Aspen, Colorado
We’re not city folk and hell, we sure as shit aren’t fancy, but we took a day trip to Aspen to mountain bike. We picked out a loop on MtbProject that was 23 miles with a whopping 3758′ climbing. That’s a lot of climbing.
The trails seemed deserted after we got to the top of Smuggler Observation Deck. From there we dipped into the aspen forest on beautiful singletrack, traversed and switchbacked on Lollipop, crossed Hunter Creek and climbed Hummingbird. The views of Red Mtn, aptly named, were gorgeous and we climbed even further up a trail called Hobbit, and another called Secret Jedi. I let my bear bell jangle a lot through here and was a bit spooked. Then came the downhill…finally!!
Sunnyside trail is a very narrow trail traversing the mountain at the top, then becoming a bit rock jumbled with chutes and switchbacks. That trail dumped is onto the bike path that runs some 40+ miles between Glenwood Springs and Aspen. This was a hard day.
Independence Pass
The drive between Twin Lakes and Aspen is an event in itself. Independence Pass crosses the Continental Divide at 12,095′. We stopped in the old Independence ghost town to look at some of the old buildings. Independence boomed in the late 1800’s with claims called Legal Tender, Independence, Last Dollar and Geld Placer. The end finally came after a giant storm in 1889. Supply routes were cutoff and food was running out. Residents fashioned skis out of long planks of wood and fled em masse. They made light of their adventure by making it a race…the entry fee – a ham sandwich!
We got out at the top of Independence Pass and walked up to the view point. Yowza, what a view. I simply love these big mountains and views. They make me happy.
Beautiful pictures! As they say “Gods country”