In August 2023 a group of 6 friends set off to establish the Colorado Ultra Enduro route. Chad & Michael are mountain bikers and B level dirt bike riders on a 2021 Beta 390's, Krishna is a mountain biker & motocrosser who picked up a 2014 Husky FE350S a few months before the trip, Cole is a Hard Enduro A class racer on a 2017 KTM 300 EXC, Leland is an A level racer and mountain bikepacking/endurance athlete on a 2019 Beta 250 2 stroke, and Dustin is a mountain biker turned AA dirt bike racer on a 2021 yz250fx.
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| Leaving Lake Isabel |
We arrived on a Wednesday night around 10PM to Lake Isabel Campground. On Thursday morning we loaded our bikes and bags with everything we could need for 5 days of riding, did some last minute maintenance of changing brake pads on one bike and a fresh rear sprocket on another. Once loaded we sang happy birthday and ate cake for as it was Krishna's Birthday. We then set off towards St Charles Trail.
As soon as we hit trail we started to feel rain. The rain slowly picked up which was very welcome on the 90* afternoon. Things cooled off and we were all the benefactors for the lack of dust. The storm intensified and we were thankful the afternoon was low elevation route. Time passed quickly and before we knew it we were in the first town of our journey, Westcliffe. We stayed at a vacation rental on the edge of town. We took advantage of the large driveway and scattered our dirty gear to air out on our bikes and the ground. We found the local watering hole to celebrate Krishna's birthday and a great day 1 of our epic journey.
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| Rain on the Rainbow Trail |
We all set off from Silver Cliff excited to enter the region of the route we we're all most familiar with. The transfer back onto route went quick. The trails already had some hikers and dog walkers out. Not long after we were back on Rainbow Trail Chad deflected off a tree into a down tree. This took out his front brake line but he and the bike were otherwise okay. He opted to hop on the road to Salida to sort out his bike and continue on the trip.
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| The Baja Designs light still worked! |
We were planning to run into our friend Leland who had planned on making the entire trip but had an emergency pop up and joined us on Day 2. He was riding towards us Southbound on Rainbow. The rest of the group continued on Rainbow and managed to lose the gps track. After about 20 minutes of poking around we realized that the trail had been rerouted after the Hayden Pass fire but not updated on COTREX, this is noted in the Day 2 route. We ended up meeting Leland just before crossing Hayden Pass. Trying to make up for lost time, and most of us being familiar with the trail we decided to ride longer sections of trail without stopping and agreed to regroup at Bear Creek, what a great section of trail maintained by the Colorado Central Mountain Riders! We let Chad know we were going to stop at the Poncha Pub for sandwhiches as we passed through Poncha Springs. We made another long pull from Bear Creek to 285 and rolled down the highway into town together. We put in a splash of gas, met up with Chad for lunch. He had coordinated with a friend who happened to be passing through Poncha Springs that afternoon to grab a full front brake off another bike back home. He would toss it on and ride Marshall Pass to meet us in Sargents that evening.
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| Bridge out on Rainbow Trail |
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| We all had to stop and take in this Aspen Grove above hwy 285 |
Our entire group are as much mountain bikers as motorcycle riders so we were all excited to ride Greens Creek and the Monarch Crest but with caution given it was afternoon in the Summer so traffic would be high. We saw clouds building over the divide from down but had all experienced false storm threats around here and decided to push on. We ended up having great weather and low traffic. All of the Colorado Trail through hikers were very nice to stop and talk to, a few may have been jealous of the ground we were covering in our 5 day journey. Big Bend trail down to Sargents could best be descibed as a rock vending machine, endless loose rocks that need to be respect at the end of a big day.
Once in Sargents we checked in for our cabin and picked up the package of maintenance parts we had shipped down earlier in the week. Given this is a service available from the trading post to the general public this is accepted as an option for a self supported effort. We had also coordinated with Dottys Repair shop next to the trading post to use their property to change oil on our bike and had shipped a sealed oil drain pan in our box. With our variety of bikes most of us changed oil and air filters, everything else was holding up great! Chad rolled in just in time for us to help with his maintenance. As anyone who has spent time there knows Tomichi Creek Trading Post is very dirt bike friendly and was one of our favorite stops of the trip. The bar and grill is amazing and serves breakfast. The gas station has great snacks to restock on as well.
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Crossing the Continental Divide
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| Maintenance Session |
Leaving Sargents was the opposite mindset of the day before. A few of us had bikepacked the Colorado Trail in the past and had some idea of what was ahead to start the day. Another contingent in the group had raced the Shady Burro and were familiar with the later part of the day.
No one in the group had experienced the middle. In planning we were worried this day would have too much dirt road and sour the spirit of the trip. The climb up Dutchman Creek trail was unforgettable, a steep rocky challenge which had water running down it at points. Riding the Colorado Trail was a real treat and brought those of us who had bicycled it fond memories. The road section passed quick with great panoramic views the whole time. The quad trail that connects to Bowers Peak had a lot more challenge than we expected. Bowers peak was in better condition than we expected for such a remote trail and had no downed trees or navigation challenges. We were then in familiar territory of the La Garita Stockway Trail which we were familiar with from the famous Shady Burro high alpine transfer. The trail is faint or even none existent at points so we did our best to follow our GPS tracks, knowing well the trail was there as a few of us had ridden it several times before.
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| Stone Cellar Campground |
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| The most legitimate bridge on the trail out of Creede |
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Creek Crossing out of Creede
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We knew this area would be popular with hikers so we went to the extreme of traveling slowly and at low RPMs. We spooked quite a few hikers "sneaking up behind them", so much for the generalization that motorcycles are loud and disturb all trail users. Most hikers were very friendly in return and stepped off the trail to allow us to stay on the established trail. Descending to Spring Creek had a few sections of large boulders.
