TR: The best riding at Monarch Pass is actually at Whitepine

**goldenboy** · 09-09-2007, 10:19 PM

After riding the always fun and entertaining Crest to Rainbow trail on Saturday, mtnbikerskierchick, SydVicious and I returned to our kick-ass campsite at the bottom of Marshall pass.

MBSC's friend Sonya joined us and then we headed over to the west side of the pass and headed up towards the little town of Whitepine. I should have stopped to take a photo of the sign that said "slow down, people breathing"

along the side of the dirt road. Racers in the Vapor trail 125, a burly 125mile race with 20,000' of climbing were bombing down the road after their midnight start. Congrats to my friend Ethan for winning the thing!!!!

After passing the town, we saw a few tombstones. Tough way for this guy to go...

The road up Tomichi pass is steep, loose and long and can be described by one word: babyheads. It's a challenging ride, but I kinda like it, and besides, at least I knew what a killer downhill I would be getting. The girls, on the other hand, probably wanted to kill me.

Tomichi pass:

Me: "OK, I know we've been going up this heinous road for hours, but all we have to do now is hike-a-bike to the top of that mountain"

Them: "Yeah, thanks a lot, this is really sweet"

"OK, we're smiling now, but if this downhill isn't as good as you say, we won't be for long..."

Take all of the Monarch trails- Agate, Greens, Fooses, and the Crest- add up all the downhill, and you might end up with a downhill as long as Whitepine. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but Whitepine does provide a couple of hours' worth of the sweetest singletrack around.

mbsc:

gb:

Sonya:

Sonya was the only one who didn't suffer some carnage. SydViciuous showing of her battle wounds:

Not that it slowed her down much:

This trail has it all- steep technical sections, rhythm sections, awesome berm turns, and it just keeps going and going. I might have to go back next weekend, if I keep thinking about moments like this:

**gbarnum** · 09-09-2007, 11:50 PM

JeZus, I love mountain biking!

Thanks for the stoke!

**LeeLau** · 09-10-2007, 12:20 AM

ok - that's cool~ Firming up CB plans now as we speak

**Crinkle** · 09-10-2007, 08:53 AM

nice work, never heard of whitepine, but its now on the list

**Staircase** · 09-10-2007, 08:56 AM

Definately one of the best rides around, but brutal climb. Probably 2.5 to 3 hours up and 45 minute hike-a-bike, sound about right GB?

Even better if you can find someone with a 4 wheel drive to shuttle you to the start of the hike-a-bike. Got this once and now I am spoiled.

**grskier** · 09-10-2007, 09:00 AM

Looks amazing.

**FrankZappa** · 09-10-2007, 12:44 PM

Nice. Digging all the riding at altitude and the gals gettin after it, but the end "coming in for a landing" flight along with the bank shot really capture the feel for me.

I know you are one cool dude GB, but this being such a ladies man stuff is just takin it too far.

**Ripzalot** · 09-10-2007, 12:49 PM

very sweet!

**Danno** · 09-10-2007, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by goldenboy

After riding the always fun and entertaining Crest to Rainbow trail on Saturday, mtnbikerskierchick, SydVicious and I returned to our kick-ass campsite at the bottom of Marshall pass.

I am pretty sure I have camped at that exact spot!

Nice looking ride!

**Greguar** · 09-10-2007, 03:37 PM

Damn stupid fucking ribs!!!

Looks like a sweet ride...fuckers

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 09-10-2007, 04:00 PM

It was a GREAT weekend! Thanks to everyone for a sweet time!

The best part about White Pine was:
1) The sign in the town that said, "Drive Slowly, People Breathing".
and
2) The looks on the faces of the 6 other guys that did the trail that day when they saw a guy from Crested Butte surrounded by 3 chicks from the Front Range! Quote of the day from them, "Meh, Front Rangers can't handle this kind of trail!"

PS. Pretty sure the descent took us OVER 2 hours!!!! RT time with stops was 6 hours.

