4WD Adventures: Colorado [Paperback]

Peter Massey (Author), Jeanne Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

4WD Adventures: Colorado provides all the information needed to explore Colorado's backcountry with the whole family. This is the most comprehensive and detailed book available for SUV owners wanting to enjoy the most interesting sights and scenery in Colorado.

For those who are just starting to tour off-highway, the book packages all the information they need into one volume. There is a wide range of trails, from easy to moderately challenging. The aim is to introduce readers to off-highway trails that are scenic, historic and safe. All the trails included in the book can be undertaken in a stock sport utility vehicle.

4WD Adventures: Colorado features extremely detailed, step-by-step directions for more than 70 4WD trails. Every trail includes maps, ratings for degree of difficulty and scenic beauty, driving times, distances. Beginners and experienced drivers alike will find the book easy to use. For high-tech gadget lovers, the book includes global positioning satellite (GPS) coordinates to aid in navigation.

The book contains over 150 color photographs plus more than 50 historic photos. It is chock full of interesting, historical facts about the many ghost towns and mining camps that you will pass along the trail. The authors bring Colorado's history to life through their accounts of the exploits of sheriffs and gunslingers like Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday and the Reynolds Gang, the rise of instant mining millionaires like Horace Tabor and Thomas Walsh and the stories of American Indian warriors like Chiefs Ouray and Antero.

There are also dozens of photos and interesting write-ups about the animals and wildflowers you are likely to see.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Discover the most scenic and historic locations in Colorado 4WD Adventures: Colorado provides detailed directions for over seventy 4WD trails in Colorado, from easy to challenging.

Get the most out of your sport utility vehicle!

Explore the grandeur of Colorado's backcountry with the whole family. Visit ghost towns straight out of the wild West. Step back in history to the remote silver mining camps of the last century. Cross spectacular mountain passes used by American Indians for centuries. View Colorado wildlife in its own habitat. Marvel at peaceful alpine meadows, ablaze with summer wildflowers. Access the best locations for other activities: backcountry camping, hiking, mountain-bike and trail-bike riding, hunting, and fishing.

4WD Adventures: Colorado provides all the information you need: Step-by-step directions to guide you along Colorado's most remote 4WD trails; A broad range of 4WD trails suitable for anyone with a sport utility vehicle; Maps showing each trail to help you plan your route; Ratings for the degree of difficulty and scenic beauty of each 4WD trail; Driving times and distances for each trail; GPS coordinates for each trail; Detailed histories of ghost towns and old mining camps; Information and photographs to help you identify animals and wildflowers; Tips on four-wheel driving techniques

About the Author

Peter Massey grew up in the outback of Australia. After retiring from a career in investment banking at the age of thirty-five, he served as a director of a number of companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. He moved to Colorado in 1993. Jeanne Wilson was born and grew up in Washington, D.C. She lived and worked in New York City as a young adult and has been a resident of Colorado since 1993.

Traveling extensively in Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa, the authors covered more than 80,000 miles touring throughout the United States and outback Australia in the past five years. They traveled more than 15,000 miles in Colorado to research their books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Swagman Publishing; 1 edition (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966567552
• ISBN-13: 978-0966567557
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #471,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to get out into the country, April 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 4WD Adventures: Colorado (Paperback)

In my experience, 4WD Adventures: Colorado rates among the top in the travel/guide books genre. Born and raised back east, I recently graduated from college and moved out to Denver. When I first went up to the mountains looking for peace and silence, I found that I was still in the midst of hikers, picnickers, families and many others. Seeing as I drive an SUV and I was looking for a way to get out into the backcountry, I decided to try out offroading. After looking at a few guides, I decided on 4WD Adventures: Colorado to lead me out into the Rockies. Before I got out on the road I found myself reading through the short history sections on some of the old outlaws and looking at pictures of Colorado's wildlife. It was really good reading which is often hard to come by in travel books. When my friends and I finally got out on our first offroad adventure, the directions laid out in the book were flawless. They pointed out interesting sights and side roads along the way and kept us on course. I was really very impressed with the book's accuracy and succinct description. They got us out to a place in the Western Rockies where we camped out and saw no one for a week. This was the Colorado I had moved out west to see. I think the book did a great job getting me out into the country. We all had a great time. What's even better now that I've driven my first trail is that I have 68 more to go. Definitely a great book!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide for beginners and experts!, July 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 4WD Adventures: Colorado (Paperback)

Although I'm fairly new to off-roading, I always try to take the beaten path. This book is EXCELLENT for those like me. Not only does it give you excellent histories of the areas you travel through, but it gives you difficulty and scenic ratings (on a 1-10 scale). Point-by-point mileage markers are a plus, too. If you have a 4x4 SUV and you want to use it for what it was designed for, this book is for you! It won't lead you into destroying your SUV; instead, you'll bond with it off road!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Checked the competition, July 5, 2001

By 

Rick Gustafson (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 4WD Adventures: Colorado (Paperback)

I do not own this book, but had read my friends quite a bit, when we actually took our first 4WD trip, we used a competitors book. It paled in comparison, this book is so much more informative. The directions are flawless and the photos and histories it details make it much easier to find the trail that suits your interests.