Once across highway 149 those of us that had ridden the Colorado Trail were back in familiar territory again. The trail is very flat and rocky, a really challange. We dropped down to Lake City on roads and stopped at the famous Packer Grill.
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| Sheep Crossing Ahead |
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| Packer Grill Parking |
Leaving Lake City we climbed up to the divide on quad trail then down to Pole Creek, having a close encounter with a baby moose along the way. We took our time through Pole Creek as this is a truly special place. We as motorcyclists are so lucky to be able to ride here and it is important to stay on the few established trails in the area.
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| Heaven is a place on Earth |
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| A two moose sighting afternoon up high |
We dropped down Stony Pass with abundant caution, having had plenty of close calls on mountain bikes in the past. We stopped in Silverton to fill all the way up on fuel, get lunch for the next day, and a few other errands while trying to not sink too much time so we could get to the Opus Hut.
We arrived to the Opus hut with only a couple hours of daylight remaining. The hut is a steep 1/4 mile hike from the parking area, but it feels longer in moto boots. Some of the group opted to carry or leave their boots with the bikes. This was the groups favorite lodging and truly a special place. We were lucky to only have one other family there and spent plenty of time exploring the property. As always the hut keeper was very friendly and cooked us amazing meals.  |
| Hut Parking Lot |
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| Cole showing proper gear hauling form |
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| The Hut |
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| Soaking in the sunset at 11.5k |
The next morning had a similar tone to day 3, we were once again setting off into the unknown as no one in the group had ridden motorcycles in the region we were covering. We descended Ophir Pass, a legendary motorcycle road included on routes such as the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route. Once we crept through the town of Ophir we hopped on Highway 145, at 10 this one of the longest stretches of asphalt on the route so we took it slow and stopped halfway to keep our tires from getting too hot.
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| Ophir Pass |
A few miles of dirt road further we found ourselves in the staging area for the legendary Calico Trail. Knowing we had some extremely technical trails ahead we rebalanced the seemingly excessive amount of fuel between the bikes and I somehow ended up with a 2 gallon fuel bladder strapped onto the tank of my bike. The trail started out flowy and dreamy in the trees. On the climb to the high point Chad's bike kept cutting out. He called out on the radio that he was going to try to fix it so we regrouped. We spent about 2 hours troubleshooting the issue. Every time we thought we had it fixed we put the headlight mask, without headlight at this point, and the bike would die. We used a horn as a multi meter and bypassed the start switch. In the end we decided without resolving the issue, it would not be safe to bring his bike onto a trail notorious for its technical moves with extreme exposure so we sent him on the highway to Rico, knowing he should be able to at least make it there and get a ride from a friend in the area. Spoiler alert, it ended up being a loose negative battery terminal.
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| Trailside Electrical Surgery |
The rest of us continued on and quickly hit the no fall zone ridged Calico is known for. The crux move is no joke, not for the AA enduro racer or the hard enduro guy on the trip. The rest of the trail has amazing views with no shortage of exposure and technicality, though usually not at the same time. At one of the high points on the trail we had cell service and confirmed that Chad had made it to Rico and was awaiting pickup. We also found out the rental truck company we had planned to use to return home the next day had gone out of business in the past month and they wanted us to pick up the truck in New Mexico 50 miles further past Durango. We relayed this info to Chad who was able to find us an alternate while waiting for a ride.
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Ridgeline on Calico
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When the trail dropped into the forest we knew our high alpine part of the route had come to an end. The trail varied from ancient abandoned mining road, to rocky singletrack, and ended into steep downhill switchbacks which were so tight some required a full on pivot turn.
A couple of miles on highway 145 brought us to Scotch Creek Road which climbs up to the Colorado Trail and Divide Creek Road, which was freshly graded with not even a bump on it. The fresh grading hid the entrance to the singletrack so we blew right past it. Luckily we all noticed on our GPS only a few hundred feet past. The next section of trail was either amazing or a waste of time depending on who you asked. A massive descent with endless sidehill down to Hermosa Creek which we would follow for the next few hours.
We filtered water off of Hermosa Creek. The trail was in great condition for how remote it was, with a few well maintained bridges across the creek. The trail presented two low but difficult to cross down trees we had to lift bikes over. The trail followed the creek intermittently and had plenty of technical challenge. We abruptly exited at the trailhead. There was one more "unnecessary" section of trail between us and Durango of Jones Creek/Pinkerton Flagstaff. This section ended up being a gem with plenty of fun turns, great views of Durango, and a rowdy final descent to pavement. The official route ends when you cross under the road. We rode into town on CR 250, a great paved road with speed limits 25-45 through the rural subdivisions North of Durango.
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| Filtering water in Hermosa Creek |
As we entered town I was worried about my fuel level and topped off. I had built the route to end at Ska Brewing, where Chad and a few friends would meet us. We followed our GPS's there through the back roads and were extremely welcomed. Chad sorted out a rental truck for the bikes but we couldn't pick it up until the next day.
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| Cheers to victory! |
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| 6 bikes started, 5 bikes finished (yes it was missing a kickstand before the trip) |
After some craft beer and delicious food we decided our bikes would be safest at the brewery overnight so we piled 6 people and moto gear into buddies 96 Subaru Outback to be dropped at our hotel across town.
The next morning one group got caught a Lyft to pick up the box truck. Cole and I we're stranded at the hotel not having any luck getting another Lyft. We were about to walk to a bus stop to take a series of public transit with a pile of moto gear back to Ska when Coles phone range. A limo company he had called much earlier had gotten back to us and could pick us up. We got back to Ska before the rest of the group, loaded the box truck, and we're on our way home from an epic scouting adventure.
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Loaded up
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