Old railroad grade turned into a well groomed, wide double trak. There are quite a few sections where it is quite rocky. This trail is closed in the winter, so call the Verlot Ranger Station for current trail conditions. Also on the warm sunny weekends, be prepared to meet lots of hikers and horseback riders. Now on to the good stuff. The trail used to be a rail line to the mining town of Monte Cristo. Thus, you never climb more than 8 or 9% grade. But it does climb, the whole way. Once up there, you can wander the old town site for awhile and take a breather. Coming back is a lot of fun, you can get going pretty fast in some sections and fly through the patches of rock. For more advanced riding, you can try and forge the rivers that cross your path instead of hitting the bridges - in fact one of the bridges was washed out some years ago so unless you want to hike across some narrow footbridges carrying your bike, you may just want to ride on through.
Notifications
The river has changed course and a large part of the train before the river crossing has asked away. There are alternative routes for hikers. I carried my bike to the crossing. I assume the trail is good on the other side. I turned around at this point. As a beginner I was not confident caring my bike across.
Thank |Rode this trail on June 5th, 2012. Rode/hiked our bikes to the log crossing and then came across substantial snowpack about 250 yards up the trail on the other side of the river. We turned around and went back to the car. I suppose it might be fun later in the season to spin up to the old mining town, but only if you're bored of your regular rides. The log crossing over the fast moving river was a bit more adventurous than I had bargained for.
Thank |Hit this trail in may 2010, looked to be a good ride, about a mile and a half in it got to a point that we had to carry our bikes on some trails, so not quite what we thought. Might try again later in summer to see if the trail has been maitained
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