Living in Colorado all my life, there are some things I know. One of these things is “if you don’t like the weather …. wait 5 mins and it will change!”. The other thing I know is “locals have secrets”! For this blog article I’m talking about trails…. secret trails. Colorado has thousands of trails …. marked and mapped trails, unmarked and undiscovered trails and even secret trails that only a few know about.
As an avid SxS enthusiast I will let you in on something …. some of the best SxS trails in Colorado are a secret. I know this because I hold roughly ten (10) of these trails in secret myself. Not the kind of secret where nobody knows except me but the kind you couldn’t even pay me to divulge. The reason there a secret is because the trail experiences these trails give, you remember for the rest of your life. You won’t find them on YouTube or Instagram, Facebook or even in a book.
There is a reason …. I will never reveal specifically the locations of these trails …. “I’m selfish” …. yes, I will say it again …. I’m selfish! How did I become so selfish? Let me explain …. in the last 5 years the number of SxS enthusiasts has doubled if not tripled …. yeah…there’s a lot of us out there and because of this there has been a lot of trail damage and echo system interruption due to trash, wear and tear and all the other things that go along with over usage. I won’t get into who or what is exactly to blame but all of us in one way or another are culprits.
Please don’t misunderstand me …. nature by herself is pretty destructive (floods, fire, wind) and can leave catastrophic imprints on a trail. We have had trail conditions change within hours. The conditions coming out were different then going in. It is super possible to get seriously stranded for hours because of weather and going prepared by knowing this is key to how your experience is. I’m talking about being stopped on the trail in a very gnarly section uphill while a beating of 3/4 inch hail fell from the sky and within minutes, we had a river of 8-inch-deep water and hail moving like a stream under us…. quickly realizing this and maneuvering the front wheels to hook some big rocks and riding it out was the only and safest option. Terrifying to say the least …. but was an overall part of the experience the trail can give you. Like I said … being prepared is key!
Not all the problems and issues on any trail (secret or not) are man-made. It just seems through the media …. the man-made ones are highlighted so that’s all we read or hear about. Without getting off track here (which if you know me? …. oh man! could go there very easily!) the subject of the secret trail and why locals have them and why their secret is understandable…. at least in my mind …. and is mostly …. because I am a local! But arnt we all a local to somewhere?
There might be maybe 5 people who know and understand my secret trails. I hold these trails especially one …. near and dear to my heart. These 5 people understand how special it is to my wife and I and why? One of the many reasons this trail is our favorite is because mother nature changes it year to year like a pencil with an eraser …. able to create and erase the shape and the feeling this trail delivers on a yearly basis. The seemingly endless things that nature does to this trail would blow your mind! The technicality has long been a filibuster to full sized rigs. Foot hikers, mountain bikers, horses and 4wheelers(quads) have predominately ruled this trail for a very long time.
The major reason the full-size rig off roaders isn’t popular on this trail has everything to do with accessibility …. and can be said about any mechanical trail vehicle…. and that is …. if you have a mechanical problem, you better be able to fix it on the trail because getting a tow would be virtually impossible. The possible trail damage to full size rigs just navigating the obstacles would be hard enough but to then have some kind of mechanical issue related to other parts breaking because of wear and tear or nonservice are huge to. A flat tire on this trail can turn into a serious exercise and safety becomes more important than the tire. I know … seen it happen! I’m not saying it can’t happen to SxS’s but our advantage of being lighter and more maneuverable makes it less likely.
The technical side of this trail isn’t the real reason I keep it secret (although I am adamant that a SxS was created for this trail by the Gods) …. the reason is…. in more than 20 yrs. of riding this trail my wife and I can only remember one …. maybe two times we didn’t see wildlife while running this trail. Both times we think we know why…. a wildfire and an extreme weather event? The weather event was a hailstorm that was biblical and a wildfire that was out of control. Every other time we have ridden this trail we have seen the number 2 attraction Colorado has to all visitors and locals alike…. animals.
The wildlife will leave you jaw-dropped! The scenery will leave you moved, and the journey will prove to you that sometimes a tool like a SxS is just a vehicle to get you there and if your prepared and open minded you get a memory that’s burned into your memories and something you will never forget the rest of your life. So, when I say “locals secret” that’s exactly what it means …. it’s my secret …. not that hundreds of people don’t know about it but more about why “we” locals hold it as a secret, how it makes us feel and in the way it makes us feel… that’s it …. the secrecy is more about the experience then the trail location, but it makes us selfish …. and if you think about that one trail that does that to you then you have a secret trail too……. Be Selfish!!!