Colorado Trail Recap: Day 4

We were a little slow moving on morning 3 after a few evening beers and a lot of food. We had a solid breakfast, got the campsite cleaned up, refilled with water, sent Reid on his way in the car, and we were on the trail!

Campsite

The ride from the campground was awesome, it was through some really dense forest with some fun, technical climbing, made more difficult by the bikes loaded with gear. That kind of riding really distracts you from the work - I'd take a tech climb over a dirt road every day.

Walking over logs

Cool old trail sign

This day had us riding over two passes: Georgia Pass and one other unnamed pass. On paper, these looked pretty intimidating, but in reality they were awesome. It helped that the views were great and the trail was really engaging. It also helps that you're just chatting with your friends the whole time. I could see this being a slog if it were dark and you were alone. 

Approaching Georgia Pass

The approach to this pass was great, you could see up the valley and the weather was perfect. Coming up to Georgia Pass we saw more hikers than anywhere else, and a dog.

At the top of Georgia Pass

Pass dog

Georgia Pass also offered great views of Mt Guyot in the background. Next we dropped back into the trees, and the top of the unnamed pass was almost imperceptible. It wasn't as tall, and we didn't even get above treeline. I had planned for a bailout along here in case things were going horrible, but it was totally unnecessary. We stopped for lunch and could look back on the south side of Keystone resport. 

Jesse's Charcuterie

We got a little rain up here, but nothing like the days before.

A fork leading down to Dillon

The last bit down to the highway and Breckenridge was the least interesting. You could tell this trail gets a lot of use and wasn't really engineered for bikes. Tight switchbacks, loose descents, and pretty exposed. but we hit the bike path, and then the hotel, and finally another dip in the creek!

River and beers

We decided to grab a bite to eat, another beer, and even some milkshakes. It was fun to be back in a town and just wander around on tired legs. 

Dinner

We also stopped at Breckenridge distillery to sample some of the whisky, which was tasty!

Aperitif

And finally headed to the hot tub!

Style

The next day was going to be a lot of climbing, but overall very short, so we could cut loose a bit tonight and have some fun. I'm talking about the trip after we were done, I bet we could have pushed pretty far today, especially with the ride around we ended up taking on day 5. It was a load of fun to hang out in Breck though!

Map

Elevation

Stats