Gravel Rides – Salida, CO

Exploring Ride

Salida hosts a gravel bike race, well, it was canceled due to the pandemic, but I downloaded the map from the website and we attempted the ride. Our ride was 29.7 miles with 3584′ of climbing all on gravel roads up above Salida.

Not wanting to deal with people, we shortcutted the ride by not starting downtown. Out of the gate we climbed on a nice wide gravel road for the first 10 miles. Views of Chalk Cliffs and the Collegiate Peaks get better and better, and then we dropped down the backside into dry land. We hunted for the left turn we were supposed to make, but it was a no go. Private land. We tried a couple other spurs but all led to private land. So, we turned around. Bummer.

Our ride became an out and back which isn’t horrible, but we like loops so we can see more of the area. The climb back up was hot and steep but we knew that a really long downhill was awaiting us. Indeed, the last 10 miles is all downhill and at considerable speeds. We saw a few motorcycles, a rancher in a big truck, and a couple SUV’s. Not bad for a day on the bike.

Turret “Ghost Town” Gravel Ride

Our second gravel ride in the area was out to Turret, CO up above Salida. We rode an out and back of 21.1 miles with 3094′ of climbing. Again, we started on the wide gravel County Road 175 and climbed up to the split with gravel road 182 and turned left. This gravel section dropped down before heading into the rocky hills. After passing a water filled mining pit, we turned left on gravel road 184 which climbed steeply!!!!!! before rushing down into the little community of Turret.

Turret was supposed to be a gold mining town but that never panned out (haha). Instead, the pesky granite the miners considered an obstacle, became the only profitable thing mined. Granite mining continued from 1905 to 1944 when the government halted all mining not essential to the war effort. The town had around 400 at the height. Today everything is privately owned and the post office is even for sale! We rode around a bit before heading back. It’s a cool little place at the end of the road.