Colorado Trail MTB Bike Tour

7/21/06-8/11/06

This was the most Epic MTB Adventure in OTB history! We rode all of the Colorado trail from Denver to Durango. (except for the Wilderness areas) This trail has some of the most amazing scenery you will ever lay your eyes on!

Distance covered 440 miles. This includes some fire road and jeep road connectors to the trail.

Elevation gain 75,920 according to the Colorado Trail guidbook.  We are still working on the exact totals.

The lowest 5520
Highest point was 13300

The plan:
Note: The segments mentioned here are from the Colorado Trail guidebook.

Week one:

Friday 7/21 Departed L.A. at 1:30 pm. Drove to Cedar City and camped at a KOA campground for $22.00.  This was a descent campground with showers.

Saturday 7/22 drove to Chatfield State Park near the trailhead.  We had planned to camp here but it was full since it was the weekend. We camped at the trail head in the parking lot.

Sunday 7/23 Rode segment 1,2 and part of 3. Distance was 35.12 miles elevation gain 6000' to Buffalo Creek or Buffalo (The map called it Buffalo and some of the signs said Buffalo Creek) campground at an elevation of 7450' This is a nice campground with a stream nearby.  This campground would be booked on the weekend but we had it mostly to ourselves.

Monday 7/24 Sement 3,4 and 5 shuttle around the Lost Creek Wilderness. 20.7 miles 4042' of climbing to Kenosha Pass campground 10,000' Camped at the Kenosha Pass campground. 

Tuesday 7/25 Kenosha Pass over Georgia Pass to Breckenridge.  32 miles elevation gain of?  Phil picked us up at the trailhead in Breckenrige at Tiger Run resort and we shuttled in the truck to camp at Lake Dillion.

Wednesday 7/26 Day off.  Lake Dillion is close to Silverthorne and we headed into town to shower at the rec center and do some laundry.  There is also a shower at the laundromat. Spent abother night at Lake Dillion.

Thursday 7/27 Segment 13 miles 3600' We made this into a loop from the campground.  There is a bikepath that we rode on towards Breckenrige.  We rode on this to the trailhead then went up and over Ten Mile pass.  We came out at the Copper Mountain ski area nd jumped on teh bike path again and rode it back to Lake Dillion Camped at Lake Dillion for a third night. Total miles with the bike path included 21.4 with 5000' elevation gain.

Friday 7/28 Segment 8 Copper Mountain to Camp Hale 21.4 miles elevation gain of 5000'. Camp at Camp Hale campground.

Saturday 7/29 Camp Hale to Leadville. Rode to the wilderness boundry then turned aroudn for about a mile and then took a hard to see trail that ties into a jeep road and runs to the highway. 24.4 miles with an elevation gain of 2500' Skipped the wilderness and Shuttle to camp at Half Moon campground. About 30 minute drive from Leadville.

Sunday 7/30 Half Moon campground to the Mount Elbert trailhead to Turquise Lake. 24.5 miles with an elevation gain of 3100' Shuttled back to camp at Half Moon campground.

Monday 7/31 Day off- we had planned to go rafting but the water was to low.

Tuesday 8/1 Shuttle around another wilderness area then ride from Cottonwood Canyon to Angel of Shavano campground. 30.71 miles and an elevation gain of 5100'

Wednesday 8/2 Angel of Shavano to O'Haver Lake. 31 miles with an elevation gain of 4589' Camp at O' Haver Lake.

Thursday 8/3  O'Haver Lake to Buffalo Pass camp ground. We shuttled up the dirt road to the trail head. 40.5 miles of riding, including the 4.5 mile road ride to camp, 6500' of climbing

Friday 8/4 Day off.

Saturday 8/5 Shuttled to North Pass and rode to within a mile or two to the wilderness boundry.  We made this a loop by connecting to some dirt roads in the area. 37.8 miles, about 3500' of climbing.  After the ride we packed up camp and shuttled aroudn the wilderness area to camp at Slumgullion campground

Sunday 8/6 Shuttled to start the ride at Spring Creek Pass and rode to the Rio Grande Reservoir.  37 miles and 5100' of climbing.  Got picked up in the truck a few miles above Lost Creek camp ground.  Camped at SLumgullion for a second night.

Monday 8/7 Day off.

Tuesday 8/8 Molas Pass to Hotel Draw then down the dirt road to shuttle. Camped at Sig Creek campground. 43 miles for the day.  Batteries died on the Edge units so we will have to figured out elevation gain.

Wednesday 8/9 Hotel Draw to La Plata Canyon.  Shuttled back up to Hotel Draw to the trail head. Road to La Plata Canyon then down the 4x4 road for a while to get picked up by shuttle.  24.13 miles and an elevation gain of 4150'.  Shuttled back to camp at Sig Creek after stopping in Durango to eat and get ice.  Note: We should have continued over Kennebec pass then down to the 171 and got picked up there. 

Thursday 8/10 171N trailhead below Kennebec Pass to end of trail. 19 miles and 1800' of climbing.

Friday 8/11 Drive home

Index | Day 1