Carnage Canyon

Carnage Canyon is one short, brutal trail rather than a full riding area. It climbs about a mile up a dry creek bed on BLM land in the Fourmile area east of Buena Vista, Chaffee County, and it is best known as one of Colorado's hardest rock-crawling routes for 4x4s. Dirt bikes are listed as an allowed use, but this is trials-style riding, not trail cruising: expect a wet, muddy waterfall climb, a narrow twisting crack called the V-Notch, towering boulders and crumbling rock shelves, and a steep, loose exit climb littered with big rocks. onX rates it 9 out of 10 (extreme) at 0.8 miles, and the terrain changes from year to year with snowmelt and runoff. Water often sits at the bottom of the waterfall, which makes that climb far harder.

Because the canyon is a shared route, you will meet rock crawlers and their spotters, and the trail can back up. A 2018 BLM proposal describes a short one-way bailout connector partway through the canyon, created because many drivers find the full trail too hard or break down before the end; that connector was described as open to motorcycles. Check the current BLM travel map to see whether it has been built. A local club, the Rock Junkies, holds maintenance responsibility for the trail.

Carnage Canyon shares its trailhead with the Yansing (Chinaman) Gulch four-wheel-drive loop, and the neighboring Dudbobs and Triad Ridge singletracks start from the same area, so riders who want flowing trail can pair a hard canyon session with a singletrack day. The site owner has ridden Carnage Canyon; no further first-hand details have been added yet.

Getting there

Buena Vista is the nearest town. Park at the Yansing (Chinaman) Gulch / Carnage Canyon trailhead in the Fourmile area, mapped in OpenStreetMap at the coordinates on this page. The trail is signed as number 6042 in the Colorado Trail Explorer and is managed by the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office in Canon City, phone 719-269-8500.

Fees, permits, and rules

The Colorado Trail Explorer lists motorcycles and ATVs as allowed on the trail, along with OHVs wider than 50 inches, and lists no highway vehicles. Colorado requires an OHV registration (residents) or a non-resident OHV permit (out-of-state riders) on motorcycles used on designated OHV trails. No trailhead fee is listed in the sources found. Confirm current rules and closures with the BLM before you go.

When to ride

onX lists the trail as rideable in every season, and a 2026 onX status report shows it open. Some Fourmile trails close seasonally, for example until mid-April, so check the BLM seasonal closure notices in spring. Snow and runoff reshape the obstacles each year.