Monarch Crest - Colorado

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By illcomm33 on 3/9/2007

Closest city/town

Smeltertown, CO, US

Directions

Google Directions

Difficulty

Intermediate

Trail type

Single Track

Configuration

Other

Length

35.2 miles (56.6km)

Total ascent

5,132 ft (1,565 m)

Description

Route Description: Start with a shuttle to the top of Monarch Pas, climb towards 12k on the Monarch Crest Trail. Descend to Silver Creek where you meet up with the up and down Rainbow trail before it runs into Highway 285 which you take back to Poncha Springs

To improve rendering performance, the number of points displayed has been reduced, but the overall shape of the map is roughly the same.

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1 Review

Rating:

out of 5

Do this trail! Incredible [ top of page ]

Posted by: Steve Outing on 3/9/2007

I've ridden this a couple times, and will do it again. Spectacular scenery as the trail goes along the crest of the Continental Divide. It can be pretty cold, of course, so pick a nice day and get started early; you don't want to be up there when afternoon thunderstorms roll in. Riders from lower elevations beware: You start riding at 11,000 feet and have about a 1,000-foot climb right away. It'll hurt if you're not used to riding at high altitude. There are several routes down once off the Crest portion. Avoid the jeep road down (which is the official route for the annual Crest Crank ride but is boring) and choose one of the singletrack trails. Starvation Creek is very fun.