Rankin Road

Rankin is a fun and moderately challenging trail that winds through the forrest. Deep ruts require good ground clearance, and the off-camber sections can be a bit tricky. Especially, the inwards-leaning turns are challenging when there's still snow: If you don't carry a bit of momentum through them, you might slide and scratch the side of your car; it's best not to hestitate too much here.

Ran this while updating trails in the area, make sure to mind the GPX, This is NOT a thru trail and isn't rated as such either!

Fun little trail and not too bad on the traffic today given the long weekend. Use this to create a loop with Rule Ridge and others. Trail is in good shape and easy to navigate.

This trail is open, however, CAUTION. Colorado weather is unpredictable this time of year and there may be the occasional fresh snow fall or mud and melting snow. This trail is in an area of the state where snowfall levels have dropped for the season and the majority of the trails are dry, muddy and/or only have a small bit of snow on them. Again, please use caution if traveling on these trails until the dryer season.

This trail is located at a higher alitude of Colorado and at this time of year should be considered impassable for any regular off-road user. Some people may be able to manage these trails with the correct gear, emergency equipment, and rig. Travel with caution.

One of the best roads in the North Divide area--this road has ascents, descents, off-camber, lots of forest and many good level campsites. With heavy/deep snow (12"+) it can get sketchy around Waypoints 6 to 7. The area got 3-4 inches of fresh snow on December 13th, so it is still easy. Once again this year, my local Toyota club supported the USFS Pikes Peak Ranger District (PPRD) and their annual Christmas Tree cutting event. We patrol the forest roads in the designated cutting area, report road conditions, and extract "stuck" vehicles if someone asks for help. The designated area this year was north Divide, where Rule Ridge (357) was the east boundary, Spring Creek (CR 3) was the west boundary, and CO 78 (Painted Rocks Road) was the north boundary. For three consecutive weekends (November 28-29, December 5-6, and December 12-13) we had club volunteers patrolling these Forest Roads. I was present each day (except December 5) and drove almost every road in this area (I drove all for which Trails Offroad has published a guide, except the southern end of Grouse Road/354).

There is a downed tree that pushes the rating a little higher to get around it. to go around you end up going over 20 degrees of roll which gets people a little uncomfortable. Fun off road trail.

First time on this today and it was good. This is one of the more notable trails in this area. It also has more climbs and descents compared to most of the trails in this immediate area. Lots of loose gravel on here, and tight in some spots because of trees very close to the road on both sides. A few areas were very rutted out from side by side traffic. Worked great for me though, my tires fit in the grooves perfectly! No obstacles, just dirt/gravel and rutted out sections.

Trail is open all the way through. There is ice wherever the trail crosses water.

Trail was clear all the way through.