A scenic Colorado Trail segment that's worthy of its own out-and-back ride.

Statistics

2 - 3

hrs

656

m

656

m

5

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Difficult

Description

The Colorado Trail (COT) is widely regarded as one of the very best long distance mountain bike trails in the world.

Running for 535 miles between Denver and Durango, the trail crosses high alpine mountain passes and drops into beautiful valleys as it traverses the most beautiful portions of the state of Colorado.

The COT forms one third of the Triple Crown of Bikepacking, along with the Arizona Trail and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The section of the trail running east from Kenosha Pass dead ends at the Lost Creek Wilderness boundary or connects to a gravel road bypass around the Wilderness, but even the short section between the pass and the Wilderness is well-worth riding as a quick out-and-back.

The trail tread is quite wide to begin, but quickly it narrows into sweet singletrack that breaks out into alpine meadows high above the South Park Valley, providing expansive views into the valley and of the mountains beyond. Some technical rock gardens keep the riding from being too easy, but in between the swoop and flow of this trail is remarkable! The trail climbs and descends several times before reaching the Wilderness, which means you’ll need to keep some gas in the tank to make it back up some steep climbs as you pedal back to the top of Kenosha Pass.