On October 27, 2002 a dream which Steve and Jen Rumore have had for quite some time finally becomes reality with the opening of Avalanche OHV Ranch. The Rumores, known best for their business Avalanche Engineering of Bayfield, CO, builders of legendary competition four wheel drives such as the Snipers, recently purchased 832 acres of incredible mesa top land straddling the New Mexico/Colorado state line for the purpose of opening a state of the art OHV Park.

This idea, unique in a land of endless BLM, USFS and Indian Reservation lands, looks to be an idea the time for which has come. Surrounded by these public lands, with Durango and Pagosa Springs, CO, Farmington, NM and Navajo Lake National Recreation Area all only short drives away this OHV Park, the first of its kind in the Four Corners, by all appearances is a real winner.

 

Recently, Off-Road.com had an opportunity to take a sneak peek at what is sure to become one of the major attractions in an area that is already internationally known for its hard core four wheeling. The Rumores were kind enough to take time out from their frantic schedule with only a week before the grand opening to show us a few of the features of the park and explain what the future will bring.

When we arrived at the park which is approximately 12 miles outside of Ignacio, CO we first took the time to sit down with Steve and Jen, before Steve showed us around, and talk about why they are building the park and why people will want to visit. They said that they aren't building a park just a as a place to four wheel, there is much more to it than that. Yes, the park will offer four wheeling on a variety of trails ranging from simple, scenic trail riding to hard core rock crawling that has the 40"+ tire guys drooling in terrain that is more like that seen around Montrose, CO than the four corners.

But it will also offer riding opportunities for other OHVs, 2 motocross tracks are currently under construction,


and there are plans for enduro and trials courses in the southern areas of the park. There will also be smaller two track trails for ATVs, thereby covering the entire spectrum of motorized recreation with the exception of snowmobiles, and if the area receives enough snow even they are a possibility on the more than 1 ? square miles that the Ranch covers at a little under 7000 feet elevation.

 

The Park will cater not only to the local OHV crowd, a main focus will be to give the out of town visitors a place to stay and use as a central base for the area's other attractions such as Chokecherry Canyon, the Rock Garden and the San Juan Mountains, with the Rumores offering tours to those and other areas. And when wheeling or riding is done for the day visitors will be able to camp at a campground in the park which is planned for at least 30 full service spaces. Other plans include a convenience store, a fully stocked parts department with all the usual breakage parts on hand, and a meeting/convention building for large events or groups. There are already plans for at least two national motocross events and two national rock crawling events in 2003.

Avalanche OHV Ranch looks like it will be a place where families can come to stay, go their separate ways for the day if they so choose, and return to in the evening as a base for playing in the Four Corners. It will bring the various types of OHVers together, they will have their separate areas to ride in, but at the end of the day the dirt bikers, ATVers and four wheelers, who sometimes don't always see eye to eye, will be able to get together in the centrally located campground and talk about the riding they did that day.

For more information on the Park including rates and directions go to their website at http://www.avalancheohvranch.com.