we would try and do them in groups each day. So should be no problem (barring a breakdown) getting there, doing the trails and getting back by supper time?

[osue077]

One of my favorites is to go to the west side of Gross Reservoir to camp, fish and some mild 4 wheelin. From there you can go a ton of the above places. It's know as the Winiger Ridge area.

http://www.lat-long.com/ShowDetail-42950-Colorado-Winiger_Ridge.html

From Netherland, go south on 119 to magnolia road (cr132) and turn left and drive east for a ways. Turn right on Lake Shore Rd (cr68) and follow that to the trail head. From the trailhead, you can wander around the lake edge or down to the bottom. The fishing is okay and the camping is good. You cannot swim in the lake but you can use canoes and other paddle boats.
Heres the official web site for the regs.
http://www.denverwater.org/recreation/gross.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/index.shtml