The Scariest 4x4 Trail in the US! - Black Bear Pass Colorado 

Thank you

I never saw those falls before at the power house. Nice.

So when I make an official Trail Traveler shirt, it should be collared?

@@TrailTraveler I would. Maybe make a couple versions.

Thank you, we put a lot of effort into the videos and we try to highlight what WE enjoyed, not just highlights for clickbait.

Check your plastic oil filter/cooling housing before you go.

@@AStanton1966 it’s fine

You can go almost all the way to top of the switchbacks and turn around and go out. It is one way down the switchbacks.

You made it down without hurting your jeep so a good day

I have said it’s an easy trail with expert consequences. I have also seen seasoned wheelers have complete panic attacks there. I have never said it is a difficult trail but it most certainly is intense for some people.

@@TrailTraveler congratulations for dealing with some of these commenters, it ain’t easy as they say.

Stock Rubicon will not have any problems at all

The video was shot on August 9, 2021, so it took a month for us to get it posted online. The thing about Black Bear Pass is not that it is a hard trail, in fact, we say it is a beginner trail, with expert consequences. From the top of the switchbacks, it is one-way traffic down. It is pretty easy to navigate, it can just be hard on the nerves because of the height.

@@TrailTraveler My issue is that I have no off road experience at this point, though I've been driving for close to 50 years and have driven plenty of unpaved forest service roads in the last ten years or so doing hiking and photography. I have just recently bought a used 4Runner Limited 4WD after realizing how many places I couldn't go without a legitimate high clearance 4WD vehicle on a 2 month trip to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, southern Utah and northern Arizona in late summer and early fall of this year. The 4Runner is strictly a stock vehicle and will remain one. I have off road driving instruction set up with a guy in my area (the Smokies) set up in the next few weeks. He has an extensive off road trails network on his property that people pay to access, and I'll drive trails of varying difficulty with instruction. I'll have several months to work on my off roading skills, but we don't have any trails that I am currently aware of to rival the ones in Colorado or the Moab area. I have the guides on 4 WD roads in southern Colorado, Utah and Arizona by Wells and Peterson. They cover 100 trails in each book and rate them in terms of difficulty. They rate Black Bear all the way through to Telluride as difficult, but the 2 way section to the pass and back as moderate. It's clear from their commentary that despite the difficult rating, they don't see the Black Bear Pass one way drive to be nearly as difficult as some of the others in the category, and it's largely driven by the pucker factor and risk of catastrophe in the switchback section. Their message on the trail is a lot like yours, you should take this trail very seriously and be extremely careful, but if your nerves can handle it you should be able to handle it. It seems like the Zion Landing hike, it's terrifying to look at on video, but thousands of people do it and only a tiny number die or have a catastrophe. I was initially ruling out any trail Wells and Peterson rate as difficult in their books and was going to stick to easy and moderate, but I'll see how my off road skill and confidence develops over the next few months to make final decisions on what trails to do. I feel reasonably confident that I will be able to at least go to Black Bear Pass out and back with confidence. I'm not interested in becoming a hard core off roader. The 4Runner is going to be my every day vehicle so I don't want to bang it up too much and I certainly don't want to put myself or others at risk. I only want to use the 4Runner to get to scenic places for photography and hiking that I otherwise couldn't access. Any thoughts you have on what constitutes an experienced and competent off roader and how long it takes to become one would be appreciated. I plan on making multiple trips to the 4 corners states over the next few years so I don't have to bite everything off at once. And when I get there on this trip, I'll start with trails rated easy and work my way up depending on how I'm doing. These videos you and others post are a tremendous resource for people like me, as reading about a drive is one thing but looking at the actual terrain and technical issues is another.

@@Don-md6wn The best thing I could suggest is to join the San Juan Mountain Trails Group on Facebook and try to find someone to lead you on the trails. I also suggest using TrailsOffroad.com (and their app). Getting experience is tricky, some people "just get it" and some people never do. The fact that you are taking a class will put you ahead of 70% of the people on the trails. Then it is just a matter of building confidence.

If you use TrailsOffroad.com or their app, look for anything rated up to a 4. However, you would need some good all-terrain tires. Street tires can get torn up very quickly off-road.

Jeep says 118.4 inches

I'm probably not the best to ask. I think it took us close to 5 hours or so. Keep in mind we are stopping and setting up drones, we stopped for lunch, we stopped several times for photos, we ran into some friends and hung out for a bit, we stopped on the way down to get closer to the waterfall. We are some of the slowest people on the trails due to all the filming and droning we need to do to create these videos.

Only from the summit down into Telluride. All the way to that point is two-way.

No. You need high ground clearance, 4WD, and a transfer case for low range gears.

Oh yeah, every few years there is a bad one. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2R5cLghSWGQ.htmlsi=TrPPLmUWNU6ehQ-j

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DrN1PWfojVo.htmlsi=ApregLYj4Ty9rjyV

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G4aDdjleUMc.htmlsi=BbMH17vrDT9LYQPH

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cj5dhViq3ws.htmlsi=MaPyucPJxVtyTIJv