This past weekend my family was out of town so that gave way to a much needed adventure down to the southwest on Monarch Pass with twelve other cool guys. On Monarch Pass exists the infamous Monarch Crest Trail.
Most folks just do a route of Monarch Crest> The Colorado Trail> Silver Creek > Rainbow Trail....
Well ya know how I like to take a route and make it my own. We ended up doing all of the above but we also added in Starvation Creek and Poncho Creek. Taking a 30ish mile route about 3,000 ft of climbing and making it almost 50 miles with over 5,000 ft in climbing.
Who would of think of such Shenanigans but the crew was game and the descent down Starvation Creek made the 2,000 ft climb back up Poncho Pass bearable.
Fav quote of the day: "I never knew circus wheels could go so fast" Dee Tidwell,Yeti's Personal Trainer when speaking of my 29er going downhill
Dee was still faster then me on his SB66...both climbing and descending....wicked fast that dude is
and the Green Chile Beer at Amica's afterwards...so damn good
Monarch Crest...Plus Some
Searle and Kokomo Passes
Saturday I headed up to the High Country for a spin with Luis and Kelly Klett. Kelly was in town from Raliegh, NC and turned out to be a bad ass singlespeeder, not only smoking me and Luis on the climbs but I even gave up the descent to let him rock it all out.
Our drive up to Copper was a bit ominous. Thick clouds swirled in the sky and the rain drops fell thicker and thicker as we neared the Continental Divide. When I broke my hand back in May it had been raining and maybe I let this set me up for a stupid mistake later in the day.
Right as we arrived in Copper, the rain stopped and we had awesome east coasty like rain forest conditions for the rest of the day. As we climbed about two or three miles out of Copper we ran into a fella from Littleton attempting the CT from Denver to Durango. It was right after saying out pleasantries and, "see ya at the top" when I clipped a pedal on a rock, flipped over the bars and my right thigh landed on a tombstone shaped rock. The pain was an intense fire that had me withering on the ground. This has not been my year on the bike as I count this as no less then a dozen crashes.
Luis and Kelly thought I had either broken my leg or the Littleton CT attempter was a raging maniac who was chopping me to pieces as my moans and screams of pain cut through the silence of the morning air. After about 10 minutes I was able to sit up and swallow about 800 mg of Vitamin I. Both asked if I wanted to bail which I declined but the rest of the day's ride would be plagued by that leg trying to give me a Charley Horse which just seemed to suck some of the will to ride from me. In the end, I just settled into a slow pace and kept it cool and enjoyed the Alpine singletrack as it should be.
looking down the Camp Hale side of Kokomo Pass(12,022 ft). I had debated all day whether to do a loop with included Ptarmigan Pass but that was 60% singletrack, 20% dirtroad, and 20% paved bike path. We decided after seeing this that we would be happy with a 100% singletrack out n back even if it did cut ten miles off the ride.
somewhere between Searle and Kokomo Passes
Kelly with Searle Pass in the Background
Dividing Waters on Independece Day
Sometimes, you have to make things work.
waking up at 3:30am to get them all accomplished is sometimes necessary and worth it.
My original plan was to get up early and ride Three Sisters and go celebrate the forth later with family and friends. Then I sent out a text to a few friends that was a joke but wasn't at the same time.
"Jones Pass super early?"
"Ummmm....yes"....was the reply from Lubes and later Slow
Lubes decided we should meet at 4:15am in Golden since I needed to be home around noon and we had a shuttle to set up and we can't ride Jones with hitting Pavilion Point down in Silver Plume.
by 6am we were sitting at 12,300 ft and the views east were looking like this
The snow cornice was the smallest we had ever had to climb....maybe 12-15 ft tall...My 1st attempts resulted in a small slide of maybe a foot or two due to ice at the top edge. That slide was enough to make me and slow nervous so we headed north just a bit and found a friendlier climb up and over
Photo Cred: Lubes
After that, it was game on!
One thing about reaching an altitude of 13,215 is there is some hike a bike. I keep an attitude of hike a biking is good for the soul. It teaches a person to calm themselves and settle into the beauty that surrounds them.
it also leads to more of this
and this...photo cred: Lubes
oh, and I guess a little more hike a bike
and before you know it, your on the top of the world..(13,215 ft)...yes, those crazer fockers, Lubes and Slow were on Singlespeeds while I kept true to duel suspension and gears
and when your on top of the world, its all downhill from here...with a climb or two being the joke and the reality
We took a small detour to Herman Gulch Lake and by this point we were maybe 2 to 3 miles from I-70 and the hiking traffic became heavy. We probably saw 40-50 hikers on our way down and we kept our speeds super slow while most hikers simply stopped off trail for us or we stopped for a second or two to say hi as they passed. No Stravassholing here. =)
Over the past weekend, Slow and me took Hirsch out for his 1st high country adventure ever with Wheeler Pass. Be sure to checkout the post on MTBR.
Camping and Hiking w/ the Girls
My wife went to Ohio this weekend to promote herself so I took the opportunity to get together with Guacamole and take all of girls camping and hiking. The trip started a little stressful but once we got camp set up and I had a moment to relax. It was Zen for the rest of the weekend.
At camp and how I always want to see the girls look...happy and wild
The next day we hiked. 4 miles in total, out n back. Starting a little over 11,000 ft. Ending a little over 12,000 ft. The weather and the hike were perfection.
The girls were troopers..there is no doubt
Destination: Silver Dollar Lake
No fish caught but a few Cutthroats seen.
and then there is the hike down
such a fun weekend
Finding Booty on Warren Gulch
You know its a good morning when you find booty on the trail at 10,000 ft
Giant Killer lovin his find
So the conversation goes:
Giant Killer: Did you see this?
*picks something up off the side of the trail*
MGE:No, what is it, an X Rated playing Card..
Giant Killer: Hahaha, you saw it
MGE:No, really I didn't. Is it really an x-rated playing card
Giant Killer: Close enough...the things you'll see and find in Clear Creek:D
Also along the way was some pretty cool trail and a view or two
Good riding with ya Giant Killer...we should make this a morning habit :D
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