I bought my first mountain bike in Craig in 1987 a Diamondback Ascent EX with roller cam brakes on the chain stays. I spent a couple of years riding in the area and have always wanted to return and ride the trails around Steamboat.
Last years trip was a wash out! This years trip a success! I'm already thinking about where to ride next time I return.
Four new rides in four days. All 4 rides were similar in tread. A little bit of everything except easy! All had sections of hike-a-bike ,some singletrack,pavement,dirt road, double track .lots of rocks, roots and technical riding! The spectacular scenery was worth the trip alone. And did I mention solitude. Steamboat is far enough away from the I-70 corridor I did,t see many other riders.
TUESDAY Nipple Peak Loop
20.5 miles 3 hours 50 minutes 5.4 AV
WENS DAY Muddy Slide/ Morrison Divide
20 miles 3 hours 20 minutes 5.8 AV
Thursday Base Camp to Mountain View
This is the premier ride in the Steamboat area and one of the best shuttle rides in the state!
I didn't have a shuttle so I did an out and back from Base Camp to Mountain View Trail then on to Fish Creek Reservoir.
Base Camp to Buffalo Pass might be my favorite piece of singletrack in Colorado! Only time will tell.
It;s a fairly east technical trail with lots of roots and rocks and a couple easy hike-a-bike sections. There are five beautiful lakes on this ride, meadows and lush forest.
It doesn't matter how you ride this trail just that you ride it!!
Here are the directions for the shuttle:
TRAILHEAD: Park one vehicle at the base of the ski area. Drive to the top of Rabbit Ears Pass follow signs to Dumont Campground Park just past the campground on Base Camp Road.
ROUTE: Ride up Base Camp Road to Base Camp Trailhead follow Base Camp Trail to Fish Creek Falls Trail, Fish Creek Falls Trail to Mountain View Trail up to the top of Storm Peak right on Storm Peak Challenge Trail to Pete's Wicked Trail, Duster down to Zig Zag to the Bottom.
Intermediate/Advanced ride 26.5 mile shuttle 3-4 hours
FRIDAY Gilsonite /Wolverine
DAY AFTER THE GREAT FLOOD
1.2 MILE HIKE-A-BIKE FROM HELL!
Other than that and being lost a couple of times this was a great ride. The hike-a-bike is probably worth the effort. Hopefully someone will cut those trees out soon!
The tread was more of the same with lots of mud.
16.5 miles 4 hours 4.1 AV. ouch!
Just when we got to the top KABOOM! a large bolt of lightning hit not even 100 yards away. So we retreated to the saddle. Looked like it was going to clear up. We decided to continue. Just as we reached the summit the lightning started or should I say the race started down off the mountain to the cabin. It was dangerous tundra with lots of large slippery lichen covered rocks!
Safe at last from the deluge We started a fire and dried everything out.
