If you're an ATV rider looking for a trail with varying levels of difficulty then maybe you want to give the ATV trail at Schofield Pass a shot.
This ATV trail starts out deceptively easy, but quickly turns into one of the most difficult and dangerous ATV trails in all of Colorado. The pass is considered a long shortcut between the towns of Marble and Crested Butte, and you and your ATV will generally be following the Crystal River.
There is no upkeep of this ATV trail as the county considers it a closed road. ATVers should check out road conditions ahead of time. The weather can be treacherous, and there are often winter avalanches that don't fully melt until the middle of summer. ATV riders may also encounter rock slides that have yet to be cleared away.
On one especially dangerous portion of this ATV trail, the road is carved out of a sheer granite face, barely wide enough for one jeep to pass. There is nothing but a sheer cliff dropping off beneath you into the Crystal River. You can look down from your ATV into an area known as The Devil's Punchbowl. Here lie the remains of wrecked jeeps that have tumbled off the cliff and piled on top of one another. Over a dozen people have died in jeep accidents in that spot. ATV riders will want to tread very carefully here.
The ATV trail delivers you to the old mining town site of Schofield, which lies in a flat mountain park in between Crystal, and the Devil's Punchbowl. Once you've reached Schofield, the ATV trail is fairly smooth driving the rest of the way to the old mining town of Gothic, a few miles from Crested Butte.
Schofield Pass is not for the timid ATV rider, if there can be such a person.
