Trip Report - Durango riding (CO X-post, pic heavy)

[evdog]

Including my 3-day Colorado Trail bikepack I spent a total of 10 days in Durango. Its by far my favorite CO destination so far, with awesome views and great trails. Some of the rides were well known must-do's and some were lesser known back country. There is a lot of each type here, definitely something for everyone.

I showed up in the morning and soon found camp at Hermosa Creek campground, its at the southern Hermosa Creek trailhead. Its free, and while it doesn't have water it does have great access to the trails with both Hermosa and Jones Creek trails starting right there.

The ride for the first day would be Jones - Pinkerton-Flagstaff - Dutch Creek

My intro to Durango singletrack


The climb was mostly gentle with a few steep spots, no worse than San Juan trail for anyone familiar with SoCal riding


The trail is interesting because you cross through several zones, from pine/oak forest to aspen. Ran into 2 hikers, 2 bikers, and 3 motos on Jones. No one after that.


Views were great up top. For a little extra mileage I did a side out-n-back to the southern end of Pinkerton-Flagstaff trail, stopping where it drops off in switchbacks down the ridge.


Pinkerton-Flag, heading north of Jones Cr.


While there was some HAB up and some rutted out descents, the aspens made for nice views in any direction


Turning onto Dutch Creek Trail




Trail pals




Sweet turns


I really liked Dutch. It had a bit of everything, from flowy spots to some chunk to some short steep climbs. At the end there was a 4 mi section of Hermosa Creek trail which dropped me right to my campsite and waiting beers.


Stats for the day: 23.9mi, 4,550 gain/loss, elev range: 7,700 to 10,240.

Edit: Topo was giving me crazy numbers for Day 2, so using Garmin connect #s for Day 1 too (1,000ft less, sounds reasonable)

[evdog]

For the second day I was able to meet up with Liz aka 3blackbikes, who moved to Durango earlier this year with her husband. She has been exploring the trails ever since and had some good suggestions. For today's ride we would head up Cascade Creek to Graysill Trail, to the Colorado Trail, down Corral Draw and back down Hermosa Creek to my campsite. A big ride, but would show some of the best riding in the area...

Heading up Cascade Creek.


Dirt road past some houses soon turns to singletrack and heads up the valley


Climbing up above Cascade Creek there is some exposure and technical climbing. Also, a few trees down


But the views up the valley are awesome and we switch back and forth between forested singletrack and open meadows


We miss the turn onto Graysill and have to backtrack 1/2 mi. After crossing the creek we climb. I was expecting mostly HAB seeing the switchbacks on the map, but it was mostly rideable.


We got rained on for most of the climb up Graysill but by the top things had cleared up and it was hard to tell any rain had fallen at all


Looking over toward Engineer Mtn


Heading around to Section Point




There was some tough climbing




But stopping for breath was no issue as it gave time to take in the views


Heading north around the peaks


Finally passing over Section Point


Blackhawk Pass was our next big hurdle


The descent off Blackhawk was very fun




Last bit of descent


And after a bit more climbing we are on to Corral Draw


Corral doesn't have much climbing to it and is a blast to descent. Views aren't bad, either


Some nice forested singletrack awaits


And a final traverse down to Hermosa Creek


Crossing Hermosa


Liz opted to climb the top of Hermosa and grab her car rather than "descend" Hermosa and then have to retrieve. After riding most of the trail I understood why...its a lot of doubletrack, a lot of climbing for a descent, and a lot of the trail is really not much fun to ride. Personally the CT and other stuff that we did today was much nicer.

Stats for the day.... 46mi, 7,000 gain, 8,050 loss, elev range: 7,470 to 12,000

[t0pcat]

looks ke a great place to ride, nice pics!

[evdog]

After a long day on Day 2 and some continuing rain showers we waited until afternoon to check out Horse Gulch. This is Liz's local ride and she had a fun loop dialled in to show me.

View of the valley


I can't recall the names of the trails we did but it was a good loop with a few tough climbs and some fun descents










It was good to see one of the local loops and have an easier ride to spin out the legs a bit.

Stats: 13.7mi, 2,030 gain/loss. Elev range: 6,580 to 7,480

[evdog]

For Day 4 in Durango we were ready for another good ride. Weather was still a bit iffy with 30% of rain listed for Silverton, after 11am. Engineer Mtn is one of the premier rides in the area and one I didn't want to miss and one that Liz wanted to do again. Things looked good early on, so it was a go.

