Do you like the tighter trails with no room for error? This thread is for you! Do you like rides with water falls and fresh mountain streams? I found that too! Do you enjoy adult beverages after successfully landing a 30 foot gap jump? We do! My buddy Mike and I were set to meet Jim in the mountains around Durango, CO for three days of riding trails. Here is a teaser video to set the mood: <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/46683227" width="800" height="450" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> Jim took us on some great trails and many of them were between 8-10k feet in the San Juan Mtn range. Mike was stoked to be riding in the mtns and have views of Vallecito Lake in the background: The trails were narrow and required lots of focus as Mike demonstrates here: SW Colorado has been getting good rain lately and a few muddy spots formed giving the Honda some trouble:
On our 2nd Day we rode Hermosa Creek. It drizzled all morning which kept the hikers and mt. bikers off the trail. We hit the trail just as the rain stopped and I was quickly reminded that the roots can be very slippery! I took a nice crash 5 minutes into the ride and luckily the GoPro Hero2 was rolling: <iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XHB97LUE-0w?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Hermosa is a beautiful trail that has pretty much everything you could want! Nice spot for lunch, eh? We rode out and back on Hermosa, about 45 miles total. We also checked out some other trails that branched off including Dutch Creek, Jones, and South Fork. Wish we had more time and daylight to explore all the of them. Maybe next time... Day 3 our ride leader Jim took us on some local only trails near his home. Did I mention his home is awesome? Located up in a canyon surrounded by trees and water, we had trails to ride out the back door. I was in hog heaven: My new best friend on the left: Jim jumping off into the Colorado air: Some of the DH MTB trail was wild. We encountered a few steep spots going up! This is called a 'tree transition'. A nice 50 foot of chainsaw work on this tree: The tree ends 5 ft above the ground and then you jump off and turn down this log ramp. (we chickened out) We only rode 25 miles but the trail was exhausting and needless to say we Flatlanders had to take a few breaks along the way: The wildlife on the trail also thought we were crazy:
Here is some video from the technical DH trail, we enjoyed hitting the jumps, ladder crossings, and winding through tight trees: <IFRAME height=480 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p3HV_vLG4J8?rel=0" frameBorder=0 width=853 allowfullscreen></IFRAME> Singletrack Stoke? Yes Please! found this cool slug/snail on the trail. Not sure what kind it is...but it reminded me of the metal melisha helmet...lol Our last night we took a hike up stream from Jim's house and was amazed at the views and rocky canyons. I guess this is a kayaker's paradise in the Spring (extreme white water kayaker!): Hiking along a narrow cliff 300 feet above the water: Mike and I were all excited to see a young black bear walk through the yard that evening. The locals said they see him almost every night and it was 'nuthin special'. lol Amazing sunset over the mtns just as a small rainstorm hit: Needless to say....I can't wait to come back and visit!
Looks like a great area to ride. A group I ride with gets together every year, we have met up in Idaho and two different places in Colorado, but never around Durango. Need to check that out. Are there enough trails there to keep a group busy for 3-4 days?
Plenty to keep you busy! We never ran out of trails, but we did run out of energy. :eek1 Great maps available for the Durango/Rico/Mancos area. Check out 'Latitude 40 Maps' and ride for weeks on legal moto trails.
Great stuff and nice videos! Looks really lush. Is that riding area closer to Durango or Silverton? Is there a fair amount of those types of trails between 550 and 145?
Used to be mine too.....born there, went to school there (Fort Lewis), go back there every year to visit family. But if you could have seen it back in the 50s and 60s, you would understand why it is no longer a favorite of mine. BTW, going back via FJR next month for my 50th HS reunion. PS, wonder why you turned back on Hermosa Trail? The trail goes all the way through to Hermosa Park and comes out at Purgatory Ski Area, have done it several times on various bikes, last time was solo on an XR500. Perhaps it was the pavement getting back to Durango?
Thanks for the great report Chad. I don't think I'm going to make it up to CO this year so pictures and video will have to do. Nice work!
Wow that looked awesome. Video looked great, but I could only watch so much. Personally the CRF is music to my ears - Styx isn't (anymore). So I'm guessing you had to gear down significantly? That looks like the kind of riding most of us only dream about. I've done the Durango/Silverton train. Are you in that general area? Thanks for sharing. RZ Rob
I doubt it...the Hermosa Park road comes out on Highway 550 at the entrance to Purgatory. That is what I was refering to.
Ive camped at the top of the Hermosa Creek trail then rode down it on my mt bike,long,long fun downhill with some carrying of the bike through icy mountain streams. Really,Really fun!!!!!!! Also theres a great Ice Cream place in Durango,home made on the spot I believe,excellent! Ive ridden the motorcicle out of Steamboat Springs, some great singletrack that goes on and on.
We did an out-and-back on Hermosa. We'd much rather ride the trail backwards than loop around on the highway or past the crowded resort. It depends on the trail. The specific DH trail we rode up and down was 'pirate' trail built by the locals who practice their gravity defying skills on specific DH bicycles. Many trails in this area are shared by both motos and bikes, which is totally cool in my opinion. I wish my home state of AZ did a better job of this. The Hermosa Video has lots of CRF soundtrack for you to enjoy: 11 minutes of 4-stroke symphony! http://youtu.be/XHB97LUE-0w None of us geared down, I have stock gearing on the KTM 450xcr-w and I believe the two Honda's also kept their desert gearing on....we just used a lot more clutch and of course the Rekluse Clutches made it much easier. All of our riding was within 40 minutes of Durango, Hermosa is north of town and the other trails were NE of town. In the winter time there is also some good riding south around Aztec. On a side note: I've been visiting Durango for the last 20 years and I think they have done a great job catering to such a vast population of outdoor users. I used to race mtn bikes and enjoyed the Iron Horse events, Roostmaster Shoot-outs on Chapmin Hill, racing the road bike up to Silverton, etc. The town seems to have doubled the number of trails nowadays and most of them are marked and mapped out for everyones enjoyment....which is a hard thing to do considering the population of Durango has also probably tripled in that same time frame.
Please support your local chapter of the USFS to keep these trails open. (took this photo on my way to coffee one morning passing the neighbors home).
AHA...we used to own that ice cream place, and did make the ice cream ourselves. We sold it to another guy who ran it for a few years. It's not there any more !!!
That is waaay the best use of a GoPro I have ever seen. Thank you. I have been zeroed in on Northwest CO, but this changes everything.