You can easily make this awesome singletrack a shuttle ride, but it is even more rewarding starting from the Gold Camp Rd parking lot. Start at the rear of the parking lot and climb up Gold Camp Rd. Continue to ride up the gravel road then turn right onto Old Stage Rd where the climb flattens out slightly. After about 12 miles of total riding, look for forest road 379 on the right hand side. This is a fairly short steep section with some rocky technical areas. There's no shame using the granny gears here since you just climbed 2000 feet! Trail 701 will be on the right, and is the beginning of Jones Downhill. For the first few miles there are several whoop-te-doos and ridge riding. The singletrack is tight and fast most of the way down. The trail eventually turns into a twisting chute with banked curves with Cheyenne Creek on the right side. Watch for an old mine entrance on the left, but keep your eyes on the trail as it is somewhat rocky close to the creek. At the intersection of 666 and 667, cross the creek to the right and take Jones Park Trail 667. Stay on 667 until you reach the High Drive parking lot. Descend on the gravel road back to the parking lot. From 701 to the parking lot is a little over 10 miles.
Great ride with the exception of the uphill moto.
| ThankThe new work is crap from what I hear, like a handicap bike path. Im still riding all the old stuff, just have to bushwhack a bit, We will open it all back up after the fish fund expires, The original natural single track is what made that riding what it was. Pipeline upper section all the way to the park has been left alone still and is still really good, of they will probably try to close that too.
| ThankThis may help:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205375751752062&set=p.10205375751752062&type=3&theater
I have heard conflicting reports of what is and isn't open, to whom, and what is even passable. I haven't yet been up there, at least past the Buckhorn Connector (the last short yellow stretch) to check it out firsthand.
| ThankSuper exciting trail. Definitely will have to do it again but shuttle!
| ThankI really didn't know what to expect from this trail, but it was GREAT! We shuttled it by parking one car at the Stratton Open Space reservoir, and driving the other to the top, up Old Stage Road. We took Old Stage Road for a long time, until we parked at a loooong dirt parking area on the east side of the road. The road is in decent shape, but is washboarded pretty badly in spots. The ride starts off kinda boring, with a forest serice road climb, then some singletrack that predictably contours along some hills with short, fast downs, creek crossings, and then steep, tough uphills. After a few of these you get some long sustained downhill for a long time! A lot of it is just rippin' high speed, but there is one long rocky section that will get your attention. The traction was interesting, mostly peagravel, but after a little bit you adjust to it and it becomes pretty fun! Then, of course, you connect to Capn Jacks, the Chutes, and whatever else. VERY high payoff for a little climbing!
| ThankAwesome ride. Rode from in town to hook up Chutes trail all the way to top.. epic day with great views and killer descent after climbing for hours.
| ThankEven if you can find your way to the top of Jones through all the washed out roads, it's permanently closed to protect the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. I believe it's possible to do the Pipeline trail, which is actually more fun than Jones IMO, but shuttling is no longer an option as long as Old Stage is closed. If you've got the lungs and legs to make the climb, you can ride up Gold Camp to just past Tunnel 3 (the first one on the part of Gold Camp that is closed to cars--it's easy to spot because it's the one which is collapsed and closed). That is the entrance to the St Mary's Falls singletrack. Hit the brutal, gravelly climb up past the falls all the way to a right fork which will take you West along the base of Mt Rosa on Nelson's Trail (I'm not sure if it's signed). After crossing the saddle below Mt Rosa, you'll descend to Frosty's Park--take a right on the 4x4 road and very soon you will come to a small parking area that is the start of both the Jones Park and Pipeline routes.
| ThankAwesome ... If you want a good ride downhill is what it is
| ThankA heck of a climb to get up to the top of Jones Downhill but at least it's mostly smooth gravel roads at railroad grade. The only steep/washed out stuff is toward the top but it's totally worth it! Fun descent through pea gravel chutes with just a few short climbs on the way down. Classic!
| ThankOne point of information and correction to the original trail description above. The 667 Trail runs along Bear Creek the whole way, not Cheyenne Creek.
We were whimps, happy whimps, and rode the trail as a shuttle, starting up at the 701 THD off FR 379 just past Frosty Park. Awesome trail, awesome scenery. Yes, the 667 trail is a bit chewed up and rough in spots, but it is just the perfect reason you bought that expensive FS bike. You just have to let go and let it rip.
