MTB: Tunnel Lake Trail to Tincup 8.20.16
(Last Updated On: September 9, 2016)
After riding the road to the Alpine Tunnel with Brittany and her family, it was time for me to head off on a solo finish for the day. We rode this section of the Continental Divide Trail fairly recently, but in this case I had the benefit of a shuttle vehicle, so I wasn’t confined to a loop. If you love alpine riding, put this section of the CDT on your list. It’s probably most often done from St Elmo on the East side of the divide, but it’s very doable from the West side, with the added benefit of the Alpine Tunnel history lesson.
Off I went, with the tunnel behind me:
The trail starts off steeply, and it’s a bit overgrown with willows, so expect a little hike-a-bike. Looking back at the Tunnel infrastructure:
Tunnel Lake:
My goal, Tincup Pass, can be seen in the distance:
Seriously great singletrack:
After a great downhill to the Tincup Pass road, I had a good sized climb ahead of me back to the continental divide. Mountain biking in this area is always a trip compared to Crested Butte. In Crested Butte, everyone expects mountain bikers. Around here, people are mostly on their ATV’s, and they look at me like I just successfully landed on the moon. I had never been down the other side of Tincup pass- and it’s much harder than the East side. I was glad I was going downhill:
Tough riding got me to the beautiful shores of Mirror Lake:
From there, it was on to downtown Tincup:
I ended up having perfect timing with Brittany and her family- who had just been seated at Frenchie’s:
All in all, it was another great tour with a bit of new terrain. Check it out sometime, and support 14erskiers with a new jersey:
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