For purposes of this website, “backcountry” refers to any location NOT accessible by a paved highway; that means a range of easy to difficult roads, from graded gravel roads suitable for most any vehicle, to steep, challenging rocky “trails” requiring high clearance, short wheelbase, 4-wheel drive vehicles. Many of the rugged but highly scenic off-road opportunities evolved from Colorado’s mining history in the 1800’s. Miners created these rough paths to transport ore to towns. Similarly, narrow-gauge railroad lines were built for the same reason. With tracks considerably closer together, these trains could navigate tighter turns in mountainous terrains. (See the Durango & Silverton Railroad gallery).
Ouray, Colorado has been our base for most of our off-road excursions except for three of the following galleries:
- Kebler Pass Road (between Paonia and Crested Butte)
- Paradise Divide (a loop out of Crested Butte to the northwest)
- Lead King Basin (a loop out of Marble)
