14 miles, 3000ft elevation
Somehow the mantra "I love hills" just wasn't working for me the second day out. The elevation and the heat were killing me. Plus I just wasn't in good shape as I had taken a break after my two month adventure in New Zealand that left me tired and worn out. I did get an early start and managed to coerce Chris and Corinne (who were camped at the trail head) to join me in the cool of the morning. We set off in the cool weather. We climbed over a small hill which was a good warm up. The highlight of this ride was seeing a herd of sheep and their white Great Pyrenees guard dogs who barked at us as we passed by the herd. One of my dogs is a Great Pyrenees mix. She is an awesome big, white fluffy dog but she does love to bark. I had given up on trying to change her because she was really just doing what she was bred to do. Bark to warn of predators or other dangers. It was awesome to see these working dogs doing their job.
Then we headed up the Mahoney Gulch trail which immediately started to climb through the forest. I was definitely feeling the elevation. Stuff that I usually ride up was now stuff I walked up. Oh well, that's life. This would be a great start to getting me in shape for summer. We climbed up to the Lodgepole Gulch trail and then climbed some more. We came to beautiful expansive views of the surround hillsides and climbed some more. I think all in all we climbed about 8 miles by my odometer. Chris said it was only 2200ft of elevation but it sure felt like more. We finally came to the downhill and it was quick sailing from there through open meadows and deep forest. Then there was two more steep climbs to the trail intersection. We decided that instead of doing the Imperial Gulch trail which would have required a lot more climbing on a open hillside we'd skip that and go down the Greenhorn gulch trail. Good decision as this was a beautiful downhill section through deep green forest along a cool creek. There were steep sections and some nice challenging areas and the trail just swooped back to the trail head. At the last creek crossing Chris, Corinne, and I decided to take a dunk in the stream. The cool water was refreshing after a long hot ride. I even managed to shed some of the trail dust with the water.
Back at the parking lot we waited and it wasn't too long before the other groups started arriving from there rides. We had finished just before it really started to heat up.
Climb up Mahoney trail |
Trail along hilltops |
Chris and Corinne taking a break |
High meadow |
P1010010 |
P1010012 |
Dry ridge tops |
Lodgepole Gulch trail |
P1010019 |
Another trail in the distance |
Corinne |
Down Valley |
Coming down Greenhorn |
Intersection at end of trail |
Greenhorn trail |
Descent |