Lake City CO Ride Report

[CarlT]

I got up to Lake City on Tuesday before noon and hung out with the family. Wednesday, I went out for a ride on the wr. I went up the Carson Ghost Trail road and then out to Cinnamon Pass. The Carson Trail was a good warm-up with lots of elevation changes and switchbacks. The town itself is pretty well preserved. From there, I went out to Cinnamon Pass. It goes up to about 12.4 k in elevation and goes down towards Animas Forks Ghost Town.

Here's a pic of Animas



Since a long section of the road down off the pass was freshly bulldozed, I had to come up with another plan to get back to my car & trailer. I went up and over Engineer Pass and it was pretty intense at times.

Here's a few pics of the top, it was just shy of 13 k in elevation.





It makes you feel like you're on the top of the world.

I had to go into Lake City and back out to the start of the Cinnamon Pass trail head (on an untagged bike) and to the car. I rode 58 miles that day of which about 15 was on maintained gravel/paved roads.

With the elevation changes (and being out of shape), it was a very intense but fun ride. I had packed a lot of stuff (tubes, air pump, tools, clothing for cold/rainy weather) and while it helped with traction, it came to about 60 pounds or so that I had to throw around. I would have to rethink my next ride out. Temps only got down to around 60 which wasn't too bad. The bike ran great on the bottom end pulling strong going up the switchbacks. It never ran out of steam no matter how late I rolled on the power. It seemed a little fat on the main though and it would bog when I really rolled the gas on until it revved up some. Time to re-think that too. Gunnison is about 60 miles northwest and they have a bike shop. Time for a road trip.

[CarlT]

On Thursday, I went into Gunnison with my brother-in-law's father and picked up a smaller main jet along with some other supplies. Then it was time to chill out along side a stream. My brother-in-law and nephew were fishing but got skunked. Here's a few shots around the maintained road going out to Cinnamon Pass.

[CarlT]

On Friday, I went out Cataract Gulch and back out Wagner Gulch/Carson Ghost Town trail again. At Carson, I continued on trail 821 which ran down towards Heart Lake and ended near the Rio Grande Reservoir. It was a super intense ride that went for at least 20 miles or so. It went over the Continental Divide and shortly thereafter, turned into an ATV only trail. Most of the trail was pretty technical and kept me on my toes. One long downhill section of about 100~150 yards was loose dirt and the back was sliding around while I rode the front brake has hard as I could. I still went down much faster than I would have liked.

I went through root covered tight sections, up/down hills and across a few fairly deep streams. At one point, I came around a bend and met an ATV with a couple riding in it. We were close so I headed into the dirt bank. Everything was cool and they told me I had about another 2~3 miles left. That was good news to hear because I was getting totally worn out. Here is one shot along the trail.



Where I took this pic, I had just dumped the bike. I had a totally bonehead moment because it was on an easy part and I was looking gown at the GPS to see how much further I had to go and went wide. At least I didn't go off into the creek. That would have been a mutha to get out. Anyway, I figured it was photo op time.

I was so pooped out, I didn't particularly want to return the way I came so it was time to hit the highway again to make it back home. I went about 20 miles on a maintained dirt road and another 28 back to where the car was. Total mileage for the day was 120 miles on a seat made for 30. Of that, 50 miles was off-road on trails and 20 was tight difficult stuff.

I've found out I can't ride like that two days in a row so today I just chilled out. I'll go out in search of a few new trails tomorrow.

Bumping the main jet down a bit helped out a lot but it's not where it needs to be. The 450 pulls like a train and I reduced my pack load down considerably. Still a little heavy, but most of the weight is extra fuel. The added weight was bitter sweet. Sweet for traction and bitter for needing to throw it around. All things considered, lighter is the better way to go.

[Inlaw1]

Great write up Carl! Looks like a blast! Keep us posted on your adventure, and keep your eyes on the trail!!

[Jred]

Great job! I have ridden many of the same trails out of Ouray.

