Bikepacking the Colorado Trail from Molas to Durango (pic heavy)

[evdog]

I got into bikepacking just over a year ago.  One of the things that inspired me towards it was seeing some amazing bike pack reports from the Colorado high country, awesome stuff.  I was able to ride some great high country trails during my CO/UT trip a year ago but didn't have anywhere near the experience then to attempt an overnighter.  A CO bikepack has always seemed to me to be the ultimate in bikepacking challenge and reward.  Braving the difficult terrain, the long climbs, the thin air, the unpredictable weather, and the remoteness will reward you with amazing views, awesome singletrack, and all the solitude you can handle.  When it came time to plan this year's CO trip I made sure that a bikepack would be part of it.  There are so many possible routes to choose from, but knowing I'd be spending some time in Durango the Colorado Trail from Molas Pass to Durango was an obvious choice.

After waiting out a few days of stormy weather I hitched a ride up to Molas Pass with Hermosa Tours.  Requisite photo to start the ride


Checking out the views


I had ridden the CT from Molas Pass to Engineer Mtn a few days before, so knew what to expect.  


Little Molas Lake


I bought a gorrillapod before the trip so I could get some action shots rather than just scenery (not that there was anything wrong with the scenery around here)


It was interesting to see how the bike handled differently unloaded a few days ago vs loaded today.  Up to Engineer Mtn Tr I was able to make it up everything I had ridden unloaded, plus a few sections I had not made before.  There was nothing I walked due to steepness, just rocky step ups that had exposure off to the side.  From Engineer Mtn up and over Rolling Pass and beyond, I did much more HAB.


Pano looking south, and west to the Wemanuche Wilderness


The trail soon turns north and then contours for some miles below the mountains you see in the distance


As you climb the views get better and better




Oops!  Does this mean the end of self-timer mania?  


Nope...the gorillapod lives on, two-legged




Rolling on...


Getting a bit into the trees for a while


And soon enough, you are above treeline for good


The snow from a few days ago is gone from the trail


Nothing but barren wood posts mark the trail in many sections


Looking back from where I came


Desolate lake below Jura Knob


At the turnoff, heading for Rolling Pass.  New dirt for me.


Maybe it was just the elevation but the climbs seemed to get a lot tougher approaching Rolling Pass, even if they did not really seem steeper




Looking back and forward from Rolling Pass




Dropping in, some welcome descent




Water flowing from the weeks precipitation


Nice waterfall


Heading back south


There were some nice and incredibly fun sections of forest singletrack through here.  Very diverse trail!


Looking over to Engineer Mtn


The trail turns again north for a little toward Sliderock Ridge


View of distant Lizardhead Pk


Destination for day 1, Celebration Lake


The lake is over 11k feet, so I wanted to make sure I got here well before dark to get a fire going.  It was a bit windy so I backtracked 1/4mi into the trees where I had seen a good camp spot, with a fire ring and stockpile of wood ready to go.  Wood was still a bit damp so it took some time to get a fire going, but it was sure nice to have.

Camp for the night


Stats for day 1:  20mi, 3,767 climbing, 3,600 descent.  Elev range 10,800 to 12,500.

[evdog]

After a cold night I woke to find I had visitors- thieves waiting for me to leave my food unattended for even a split second. 


I had ridden the first part of today's section already, around to Corral Draw.  The weather and views were definitely better today, however.






Today would be another tough one, climbing over Section Point, Blackhawk Pass, and Indian Trail Ridge, all around 12,000ft or higher. 

Passing Section Point


Soon after I am traversing toward Blackhawk Pass


Despite being right below the pass, there is still a ways to go up a number of switchbacks


Final painful switchback


Looking ahead and back from the Blackhawk Pass




Some really fun descending off the top


For much of the day there is an awesome view into the colorful Hermosa Creek drainage




Only a few miles to go.  All I had heard of Indian Trail Ridge were:  shale rock, hike a bike, takes forever, long and brutal.


My map seemed to show it being only 1.9mi long which didn't seem too bad even if it were brutal.  But then I flipped the map over and saw Indian Trail Ridge continue for an additional 4mi.  Oh well....gotta get over it regardless!


In reality it didn't seem that bad since I am used to doing lots of HAB.  A cold wind was the worst part.  And after hearing all the descriptions, it was a lot more rideable than I expected.


Climbing pure chunky shale, not rideable


I hopped on the bike where ever I could


This was a sketchy descent on a fully loaded bike


The ridge is a series of false summits, which is probably why it seems so long. 


Being up there at sunset was pretty cool




I wasn't planning on camping this high, so a few more miles to go for me.  And more false summits...


