Arapaho Ridge
SANDROCKS (my first trail on a mountain bike)
Doesn’t look like it gets much use. It’s way hard. You are either crossing ridges or riding up and down drainages. The tail is not well marked and there are hundreds of other trails in the area. This is open range country some of these routes have been used for over 100 years by sheepherders and ranch hands. Found some old carvings in the aspen trees and ran into a cowboy looking for cows. I told him where I was going. He said “hope ya have a flashlight”. Four hours and I had only ridden about 16 miles of the 40 mile loop. It was tough going! I had spent the last hour pushing. I told him I would probably take the road back an cut the loop in half. He said it was still a long way and he wasn’t sure how to do it. He tried to give me some directions which only confused me. I ended up getting lost for a couple hours. Panic was starting to set in. This would not be a good place to spend the night or get lost. I was hoping I would a least make it to the road. Since I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about I decided to take 1144 to Black Mountain Road . Another hour pushing. Coasting never felt so good when I got to the top. I needed to eat. It’s funny when you’re adrenaline is going you kind of forget about everything I just wanted to get out! I made it to a road and started the long ride back up to the top. It went up forever. It wasn’t bad though I was able to ride most of it in the middle ring. When I reached the drainage divide it was still more up. I wanted to get back to camp before dark. I wasn’t sure I could make the connection between rd.110 and Freeman Reservoir in the dark. Think I got to the trail head at about 5. Two hours till dark was I going to make it? I was doing good until I tried to ride over a rock that I couldn’t clear the day before. My freewheel made an ugly noise. One more pedal revolution and the chain fell off. I had broken my chain! MORE PANIC! TRYING TO FIX THE CHAIN WAS A WASTE OF TIME AND THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN! Now I was glad for the terrain I could push to the top and coast down. I finally made it back at about 6-6:30. Refusing to be beat by the day I slammed a protein drink, started a fire and headed to the lake for a few casts. Caught some nice cutthroat trout.
Went back had some dinner and reflected on the day. I would get a chain tomorrow an stop and see if I could ride Arapaho Ridge as a loop on the way home
The next morning I was packing up, The campground host showed up we talked for a while. He went on with his chores. I hadn’t started the truck in a couple days I thought I
would start the truck while he was around. Every once in awhile the starter drive sticks and drains the battery. Well it did it this time. I had to run and disconnect the battery. Went to start the truck again. In a state of panic I forgot to take the truck out of gear so when I went to start it the truck lurched forward over my bike! Trip over. Oh Well!
Time for a new plan. Only 2 days of summer left and I want to ride Arapaho Ridge one more time. See if I can do It from the Granby side.
