need some help planning an adventure

[RTM]

hey guys, I'm researching a 5-7 day MTB trip for next season. I'm thinking CO, or UT. I'm pretty flexible on timing, so I'd like to plan a time that gives us hope for the best weather, riding conditions and scenery. As for the riding, we're both fairly advanced so a bit of technical challenge is great, though I'm really after the flowy, alpine singletrack with the views you see in magazine ads.

I'd like to make home base in a hotel or cabin near a decent downtown, from which we can access many miles of different trails each day. Sounds too good to be true now that I read all this, but I appreciate the input. Let me know if I need to provide more details.

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[ride_today714]

If you are planning a peak of Summer trip, two towns that come to mind are Park City, UT and Crested Butte, CO. Both offer prime riding from about mid-July through late September. Park City has three ski resorts (Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, and The Canyons-one right next to the other) with riding right out the door from any of them. Plenty of non-biking activities in PC itself, or 30minutes away in down town Salt Lake City.

Having just visited Crested Butte for the first time last week (you can see some trip highlights I posted under this section of the forum), I can Highly recommend that town as a destination vacation. Smaller than Park City, but arguably more beautiful, and generally less people on the trails. Not as accessible as PC, but then that explains the lack of crowds. Talk about 'magazine ad' vistas!

This year was a reminder that many trails in ski resort towns often aren't rideable until well into July. And snow can come early in these parts too, so if your time frame is more late Spring or early Fall, consider a Moab/Fruita/Grand Junction trip. You could easily spend time in all three over the course of 5-7days. Happy Trails

[abegold]

Durango has a bunch of choices, summer riding.
My favorite destination is St. George, UT. Nearby is Gooseberry Mesa, Little Creek Mountain and much more. Plan on spring or autumn, summer is just too hot. Conservative area, little night life.
Sedona has maybe 200 trails around town and Prescott some too. Flagstaff rocks the biggest mountain in Arizona haviing great riding. Flag-summer, Prescott-spring or autumn.