TR: Molas Pass to Durango. Colorado Trail

[Tech Tonics]

In a different thread I mentioned my plan to do Molas Pass to Durango on the Colorado Trail in one day. Someone asked for a TR in that thread, so here goes nothin'.

No action shots, 'cuz it's hard to convince friends to do an 80 mile mountain bike ride, much of it in alpine during an active monsson season. imagine that. Also, it's hard to sum up a 15 hour ride in a few pictures. so for the tl;dr crowd you may just want to skim it or skip it.

EDIT to add: these pictures all looked a lot better on my iphone. sorry for the shaky blurry photos.

I started at 6AM. It had rained hard the evening before, so some clouds were starting to lift out of the valleys.





It was early, and I was fresh, so I was popping off lots of pictures.





Yeah. I like living here. a lot. I've only been here for a year but I take this for granted. What, you're local trails don't have eye candy like this?



Here I'm getting close to the top of my first climb, Rolling Pass. I was making decent time (1:45 to Rolling) but I had to put the camera away for a bit and plug away some miles.

It was cool (at this point) to spend some time riding hard and gave me a chance to do some reflecting. Not to get to cheezy with the tgr crowd...but life has been very good to me lately. Great friends, great place to live, job i love, amazing wife and truly incredible badass little children. everything has been coming together for me and I spent some endorphin-fueled miles here focusing on how fortunate i have been.


I had never ridden this section and whoa. it was sick. (from Cascade Divide cut-off to Celebration Lake)



When I got to Celebration Lake (about 22 miles into it) I met a group of guys from Telluride. They were riding the next 10 miles of the CT the same direction. It was just starting to rain, but we pushed forward to Blackhawk Pass. By the time we got to Blackhawk the sun was out. I was feeling strong and only took a few pictures of this segment because I wanted to keep moving. This was about mileage 23-33ish.



Hermosa Peak




I was feeling good and strong and it was fun to leap-frog with some other guys. One of 'em had done this same ride before and he was encouraging, and another dude had a mutual friend. I pounded some of their Guinness ontop of Blackhawk and took off, on my own schedule. One of my favorite downhills in the area from Blackhawk to Hotel Draw.


This is after Hotel Draw as the CT climbs (slowly) through mixed conifers for the next 16 miles to Indian Trail ridge. Specifically, this is looking down Coral Draw.

I didn't take too many pictures because it mostly looked like this. for a very. long. time.



Somewhere in this segment I bent my derailleur (or the hanger, still not really sure) which rendered my little ring up front useless (at least I think this is the problem...the chain wraps around the ring and gets chain-sucked in the chain-stay every 5-10 pedal strokes). Maybe the chain is stretched? So I was trying to do this segmentt (total from Hotel Draw to Kennebec is over 20 miles and 3700' of climbing. That on top of the 40+miles and 4500'+ of climbing I had already completed). In retrospect I should have turned around, as trying to pedal up this section with tired legs and mashing the middle ring wasn't working for me. Turning around would not have been an "easy" out, at all. So I kept going. I walked a lot of rideable terrain. This was not only putting me way behind "schedule" but also fucking with my head. I was now moving slow, food tasted terrible, I was a long way from home and lost my mojo. But, I pushed through. digging deep.


Shit started getting really real as I neared Indian Trail Ridge. I had friends and family calling and texting at this point to see how i was doing (awesome of them. remember that "reflecting on how lucky I am" part?). I was so slow through this section. But somehow the skies were not clouding up and I just took my bike on a long walk over the ridge. This was a section I had never ridden and while the trail was not as great riding as other segments, it was in-your-grill views.






As Indian Trail Ridge led into Kennebec Pass I took a picture from where I came from. See the mountains wayyyyyy off in the distance? i started on the other side of them.


At this point, I had to put the camera away. Kennebec Pass to Slide Rock was uneventful but was getting late (was at Kennebec at 6PM, 12 hours after I started. And 6 hours after Hotel Draw. That section with no little ring killed me.

I chilled and ate on top of Kennebec before the downhill to Champion Ventures mine. Here at the mine (7PM, 13hrs in) I had a tough decision. Bail on the CT and take Junction Ck Road all the way home (longer mileage but no significant climbing) or soldier on through the CT. I have ridden this section of the CT many times and I knew that after 60 miles Wall's Gulch (1500' climb) was going to kill me if I couldn't sit-and-spin in my granny. Not to mention, it's a pretty remote section of trail and any further mechanicals would have made me bonkers). I did have my light by I wasn't to stoked to use it.

So, I opted for the dirt road. which was not "all down hill" as I had told myself. The camera was put away. So no pictures. Imagine a 20 mile dirt road through the forest. At least i could middle ring all the ups. and I did. It was not as easy as I had hoped but was manageable.

I got home at 9PM, 15hrs of riding time. About 80 miles and 8500' of climbing.

Well deserved


It was a bittersweet ending to not finish the whole CT, but I still feel like I made it home from Molas Pass.

Also, its a reminder that there are some strong motherfuckers around here. Travis Brown just finished the same ride (with Wall's) in less than 9 hours! Purely a higher level. Not discouraging...it just makes me want to step it up.

good times. sorry for all the scenics.

[stuckathuntermtn]

That beautiful. Wish there was any high alpine riding like that around here.

[Tye 1on]

well played sir.

[springsproject]

sweet ride!

[jqualls]

Nice work I have considered this ride a few times. Maybe end of next month. Hit me up if you decide to try it again.

[brettf]

Rad! Nice work - glad you shared. Having recently ridden much of that this season (not in one day!), I know that's HUGE.

[Crampedon]

Sweet! I had one day of cat skiing up there last winter, I recognize a few of the views. 2cd pick Engineers rock?

