If you've ever ridden up Waterton Canyon and wondered about the big rock peak to the North as you approach the dam, that's Turkshead Peak and it rises about 2050-feet straight up from the Platte. You can see Turkshead clearly as you drive down 85 South from 470 to Sedalia.
My son and I made an attempt to combine this as a bike and a hike two years ago, but were turned back by lightening. This time DW & I took reinforcements: Josh and his 9-yo son, Race.
We left the Waterton Canyon parking lot on our bikes at 8am. Once we were in the vicinity of Turkshead, we started looking for a place to cross the Platte and found one just below the Strontia Springs Dam. The background gives you an idea just how steep this thing pops out of the water.
After bushwacking through scrub for about a half-hour, Race starts questioning the intelligence of what we're attempting so Josh threatens to throw him back into the river.
Waterton is starting to shrink behind us.
We push on a little further before taking a snack break and DW & Race practice their "Blue Steel" poses.
Cool tree.
Race is being a real trooper, the going is very steep, lots of scrub, lots of cactus, and there is no trail and he shows us how he does it!
Meanwhile, DW scrambles some rock towers and show's us his "El Tigre" pose.
After spending a couple of hours traversing the ridge from hell, we get up to the timbers and a little closer to our goal.
We keep climbing up and up and we'd made it to the top. After 4-hours of climbing and bushwacking, I think we were all surprised when we went up the last cut and found ourselves on the tip-top of our goal.
Waterton Canyon and Strontia Springs is waaaaay down there.
Josh & DW on lower Turkshead.
On the way down, we took a different drainage thinking it would be faster and easier. We were wrong.
Again, Race is a stud!
Since we descended down a different drainage, we had to backtrack up river to find a safe place to cross and that ended up being the same place we crossed going up. We were 8-hours into this adventure by now and Race is still hanging tough. We cross the Platte and drag our bikes out of the underbrush only to find very shortly after that Race has a flat so we double up for the ride back down the canyon. Josh gives Race a lift on his bars while DW & I trade off carrying his bike.
Check out the look on Race's face, you can't even tell he had been tortured for the last 8-hours
My son and I made an attempt to combine this as a bike and a hike two years ago, but were turned back by lightening. This time DW & I took reinforcements: Josh and his 9-yo son, Race.
We left the Waterton Canyon parking lot on our bikes at 8am. Once we were in the vicinity of Turkshead, we started looking for a place to cross the Platte and found one just below the Strontia Springs Dam. The background gives you an idea just how steep this thing pops out of the water.
After bushwacking through scrub for about a half-hour, Race starts questioning the intelligence of what we're attempting so Josh threatens to throw him back into the river.
Waterton is starting to shrink behind us.
We push on a little further before taking a snack break and DW & Race practice their "Blue Steel" poses.
Cool tree.
Race is being a real trooper, the going is very steep, lots of scrub, lots of cactus, and there is no trail and he shows us how he does it!
Meanwhile, DW scrambles some rock towers and show's us his "El Tigre" pose.
After spending a couple of hours traversing the ridge from hell, we get up to the timbers and a little closer to our goal.
We keep climbing up and up and we'd made it to the top. After 4-hours of climbing and bushwacking, I think we were all surprised when we went up the last cut and found ourselves on the tip-top of our goal.
Waterton Canyon and Strontia Springs is waaaaay down there.
Josh & DW on lower Turkshead.
On the way down, we took a different drainage thinking it would be faster and easier. We were wrong.
Again, Race is a stud!
Since we descended down a different drainage, we had to backtrack up river to find a safe place to cross and that ended up being the same place we crossed going up. We were 8-hours into this adventure by now and Race is still hanging tough. We cross the Platte and drag our bikes out of the underbrush only to find very shortly after that Race has a flat so we double up for the ride back down the canyon. Josh gives Race a lift on his bars while DW & I trade off carrying his bike.
Check out the look on Race's face, you can't even tell he had been tortured for the last 8-hours