Teocalli Ridge trail has been a favorite ride for me in the past. Due to various circumstances, I have not been able to ride it the past two summers. Reports from riders have conveyed that the trail has been beaten by the dirt bikers- nasty ruts on what used to be a fun, technical descent. Still, I’ve been wanting to ride it, as I’ve neglected it for over two years. Sunday was the day we were to check it out. Frank and I met our friend Adam at the trailhead on a beautiful morning dotted with low-hanging clouds.
Me riding up the road with Whetstone behind.
Teocalli in front.
The clouds burned off throughout the morning and we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful green and fuschia pink. The last two weeks of above average rainfall have the grasses and wildflowers well.
I can’t remember ever seeing it this green before in August, even in Crested Butte.
A closer look at Teocalli.
The single track to the ridge. Can you spot Frank and Adam?
Looking back toward Brush Creek.
One of the highlights of riding Teocalli Ridge is the amazing views from the top of the ridge. Middle Brush.
The descent is still fun. Frank and Adam.
A few minutes later, as I walked down a particularly gnarly and rutted portion of the trail, I spotted Adam sitting on a log. His bike was still on the ground. It turned out he had crashed into a tree, with his shoulder taking the brunt of the force. Upon inspection, it didn’t seem like he had broken his collar bone, although we couldn’t be certain. But, something was definitely wrong with his shoulder. Adam was in a lot of pain if he moved it, and could not raise his arm very high. So, we made a make-shift sling from arm and leg warmers. Adam and I walked down the rest of the trail while Frank sped ahead to get the truck. Timing was good as Frank arrived to the bottom of the trail just a few minutes before we did. From there, we drove Adam to the Gunnison Hospital to get an x-ray. The x-rays didn’t show any broken bones, and a possible AC separation is suspected. Regardless, Adam has to take some time off the bike and was sad to not be able to ride on his birthday on Tuesday. But, hopefully he’ll be riding again soon!
The afternoon was simply beautiful and I captured this shot of Teocalli with Castle peaking out from behind on our way back from Gunnison.
In walking down the trail, I was able to take a closer look at the condition of it. Yes, parts are more rutted. But, most of it is still quite rideable. Hopefully I’ll get back to Teocalli again this season, as I would like to actually be able to ride the descent. 
You are not as hard on the dirt bikers as some. I see lots of fallen trees cut out of the way. I have YET to see a mountain biker carrying a chain saw to do that. You do realize it is the dirt bikers who clear these trails right ?
True Tom, the dirt bikers are the ones who clear the majority of the trees. I’ve cut a lot of trees over the years with my “sawvivor”, which fits in my camelbak. I’ve ridden a number of trails lately which are off-limits to dirtbikes and none of them had trees on them. 401 had a ton of downed trees at the start of the summer which were cleared off thanks to mountain bikers. I have YET to see a dirtbiker build or fix a trail, that seems to be the responsibility of mountain bikers. Perhaps if mountain bikers didn’t have to spend so much time fixing moto-destroyed trails, mountain bikers would have plenty of time to cut out trees as well.