Starvation Creek is a 6.5 mile trail that mostly descends (but has a climb at the top) off of the Monarch Crest Trail that can be accessed via a turn off onto road 203.A from Marshall Pass. The Google Maps location given is for the bottom of the trail, but I recommend shuttling up to Monarch and using this as a way to descend off of the Monarch Crest Trail.
The top of Starvation Creek consists of about 2 miles of rough doubletrack jeep road, and contains a stiff climb up to the high point of the ride. Be sure to take in the view at the knob at the end of the jeep road (it's incredible!) and then double back and pick up the singletrack descending on the left.
Once on the singletrack, the descending is fast, furious, and almost non-stop. The trail passes through some deep forests with super loamy tread as it descends steeply, and then levels out and rolls downhill along a narrow benchcut near Starvation Creek. Parts of the lower section include some challenging rock gardens, but on the whole this trail is much smoother than the classic descent off of Monarch, Silver Creek.
Starvation Creek gets a fraction of the traffic that other descents off of the Crest receive, and the trail shows it. It is narrow, remote, but still easy to follow. Thanks to the place where it hits Poncha Creek Road, this descent doesn't offer as much singletrack as a combination of Monarch -> Silver Creek -> Rainbow Trail does, but it's a great change of pace if you've ridden that route many times before!
I rode this as an alternative to the familiar Silver Creek/Rainbow Trail descent from Monarch.
The spur from the steep & burly jeep road can be hard to spot, but it's nearly at the top of the jeep road.
I didn't see a single person on the single track spur. This is (almost) pristine single track.
From the top of the spur, the descent is a screamer down to Poncha Road, then CR 200, then it picks up 285.
| ThankFantastic trail that really reminds me of the deep forests of Montana and Oakridge, Oregon. Love the loamy soil and the steep, high-speed descending through the trees!
| Thank