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A couple weeks ago I returned to my home state of Colorado to visit friends and family and also take my Bronco Sport on some of the famous trails. I own a ‘23 Big Bend and did not have off-roading/ 4x4 driving on my desires for the vehicle when I purchased it, but that quickly changed after watching youtube videos of people off-roading them. While I have contemplated trading it in for a used Badlands or a more dedicated 4x4, I have decided to stick with it to explore the world of the milder trails and roads to see what it is capable of. My only change to it is putting all-terrain tires on in place of the all-season’s it comes with. I am happy to report that overall I was impressed by the performance of the BS Big Bend on Cinnamon and Ophir passes in Colorado by being impressed with its power, but also feeling like it is held back from its lower ground clearance.
As for the passes themselves, I will get the more down-to-earth part out of the way first by discussing my trip over Ophir Pass. Ophir Pass sits between the towns of Silverton and Telluride mostly traveling in an east-west direction. I traveled from the east and quickly made it to the top in about 10-15 minutes staying in the normal G.O.A.T mode as it was mostly a single-lane dirt road with one small steep section. Going down the other side was not difficult in terms of skill, but was hard on the vehicle's lack of ground clearance. It was mostly loose shale rocks, but some were much larger and the road is still somewhat rutted-out despite its surface. There were several times I had to pick my line to avoid scraping, get out to move larger rocks, and a couple of times where I scraped nonetheless. It wasn’t the best experience and I’m not sure I could have made it going the other direction. After some time we were down the pass, drove through the small town of Ophir and back on the highway near the town of Telluride.
Ona more positive note, I had one of my best experiences of the year going over Cinnamon Pass. I feel Cinnamon is the more scenic, fun, and longer lasting pass to travel when compared to Ophir. It sits on the Alpine loop with Engineer Pass between the towns of Silverton and Lake City. I traveled from the Silverton side going west to east. This is also the pass where I really felt the Big Bend was able to flex and show that you could still have some great fun in a modest offroader. The vehicle got me over some larger rocks with its traction control, I floated a tire, and the star of the show was Sand mode which worked as a nice substitute for a lack of low-range getting me over a long steep section with a loose shale surface. At the top, I got some compliments on making it up in the vehicle with one person even commenting that Ford should put that in a commercial. Better ground clearance would have helped here as well, but I cannot stress enough that sand mode does a very good job of getting the vehicle over terrain when you need to.
In conclusion, you can take the Big Bend on some offroad adventures if you want. It can do easy trails and some moderate trails, so long as ground clearance is not the reason for the rating. If you are looking to buy a Bronco Sport and want to off-road, I still suggest going with the Badlands or going with a regular Bronco instead. If the Big Bend is your only option, get a set of all-terrains on it for sure and highly consider lifting it and putting on some underbody protection. I look forward to continuing my early off-roading days with the Big Bend.
As for the passes themselves, I will get the more down-to-earth part out of the way first by discussing my trip over Ophir Pass. Ophir Pass sits between the towns of Silverton and Telluride mostly traveling in an east-west direction. I traveled from the east and quickly made it to the top in about 10-15 minutes staying in the normal G.O.A.T mode as it was mostly a single-lane dirt road with one small steep section. Going down the other side was not difficult in terms of skill, but was hard on the vehicle's lack of ground clearance. It was mostly loose shale rocks, but some were much larger and the road is still somewhat rutted-out despite its surface. There were several times I had to pick my line to avoid scraping, get out to move larger rocks, and a couple of times where I scraped nonetheless. It wasn’t the best experience and I’m not sure I could have made it going the other direction. After some time we were down the pass, drove through the small town of Ophir and back on the highway near the town of Telluride.
Ona more positive note, I had one of my best experiences of the year going over Cinnamon Pass. I feel Cinnamon is the more scenic, fun, and longer lasting pass to travel when compared to Ophir. It sits on the Alpine loop with Engineer Pass between the towns of Silverton and Lake City. I traveled from the Silverton side going west to east. This is also the pass where I really felt the Big Bend was able to flex and show that you could still have some great fun in a modest offroader. The vehicle got me over some larger rocks with its traction control, I floated a tire, and the star of the show was Sand mode which worked as a nice substitute for a lack of low-range getting me over a long steep section with a loose shale surface. At the top, I got some compliments on making it up in the vehicle with one person even commenting that Ford should put that in a commercial. Better ground clearance would have helped here as well, but I cannot stress enough that sand mode does a very good job of getting the vehicle over terrain when you need to.
In conclusion, you can take the Big Bend on some offroad adventures if you want. It can do easy trails and some moderate trails, so long as ground clearance is not the reason for the rating. If you are looking to buy a Bronco Sport and want to off-road, I still suggest going with the Badlands or going with a regular Bronco instead. If the Big Bend is your only option, get a set of all-terrains on it for sure and highly consider lifting it and putting on some underbody protection. I look forward to continuing my early off-roading days with the Big Bend.
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