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WELCOME! If you arrived at this page directly, you may want to read the introductory page: Roger's Favorite Singletrack Mountain Bike Rides
Please realize that I am an older, intermediate mountain biker with a passion for singletracks and am suggesting these trails to others such as myself. Please do not rely totally on my descriptions -- get maps and trail guides locally. Note that I live in California, but frequently ride in Colorado.
Suggestions for minimizing trail damage:
-do not let your tires slide when climbing, descending, or
turning.
-ride over water bars, not around them.
-avoid riding on wet trails.
-carry your bike over or around deep mud.
-ride under control so that you do not run off the edge of the
trail.
Boulder and Denver are at the base of the foothills on the eastern slope of the central Rockies at an altitude of about 5000 feet. I was amazed at how many singletracks were available within a one hour drive of Boulder or Denver. Unfortunately, I was not able to ride them all, but tried to get a good sampling of what is available. I felt frustrated that I didn't' have the time and energy to ride them all!
To locate the many trails in this region, please refer to Tom Barnhart's book "Front Range Single Tracks" and Linda Gong & Gregg Bromka's book "The Mountain Biker's Guide to Colorado" .
This is a small preserve with a well designed singletrack for hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers. Unfortunately the behavior of past mountain bikers has jeopardized our use of the trail, requiring that we "win back" the respect of other users.
Betasso is located in an open Ponderosa Pine forest/grasslands at about 6000 feet. Since the altitude is so low (relatively speaking), it should be free of snow early in the spring and late in the fall. The trail looks like it would become too muddy to ride after a rain...
This trail is only 3 miles long, but if you take it once in each direction, you can get 6 miles of quality singletrack out of it!
To get to the trailhead, take Canyon Road to Betasso Preserve. Park at the trailhead, and head off!
This trail is world class! It is only a few miles from Boulder and therefore gets LOTS of use, but it is a WONDERFUL way to spend a couple of hours! I only wish I had a trail like this so close to where I live!
The trail starts off in a Ponderosa Pine forest, with some high desert plants such as yucca and cactus. We took the trail in a counterclockwise direction. The first segment was very wide -- more like a dirt road than a singletrack -- but it had enough technical moments to make it an interesting and fun downhill. After descending more than 1000 feet it crossed the South Boulder Creek (actually a river) and began to ascend along it. At this point the vegetation became quite lush, with Douglas Firs, Blue Spruce, Aspens, and a variety of wildflowers in season. After a long, hard climb (1000 feet or so), it came to the beginning of a PERFECT narrow singletrack, winding and swooping on mostly hard packed sand, but with just enough rocks to keep us on our toes! Just before it reached the river, it became unridable for a hundred meters or so, requiring that our bikes be carried down steps and rocks to the river. At this point the river is rushing through a steep walled granitic canyon. It was as beautiful as any river canyon that I have visited! We then climbed out of the river canyon (1000 feet or so), first on a wide, exposed, sandy, hot trail, and then on a highly technical singletrack (Columbine Trail). At the beginning of the single track, a sign recommends that one use an alternate dirt road to get back to the trailhead, but if you love climbing up technical singletrack, then go for it! Another advantage of using the singletrack is that once you reach the top of the ridge, you descend down to the parking lot on a slightly technical, narrow, and fast singletrack -- a great way to end the ride! This was one of those rides where you end the trip with more energy than you started with...
Another world class ride! This Open Space park contains 18 miles of trails -- most of them singletracks! In general, the trails are just the right combination of hard packed and smooth, and rocky and technical. Be prepared for LOTS of water bars, but all ridable! The terrain varies from dry grasslands to lush & moist forests. Scenic rock outcroppings appear in some regions.
We had decided to ride the suggested series of trails in "Front Range Single-Tracks". But we accidentally parked in the east entrance off of W. 56th Street rather than the suggested west entrance off of Crawford Gulch Road. Once we realized our mistake we had already climbed far too far to turn back. Luckily it was easy to "jump on" the suggested series of trails. Our "mistake" just required us to climb further and allowed us to cruise down the slightly technical dirt road at the end of the ride! Along the way we spoke with some "locals" and modified the suggested plan slightly so as to include more singletracks, even though it required that we ride some of the trails twice and do some extra climbing.
