Easy trails near I-25?

Dawsons Butte.

 

All good info. Thanks!

From the video thumbnail, I can tell you I will not be on Eagle Rock.

Yea, I’m realizing I misspoke when I said “trails”. So far it sounds like Old Stage and the lower section of Rampart are the kind of dirt/unpaved roads I’m looking for. Something unpaved and scenic.

 

I’ll look into the overlook and lunch spot. My kids would lose their ever loving minds if they got to see wolves in person.

 

There are some wolves in the Cheyenne Mountain zoo, too. They're Mexican wolves, which I think are smaller than the various timber wolves of the US, but they're still very much wolves. Sometimes they even pose nice for pictures (from the other side of a pane of glass).

 

From the start of OSR by the zoo, about how far along the trail is this body of water?

 

Definitely not a place to be during the winter haha.
@ OP I think his truck was up there for 4-5 days (mid April)

 

I’m assuming y’all got his truck out and everything ended up OK. I love me some shenanigans but I’m not looking for that kind of adventure on this outing.

 

Yeesh. My only experience with off roading in the snow was an attempt to go up to Goose Lake in NM in mid April. Not too far into the snow covered trail, I got stopped (not stuck) and decided to back out before getting stuck.

Current plan is to check out the start of the trail (OSR by the zoo or Rampart by Balance Rock). If it's open, head in. Go until 1) the fam gets tired of it, 2) we reach the turnaround point or 3) it gets dicey and I feel like I might get stuck.

 

Rampart from Balanced Rock will almost certainly be closed in February--the gate closes with the first good snowfall of the season and stays closed until the road is dry in the spring.

Old Stage will almost certainly be open, but will also almost certainly have a at least a few wet/icy/slushy spots.

A nice landmark on Old Stage is the St Peter's Dome overlook, aka "Eagles Nest" on Google Maps. It's about 9 miles up the road from the end of pavement. Should take 30 minutes if you drive an appropriate speed and don't stop. That's the end of the steep climbing--the road from there to Cripple Creek is an old railroad grade.

 

It definitely feels like forever. Wish I still lived around there. I miss going to rainbow falls and wandering for hours every weekend.

Definitely don’t want to relive that night. Especially after working a 12 hour day before that, and going to a multi day work disaster the next. At least now I can look back at it as a fun night since everyone survived and no trail repairs were needed (that I can remember)

I still think about trading my truck for a jeep Lj to put on 40s and ls swap after that experience.