Round Trip Distance: 6.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 8062 - 8248 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Divide & Big Creek Road
Fee: none
Attractions: Multi-use forest trail
The Hungry Gulch Road, FSR #413, is located in the Plateau Division of the Uncompahgre National Forest near Grand Junction, Colorado. The trail begins at the intersection of the Divide Road and the Big Creek Road. From there it travels along Hungry Gulch for 3.2 miles where it meets up with the Hungry Gulch Trail. Besides providing access to the Hungry Gulch trail the road also provides access to the Gill Creek, Gill Creek ATV and Gill Spur trails.
To get to the trailhead measure about 3.5 miles from the northern forest boundary on Divide Road to the turnoff of the Big Creek Road, FRS #403. This post begins right at that intersection.
The trail starts out with a short climb that takes it to the top of a small sagebrush covered mesa.
During good conditions the route should be accessible by most 2-wheel drive vehicles with a moderate amount of ground clearance, or a careful driver, to navigate a few areas where patches of slickrock are encountered.
After crossing the mesa the trail begins entering the area of Hungry Gulch.
Much of the trail is secluded within tall stands of ponderosa pines with a few aspen trees here and there.
Grass covers the ground in the areas between the widely spaced trees creating a peaceful scene where deer and elk can be spotted at times.
Just past the 3 mile point the route meets up with the Hungry Gulch trail. This is as far as vehicles and OHVs wider than 50 inches can go.
There are a couple of nice primitive campsites along the trail for those wanting to get off of Divide Road a little. Most of the people that you see on the trail are either on ATVs or dirt bikes. We happened to do it on our mountain bikes for this post. On the day that we rode it for this post we also did the Gill ATV and Gill Spur trails. We could have made use of the Big Creek Road to create a loop out of it but it was probably funner to just do an out and back. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your favorite toy or 'Take a hike'.