View from Molas Pass is excellent


Skies seem to be changing from sunny to cloudy every few seconds


We soon enter a landscape dusted by recent snow


Brilliant colors


Peaks shrouded in cloud tower over us


The sun comes out once again




Traversing below a line of peaks


Creeks which had been dry recently are now running with cold clear water


Clouds move in again


Climbing up to a higher valley things soon look cold and bleak


The only apparent sign of life are some very recent tracks


Recent enough we kept looking around us hoping not to see the source


We continue climbing


Intersection of CT and Engineer Mtn


We briefly debate whether it would be better to continue on CT, continue down Engineer Mtn or turn back. A storm is closing in all around us so there doesn't seem to be a good answer. We decide to continue down Engineer Mtn as it is the shortest way out.


Snowy


Its cold enough trail conditions are not bad


We put on all the layers we have with us




The sun comes out again and some layers come off


Traversing over to Engineer Mtn itself


Checking out the peak. There is no lightning, but definite thunder in the distance so there is no thought of bagging the peak


Intermittant snow turns to hail as we descend Engineer Mtn Trail


After exiting the trees the hail stops and we seem to be out of the worst. Pass a few hikers on their way up


We round the bottom of the mountain towards Cascade Creek


Glad we're no longer up top


I stop for pics after we retrieve the vehicle from Molas. Colors are unreal


Aspens at peak color. With sun poking through here and there the camera cannot do justice to the color and the light!


Stats for the day: 25.5mi, 2,850 gain, 4,960 loss, elev range: 8,750 to 12,200. Things weren't too bad except for frozen fingers on the descent - I'd like to hit this ride again when temps are more pleasant!

[CraigCreekRider]

Awesome pics and ride reports. Now I just have to figure out which pic I want for a screensaver. Thanks!

[bmay]

Great post!

[kevrider]

this is aspirational riding for me. thanks for sharing.

[Boyonadyke]

Luv me some Engineer Mtn down to Cascade Creek, whether it's from Molas or up Coal Bank for a full loop with no shuttle. It's a Bucket List ride, for sure.

[EMFC]

Great Pics Evan!

[evdog]

A few days off regular Durango rides for my CT bike-pack, I was back on the trail solo for a few days as Liz was back to work. I had parked my truck at the campground during the bikepack so everything was set for me when I got back. There were some other trails in Hermosa Creek drainage I wanted to explore, so being that these were easy rides from camp, they were up next.

As with my first day I rode up Jones Creek and up Pinkerton-Flag


This time, the route would take me some miles further up Pinkerton-Flag


My pals were still around. They weren't any more impressed with the fact it was old dirt road than I was, as soon as I approached they took off into the fields


Brief view of peaks to the east


The start of Little Elk Trail. It drops 12mi from Pinkerton-Flag down to Hermosa Creek


The trail goes along the ridge top for a long ways. Some of it is doubletrack thanks to cattle


Some of it goes along wooden fence lines due to cattle ranching


Meandering trail below colorful aspens


Colorful sky


Colorful backdrop


More color


The trail finally starts to descend. In places you have multiple cow trails to choose from


Definitely peak aspen time


I came across 3 camps like this, only one was occupied


Another cabin, seemingly abandoned, or maybe just very rustic?


There were a couple spots on the trail that were tough to navigate. One was at this cabin. Map only showed one trail, but 3-4 branched out from here. The one most obvious per the map seemed to dive right into the creek bed into cow trail hell. I took some time to check the others out but in the end only cow trail hell made sense. Turned out the trail emerged from the creek bed in less than 1/2 mi and got good again.


The trail from the last camp down was really fun. The only bummer was having to ride out on Hermosa again. After some sweet trail, the Hermosa ending seems like a bit of a let down with some steep-ish climbs. But some fun sections at the end make up for it and I am soon back in camp drinking beers. Only people I saw on the trail today were 3 motos coming off Dutch Cr at the end of the day. Camp 3 was occupied though the residents were inside cooking dinner.

Stats for the day: 31.8mi, gain/loss 5,500; elev range: 7,500 to 10,800

[KRob]

Good stuff again evdog. Looks like you had a great trip and some awesome riding. Gotta get to CO for some high country riding one of these days.

