2023 Bikepacking Trip Report!

Hello faithful follower! Last week I took a few days off and rode my gravel bike on a great loop around Colorado. This ride had it all - gravel! highways! trespassing! hiking! 

Full Map of Ride

This is the fourth year for this ride and this time I was joined by 4 friends. Here is the day by day breakdown:

Day 1: Copper Mountain to Leadville - 40 miles - 3,400' vert - Strava Activity

Day 1 started out climbing out of Copper Mountain to the Climax Mine site where we hooked West over to Camp Hale. We then climbed (literally) up to what we thought was a road but was actually train tracks. After that we hooked up with the highway again into Leadville. 

Hiking up to the next 'road'

A Tunnel on the way to Leadville

Day 2: Leadville to Basalt - 64 miles - 3,000' vert - Strava Activity

The second day of the ride was the most remote! Starting in Leadville we headed west past Turquoise Lake over Hagerman pass, peaking at 11,925 feet. Even crossed a snowfield. Once we got down a somewhat technical descent, we stopped at the Meredith general store for a snack, passed Ruedi Reservoir, and then rolled into Basalt for dinner at the Tipsy Trout.

Crossing snow on Hagerman

The top of the Pass

Resting the legs in The Roaring Fork River

Day 3: Basalt to Vail - 68 miles - 4,500' vert - Strava Activity

Surely this whole ride wasn't all snow fields and hiking! Day 3 was much more mild, taking us over Cottonwood Pass, which was beautiful. After that climb, we started our Euro Tour, which included stopping at several places to hydrate. The Wolcott Yacht Club is open again!

I met a dog in Eagle

Wolcott Yacht Club

Beers in Edwards

Day 4: Vail to Copper Mountain - 33 miles - 5,700' vert - Strava Activity

The last day of the ride was the most adventurous. We started off with a pretty burly climb into the back bowls of Vail ski resort. From there we connected the Easternmost Vail road with the Westernmost forest road leading to the top of Vail pass. This was a true adventure and provided the most beautiful views of the ride. The whole thing wrapped up on the Ten Mile Canyon National Recreation Trail into Copper.

Climbing up the Service Road

Connecting the ski resort and Vail pass

Some hike-a-bike

All in all, it was an amazing trip! Around 200 miles total, saw some really cool parts of the state and we're already talking about next year.