Buffalo Creek trails

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Dirtbag camped behind the bike shop. Awakened by trade people showing up to work.

Crawled out of bed, did exercises, stowed things, and drove towards Pine, looking for a place to fix Bfast.

Tried to find grease gun needle jet to lube Turner bushings. Car parts use a different thread setup so no luck. Concerned that long needle was not sealing tight to grease zerks to force grease into bushings. Must find a bike shop.

Found Buffalo Creek Work station and a trail head. New parking area away from station.

Headed out on rd 543 which turns out to be gated a short ways in which keeps motorized traffic out. All trails appear to be free of dirt bike damage.

Surface is broken down granite all the way to sand size. Old forest fire denuded hills to South of road. Mixed P-pine, a fir, lodgepole, & Doug fir. Very dry. No organic material to bind sand together. Quite a few patches of sand. Big travel bike is way overkill. Trails just flow, hardly a rock and just a few roots.

Up South Shinglehill trail then down Morrison Creek to road, ride the road to Gashouse Gulch climb going North, right on Miller’s Gulch which is a double track. Then the beauty: Sandy Wash descent to road.

Bit of slickrock:

17 miles and another 2000′ day but elevations 6200′ to 8200′

Encountered several groups of riders.

Got water at Work Station & drove S looking for road 550 for dirtbag campsite. Found one. Forest is way dry because of granite. Set up camp. Worked on bike. Set cleats on new Specialized shoes that I had been avoiding the effort.

Painful fuck up: Those that have seen my van saw my cutting board that raises up level with galley but it blocks a good bit of doorway. I stoodup to enter van and smacked my head into the hinge underneath the board. Big gash on my head, probably should have had it stitched, needing maybe 6 to 8 but it clotted very quickly. I’ll just have a big flap of skin scar on my bald spot. Bit of a headache.

Took a Coleman shower. 2 guys with all the camping toys encroached on my spot. They are the forerunners for the forthcoming familes tomorrow. No solitude.

Internet coverage way out here in toolies.

Listening to Old jazz standards on XM radio, Frank Sinatra is fine.

Fraser

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Logging traffic woke me.

Drove down better logging road, traveled thru large house development dumped out onto rt 40. No FS road sign to indicate it was Forest access for me to choose. Ah, no map exploration. I dread the day that I push something & have to back out.

Arrived in Winter Park before 9:00: stores still buttoned down. Walked rt 40 till bike shop opened. Picked up the free glossy artist depiction of trails around area. Needed to be down mtn to Fraser for rides written up in Singletrack.com.

hanging from the lamp posts were pennants stating Mountain Bike capital of America:

Trails well marked, map was a puzzlement long road distance to get to uphill.  20 mile day & 1900′

System many old logging roads. Lots to choose from.

Mass Lodgepole Pine die off from pine beetle. Cause appears to be 8th year of drought meaning pines don’t produce the sap to pitch out the beetle when it attempts to burrow into the tree. other info might be bunk: the tree has to be so large to sustain the larva stage, the active feeding stage of the beetle. 2 events kill the tree: The mass beetle galleries feeding on the what, phloem, shutting off the sap … forgot that botany, ah, disrupting the flow of nutrients necessary to sustain the tree, and the fungus that hitch hikes on the beetle when it pierces the tree bark during egg laying. Mountain sides brown from dead Lodgepole.

The town of Fraser is logging the dead & burning the slash. Lots of slash left over. If domebody could reclaim the slash into pellet stove fuel, wow.

learned of shower @ Hostel for $3.00, negotiated for $2. because I used my own towel. Chatted with young woman hostel manager about dirtbag camping.

Drove back over pass & finished up my I-70 driving stopping in Evergreen, a place where sister Lise lived for a few years, years ago. I passed The Whippletree restaurant where she worked. Had dinner upon her suggestion.

Dirtbag parking lot camping tonight to drive in daylight to Pine for an IMBA epic ride.

copper cdt

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Dirt bagged at a shopping center in Dillon, parked against the side of Sports Authority. No interruptions to my sleep.

Drove to Dillon public park overlooking Dillon Reservoir to enjoy self prepared breakfast. Passed a motorhome parked on shoulder of road, out in the city open with a wonderful view. I assumed people spent the night. How brazen! Next time I’ll push my envelope.

Drove back uphill to Copper Ski area for more CDT riding. Copper has I70 roaring right uphill of the parking lot. No mountain road driving for these skiers. Area has grown since my 1988(?) visit. Hard finding the trail from the parking lot: rode blind roadways trying to cross the creek to the trail.

CDT is well maintained and is shared by multiple user groups, most noticeably by the horses & dudes riding them. Rode thru horse riding section. Climbed almost constantly; what went down on the way up would be climb up on way back. A bit of hike a bike over rocks & roots. Getting more proficient but still act conservatively & walk. About 2 hours to ride to Searle Pass. Saw Annie’s cabin which is part of the 10th Mountain Division hut system tucked in the trees just at treeline. Big cabin, saw propane tank, chimney flues, & solar panels.

Windy before pass. Dropped bike & hiked the last bit to the pass. Saw No Snowmobile signs at pass as the Breckenridge side is more gradual easier to snowmobile in. Short break & retraced my track walking less as gravity provides an engine to get over obstacles.

Back to Copper parking lot. All day i saw 1 runner, a backpacker and 2 hikers. Go CDT. The mountains are so spectacular.

Back to Dillon on way to Winter Park. Found laundromat & low and behold a coin operated shower. $2.00 for 5 min water pressure shower. Clean clothes & cheaply cleaned body.

Back on I-70 East to rt 40 & up & over another 11,000′ pass to Winter Park for tomorrow’s ride. Picked a FS dirt road & drove 3 miles back up in toolies for a dirtbag camp. Passed a guy riding a recumbant loaded with all kinds of gear towards the dead end road.https://runutsadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/p10100021-300x225.jpghttps://runutsadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/p10100061-300x225.jpg

Looking up towards Searle Pass

Just another 2684″ climb topping out @ 12,100′ for a 15.8 mile out & back ride. Some of that elevation is from the downs on the way up.