At the junction of 666 & 667 we took the right across the creek and took 667 to High Drive. From High Drive, we added the usual Jacks-Chutes run to maximize the DH. Then we made one last final DH run on Arroyo Grande to the Stratton THD behind the high school. All in all, what a thoroughly satisfying mostly DH run. Around 16 miles total. It throws just about everything a DH can throw at you by the time you get to the bottom. All smiles.
| ThankJust did this ride from the bottom of 26th street, all the way up gold camp looping back down Jones to the Bear creek trail, overall about a 40 mile loop. Overall Jones is in pretty good condition, I only ran into some moto ruts in a few short sections. While it is an accomplishment to do this route by riding up gold camp yourself, if you want to have more fun I would reccomend shuttling it so that your 100% at the top. Mainly because there are some flat to slightly uphill parts of the trail about midway through. I would personally recommend taking a left at the fork to do 666 (bear creek trail). 666 is a much more flowy route with some pretty cool ridge exposure.
| ThankI really enjoyed this trail, but Jones Dowhill my A.. Jones Trail would be more like it. Rode Jones to Buckhorn to Capt Jacks to the Chutes- made for a great ride. Almost gave it 5 stars, but Jones alone only 4.
| ThankRidiculously fun raw colorado trail. Offers variety of terrain - some rocky techicall stuff, but high speed banked corners are my favorite. Keeps putting smile on my face year after year. You can shuttle to the top which is more popular here, and ride through Cpt Jacks all way down to The Chutes. Stop thinking about where you want to go for a ride this weekend - this is the place.
| Thankgreat review.....if you peddle this loop FROM the bottom of the chutes.... YOU ARE A MTB GOD!!!! that would be a real grinder...take a hell of a bike to handle that varied of trail types!!! send it
| ThankThis trail makes for an absolutely epic ride with an incredible amount of variety. Some challenging technical stuff, a few climbs at the start, some fast sections especially through a section of aspens which are absolutely beautiful, and lots of great rhythm sections with some jumps. Connecting this with Buckhorn and Jacks I think is the most fun trail you can put together in Cheyenne Canyon and possibly all of the springs. Can't say enough good things about this trail.
* Review edited 10/1/2012
| ThankRode this trail 2 Sundays ago, it definetly had snow but if you are determined to ride its all worth it at the end.. it had tree across the trail then too but some are from people and some are from wind bcus i have been riding Williams cyn a lot also and their has been a lot of down trees there too. just look at the break point and it gives you a tell tell sign of how it broke or if it was cut.. anyway jones is off the hook kinda ride connect that with cpt. jacks or bear creek to section 16 or the chutes..
| ThankI am a flatlander from Ohio that was blown away by this trail. I'm used to a hardtail bike on relatively flat singletrack in the midwest. I have been riding for about 2 years. My buddy from CS lent me his spare VP Free 8" travel downhill beast and guided me down this trail.
| ThankI had the ride of my life blasting over rock gardens, through aspen groves and over loose granite gravel. We met a group of hikers and maybe 5 or 6 motos with no issues. The trail was very loose due to the decomposing granite. There were several places where the motos had created fairly deep ruts, but it wasn't all that bad. I would recommend this trail to anyone with decent riding skills. There are many different trails in the area that have more challenging sections so there's no excuse for not having fun. Our trip was on June 30, 2011. The temps were in the 90's but being from the midwest it really didn't feel that hot. (Very low humidity) This was my very first experience with this style of trail and this type of bike. I am hooked on downhilling and can't wait to do it again.
Once you get to the singletrack, it's a really nice trail. Cool sections that blast through aspen groves. I didn't see a single person. I rode it after several days of moisture, so the loose granite scree (sp?) was packed down. Mid-summer, I could see this scree being really loose and deep.
The long grind up gold camp and old stage definitely detract from the overall fun factor. Lots of people shooting their guns on old stage and the forest road and 4WD vehicles blasting down road at incredible speed.
For the time invested - driving to Buffalo Creek is a better option. It is nice that this can be done from your front door in Colorado Springs and no driving.
| ThankI have to agree with Brian J below--this trail has issues as a MTB trail. As of August 2010, it is so tore up by the motos and the daily heavy rains that what was technical fun has mostly become technical annoyance. There are moto-tire-width grooves 6" deep (just wide enough to suck you in, but not wide enough to ride, especially if you want to pedal) that go for hundreds of yards at a time. The bottomless sand will suck the life out of your legs. There are still some great technical bits, but they are not worthy of either the climb up from gold camp or the time/gas required to shuttle. While it has it's moments, I'll probably leave this one to the motos and hit all the other awesome local singletrack instead.
| ThankThis is a good trail if you are riding a motorcycle, not fun for mt. bikers. This singletrack is so chewed up from dirt bikes, its not even remotely fun. I have 22 years riding experience, hundreds of rides, thousands of miles, and this ranks up there with the worst of the worst. I recommend that you ride anything other than this. I did get my work in, almost 2 hrs. of climbing, my tank was just about empty when I was done. However, the fun factor on a scale of 1-10....2. Not worth the drive down from Denver. Everything in the front range of Denver blows this ride out of the water, hands down.
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