Popular Trails to ride at Brimstone Recreation: Review of Trail 49

The Ingin Joe Trail at Brimstone Recreation is number 49 on the map and is labeled as red or difficult.  On a July 2016 trail ride we had the opportunity to again ride this ever changing trail.  Brimstone Recreation does a good job maintaining the trail system, so the difficulty level does change from time to time on different trails.  Trail 49 is a popular off-road route at Brimstone and offers a wide range of obstacles to overcome.

On this particular trail ride our group consisted of a variety of four wheel drive sport-utility atv's and one newer Polaris Ranger 900 side by side.  All of the riders had a considerable amount of trail riding experience.  Trail 49 has the ability to punish even experienced riders and trail worthy big bore atv's and side by sides.

We dropped onto trail 49 from trail 3 located toward the north side of Brimstone Recreation, or the side nearest the Trails End Campground.  From this side of the Ingin Joe Trail the path dissented down into the mountainous valley and had just been smoothed out by a small bulldozer, as we discovered later.  Once we made it to the bottom of the valley and just past the cut-off for Trail 13 (Dyer Straight), the trail began to show it's red difficulty level.  We began climbing up and up toward a ridge and the terrain was fairly steep, rutted and rocky.  One rider in our group needed assistance on this hill climb, so be prepared to offer a helping hand.  Once at the top we continued on down the trail, which runs atop a ridge before again descending and winding down into a valley.  At the bottom of this valley there is a place where folks had been hill climbing several steep banks and the 900 Ranger gave one a try!

Venturing on we passed the turn off for Trail 51, Pheel'n Trail.
This is where things began to get real interesting as the path gets challenging on the hill climb out.  Consider this the south end of the trail and there was no mistaking that a bulldozer had never made it here to smooth the ruts out.  On the climb out we had to winch the 900 Ranger up and over some rocks, but only once.  Almost out of trail 49 I managed to hit a rock in the trail and turn the 500 Sportsman over on it's side!  So until you finally crest up and out of trail 49 and merged back onto trail 3, stay focused.

Summary:  The Ingin Joe Trail (49) is one we navigate on every trip to Brimstone.  It's challenging, especially in the spots mentioned above and always offers something for every rider in the group.  This isn't a trail we'd recommend anyone taking on their own and make sure someone in your group has a winch or tow strap.  So if you're headed to Brimstone Recreation make sure you check this trail out, you won't be disappointed!