Thanks for the report.

[evdog]

Another ride I wanted to do would be pretty much all new dirt. I drove up to Purgatory and parked near the ski hill base.

Incredible view up to Engineer Mtn


I pedalled south on the pavement to the Needles store. Very pretty ride despite some traffic on the road


Elbert Creek trail starts off steep and doesn't relent for some time. It was mostly rideable but there were lots of "breathing" stops and short bits of HAB


Traversing up the ridge


Up top the grade mellowed out some but the climbing continued


Looking back east towards the peaks on the far side of the valley.


The trail had what looked like some recent work on it up top to re-establish trail benches and re-route it out of a swampy area. Very nice stuff. After some more short climbs I crested and soon was on some leaf covered singletrack as I get to the drop on the far side of Elbert Creek


The "drop" had a lot of climbing on it at first, but some awesome views looking SW into Hermosa Creek drainage


More SW views


Up and over a tricky rocky outcrop


Aspens popping


The final bit of Elbert has some definite gnar. Its steep and loose with some tough switchbacks, a definite contrast to the rest of the trail. I finally reach Hermosa Creek


Had my fishing gear with me in hopes of getting some return on the cost of my expensive non-resident license!


Too much time spent fishing and I had to motor up the Hermosa Creek trail. Late afternoon yields good light however, and I got some nice views up and down the valley. Note the cabin on the far side, hidden in the creeping shadow of the valley


I scope out the BRNRT trail (thats what its called on the map) which parallels Hermosa Park Road


Nowhere had I read anything about this trail, but its actually a cool little used trail that ends into doubletrack near the most westerly ski lift at Purgatory


I took the roads and eventually connected up to Hermosa Park Rd, and then hooked into some trails (1998 Worlds?) on the ski hill


I briefly contemplated climbing back to hit up a run on the slide track but didn't feel like doing any more climbing


View of the village


View of Engineer Mtn late in the day


Full moon rising


Another great ride, stats: 27.2mi; gain/loss 3,400; elev range: 8,400 to 10,450

[evdog]

This was planned to be my last day in Durango. I wanted to hit up a morning ride on Purgatory Flat to Animas River Trail at its Wilderness boundary, and then in the afternoon check out some stuff on Missionary Ridge. Unfortunately, some mechanical problems near the bottom of the descent would end my ride and send me hiking instead.

Trail starts off sweet with a bit of flat then a 700ft descent


Nice trail in the aspens


View looking south towards Animas River


Looking east towards Weminuche Wilderness


Pedalling south


Heading toward the creek


I soon discover a couple problems. 1, the d-hanger bolt is missing. I have a spare but it does not clamp tightly. 2) there is a ton of play in the rear hub, something is wrong. I ditch the bike and hike the rest of the way to the Animas River with another hiker I'd met. Lookout down to the river


Animas River bridge. The Durango-Silverton railway goes through here. It was very nice of them to leave a corridor through the Wilderness to allow this line to continue.


Looking east up the river.


The mechanicals killed my afternoon ride, and I was later told I had cracked the free hub body in two. ???? Never heard of that before. Fortunately, the shop had a replacement in stock so I was out the door without much delay.

Stats for the day: 9.2mi, 1,700ft gain/loss; elev range 7,700 to 8,800

[Frozenspokes]

Awesome photos and report. Thanks for posting!

[cyclelicious]

Wow stunning scenery. Nice wildlife shots too. Looks like a great place to ride

[kurrefromtungere]

Wow seems like a nice trip. Great shots to!!!

[DrNickels]

I remember when I interviewed at a job in Durango. Amazing place!

[HAL 9000]

Fantastic report engineer mt. looks like a whole different ride than it did just a couple months ago when we were there 2012 Durango Trip - Mtbr Forums

[verdugomountainlocal]

Excellent report and pics. Thank you!

[Jordansrealm]

Excellent!

[problematiks]

It sure looks like you had a good time there despite some bad weather

It's amazing how smooth all the trails are over there, so different compared to my home trails.Looks like prime country for hardtails and short travel fullies.Anyway, really nice stuff.

Marko

[desertred]

Fantastic pictures and report. What a beautiful time of the year to ride Durango. You may have just planned next October for me!

[ignazjr]

Killer photos, looks like a fantastic trip!

[Wishful Tomcat]

Your passion posts just keep getting better and better!