I have ridden ATVs all over the state of Colorado but only scratched the surface as far as the available terrain to ride in this great state. One area I have not had the chance to ride but always wanted to was an area north of Divide, Colorado. This was my first ATV snow ride at North Divide OHV Area.
I hooked up with four others at the North Divide OHV Area around 10:00am for an ATV snow ride that I had been looking forward to all week. Lucky for me the other four guys had ridden this area several times and were very familiar with the trails. At just above 9,000 feet I was expecting a little more snow as there was only about a foot at the staging area.
It was partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 30s as we left the staging area. Some of the trails had already been broken by some snowmobiles the previous day but we were still able to find some trails to break and as we got further back into the area the snow did get deeper in spots some up to two feet.
I was like a kid in a candy store, power sliding every chance I got. On one corner I went into a slow power slide when my rear tire hit something and the ATV went over on its side. No damage just a very slow tip over into the snow. With the help of one of my laughing friends, we pushed the ATV back on all four and I was off down the trail again.
Since these trails are heavily travel by motorcycles during the summer time there were lots of woops. On one trail we were moving at a pretty good clip and I was able catch some air and clear the next woop on several occasions. I was hooting and hollering for that entire run. I was hitting the woops so hard that by the time we stopped my old torn-up Mad Dog ATV bag had broken some of the straps and was hanging off the back of my X2 by only one remaining strap. Too Much Fun!
I thoroughly enjoy ATV snow riding, properly prepared it is great fun. The trails are less crowed, there is no dust and it offers its own set of challenges. I would not attempt these trails during the summer time as they get over crowded and you are always looking out for other riders.
We rode several of the popular trails including parts of trail #717 which is probably one of the longest trails in Colorado though some of the trail system runs through the Hayman fire (2002) area with some trail system still closed.
We covered around 25 miles of snow covered terrain in about six hours and I can tell you I definitely want to come back for more. Another great day of ATV snow riding with some good friends. The North Divide OHV Area gets a big thumbs-up from me for winter ATV riding.
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I want to go to a place where there is snow and I am sure I will enjoy it too…
Janna recently posted..How to Choose the Best Affiliate Marketing Software
WOW! This is really awesome!
Karylle recently posted..Jardin Smith International, Uk Land Investing Company.
Thanks Karylle, It was a great day of riding.