Welcome to the off-road encyclopedia. You can contribute to this site by clicking "edit this page" above. You should also register for our monthly newsletter.

China Wall (Colorado)

From Dirtopia, The Off-Road Encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

**China Wall**
Photo: The rock falls on the alternate exit route
Off-Road Information
Other Names:
Terrain:	4x4/atv/dirtbike
Off-Road Use:
Difficulty:	Moderate(5)
Camping:	{{{camping}}}
Geography
County:	Park
Nearest Cities:	Hartsel, CO Lake George, CO
Map Links:	Google Map
Satellite Map:	{{{satlinks}}}
Special Map:
GPS Coords:	39.113719/-105.463731
Google Earth:	China_Wall.kmz
Climate:
Area Size:
Elevation:
Last Visited:	{{{lastvisited}}}
Open/Closed/Date:
Season(s):	{{{seasons}}}

Four wheel drive vehicles

Jeeps and other SWBs

One of the minor rock obsitcles headed out from the Tarryall River towards main road.

Headed towards the Tarryall River

China Wall is a low rated trail that most stock rigs can maneuver. It starts out with a climb along the face of one hill and descends approximately 3.5 miles down to the Tarryall River in Park County, Colorado.

China Wall ascends up the side and to the top of a ridge where you descend down the back side to a small valley. Here you will wind your way through the trees on a very moderate road. Once in the trees, it can be tight for larger wheelbase rigs, but is still a trail that can be run with relative ease in a truck. There are several rock climbs on the way down to the river with a couple of difficult manuvers due to tight or off camber trail areas. The final leg of the trail goes down a fairly steep, shale hill about 50-75 yards long and has a few spots where there are loose gravel on roots or rock. Once at the bottom of the hill, there are a couple of camp sites to stay at or a place to play or fish in the Tarryall river.

Returning, there are two ways to leave. One, the trail that brought you in or two, over the rock falls. To take the rock falls exit, head back up and you will come to an off-shoot trail before you come out of the trees. This will take you on a north bound course that will wind through the trees to the hardest obsticle on this portion of the trail known as the rock fall. This is not as difficult as it once was, but is still something fun for a beginning off-roader or a stock vehicle. Once down the falls, you will wind your way back to the river again and up another hill and back off the trail to a gated area directly off of CR-77. The gate is a barb wire & pole gate, be sure to close it after you. Back on the road, you are less than half a mile north of the town of Tarryall.

Total running time for the trail through the main entrance to the river and back out through the rock falls exit is approximately 2 hours. If you have inclimate weather, add time because there are areas that can become sloppy with water or snow.

Driving directions

From Colorado Springs: Approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour driving time. Head west on US Highway 24 through Woodland Park, Divide, Florissant & Lake George. On the west end of Lake George, take a right hand turn off on CR-77 following this approximately 10 miles. If you drive through the town of Tarryall (a small cluster of houses on a bend in the road, a good indicator you are there is there is a small, old time, white school house/church on the east side of the road) you have gone too far. The actual trail turn off is about a 1/2 mile before the town on the east side of CR-77. Turn here and you will follow up the road to the trail head.

From Denver: Approximately 1.5 hours to 2 hours driving time. Head west on C-470 to the US Highway 285 Turn off. Take the US-285 turn off and this will direct you southwest through several towns including Conifer. Turn left off onto CR-77 and head southeast past Tarryall Resivoir and further through the town of Tarryall. Turn left off on the first dirt road after the cattle guard (cattle guard is in a paved road) and follow this up to the trail head.