Gunnison National Forest OHV

The Alpine Loop Back Country Byway is a 65-mile BLM-designated 4WD scenic route traversing the heart of the San Juan Mountains in Hinsdale and Ouray counties, connecting the historic mining communities of Lake City, Ouray, and Silverton across three high mountain passes and through the ruins of the Colorado silver mining era. The loop crosses Engineer Pass (12,800 feet) between Lake City and Ouray, Cinnamon Pass (12,620 feet) between Lake City and Silverton, and passes through the ghost town of Animas Forks — a remarkably well-preserved high-altitude mining settlement at 11,200 feet that operated as an active silver camp through the 1880s and 1890s. The Alpine Loop is Colorado's premier high-alpine 4WD destination and one of the most photographed off-road routes in North America: the route crosses above treeline for miles at a stretch, traverses the exposed tundra and talus slopes of the San Juan high country, and provides 360-degree views of the 14,000-foot peaks that surround the route on all sides including Wetterhorn Peak, Uncompahgre Peak, and the Sneffels Range. The terrain demands genuine 4WD capability — not all-wheel-drive or crossovers, but dedicated 4x4 vehicles with low range; the rocky shelf roads on the pass climbs and the water crossings in American Basin and Picayne Gulch require real clearance and traction. ATVs, UTVs, dirt bikes, and full-size 4x4s are all accommodated on the byway. Colorado OHV registration is required. Dispersed camping is available throughout the BLM and national forest land. BLM Gunnison Field Office (970-641-0471) manages the byway; Lake City and Silverton each have full visitor services, lodging, fuel, and trailhead parking for trailered rigs.

The Alpine Loop Backcountry Byway is a 65-mile network of historic mining roads connecting Lake City, Ouray, and Silverton through the San Juan Mountains at elevations above 12,000 feet, managed by the BLM Gunnison Field Office. The route crosses Engineer Pass (13,218 ft) and Cinnamon Pass (12,620 ft) on narrow, rocky mountain tracks with significant exposure. High-clearance 4WD is required at minimum; experience with mountain driving and a recovery kit are strongly recommended. Jeeps, 4x4 trucks, and side-by-sides are the predominant vehicles; ATVs are permitted on designated segments. No fee or permit is required; dispersed BLM camping is available at multiple pullouts along the route. One of the most celebrated 4WD destinations in the lower 48, drawing tens of thousands of vehicles each short summer season.

The Dolores River Canyon BLM OHV network encompasses the designated off-highway vehicle routes on Bureau of Land Management land in the canyon country of Montezuma and Dolores counties in southwestern Colorado — the Four Corners region where Colorado grades into the Colorado Plateau canyon landscape of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The Dolores River cuts a deep sandstone canyon through the mesa country west and north of the town of Dolores, and the BLM routes in this area navigate between the canyon rim, the mesa top, and the canyon floor on terrain that is categorically different from the high-alpine and mountain riding that characterizes most Colorado OHV recreation. The canyon landscape is Colorado Plateau character: Navajo and Entrada sandstone canyon walls, pinyon-juniper woodland on the canyon rims, sagebrush and rabbitbrush mesa flats, and the deep red-rock canyon system of the Dolores River itself — a landscape more similar to Moab, Utah than to the mountain OHV parks that dominate most Colorado destination riding. The route network provides access to the Anasazi archaeological sites of the Four Corners region; the Dolores River corridor contains significant Ancestral Puebloan artifacts including pit houses and cliff dwellings that are managed by BLM under cultural resource protection rules. ATVs, UTVs, dirt bikes, and 4x4 trucks are all accommodated on designated routes; riders should carry maps as route signage is less developed than in the high-traffic mountain areas. Colorado OHV registration required. Dispersed camping available under standard 14-night BLM limits. BLM Tres Rios Field Office in Dolores (970-882-7296) manages current route information and canyon access.

The Grand Mesa National Forest encompasses 346,000 acres of the Grand Mesa — the largest flat-top mountain in the world, rising abruptly from the Grand Valley and Gunnison River corridor at 4,600 feet to a plateau surface at 10,000-to-11,000 feet elevation in Mesa and Delta counties on Colorado's Western Slope. The mesa's extraordinary topographic character makes it one of the most distinctive OHV landscapes in the American West: riders ascend from the semi-desert sage and pinyon-juniper country of the Grand Valley via CO-65 through ponderosa pine and Gambel oak to emerge on a plateau surface of boreal forest and subalpine meadows studded with more than 300 lakes — a landscape that belongs biologically to the Uinta Mountains and Wyoming Range, transplanted by geology to western Colorado's canyon country. The OHV trail network threads across the mesa-top plateau on designated routes through the Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir forest, connecting the mesa's lake basins and crossing the open meadow country that gives the Grand Mesa its distinctive open-sky plateau character. The mesa's position directly above Grand Junction (Colorado's Western Slope population center, ~65,000) and the I-70 corridor makes it the most accessible high-elevation OHV terrain in western Colorado — riders can reach 10,000-foot plateau riding from Grand Junction in under an hour, a drive-time advantage that even the Gunnison Basin and San Juan systems can't match. The Land O' Lakes and Trickle Park areas on the mesa top provide the primary OHV staging, with the forest road network radiating across the plateau. Colorado OHV registration required. Grand Mesa Ranger District in Grand Junction (970-242-8211) manages current mesa-top OHV route conditions.