Pic 5 looks like a place we set of a hudge slide too.

[couloirman]

Looks awesome-- nice ride! I hope to be on that section of trail about ten days from now......

[Tech Tonics]

jq: I will let you know if I want to do it again. that being said, it's pretty doubtful I'd do it that-way again this summer. (next summer though, for sure) I would like to do Molas-Bolam Pass-Black Hawk-Hotel Draw-Stagecoach Trail-Hermosa Ck. Not as big but still a monster. That mental wounds caused by the section from Hotel Draw to Indian Trail Ridge are going to take a while to heal, I don't want to do that again anytime soon.

couloriman: when you're down here let me know and if I'm available I'll take you for a ride if you don't have other plans

that goes for all y'all.

[goldenboy]

nice work. beautiful piece of trail.

[edog80]

Nice. I bikepacked this exact section two years ago. That walk over Indian ridge made me believe in things I would have never believed in before. Once we got to the final false summit on it and saw a flag a few more ridges in the distance we were all very demoralized. Lucky for us, just after that, the trail turned downwards and took us to a beautiful lake (forgot the name) where we were able to filter water and rest for a bit.

Knowing what I know now, I would probably split it up into two separate all day rides: Molas to Cascade Creek (effing sick ride), and then Kennebec/sliderock down to Junction Creek. That way you can skip the brutality portion in the middle. Good work.

[Danno]

Great TR. And strong work. Bummer you missed the fun of the last section, both down to the creek then from high point down to the end. But like you say, you've done it before and you totally finished the ride regardless. Bad-fucking-ass.

Thanks for sharing the TR.

[stradissimo]

Man, that is a super impressive ride. With the storms we've been having in town, I was too spooked to venture into the high country last weekend.

Some of the best endurance riders in the country have had to bail out via Junction Creek Road when they've attempted that ride. You just don't know what's going to happen when you spend all day above 11k feet.

Have you done the "around Graysill Mountain" loop? It's pretty good and you could tie it in with Blackhawk and do an arbitrarily big loop up there.

[creaky fossil]

That beautiful. Wish there was any high alpine riding like that around here.

you should just pack up that Lezbaru and head back to NYC. hell you can ride "alpine" at Van Cortlandt. or cross that stinky river and ride to Alpine, New Jersey. plus there's all those fancy stores and restaurants back there that you miss so much. maybe while you're away, the pseudo-mountains of the N Rockies will erupt skyward.

or just PM rontele, he's the keeper of all alpine greatness.

*****

Molas back to dgo is pretty sweet I did it about a decade ago, when stuckie was stuckinadifferentplace.

[Meadow Skipper]

Beautiful. Looks like a long day, way to hang, mang.

[tone capone]

Awesome ride, thanks for sharing.

[smslavin]

That was epic. Thanks for sharing. Really want to ride that someday.

[Tech Tonics]

Bumping this because I went for this ride again yesterday.

I finished the whole thing (including Walls' Gulch-High Point) and I took 2 hours off my time from last year. I felt great all day.

Some changes from last year....I only took one picture the whole time, I didn't stop for more than a minute or two at a time, and that was only to change a layer or stuff food in my mouth. I ditched the backpack and had three water bottles (two on the bike and one in my jersey pocket. Food in a Bedrock Feed Bag (like a chalk bag that goes on your bars....if you're into long rides you need one of these). Rain jacket, pump, chain lube and second tube went in a small bag on the handelbars and then my normal little bag under the seat with CO2, one tube, chain tool, etc. It was great to not have anything on my back. In fact, I only filled the bottle in my jersey-pocket for the sections where I'd go a long distance without water (Straight Creek below Blackhwak to Taylor lake is 22 miles mostly up).
I carried iodine but was lucky enough to find two springs so only had to use it twice.

This was pretty early in the morning:


Ran into a guy doing the CTR backward (heading south) on his last day. It was a dude I rode with during the Durango Dirty Century so it was cool to catch him at Hermosa Peak on the way up to Blackhawk. I dropped him after an hour or so as he was riding at the "i've been riding for 7 days" pace.

Indian Trail Ridge was mostly uneventful...there was a nasty cell parked just to my east pretty much constantly zapping down into Hermosa...but it stayed put giving me just enough time to get up and over Kennebec before the skies closed in behind me as I descended the 10 miles from Kennebec to Walls Gulch. That is a fun fucking downhill that takes nearly an hour.

Wall's was overgrown and felt like a rainforest with a gentle rain falling. Ripped down from high point feeling like I was almost home. Got to the Juntion Creek trailhead and two friends were waiting for me with a sixer of Mexican Loggers.

Sorry for the lack of pics. I would suggest this ride to anyone looking to do their first big ride. at nearly 80 miles and 10,000' climbing it's super fucking long but also very manageable.

[Danno]

Hardcore.

[grskier]

Nice work!

[Tech Tonics]

Thanks! I'm super hooked-on long rides now. CTR is definitely in my future, and more of the SWES "races".

There is just something about a seemingly endless trail that I am really loving.

XC racing does nothing for me, and I'm just not that fast. But going really far and pushing further and further is where I am happiest on my bike.

More big'ns coming up.

[ZomblibulaX]

That's a hell of a Saturday. Nicely done.

Pretty sure I talked to you on Champion Venture...was walking my golden retriever. Gotta say I'm impressed to see someone smiling after a ride like that with 20+ miles to go.

[Tech Tonics]

Ha! Yup. That was me. Nice to meet you. Cool dog. I kept thinking about that big bear you saw. I made a ton of noise on my way down into Wall's!

[North]

Solid stuff man. Did just the Molas to Rolling Pass and back segment a few weeks ago, and felt pretty crushed. Would love to ride more down in that area.

[keith-stone]

You're awesome, strong work out there!