[CarlT]

My quest for today was something a little less intense that Friday's ATV trail was so I headed out to a couple of 4x4 roads. My first route was down 149 from Lake City and out to Bristol Head Lake. The road started off crossing a pretty big stream and then would up through the forest. It forked off and one leg went up to a sweet point with a great view. There was a weather station & cell tower up there powered by solar cell panels. The road was super rocky and quite challenging at times. So much for an easy days ride. Here's the view from up there.







I went back down the rocky hill and finished up at Bristol Head Lake. Here's where I ate lunch at, not bad huh?



On the way back to the second trail, I was a little tired so I went back to base camp for a quick power nap.

[CarlT]

After I recharged my batteries, I headed for Jarosa Mesa trail just south of Lake City. Right off the bat, I had a long (and I mean long) uphill ride that went through a bunch of aspens that was also pretty rocky most of the time. Then it leveled off and also forked off to a point that housed another cell tower. This setup was much larger than the one in the morning.



Here are a couple of shots from the top.







The temps up there was 60 which felt real good as I had worked up a bit of a sweat taking the "easy 4x4" road.

I then went back to finish the trail and I crossed the Continental Divide on top of the mountain for several miles. Nothing but vegetation and no trees anywhere. Then I started descending again and came to the other end of the road. I mounted my GoPro video camera on my helmet and started back on the trail to try it the other way. I only got about 7-1/2 minutes of video (batteries died ) which none of it was the good stuff so I'll see what I can edit down to post up.

Going on the long downhill finish was much easier than going uphill. I finished off the ride and headed for base camp again. The off-road mileage for the day was 61. Over half of it was challenging and the rest was just bumpy.

I figure I'll have one more day to ride (probably Tuesday) before I pack up and head for home on Thursday morning. Temps have been a little hotter than last year with the lows only in the upper 40's and the last couple of days has gotten up to 86 or so.

C'mon Scott, get yer leg all up to speed and get ready for next year.

[Ninja Master 10R]

man, that looks like some serious fun, in some beautiful country, congrats! And that was one of the most concise, best presented write ups ever. Good job all around!

[Pete]

If you were near Gunnison you should have headed up the road to Crested Butte. It's the most scenic place in CO that I've been. You can ride over Schofield pass to Aspen. I pedaled up that last summer (to Schofield not Aspen) on a mountain bike which was epic. From the pics it looks like you had good weather which is not normal in the alpine country. Awesome!

[CarlT]

I went up to Gunnison last week for a main jet but was in the car. Maybe next year but I still haven't hit all of the trails around here.

Yesterday I went on a relaxed sight seeing ride. I went south and down the county roads by the Deer Creek area. I went over pinios pass which took me up through several groups of aspens. I took a backroad that winded into several large meadow areas. I stopped to check my map (gps had completely different markings) and heard thunder close by. I looked south and it ws getting really dark and I could see rain falling. I was almost at the apex of my loop so I continued on.

One nice thing about easy roads is that it gives you a chance to see the countryside. My previous rides required all of my attention for the most part so this was really nice. I crossed several streams where beavers had made ponds and saw a few fly fishermen taking advantage of them. As I rode on, I was almost surrounded by dark clouds and figured I was in for it eventually. I finnally pulled over and donned some wet gear and headed back to the car.

I rode 70 miles yesterday but unfortunately didn't get any pics taken. It's rained off and on since then and that has kept the temps pretty cool. It had been unseasonably hot this week (high 80's) and the rain dropped it down to the 50's yesterday.

if you ever get a chance to come up into this area, I strongly recommend it. This is my second year and I'm sure not my last.

I'll head back tomorrow morning.

[08Missile]

Awesome!

[CalamariKid]

Wow!!!! Great write up and very inspiring...

[magus]

Great pics! I love Lake City, and the surrounding area, and used to ride over Engineer's Pass many a summer when I used to live in CO.