In particular, we rode up the Belcher Hill Trail (slightly technical dirt road), down and up the Maverick trail (singletrack), left on the end of Longhorn (singletrack), right on Rawhide (steep down on singletrack), left on Wrangler's Run (gradual up singletrack), right on Rawhide (gradual up on dirt road with COLD water available at the equestrian camp ), continue on Rawhide (basically down on a frolicking singletrack), right on Wrangler's Run (again), left on Rawhide (mostly up!), right into the parking area (very steep up singletrack), straight on Belcher Hill (more steep up), and straight on Mustang (a LONG downhill singletrack with Aspen groves and copious amounts of ridable water bars!), left on Maverick Hill (again), right on Longhorn (another frolicking singletrack), right on Shorthorn (down and up on a narrow, technical singletrack through Junipers and Ponderosa Pines and Doug Firs and Aspen groves), right on Longhorn, and left on Belcher Hill Trail for a fast run down a slightly technical dirt road back to the car. The entire ride was about 15 miles long and contained about 3200 feet of climbing. I noticed that many of the trails had been recently maintained and was impressed at how unused many of them appeared -- even though they get LOTS of use! I also was impressed at how few trail users we encountered even though it was Saturday and the parking lot was full.
Using Tom Barnhart's book (Ride 47), I headed off, but found the singletracks so inviting, that I just kept going. On the left (south) side of the road one loop after another presented itself. All appeared to be built by mountain bikers, because they playfully swooped and swerved through the forest. After the last loop I found myself on a dirt road that would have brought me back to my car, but I couldn't resist the singletrack taking off to the left (north). Unfortunately it brought me out at the local high school, requiring that I ride back up the highway to my car, but it was worth it!
I almost didn't ride this trail, because the description in "Front Range Singletracks" made it sound too rocky. But, although rocks were frequently present, they were secured in hard-packed dirt, they tended to be flat and easy to ride over, good lines presented themselves between the rocks, and several sections were quite smooth. There wasn't much scenery, as the trail passed through dense forests of lodgepole pine and spruces. There also were not many wildflowers -- except at the bridge over the creek. But there is something serene about spending a couple of hours riding through a tunnel of trees... As the trail started to descend toward Brainard Lake Road, I turned around at the sign for Little Raven Trail so that I would not have to climb back up the hill. This shortened version still provided about 10 miles and two hours of delightful riding.
A friend of my son knew the trails well, and invited us to join him for the "tour of the best". Therefore I will name this the "Matt Route" of Winter Park. It involves a combination of dirt roads and hard packed singletracks.
To get to Winter Park from Denver, take I-70 West to the Highway 40 exit. Park at the Visitor Center in Winter Park. Ride Vasquez Creek Road (dirt road) to D-4, to WTB Trail, to D-2 Green, to Elk Creek Road #159 (dirt road) to Upper Elk Trail (dirt road, doubletrack, and BRAND NEW singletrack), to Elk Creek Road #159 (dirt road), to Zoom Trail (singletrack), left on Chainsaw Trail (singletrack), to Flume Trail (singletrack), back on Flume Trail, back on Chainsaw Trail, left on Elk Creek Road #158 (Smooth dirt road), right on Fraser River Trail (paved trail) to Visitor Center.
This allows one to ride basically DOWN on the BRAND NEW singletrack (a combination of dirt and rock), DOWN the zoom trail (a FAST, hard packed, high visibility trail that ZOOMS down between the trees), UP and DOWN the Chainsaw Trail (in both directions, through forest and Aspen groves and beside a pond), gently UP the Flume Trail (and gently DOWN on the way back). We spent about 4 hours riding and climbed about 3000 feet.
The Visitor Center has a free map that is very helpful. All trails are well named or numbered. Mountain bikes and their owners are definitely welcome in this town! The trails look like they turn into mud when wet; therefore I suggest that you give the trails some time to dry out after the snow melts and after each thunderstorm.
