Madden/Gold Run/Starvation Loop Exploration Day! From camp we rode up the gravel road to Madden Peak. It’s nice wide gravel for the first few miles and then gets increasingly rocky so it’s a good thing we were on mountain bikes. At the top we turned onto Old Gold Run singletrack and took that for miles. …
Fall colors are starting to drop!!! We rode Chicken Creek and Mancos Rim Trail as an out and back for a 20 mile, 2,200′ of climbing day. These aren’t very heavily used trails but both were fun, though definitely less maintained. Chicken Creek is a ribbon of singletrack through the forest with plenty of rocks …
After a couple weeks in Telluride, we moved on to Durango. We were here back in June but a lot of the high country trails were under snow so we decided to come back. Animas Mtn and Ned Overend Trails We rode a loop on Animas Mountain last time and had fun so we did …
Hope Lake Another doozy! Hope Lake hike + extra credit add-ons was 6 miles and featured beautiful trail through forest, a river, waterfalls, a lake, wildflowers, and billions of jagged red and orange mountains. We hiked up about 2,000′ to around 12,200′. At that height we could see the whole mountain range! Looking back down …
For our last ride in the area we went the biggest. We rode up Barlow Road to Bolem Pass, rode the Colorado Trail up to Blackhawk Pass, descended down down down and then climbed out on Hermosa Park Road back up and over Bolem Pass. When I say road, don’t think smooth surface. These roads …
After our big Wasatch Loop Trail ride the day before, and given the impending afternoon storm, we opted for a shorter ride. East Fork Trail starts around 10,000′ and climbs up 1,426′. The climbing is never too steep and follows above the river, traversing meadows, skirting hillsides, and climbing through alpine forest. We didn’t get …
BEST VIEWS. We both agree this ride had the very best views of any ride we’ve done in the states. Wasatch Trail Loop was 18 miles, 4,310′ of climbing, topping out at a staggering 13,053′!!!!! That’s higher than any ride we’ve done I think. The Climb From town, we rode east up a rugged jeep road …
Lizard Head Hike Lizard Head is an iconic mountain outside Telluride, jutting up into the sky. We started our hike at 9,953′ and hiked up 5 miles above the treeline a few thousand feet to views of Sheephead Mtn, Wilson, and Lizardhead. For my Bend friends, parts of the mountain views look a lot like …
Deep Creek Loop Our first ride in Telluride was Deep Creek Loop. 18 miles and 2,861′ climbing. It only took us a couple hours and it was a good thing because the weather wasn’t great. I actually wore my rain coat most of the ride. We started off by riding the bike path out of …
From camp we rode the Galloping Goose Trail out and back. The ride was 31 miles with 3,106′ of climbing. It follows segments of the historic Rio Grande Southern Railway. In 1931 the railroad was bankrupt so to cut costs they converted old automobiles into railcars. Galloping Goose was the nickname of the hybrid car. …