Forget Moab, Gateway, CO., is best new OHV area!!

That's what people asked about Moab in like, 1975.

I went through Gateway on a ride with our daughter from Cortez to GJ. It was kind of blah until we dropped into a canyon, then WOW!!! The scenery was fantastic - so much so that it was hard to concentrate on the road - problem was that you had to concentrate on the road...

We did stop at the store/resort/museum/etc. Amazing. I plan to take another run up there next year & maybe do some camping. Probably after Westfest.

Haven't been to Moab. I had wondered about it, now I will likely not go there.

bump and...


I don't want to have to email this to everyone who might be interested, I don't have that kind of time. So only ask for it if you have place where you'll link to where every one can copy&pasted or download from. (I think c&p will work?) I've already emailed it to a few people and so far no links have shown up. I'm more than happy for everyone to have these routes available for use and to view on google earth, its good stuff and you can use it to plan rides around the Gateway area, but I don't want to sit in front of the computer emailing it every where. Thanks.... yffs

Jesus ... if you're not in sales, you should be. I gotta get there!

http://www.4shared.com/signup.jsp
for sharing files, i havent used it yet but......

I'm curious why you are promoting this area.
I put some info on the internet about ten years ago for the National Forest close to where I live. Now ATVs are brought in by the truckload. There is no singletrack left in the area. The ATV riders used winches, chainsaws, even some rock-breaking equipment to convert every trail.
A former forest service employee published maps of the area, so I don't feel solely responsible, but I'll never get over knowing that I helped inform the ATV riders. The damage to the trails has been incredible from a dirt bike point of view.
I no longer talk about the best riding areas other than to guys I have ridden with.

http://www.4shared.com/file/77668179/356acfe4/fwkmlfiles.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/77668113/83e5817c/A6Routes.html

ones zipped, sorry dont know why! im not a puter whizzzz

Thanks that is pretty complete for the area!

I've been tempted to give him a bit of a hard time about it for this very reason, but I can also see the side that if we can't share some of the good stuff then whats the point.

What!? You and jeepnut had the chance to reprimand me and didn't? :huh

I'm very disappointed

So... why? Why would I inform others of what currently has very limited use and I could have, basicly, to myself. Because as a former BLM employee I am not like the AANs I've had to deal with inside and outside our office. I support ALL types of public land use... even the ones I may not care for... yes, ATVs too. I don't care to ride ATVs but for many this is their only choice, aside from 4WD, and for many this is what they choose, and I'm OK with that. You must remember that almost every road in this area was made with a bulldozer for urainium extraction, (just like in Moab) so width of trail is not an issue. What will separate things is how brutally tough and remote some routes can be. That's the beauty of this area, graded 2WD roads for easy going rides to stuff that will have a grown man crying and looking for the spa and a bed at the resort.

There is far more than what is on the GJ BLM maps. Far more than I'll ever be able to ride. My riding partner and I rode from May to November, 4 days a week, averaging 6 hours a day in the saddle (not including travel time) for almost 4 years to get this route inventory. Now I only have every other weekend off with other things that I have to do on some of those weekends AND other places I need to ride... what do you think are the chances of you and I meeting out there?

From Gateway to Naturita then down to Cortez, across the FS of the Uncompagre over to Telluride and back across to Monticello and the Abahoe Mtn (spl?), from GJ over Glade Park and either down to Gateway or across the Dolores River towards Moab... far more than I'll be able to use by myself. So why should I help support the AANs and not help other Advriders discover some fantastic riding?! It's there and it's public land. That means for all!

But this is not Moab and it will be a very long time for this area to catch on, it's just very remote and hard to get to besides not knowing where to go when you do get there. There's not a lot of "slick rock" like Moab and there's not a lot of services either, but the services are not tooo far away and the riding can be what you choose. From low desert red cliff canyons a thousand feet high to alpine meadows with aspen and pine trees to cool the tired soul... it's there. But you'd better be prepared! A mid week break-down and you may not see any one to help you for a couple days... if you're lucky.

I'm sick of the crap Moab BLM has dumped on us and I want others to know there's more than just Moab... it's just harder to find and get to. But you won't be disappointed.

Just look on Google Earth at the areas between Lake Powell and Durango, from Cortez to Grand Junction. The maps and .kmz files of the GJ area only highlite a very small part of what's out there. I'm just helping you look at and consider that small area for a trip you might find interesting, and I think you will. Then too maybe some day you'll show us your cool riding areas.

I know that some advriders that I know and others that I don't know will be concerned that I'm helping to make this area known but all things change and I don't want it to change to the benefit of the AANs. Yeah, there may be more riders out there and we'll meet and ride and have a good time if... if, we're lucky enough to be out there on the same trail on the same day at the same time. This is an awesome area and if I thought that advriders were less responsible I'd a said nothing. But I expect you will respect and take care of what's yours.