In '98, we stopped at the ski resort for a lift-assisted ride suggested by Linda Gong and Gregg Bromka in "The Mountain Biker's Guide to Colorado": Ride #9, "Upper Roof Of The Rockies To Winter Park Base". It sounded appealing because the trail was supposed to be well-built singletrack, and because it was supposed to travel mostly through forests. I felt a bit lazy taking the lift, but found enough climbing in this ride to alleviate my guilt. I also found a LOT of superior singletrack, and very few people enjoying it! Portions of the Long Trail were fast and smooth and swooping; Most of Arapaho Trail was narrow and moderately technical (my favorite). The trails were laid out in such a way that the ride took two hours to complete -- even though we were basically riding from the top of the mountain to the bottom. This ride is also laid out to encompass most of the singletracks on the mountain. I highly recommend it!
I arrived here on a Saturday and hesitated to ride since it was so close to the town of Evergreen. But I found the trails to be remarkably empty for a weekend! I rode the trails suggested by Tom Barnhart in his book. I found the terrain and the trails to be varied. There was everything from moist, green meadows to dry, rocky, Ponderosa Pine Forests; and everything from wide, straight trails with good visibility to narrow, rocky, and highly technical trails with sharp switchbacks. My favorite areas were the top of Evergreen mountain where I could ride among large granite boulders and a mixture of Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Firs; and the top of the three sisters where I struggled to ride the technical sections. It is easy to put on several miles, climb maybe 1000 feet, and ride for a couple of hours here!
I was especially impressed with the VAST amount of singletracks available for mountain bikers in the Evergreen/Conifer/Pine/Bailey/Fairplay region. I was frustrated by not having the time to ride them all, and plan to return as soon as possible to ride more of them! (I sure wish that I had THIS many singletracks to ride near where I live...).
I was a bit disappointed with the uphill because the trail was so wide and sandy, and the environment was so dry. But once I reached the narrow singletrack on top, I quickly changed my mind! I especially enjoyed passing through the "green" areas along small streams. When I reached the Strawberry Jack trail, I had not had enough, and took the suggested clockwise loop. The Homestead trail looked so good that I took it past an Aspen grove with views of granite rock outcroppings and returned to the junction with Charlie's trail. Parts of this trail led over granite bedrock -- with painted rectangles to lead the way. The first part of the Strawberry Jack trail is narrow and fun. The second part is wide and VERY loose. Unfortunately I skidded out with my front wheel on one of the turns and took a fall. Don't forget to keep that weight back, and stay off that front brake through turns, as I probably forgot to do! OUCH!!
What I liked most about this ride was that the singletracks were marked with pictures of BIKES! I have never felt so welcome on singletracks before!!
Refer to ride #24 in Linda Gong and Gregg Bromka's book: "The Mountain Biker's Guide to Colorado". We camped among the aspens and columbines at the top of Kenosa Pass, where an odorless outhouse and cold, clear, good tasting water was available. (Lots of mosquitoes and deer flies were also available!) The instructions for the ride were very clear and the trail was well marked. What impressed me about the ride was the quality of the trail (narrow and hard packed and lightly to moderately technical), the changing environment (aspen forests, dry meadow, fir and pine and spruce forests, alpine meadows), and the views of high peaks. The trail crew seemed to build this trail for mountain bikers, as the inclines and declines were ideal. There are enjoyable downhill runs in both directions, but on the way back, 10 of the 12 miles are downhill! One drops from an altitude of about 11,900 to about 9,400 in eight miles, then climbs back up to just over 10,000 feet in two miles, then glides down to the campground through aspens for one mile. This is a ride NOT to be missed! The total distance, out and back, was 24 miles, and the total altitude gain was 3,600 feet. Total pedaling time was about four hours. There was one mistake in the trail description: Georgia Pass is actually on the dirt ROAD just east of the high point of this ride. That places the high point at 11,900 feet!
if you do a ride and enjoy it, please let the land manager know that you did enjoy it and that the existence of singletrack trails is important to you! A small donation for trail maintenance and development might also be helpful! I will slowly add email and snail mail addresses and phone numbers of land managers of the trails that I have described so that you may more easily contact them.
Minimizing Trail Conflicts On Singletrack Trails
Minimizing Trail Impact On Singletrack Trails
Hints For Beginning Singletrackers
Back to Roger's Favorite Singletrack Mountain Bike Rides