Spending time in the Durango, Colorado, area we visit the Avalanche Ranch, an OHV park owned and run by Steve Rumore who also owns Avalanche Engineering. The park came about because championships in the area are increasingly difficult to organize and many land closures might make hard-core offroading rare in this part of the States. For upcoming events go to www.avalancheOHVranch.com. This OHV park has 832 acres, was opened in September 2002 and new trails are constantly being added. Steve and Jen are making an effort to build new trails in a way that keeps environmental impact at a minimum, and hope that users respect this principle and tread lightly. Currently, there are about a dozen trails from easy to extreme as well as mud pits, ATV trails and a Moto-Cross course. All trails are one-way. The difficult trails also feature extraction routes in case of a break-down or other emergency. A primitive campground is located on the property and hook-ups and facilities are planned. Consessions are already available. All trails are marked clearly with ratings which are similar to those in skiing areas.
Patrols offer assistance and guidance. A driving school features classes for novices to hard-core wheelers. The team is highly motivated and strives to provide a 4-wheeler's dream.
This is a family-oriented park which features a beautiful picnic area on top of a hill with a view over part of the park (see pic).
Park hours are 9:00 am to dark all year.

Steve guides us through the park and shows us the different areas pointing out trails and scenery and we walk along one of the most difficult trails in the park. This trail is for rock crawlers only and features narrow passages and huge boulders, some of them six to eight feet high. The main artery of this area is the 'Old Wagon Trail' which is an easy dirt road that leads to most of the trails. We see a sceleton of some animal aside the road and ask what it was. Steve replies dryly: "That was somebody who didn't follow the rules, and we just left him there!"
Eventally we take the chance to hit a few trails and find the rating very helpful. We drive along 'Deuce's Wild' trail which requires quite some articulation to keep the wheels on the ground. It snakes through the dense forest, the terrain is loose dirt and one portion features a rocky obstacle.
The next trail we go to is the 'Free Fall', rated moderate. It's pretty easy because you get down one way or the other…
Seriously, it starts easy but the slope becomes steeper and there is a rock shelf (about 1.5 feet high) which can be by-passed. The ground here is mostly loose dirt with occasional rocks and you have to be careful not to slide.
The last trail we attempt this day is 'Alien Trail', which has two parts, one a black diamond, the other a black diamond +. We don't even try the upper, more difficult part but venture along the lower which has two major obstacles. On both there are three choices and we choose the easiest line just because that's pretty much the limit for our rig. It takes me a few tries to make it up those rocky sections. The first obstacle leads you close to some bushes onto a boulder on the left and a slanting rock on the right. You want to keep your wheels on those rocks and try to prevent a tire from sliding into the hole between the two rocks. Easier said than done, but we make it. The second obstacle is a rock shelf sticking out of the ground and you have to find a line where your tires do not get stuck underneath the shelf.
We finally make it through the trail and haven't broken anything…
That's enough excitement for the day and we head back to the main house to check out with Steve and Jen and head back towards Durango.

This park offers trails for everybody but is not recommended for people who don't want to get their vehicles dirty. 4-wheeling experience is advised for the whole area. Even the easy trails are trickier than the average dirt road. This park is a lot of fun and definitely worth a visit!

Check out the 4x4 gallery

Directions: From Durango take 160 east to 172 toward Ignacio. Make a right on 151 and go to Country Route 238; go up the hill and Avalanche Ranch will be on your right.