TR: Riding Snow Mesa (4 Sept 2011)
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After a long day on Cataract Ridge, we decided to do yet another section of the Colorado Trail, east of where we were the day before. This section takes you on Snow Mesa outside of Creede all the way to the Wilderness Boundary. We headed up a shuttle, leaving a car at the end of Miner’s Creek Road and then drove up to the top of Spring Creek Pass where we began our ride.
After about an hour of riding/walking we found ourselves on top of the mesa.
The views of the San Juans were fantastic.
Wetterhorn, Matterhorn, and Uncompahgre.
The Rio Grande Pyramid, the mountain that forms the headwaters of the Rio Grande itself, the third longest river in the United States.
Although rolling, the mesa was largely downhill, with the wind at our backs. Riding was fairly easy and enjoyable after the previous long day in the saddle. Me.
Chris and Frank.
Chris.
Frank.
Me.
At the eastern end of Snow Mesa we reached the Wilderness Boundary.
There, we headed south on a thin trail to Miner’s Creek.
Chris.
Miner’s Creek valley on the left.
Upper Miner’s Creek was beautiful.
Chris.
But the middle was interrupted by several stream crossings.
Once past that, the trail had great flow for quite some time. We loved this section through the boulder field.
Lower down, we found ourselves again in forest.
A large aspen forest enveloped us for the end of our ride.
After our ride, we headed into Creede for some Mexican food. We then completed the shuttle and enjoyed this view of the Rio Grande Valley on the way back up to Spring Creek Pass.
From there, we continued on our way back home over Slumgullion Pass, where we again were greeted with fantastic views of the San Juans.
While we have some excellent riding here in Crested Butte, it’s still nice to venture to other areas. The Creede area delivered, serving us up a great weekend of scenic and epic riding on the Colorado Trail! For more info, check out our Colorado Trail Mountain biking guide.
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