(Did you know that from south of San Bernardino, CA., (Loma Linda) you can take dirt trails south all the way to the Mexico border? You can if you just look and then get out and explore. GE is a great tool)

I ordered maps of this area 4 years ago to explore. I'm from Alabama, so don't think this area will not become known. If you hide areas , the anti access crowd will get it declared Wilderness even though it does in no sense meet the criteria. Some of you may want to keep it for your own personal playground, but the so-called Greenies will find a way to take it away from you. They are already trying to take away the trails motorcyclists developed around Moab. Let us at least have a little time to see the Gateway area. Develope it for your fellow motorcyclists

Like I said I can see both sides.

I helped BLM and Gateway canyons clean up the mine sight and flag pole off the palisades last spring. The other work I do in the area has also given me a bit of a unique perspective of what's there. Whatever goes down there will probably take a few years, however I would be willing to bet that by the time my son and I can ride together things will have changed a fair amount. With the resort and the BLM there is a lot of scrutiny on the area.
The funny thing with ATV's is the more of them there are, the more they want to concentrate them, the more impact they have. I also don't come across as many trail work day type events sponsored by the ATV crowd as I do for MTB and motorcycle stuff. That could just be my lack of participation with those groups however. Ron? What was your experience in that respect?

Ron, talk to me about singletrack in the Gateway area. The old exploration roads you talk about are great and there is lots of em up there I'm sure, but we need new TRAILS!!!!!!! Ten inch wide ST!!!!

You need to consider the entire area. The southwest facing side of the Uncompagre, which basically runs from lets say Gateway to Placerville, is only one part of the area (and the Gateway maps are a small part of that area). There's the area on the "south" side of the Dolores River all the way to Hwy191 and down to Cortez. There is A LOT of area to ride and most of it is very time consuming just to get to for most anyone. (unless you live in like Naturita or one of those areas)

As far as ATVs go, the Western Slope ATV Association as done an increadible job of promoting responsible ATV use and been a leader in getting NEW trail systems on the Unc and on the Grand Mesa. These are truely fun trails to ride on a motocycle and I've had a great time using them. My hats off to them. I'll encourage everyone to get maps of the OHV trails in those areas and go ride them... really fun stuff.' If you want more single track, ride an ATV trail and stay in one track. (ok, it's not really ST but it can be just as fun to ride)

But again, everything goes back to give respect, get respect. There are ATV, motorcycle, bicycle, horse, and hike land users in all groups that are just plain *&^%$#s. So deal with it. They will always be there.. always. One of the main reasons I ride motocycles is that when some one from one of the groups is being a dumbass I can get away from them or chase them down if I really have to. It's the same reason I drive a BMW 540 instead of a Camery or Accord... I can get around and get away from asshats.

As far as ATVs in the Gateway area, I don't see that being a problem. They're out there already, not in big numbers, but there is an increadible amount of trails and in general a 10 mile day for them is a big deal. Me, I prefer a two or three hundred mile day of mild stuff or a hundred mile day of rough. Either way, I'm not going to see those ATVs for long.

We'll definitly need to talk about this

See Cloud9's collection of OHV routes and some additional info about Gateway here: http://rickramsey.net/Gateway.htm

GREAT JOB RAMZ!! Thanks!!

OK, I have to point this out. THE "A6Routes" are not developed... yet! BUT, the OHV community was promised these trails in exchange for staying out of A5 (Area 5 of the Bangs Canyon plan. My feelings are that if they won't live up to there part we don't need to live up to our part, the contract is broken) The archy at the BLM is VERY AAN and is doing her best to stop this from happening. She's stonewalling, is not open to any use at all, and will not approve any use and she's doing a good job of it. So, put pressure on the BLM to make it happen. This is a World Class (I"m not kidding) riding area and she wants us to "go somewhere else" (that is a quote) She refuses to understand that here IS somewhere else (because of her personal prejudous.) "Some where else" certainly isn't New York or Los Angeles, that's where they're coming from. duh!

NOW, do this, copy/download the GraniteCreekInventory.kmz file some where then drag&drop it into google earth... Check it out!!

I must also point out that this is not a completely processed file. You'll find spikes and other places where the GPS lost com and didn't follow the routes as ridden. BUT, I think, this is good stuff!! ... I think. Later I'll try to get the completely corrected file, it's better but not by a lot.

Hey jjjustj, I didn't realize that you had made it available too. Sorry about that.

THANK YOU SO MUCH ALSO!!!

Now, start planning your rides

What an incredible amount of trails. It looks like you might be able to ride from this area, all the way to the Dewey Bridge area. Anyone done this?
It's such a maze, do they have different names for different trails?

Is John Brown Canyon the only way to cross the Delores River short of going to Grand Junction. I have BLM resource area maps and don't see any other way. The maps stop at the Utah line. You could definitly get lost on all the trails and roads in that area and that's just the ones that are shown on the maps. Thanks for posting all the info.