RAMPART RANGE ROAD
Colorado Springs, CO
Wells' Colorado Book 1, Trail #60

Rampart Range Road is a dirt road from the Garden of the God's in Colorado Springs up to Woodland Park, CO. For the most part, the road is just that, a road. Certain times of the year it can get washed out and rocky enough that a normal car can't pass it, but most of the time it's well maintained. The fun part of Rampart Range Road is leaving the road. Don't get me wrong. We ALWAYS tread lightly. No trail blazing for this group. There are several well established 4x4 trails that split off from the main road. Some are easy, some pose real challenges. We headed up the mountain the day after a good snow in January of 2000. Most of the 4x4 trails had a foot or more of snow.

Here's the gang who came to play in the snow. (From left to right) Shane and Jennifer Weeks, Danny and Sara Hankins, and us, Trint and Tammy Ladd. Shane and Jen were passengers this trip. They don't have a 4x4... yet.

This is probably the best "before" picture I have of BamBam. BamBam loves the snow! (And those Pirelli Scorpion AT's love to show it who's boss.)

Chug-Chug (Danny's FJ40 Land Cruiser) is one tough truck. We did find, however, that Chug-Chug is not fond of deep snowy trails. The 33" BFG mudders fully aired up probably had something to do with it. They tended to float on the snow for a while, and then sink deep. Danny never got stuck, but he could never get the momentum he really needed.

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