Colorado Byways: Backcountry Drives for the Whole Family

Rating:
Summary: An adventure driving guide for anyone who travels in an SUV
Review: Colorado has one of North America's most extensive and spectacular networks of unpaved backcountry roads, many of them rich in history. With millions of people now driving sport-utility vehicles, these often little-known and little-traveled adventure roads are finally accessible to just about anyone. Colorado Byways is the most comprehensive backcountry touring guide available for the Centennial State. It provides detailed directions, history, geology, and full-page maps for each of the 80 routes, as well as numerous photographs that depict not just the scenery, but the culture and history of Colorado as well. You'll find backcountry byways through the entire range of Colorado's diverse landscapes, from the river gorges of Dinosaur National Park to the sky-scraping peaks and passes of the San Juan Mountains. You'll see remote ancient rock art sites, an active dinosaur fossil quarry and ghost towns. I also include campgrounds, information sources, and difficulty ratings. Most are rated easy to moderate, although some, like famous Black Bear Pass, will appeal to those who want more challenging 4x4 routes. The spiral binding and narrow, 5x9 format make it very handy to use, and it will fit into most SUV gloveboxes and door pockets. Happy Trails!

Rating:
Summary: Someone's finally produced a guide for people who drive SUVs
Review: I'm no hard-core four-wheeler. I just like exploring backroads. I was glad to finally find a sophisticated guide that didn't involve winching, rock-crawling, etc. Good directions and maps.

Rating:
Summary: The best value by far in Colorado 4WD guides
Review: Motor Trend says: "Author/adventurer Tony Huegel's books are very good indeed. The newest in his series of off-road travel practicums is Colorado Byways. All Byways books offer maps and route information on everything from the easiest country lane tour up to serious off-road treks. There are lots of tips and points of interest, plus names, phone numbers, and Web sites with which to gather even more data. The books are even ringbound, so they lie flat and stay open. Other titles cover the California desert, coast and Sierra Nevada, plus Utah and Idaho--a must for SUV owners."

Rating:
Summary: The best value by far in Colorado 4WD guides
Review: Motor Trend says: "Author/adventurer Tony Huegel's books are very good indeed. The newest in his series of off-road travel practicums is Colorado Byways. All Byways books offer maps and route information on everything from the easiest country lane tour up to serious off-road treks. There are lots of tips and points of interest, plus names, phone numbers, and Web sites with which to gather even more data. The books are even ringbound, so they lie flat and stay open. Other titles cover the California desert, coast and Sierra Nevada, plus Utah and Idaho--a must for SUV owners."

Rating:
Summary: The best 4x4 guidebook I've seen yet. It's about time.
Review: My wife and I just recently bought this book (just bought a used Cherokee, too) and have only started using both. But we've found it to be the most relevant to our kind of four-wheeling, which is more sight-seeing than rock crawling, I admit. We'd seen the San Juans before, but never realized there were such incredible places elsewhere. We've especially enjoyed the wild horse preserve drives and the drives into Dinosaur National Monument. Really great stuff. Book seems very well researched, with lots of history, geology, etc. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: SUPERB - but 2nd edition (July 2003) is same as 1999 version
Review: This is an absolutely FANTASTIC and very informative 4-wheel drive/ off roading book on Colorado's most gorgeous and scenic byways!

I have the red, spiral-bound 1st edition (1999)- and I bought the new edition (July 2003) in hopes that more trails would be added and reviewed.

To my dismay, I compared all 80 trails in the first edition- as well as the second edition- I had both editions side by side-- and I saw no difference at all. They were both exactly the same!

No new trails were added. I was very surprised- thinking that a new edition must be different in some way.

If you are expecting something different from the previous edition- you don't need to get this new edition.

However, if you don't have the previous edition- I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting this book. It is an excellent book on Colorado's byways.

Here are the trails listed (exact same in both editions):

Trail#1: Sand Wash Basin Loop
#2: Echo Park Road
#3: Yampa Bench Road
#4: Buffalo Pass
#5: Old Fall River Road
#6: Rock Art Tour
#7: Cathedral Bluffs
#8: Sleepy Cat-East Beaver Loop
#9: Flat Tops Trail
#10: Buford-New Castle Road
#11: Moffat (Rollins Pass) Road
#12: Wild Horse Trail
#13: Mill Creek Road
#14: Horseshoe Basin
#15: Argentine Pass
#16: Shrine Pass Road
#17: Wearyman Creek/ Camp Hale
#18: Webster Pass
#19: Georgia Pass
#20: Santa Fe Peak
#21: Mosquito Pass Road
#22: Mt. Bross/ Kite Lake
#23: Boreas Pass
#24: Peak 10
#25: Hagerman Pass
#26: McDonald Creek Canyon
#27: Black Ridge Road
#28: Grand Mesa/ Land's End Road
#29: Crystal City/ Lead King Basin
#30: Aspen Mountain Loop
#31: Taylor Pass Loop
#32: Lincoln Creek Road
#33: Weston Pass Road
#34: Paradise Divide
#35: Dominguez Road
#36: Divide Road
#37: Dinosaur Quarry Loop
#38: Soap Creek Road
#39: St. Elmo to Tincup
#40: Mt. Antero
#41: Alpine Tunnel/ Hancock Pass
#42: Shelf Road/ Gold Belt Tour
#43: Phantom Canyon Road/ Gold Belt Tour
#44: Owl Creek Pass Road
#45: Alpine Plateau
#46: Blue Mesa Cutoff
#47: Sapinero Mesa Road
#48: Marshall Pass Road
#49: Hayden Pass Road
#50: Los Pinos-Cebolla Road
#51: Last Dollar Road
#52: Yankee Boy Basin
#53: Imogene Pass
#54: Lizard Head Loop
#55: Black Bear Pass
#56: Ophir Pass
#57: Engineer Mountain Road
#58: Corkscrew Gulch
#59: Clear Lake
#60: Placer Gulch/ Picayne Gulch
#61: Animas Forks
#62: Maggie Gulch
#63: Minnie Gulch
#64: Stony Pass Road
#65: Cinnamon Pass
#66: Engineer Pass to Lake City
#67: Hermit Pass
#68: Medano Pass Road
#69: Bachelor Historic Tour
#70: Wheeler Geographic Area Road
#71: Vista Variety Tour
#72: English Valley-Natural Arch
#73: Bolam Pass
#74: Scotch Creek-Roaring Forks
#75: Old Lime Creek Road
#76: La Plata Canyon
#77: Middle Mountain Road
#78: Elwood Pass-Beaver Creek
#79: Alamosa Canyon-to Platoro
#80: Pagosa Junction