**LeeLau** · 09-10-2007, 04:28 PM

I love this stuff - buff, flowy singletrack in alpine. Can't wait... ahhhhhhhhhhhh

**goldenboy** · 09-10-2007, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by Staircase

Definately one of the best rides around, but brutal climb. Probably 2.5 to 3 hours up and 45 minute hike-a-bike, sound about right GB?

Even better if you can find someone with a 4 wheel drive to shuttle you to the start of the hike-a-bike. Got this once and now I am spoiled.

Yeah, those times sound about average, for sure. A shuttle would be good, but like I said, I kinda like the climb in a sick and twisted way.

Originally Posted by FrankZappa

Nice. Digging all the riding at altitude and the gals gettin after it, but the end "coming in for a landing" flight along with the bank shot really capture the feel for me.

I know you are one cool dude GB, but this being such a ladies man stuff is just takin it too far.

What can I say, FZ, I changed my avatar and it was like a self-fulfilling prophecy or something

Looking forward to showing you around some, LeeLau

**Dobish** · 09-11-2007, 08:20 AM

nice work

**goldenboy** · 09-13-2007, 07:21 PM

Hittin' it again on Sunday if anyone is interested

**FrankZappa** · 09-14-2007, 10:29 AM

I would if I could, but I can't so I won't.

Thanks for the offer tho.

So, did you ride back up and over Marshall to your camp after the end of the Rainbow? Or did you shuttle?

**goldenboy** · 09-14-2007, 04:51 PM

^^^ We were camped on the Poncha side, so we rode up to the campsite. FYI, Marshall is closed on the Gunny side due to a big washout.

**Harv** · 09-14-2007, 07:14 PM

so is that Canyon Creek? I have been hearing a lot about that ride recently after never hearing of it for a long time. Looks killer. thanks.

**goldenboy** · 09-15-2007, 03:25 PM

AKA Canyon creek, yes.

**gunniride** · 09-30-2007, 07:35 AM

The best riding at Monarch Pass is actually at Whitepine

Agreed. Certainly the best Hike a Bike out there

I have never thought of Canyon Cr. as a Monarch ride, but I guess it qualifies. This just adds to the fact that Monarch truely has some of the best riding in all of Colorado. Someday I'd like to explore the Summit Trail/ Tank Seven/ Long Branch/ Baldy trails south of the Crest turnoff at Silver Creek.

Marshall Pass should be good to go in about two weeks, though you can get through in a 4x4 without a problem.

**goldenboy** · 09-30-2007, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by gunniride

I have never thought of Canyon Cr. as a Monarch ride, but I guess it qualifies. This just adds to the fact that Monarch truely has some of the best riding in all of Colorado. Someday I'd like to explore the Summit Trail/ Tank Seven/ Long Branch/ Baldy trails south of the Crest turnoff at Silver Creek.

Yeah, I never explored that area either, although everyone I've talked to says there's a lot of doubletrack and that it's moto-ed out. Needle creek rides like flying dutchman, on the other hand....

**Rideski** · 09-30-2007, 09:42 AM

Apparently the pics worked at one point, now all rexed out?

I missed it...

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 09-30-2007, 05:36 PM

I fixed it for goldenboy

He got confused. He didn't realize he had moved all of his White Pine pics on photobucket to a different folder.

He is now a bit more technologically savvy after this experience

**deepsquat** · 10-01-2007, 09:03 AM

I've been looking at Horseshoe on the map for a while now, any beta on that one?

**goldenboy** · 10-01-2007, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by deepsquat

I've been looking at Horseshoe on the map for a while now, any beta on that one?

It's hard to go that way after the struggle to the top, but it's something I've thought about a lot as well. Rumor has it that Horseshoe is steeper/looser/rockier than canyon creek. I sometimes wonder about that right hand turn that leads all the way to Waunita hot springs, too (rumor on that one is that it is horsed-out)