Derek and I have passed this singletrack several times while up riding gravel roads above Mancos and decided it was time to check it out. I found basically NO info on the internet about it so this was adventure time. We rode it mostly as an out and back but didn’t go all the way to the other end. The day was 16 miles with 2131′ of climbing.
This trail started with us descending down into a meadow and then following the trail along side Chicken Creek. It’s a beautiful ribbon of singletrack that switches sides through the little canyon and then climbs up out of it into drier territory. We crossed a gravel road and for a short while, quads and little side by sides are allowed on it as the trail goes down into the next drainage, crossing more cold snow melt streams and then passing through a vast aspen logging area.
Once the trail reverts back to singeltrack we dropped down a series of switchbacks into a heavy fir tree forest. From here the trail got even narrower and a bit rougher. I don’t think it gets much use since it’s remote. We rode more switchbacks down and did another climb out after wading through one VERY cold stream. This section of trail is steep and rugged and we had to stop to catch our breath a few times. We diverted from the trail here and took a rocky road up and around to the Aspen Loop Trail.
We made a decision to not keep going on the singetrack into Rico, CO because we would be climbing into the snow line. It was already muddy in spots on the Aspen Loop Trail as we took that around to rejoin the Morrison Trail. This is where our descent started and it was a doozy to get back to where we had just diverted to the road. This little descent was so fun! The rest of the ride was back tracking to get back to the start. Meaning, all the steep climbs we had done earlier were nor steep descents! Woohoo!
People we saw today = ZERO! I’d like to do this ride all the way to the other side some day when the snow up high melts. The whole trail, according to Trailforks, would be 22 miles with somewhere around 4247′ of climbing!!! That sounds steep.
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