San Juan Backcountry Snowmobile Tour Review
Silverton, Colorado Snowmobile Riding

Little did we know that our scenic detour through the San Juan Mountains would land us on a snowmobile adventure tour with San Juan Backcountry Tours. While we normally focus our attention on ATV and SxS vehicle adventure rides, we weren’t going to turn down the opportunity to ride a snowmobile through a winter wonderland in one of the most beautiful places in Colorado.

Nestled in between Silverton and Durango, Colorado, San Juan Backcountry Snowmobile Tours is located at Molas Lake Park & Campground

While San Juan Backcountry ATV Tours are offered in downtown Silverton, Jessica and Larry Gallegos run the San Juan Backcountry Snowmobile Tours during the winter at Molas Lake Park & Campground, which is in between the cities of Durango and Silverton. 

From May to October the small town of Silverton, CO has a steady stream of tourist riding the Durango & Silverton Railroad, but during the winter, the town becomes nearly a ghost town with only a couple of hundred year round residents.

This is the perfect location for snowmobile tours at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet, the snow begins accumulating in early October and by the time they open at the end of November, the snow is already several feet deep.

Larry and Jessica Gallegos have been running the San Juan Backcountry Snowmobile Tours for two years. Snowmobile Tours are usually open from the end of November to around April or until the snow begins to melt

San Juan Backcountry has been running ATV tours for eight years now, and they took over the snowmobile tour business just over two years ago, and with plenty of snow flying in the Colorado mountains this winter, the season is already in full swing. They typically start tours as early at Thanksgiving weekend to around the middle of December depending on the snow pack, and they run tours till April or as long as the snow last.

There is close to 100 miles of groomed snowmobile trails to explore with San Juan Backcountry in the San Juan Mountain range

With nearly one hundred miles of groomed trails, they have something for everyone from first time riders to advanced riders.  They start everyone out of level ground with fairly straight trails, so they can get a feel for the snowmobile, then they start adding some turns and hills to the mix depending on the riders ability. For the extended tours they climb to the top of Turk Mountain, which is right at 12,700 feet, and it offers some great views of the San Juan mountain range from the peak.