The Rainbow Falls OHV Area (Part 2)

Several weeks ago my family and I went to the Rainbow Falls OHV Area. The variety of trails, beautiful view of Pikes Peak, and close proximity to our campground near Colorado Springs, made us want to come back for more – which is exactly what we did!

If you read my last post, you probably noticed that I put down what trail numbers we rode on and in what order. Well, there isn’t going to be much (if any) of that in this one, because on our second and third trips out there we didn’t keep track of where we were as good as we did the first time since we were more familiar with the trails. Although we did still reference the map, most all of the trails lead back to the staging area, so it’s very difficult to get lost!

Here’s a recap of our rides…

RIDE #2:

My grandma from Florida came up for 10 days to visit, and going riding was on the itinerary from the day she got there. Now my grandma would definitely be classified as a beginner as she has almost no experience on ATVs, and to my knowledge had never been on an actual trail. Although I was hoping for the best, I thought maybe some good video would be in store (ha ha), so I strapped on our handy GoPro Hero helmet camera. From the moment we left the trailer and started off on a trail, I was surprised - she was keeping up with my dad on his Suzuki  LTZ400! Of course, once he got out of second or third gear, my grandma was left in the dust (which wasn’t as bad that day as it was on our previous ride). Because I was behind her on my Honda 250EX, I got to critique her riding. Speed, she had – handling our heavy Yamaha Kodiak 400 while navigating big rocks and ruts, not so much. Luckily, the suspension is soft and the big ITP Mud Lite tires are tough!

Speaking of tires… I need new ones (rear at least). I found that worn out tires don’t work too good on steep hills with slick gravel! Fortunately, my 250EX still pulled its way up every hill thrown at us, even if the tires were spinning the whole way.

We took her on our favorite trails, climbing through thick ponderosa pine and spruce up to about 9100 feet elevation. I could tell she really enjoyed it, and it’s always a thrill getting to ride with someone who never or seldom has before. At one point, we stopped for about 20 minutes to climb up some massive house-sized boulders, where we got a stunning view above the tree tops of Pikes Peak and the mountains around it. Hiking around a bunch of boulders at about 9000 feet was tough, especially since we were still not even totally acclimated to the 6500 foot elevation where our camper was. My grandma had it even worse, having just come from almost sea level down in Florida. Once we got back on the trails, we went back and ate lunch – surprisingly finding some friends of ours waiting for us at the trailer!

In all, we rode for five or six hours before loading everything back up and heading home.

RIDE #3:

My dad and I have been trying to plan a ride with my uncle from Denver for probably 10 years, so with us being so close it was a perfect time to finally do it! He came down and met us at the campground with his Kawasaki KX250, and then followed us to the Rainbow Falls OHV Area. The trails and staging area were pleasantly less crowded than we had seen them before.

I haven’t ridden with dirt bikes very often, and although I know there’s sometimes rivalry, we all pretty much enjoy the same basic sport – just doing it in different ways. It was interesting to see what parts of the trails he navigated more easily on his dirt bike, and which ones I did on my Honda 250EX. I found that he had a harder time with ruts and steep hills, while I had a harder time with roots and rocks!

We rode on a few trails that we’d already been on, and tried out some new ones. At one point we met two guys in a dune buggy seeing if they could figure out a way to fit their machine down a tight little trail that we had just come out of. I doubt they made it, but then again, these guys seemed determined.

We turned onto what we thought was a pretty trail that we had been on during our last ride. Instead, it turned out to be the biggest challenge of all three trips out there! The trail connected two main trails – one on the ridge of a hill, and the other below in the valley. This little connecting trail went almost straight up the side of the hill, with no corners or switchbacks. We climbed up the hill as it got steeper and the gravel got looser, until finally we came to the finale. The other smooth trail at the top of the hill was only a few hundred feet away, but separating us from it was a very steep hill with a deep rut down the center and loose gravel all over it! My dad took a little side trail that I didn’t see and made it to the top. I struggled to keep from tipping over into the rut, but finally made it also. My uncle came next, but the loose gravel kept pulling his dirt bike down into the deep rut – but at last he made it up, too. We paused at the top to check out the hill we had just climbed and watched as another guy rode up it and stopped at the top next to us. After talking about what a rough trail that was, we continued on down the main trail that might as well have been a paved boulevard compared to what we’d just come off of.

The trail got rockier and scenery changed as we dropped back down towards the staging area. Pikes Peak is visible from most places down in the valley and although it’s drier compared to about 1500 feet higher, there’s still a small river, wetland, and green grass. We then went to some trails we hadn’t been on – located near the entrance to the riding area. These are confined to the valley, because there’s a road on one side and a creek on the other. If you’re up for a change from the tight rocky trails up on the mountain, this is the place to go. Much of the valley burned recently, so there’s a gate with a sign warning of falling trees and other post burn hazards. Most of the trails are fairly flat with sparse trees scattered here and there. This was a perfect place for all three of us to  give our machines full-throttle and explore the handful of trails in record time! My dad on his LTZ400 and uncle on his KX250 kept a slim lead on me with my 250EX, but even my uncle commented later about how he didn’t expect my Honda to be as fast as it is. It’ll do between 40-50mph, which is plenty fast for me – especially on the rough trails that we usually ride on.

Once again, time got the best of us!  Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was once again time to load up and head home.

Between my last two blog posts, I hope I’ve given you a sense of how much fun the Rainbow Falls OHV Area is. If you’re in the Colorado Springs area, it’s definitely somewhere worth checking out. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg for riding here in Colorado! Thousands upon thousands more miles of trails and forest roads are out there to be explored.

Note from Cody:

Check back often – I’m already in a new area of Colorado right now, riding some incredible alpine trails high up in the mountains! I’ll be writing about it soon…