A few days ago I was looking at trails from the 4th of July trail head in the Indian Peaks Wilderness near Eldora, Colorado and came upon a blog post about a plane that went down in the area many years ago. From what I saw in my mapping app there is a road, but […]
N160JN Plane Site (4th of July Trailhead), Nederland, CO Read More »
After quickly pitching tent in a thunderstorm, on our 16th day we completed our CT adventure and descended 8,300 ft into Durango. In total, we had traveled 420 miles and climbed over 60,000 ft in accumulated elevation. Indian Trail Ridge We awoke to cloudy skies and continued our ride along Indian Trail Ridge. Taylor Lake
CT Day 16 – Durango Read More »
On day 15 we hoped to make it to Durango and finish the CT, but weather again conspired against us. We got as far as Indian Trail Ridge. We started on the side of Hermosa Peak. Blackhawk Mountain We had a bunch of climbing to do past Blackhawk Mountain. Indian Trail Ridge Up to this
CT Day 15 – Indian Trail Ridge Read More »
Wildflowers, wildflowers, wildflowers. The downside of doing the CT in July is the predictable clouds that gather every afternoon and become major thunderstorms which leave the trail a muddy mess. But the big upside is that wildflowers are abundant, particularly at the highest elevations. Today we ended at Hermosa Peak in a stunning wildflower meadow.
CT Day 14 – Hermosa Peak Read More »
The pièce de résistance of the CT is the San Juan mountains, and we got deep into them on day 13. The views were simply stunning, one after another. Physically, it was a tough day. We had to make up time lost from weather on the prior day, and 20 miles of the riding was bouncing
CT Day 13 – Silverton Read More »
After a nice break in Gunnison, we started the day on the Spring Creek trailhead off highway 149 with the goal to get to Carson Saddle and the high point for the Colorado Trail at 13,271 ft. But weather became a problem as a huge thunderstorm hit just as we were to climb a big
CT Day 12 – Carson Saddle Read More »
The 11th day of the CT would also be short. Our primary mission was to get to highway 114, where Cris would be waiting with burgers, fries and sodas to shuttle us into Gunnison for a two day break. She’s so good to us! We awoke on Sargents Mesa to a spectacular sunrise. On the
CT Day 11 – Gunnison Read More »
After the long Day 9 to Marshall Pass, Day 10 up to Sargents Mesa was short. For most of the day we battled bowling ball sized rocks in the trees. We both were tired from all the rock hopping and climbing and wanted to kick back, relax and enjoy the scenery. Sargents Mesa As we
CT Day 10 – Sargents Mesa Read More »
As much as day 8 was “meh”, day 9 up to Marshall Pass was the exact opposite. We had an huge climb (5200 ft over 24 miles), experienced a crazy small-world situation on the trail in the middle of the forest, rode along the Monarch Crest at 12,000 ft as a huge thunderstorm grew and
CT Day 9 – Marshall Pass Read More »
After a few days rest from Day 7 we got back onto the trail on Sunday the 16th in the middle of the Collegiate Peaks with the goal of getting to Highway 50. We got close, camping below Mt Shavano. By the time we quit we had climbed 5000 ft over 28 miles. It wasn’t
CT Day 8 – Mt. Shavano Read More »
