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…

The Rainbow Falls OHV Area (Part 1)

The state of Colorado is almost synonymous with the word mountains. Stretching across about 40% of the state, the Rockies provide most of its beauty, culture, landmarks, and recreation. Colorado has over 1000 peaks that break 10,000 feet, and on top of that (no pun intended) 54 mountains over 14,000 feet – giving it the highest concentration of peaks that height in the Rocky Mountains!

I’d never even been to Colorado until a few weeks ago when I went with my family to Manitou Springs, located just outside Colorado Springs. After a long tiring journey across the desert in the eastern part of the state, we finally arrived at the Crystal Kangaroo Campground. Nestled up on the side of a mountain at about 6500 feet, the campground provides a great view of the mountains and Colorado Springs almost 1000 feet below. I knew there wasn’t even a decision to make about whether we would be going riding or not, so as soon as we arrived I began looking at different trail systems around us. It didn’t take long to realize that there’s no shortage of ATV trails in Colorado. If fact, there were so many that it was hard to choose which one would be best!

Something I highly recommend getting is Chuck Wells’ book, the Guide To Colorado Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails. It has descriptions of the trails and roads, along with pictures, directions, elevation, and other need-to-know information about riding areas across Colorado. Even though it also includes many roads that are not legal for ATVs to ride on, we still used it to go for an afternoon drive up in the mountains and to help navigate the backroads leading to the riding areas.

The only thing required to ride ATVs or UTVs in Colorado is a little OHV sticker, which currently costs $25 dollars. We got ours at Apex Powersports, located in Colorado Springs. They also have a large selection of gear, parts, accessories, ATVs, UTVs, dirt bikes, motorcycles, and even an occasional trials bike! After looking around in there for a while, it seems like I need about $20,000 to get everything I want (although five grand would be plenty for now)…

A few days later we went without our ATVs to go check out the trails surrounding Almagre Mountain west of Colorado Springs. That turned out to be an adventure of its own! We had to drive for about 12 miles on a tight winding dirt road, averaging about 10-15 miles per hour. And about half way there a storm rolled in, with lightning striking the tops of the ridges around us. Thankfully, it stopped raining when we got to the trails just long enough that we could get out and see what they looked like. The trails start at about 10,000 feet and climbs up over 12,000, so it’s a good idea to be acclimated, which we weren’t! After a few minutes walking around, we headed back down the mountain to the campground, and decided it might be better to ride somewhere more easily accessible. Don’t get me wrong, it looked really great up there – but it’d probably be a good place to go camp for a few days, instead of having to drive all the way up there for just a day of riding.

Next we looked into, and finally decided on, the Rainbow Falls OHV Area. Located just off of Hwy 67 about 10 miles north of Woodland Park, it was a little bit farther drive for us, but well worth the trip! The staging area is at about 7500 feet elevation, which didn’t really cause much of a power decrease in my Honda 250EX (although it was more noticeable as we climbed up the mountains). The official parking area seemed pretty busy, so we kept going past it and parked in one of the many little dry-camping areas along Rainbow Falls Road.

Once the ATVs were unloaded, my dad and I geared up and hit the trails! According to our BLM map, most of the “trails” are actually considered to be roads – but many of them are too narrow for anything larger than a UTV. We rode up trail 350A and onto 350B, where we had a beautiful view of Pikes Peak and the valley below. There was also a huge boulder stuck into the side of a hill that the trail goes over, which was a great place to get some video on our GoPro helmet camera. At one point I accidentally turned the camera on the setting that makes it take several pictures every time you press the button. So, later when we looked at the pictures, there were 10 or 15 that I didn’t even know I took!

 After stopping for some more pictures, we rode back down and ate PB&J sandwiches – not the best meal I’ve ever had while riding, but at least it was quick.

We then headed up toward the northern end of the riding area on 348, which continues all the way to the well known Rampart Range Road, before we turned off on 634 and then the tight and winding 631. This trail is definitely for ATVs only, as there were many places that were a squeeze even for my 250EX! Large car-sized boulders littered the hillside along the trails, with lots of pine trees in between. I only got stuck once our entire ride, and it was about half way down this trail on a few large rocks. Once I did some shifting, of the gears and my weight, I got out with ease and kept going after inspecting my tires for any damage.

At one point on 631, we climbed to about 9100 feet, which was the highest during our ride there. Even at this elevation our ATVs, neither of which are fuel-injected, didn’t seem to be affected too much – although I could definitely feel a loss in low-end power on hills.

We continued onto trail 351, which was fairly smooth and followed Fern Creek back down the mountain. This was one of my favorite trails, and there were a few small creek crossings that also added to the fun! This was one of the prettiest parts of our ride, and was quite a contrast to the fairly rough trail we had just come off of.

I realized during our trip out there that most of the trails that go up onto the mountains are rough, and then once up on the mountains, the trails get easier and less rocky. Although some of the trails are moderately difficult and require skill, the majority of the trails are easy enough that a beginner could ride on them without too much effort.

We ended up riding for about five hours, and then decided it was time to load up and head home. For some reason, packing up our gear and loading the ATVs back on the trailer always seem to be more tedious than when we arrived. I guess it’s because there’s usually no one who’s excited to leave, while it’s the opposite when we arrive!

Overall, it was a great afternoon of riding, and Rainbow Falls OHV Area is definitely somewhere I highly recommend visiting if you’re ever in the area! Check back again soon – we’re going to be riding several places in Colorado, so watch for more posts and pictures!

Note: Be sure to bring plenty of water while riding – the high elevation and dry air will leave you dehydrated before you’ll realize you’re even thirsty. I found out from experience and ended up with a bad headache.

Also be extremely careful and keep your speed under control. Many of the trails and roads are tight or one-lane, with lots of corners. And people that do not ride also come camp along the trails and roads. So, please be respectful of others!