Looking off the side to the south east you can see Kennebec Pass


No sooner had the sun disappeared than an almost full moon popped up


Just a bit more tough hike a bike


And then a fun, moon-lit descent down to Taylor Lake.  It was pretty frigid up there so I opted to continue on past Kennebec Pass and descend to the first road crossing where I figured there would be a campsite (there was, fire ring and all) that would be a warmer more sheltered place to camp.


Stats on the day: 36.5mi, 7,641 climbing and 9,455 descent.  Elev range:  10,350 to 12,320, dropping from highest point to 9,243 in final miles.

Moonlight descent was priceless

[evdog]

The final day would turn out to be my least favorite on the trail as it did not offer that much in the way of views, and as alpine riding had already yielded to thick forest which would soon turn to a mix of oak, scrub and aspen. 

Trail sign near camp


Cool waterfall


Despite the lower elevation it was cold in the canyon, and I found myself stopping often to warm hands. Some cool rock features were as good a place as any to stop




Dropping down into the aspens


A lot of people catch a shuttle to the top of Kennebec and ride down.  But there is a tough 1,000ft climb in the middle of your descent which must really mess with their flow


Big guy


More climbing


More aspens


There is a side loop off the CT called Dry Fork I'd been wanting to check out, so I did.  Pretty fun, but heavily travelled and not much nice scenery compared to what I'd grown used to.  Worth doing though if you need to ride from town.


Looking south toward Durango


Bottom of the trail I stopped for a snack and watched these trout cruise around for a while.  They were not fazed at all when hikers dogs jumped in the water to cool off.


Rock cairn city


I was camped at the Hermosa campground 9mi N of town so I still had some miles to go.  I hit a few trails through Dalla Mountain Park and then cruised through town to pick up the East Animas River Rd rather than Hwy 550. 


Up Hermosa Creek Rd I picked up a trail shown on the map as Seth's trail for a mile or so, which seemed little used and eventually led straight into a cattle pen just below the campground.  I ducked back on the road since the beers in my cooler weren't going to get any colder.


Stats on the day:  41.4mi, 6,148 climbing, 7,669 descent.  Elev range 6,530 to 9,608. 

Total for the trip: 98.1mi, 17,700 climbing, 20,870 descent.

And by the way, that 1,000ft climb shows on my GPS as having 1,550 of incidental descending in it so you are actually climbing 2,550 in 4mi.  That is why the gain/loss numbers seem high for the day overall.  (Dry fork loop adds another 1,000).  So much for Kennebec being a shuttle....

Overall this was a pretty incredible ride that met all my expectations.  Its challenging in so many ways, but totally doable if you are willing to put in the effort.  I ran into only a few people on the first couple days.  Many more on day 3, close to town.  I would definitely put the CT as a must do for any biker.  The views and the experience of riding it are simply incredible.  Definitely one of my favorite rides, ever!

[kcampagna]

awesome pictures!  nice work!

[bigworm]

Hell Yeah!

Dude gorilla pod breaking probably would have ended my trip. Mine never leaves my bag ever.

[Slim]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for taking the effort to take all those timer action shots, that's a lot of hassle to do, but we appreciate it.

[Chunt]

Nice planning and follow through. Beautiful and inspiring photos. 

[Colorado Cool Breeze]

Great trip report. Made my morning. Thanks

[Bndst]

That was great! Definitely got me thinking a little more seriously about getting out to the CT next year.

[Done]

Wow, what a beautiful time of year to be up there! Maybe I should skip the race next year, and go for a long ride in the fall instead...

[NT]

Great pics! Love that area. thanks for posting

[Aslan]

Great post and pics. That ride is on the bucket list.

[stumpyfsr]

Awesome! Great trip! I've already had CT on my list and after this trip report I wanna do it ASAP. Of course after snow melt down

[evdog]

Thanks guys!

Awesome! Great trip! I've already had CT on my list and after this trip report I wanna do it ASAP. Of course after snow melt down

Do it!!!   In the meantime you can check out the Arizona Trail.  It is awesome too, and parts of it are much nicer to ride during cooler times of the year.

[stumpyfsr]

Thanks guys!
Do it!!!   In the meantime you can check out the Arizona Trail.  It is awesome too, and parts of it are much nicer to ride during cooler times of the year.

Does Arizona Trail snow free during winter? Or just minimal, rideable amount?

[evdog]

Like anywhere it depends how bad a snow year it is.  Higher elevation stuff will almost always get snow.  Lower stuff will almost always be good to go.  Middle elevation stuff, it just depends on the year.  But AZT is usually a good bet.  Lots of AZ people here, or you could ask about trail conditions on MTBR AZ forum.