Crested Butte

One of my favorite things about TrailQuest has been that it’s given us a great reason to visit places that I’ve heard of, but haven’t been to. Such was the case with this ride, which had us starting in Union Park. When I first moved to Crested Butte in the late 90’s, Union Park was a topic that seemed to be in every week’s paper, because cities on the front range hoped to build a reservoir here and pump the water through the continental divide. It never happened, and it isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, but nevertheless Union Park remained one of those places I had heard of but never been to. At least, not until TrailQuest got us to ride Gold Creek to Cameron Creek…

Ah, the Fourth of July in Crested Butte. It’s fun, but it’s also a madhouse and for that reason I prefer to ride my bike somewhere far away. My office was having a big party/fundraiser, however, so I needed to stay at least through the parade. Brittany was convinced that I would drink too many Bloody Marys, so she headed towards Taylor Park to ride Star-Lily and Lily Lake on her own. I kept it under control, however, so in the end I was only an hour behind her. We started at the intersection of Taylor Road (742) and 759, and then headed up the long grind towards Italian Mountain, thankfully with great views.

There’s something special about mountain biking on peaks. Plenty of mountain biking trails are accessible throughout Colorado, many of them don’t go to or near a peak. So, when I hear about a trail that allows you to ride to the top of a peak, or at least close to it, the trail piques my interest. Fairview Peak, near the Fossil Ridge area, was one trail that had been on the back of my mind for some time – after spying it during a backpacking trip in the Fossil Ridge Wilderness. But TrailQuest finally gave me a reason to explore mountain biking on Fairview Peak.

Doubletop is well known by Crested Butte locals as “double up, no down”. As in, it’s uphill both ways. And it does feel that way, to be sure, if you’re riding the whole thing. But if you catch the right segment, it’s sometimes downhill the whole way.

Brittany and I have talked about our Trailquest goals quite a few times and one of the things that the game forces us to do is ride a little farther than we might otherwise. Our original plan was to ride the Timberline trail from the Tincup/ Mirror Lake area, and also add a couple of spur trails- Hillerton (632) and Sanford Creek (584). More on our change of plans in a minute…

As with any trail in that area, info was sparse and we weren’t sure if it would work well as an uphill. We stopped at the Tomichi Trading Post in Sargents to get a couple of last-minute snacks and the owner took one look at our “pedal bikes” and thought we were nuts. Only one way to find out…