[Morryjg]

I rode Monarch Crest with a couple of friends on Saturday. It was SAWEEEET!!!!! (as usual) There were a couple of small snow crossings, but that was only about 30 feet total over the 34 miles. If any of you CO s have not ridden the trail you are missing out!! The scree field on the Silver Creek trail has been sterilized for the masses though. So, no surfing down the mountain on rolling scree. I actually liked that section, it was fun. Oh well, that means less diggers for bikers and hikers which is probably a good thing. Don't forget to ride the rainbow trail out to 285 if you ride Monarch, it's not the same without it!!

 

[DßR]

There's a shuttle service there right? Does anybody know what it costs/when/how often it runs? Me and mobius are coming out next weekend from DC and were hoping to hit Monarch on Saturday, if it's worth it (and I've been told it is...) we'd like to get the shuttle -- a couple of sea-level dh guys aren't gonna be able to hack any kind of climb up there...

Anybody local feel like showing us around? Beer would be involved...

 

[Morryjg]

http://www.monarchcrest.com/index.html

There's the link to the shuttle service. They run 2 or 3 shuttles a day. With the mountain weather get in on the 8:00 shuttle if you can. It's definitely one of the nicest long pieces of single track in the state. The climbing isn't that bad, but it will make you suck wind. But, there isn't enough of it to keep you from riding it. Going all the way over to Silver Creek is the way to do it. There are two other options but they make the ride too short. If you are still going strong at the end of Silver Creek pick up the Rainbow trail and ride it out to 285. It is a really sweet trail!! I have in-laws in town next weekend so I can't ride.

 

[DßR]

Awesome. Thanks dude!