Salida to Lake City

Arrival Day

Our meeting point for this trip is Salida, CO at Salida Inn and Monarch Suites. The day before the trip starts you can pick up a cooler (if needed) from us to do your shopping for the week.

Day One:

We will meet at the Salida Inn and Monarch Suites in Monarch Suites at 7:00am and shuttle to the start (about 30 mins) at Chalk Creek just north of Salida. After an initial tough climb out of Chalk Creek Valley the ride will meander between 9000’ and 10,000’. The terrain is a mix of heavily-wooded stretches and some spectacular meadows where the views of the Sawatch Range to the west and Salida, the Arkansas River Valley and the distant Sangre de Cristo Range to the east show themselves. Your ride finishes with a downhill to US-50 where you’ll bank left and downhill to your first camp at the KOA. Ride length is about 22 miles.

Day Two:

Day two starts with a climb of several miles up US-50 to the South Fooses Creek Trailhead where you’ll rejoin the CT and begin climbing to the Continental Divide and the Monarch Crest. This first section used to be more challenging until recently when re-routes were installed to allow for a more reasonable ride and climb. Once reaching the Monarch Crest you’ll now have unobstructed views in every direction. The trail gently rolls here in reality, but at over 11,000’ the “gentleness” may be lost on your lungs a little. Once putting Marshall Pass in your rearview mirror you’ll reach Sargents Mesa by afternoon – a wide meadow with great views and camp tucked in a clutch of trees not far off the trail. Ride length is about 30 miles.

Day Three:

Day three your ride continues along the Continental Divide and your high point for the section: Middle Baldy Peak a few hundred feet short of 12,000’. The views into the Gunnison Basin are excellent here as the CT skirts around the peak before continuing it’s southerly direction and descending into the Lujan Creek drainage. Soon you’ll reach CO-114 where you’ll cross and rejoin for your final 7-mile push to camp below Cochetopa Pass. The riding here is very gentle averaging less than 100’ per mile. This is where you’ll say goodbye to the Colorado Trail and begin our ride around the La Garita Wilderness. Ride length is about 27 miles.

Day Four:

Onto the wide open dirt roads of southern Colorado high country where the views don’t stop, but the mileage passes you by a little easier after leaving remote singletrack. While less remote than the trail, this is a very remote part of Colorao where you’re more likely to see grazing cattle or maybe elk than humans. Tonight’s camp is near Los Pinos Camp in a nice dispersed area of an old burn. Ride length is about 30 miles.

Day Five:

Our final day’s ride continues on dirt roads toward Lake City and CO-149, but the surroundings become a bit more “lush” and the views of the San Juan Mountains are simply jaw-dropping. For much of your day you’ll be riding parallel to Cebolla Creek with countless opportunities to relax and dip your sore dogs in the cold mountain creek water. Before the group heads out that day we’ll decide if we want to take CO-149 all the way into Lake City, or start our long drive back to Salida from the junction with the pavement. Ride length is about 20-26 miles.