Illinois Gulch

3.6/5 (13 reviews)
Woodland Park, Colorado (Douglas County)
Last Updated: 10/15/2022

Trail Information

Highlights

When you want to spend a weekend wheeling and camping, the last thing you want to do is spend a ton of time looking for a camp spot or setting up. This mild trail is easy to access and is less-trafficked than the nearby Flake Road. That access means that campsites are well-developed and rather plentiful for a trail this size. During the summer months, it’s the easiest way to Missouri Gulch and into the entire 15-square-mile Rainbow Falls Trail Network. The mild rating on this trail is tempered with a warning. Since it is open year-round, the difficulty can get exponentially harder with fresh or ice-packed snow. When the weather is nice, newbies and seasoned drivers will find an easy trail that is a great Colorado forest experience with generous camping choices and easy access to the network. Rainbow Falls is a very popular Colorado off-roading destination, and Illinois Gulch and Flake Road are popular trails in the area, over time their names have gotten confused. If you are looking for the Moab Hill or Mini-Moab obstacle, check out Flake Road. Flake is the official name of the trail, and Illinois Gulch actually follows the geological feature of the named gulch but has no obstacles.

Trail Difficulty and Assessment

Trail Navigation

Trail Reviews

3.6/5 (13 reviews)
Official Crew
112500
Open
Visited: 10/15/2022

Visited while updating trails in the area. This one will get a slight bump in the ratings for the washouts and rocks in the road now.
600
Open
Rated 4/5
Visited: 06/05/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

Sections between waypoints 2 and 3 has gotten much rougher with a fair amount of exposed rocks and a few places you can expect to scrape in a stock truck.
Official Crew
40050
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 05/28/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

Calvary 4-Wheelers ran Illinois Gulch on Saturday, May 28 as part of a tour of the Rainbow Falls area. The trail was open, clear and dry the entire way. This trail was our entry point into the system. We hadn't gotten very far in when we came across a Hummer H2that had slid off the road onto the side a a deep gully and was in imminent danger of rolling. There was a large crowd with many people helping (or trying to help so we stayed back and watched. Just about the time we decided to back down and go a different route, they managed to get the Hummer out without rolling it so we proceeded on. A couple of the rocky areas were a little rougher than I was expecting with the 2 rating but nothing hard.
6550
Open
Rated 4/5
Visited: 05/07/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

Rough with larger exposed rocks mostly in the bottom portion. Quite narrow in spots with the willows encroaching on the trail so plan on some pinstriping. SxS crowd have seem to put the beatdown on this trail and it shows.
900
Open
Rated 3/5
Visited: 10/10/2021
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

Stock 2021 JL Rubicon, Easy trail, narrow in some places would be tough for any full sized vehicle. Some rocky sections that appear to be torn up from UTV, just watch your wheel placement as to not scrape your belly.

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