Name: CT - Segment 14: Highway 50 to Chalk Creek TH
Rating: 3.8

Conditions

Unknown

History

Getting forecast...

“Beautiful alpine singletrack with a mixture of big climbs and fun descents.”

— Holly Borowski

Driving Directions GPX File

Dogs Unknown

Features -none-

Section Of

Colorado Trail: The Entire MTB Route - IMBA EPIC

Description

Note: This trail is mapped from North to South direction, in alignment with the rest of the Colorado trail segments. However, the trail description below outlines the ride from South to North, which is generally the preferred direction to bike.

Start at Highway 50 west of Salida where the Colorado Trail crosses the road. Follow Colorado Trail signs the entire way to the Chalk Creek trailhead on Chalk Creek Dr. west of Nathrop.

This ride includes some ripping fast descents as well as a handful of short hike-a-bike sections. There is one slightly ambiguous fork in the trail a little past halfway in, near Browns Creek - the options are to go uphill & to the left, or downhill & to the right. The correct choice to stay on the CT is uphill to the left. Verify this by looking for the CT symbol alongside the trail before continuing.

Could also be ridden in the north-south direction, but south-north makes for the most manageable climbs and enjoyable descents.

Full Details

Trail Ratings

3.8 from 13 votes

#2

in Buena Vista

#5105

Overall

3.8 from 13 votes

5 Star		31%
4 Star		31%
3 Star		23%
2 Star		15%
1 Star		0%

Rankings

#2

in Buena Vista

#488

in Colorado

#5,105

Overall

284 Views Last Month

7,733 Since Jul 27, 2014

Difficult

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Photos

Aspen Grove along the Chalk Creek Segment

Views from the Colorado Trail

Green room on the CT.

Colorado Trail - 14,235-foot (4,339 m) Mt Shava…

Beautiful singletrack awaits on Segment 14 of t…

Colorado Trail aspen in all their glory.

Aspen tress show off their fall colors on Segme…

Climbing the Colorado Trail above Calk Creek Ca…

Aspens!

4 Comments

Chris Rodgers

Good trail to be had, but you're going to have to dig for it. South to North. Sep 28, 2016

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Nicci Miller

Looks like a 1 way out and back, are there any shuttle services for this ride? Mar 31, 2017

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Bryan Caylor

This trail had very little biking traffic and is still roughly engineered for hiking. There were some hike-a-bike sections, lots of rock gardens and some flowing sections. Parts of the last north downhill are so steep and washed out that it is barely as a trail. This is the Colorado Trail true to form. I would only ride as part of completing all of the CT or with an adventure in mind. Sep 11, 2017

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Matt Giaraffa

My experience agrees with Bryan, this section was built without bikes in mind at all. Going South to North, there are a lot of climbs, with some hike a bike, and the descents aren't that good. There's usually some flow-robbing tree or boulder right where you want to lean into a corner, for example. The Little Brown's section, however, is really awesome. Sep 20, 2017

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21.0 Miles 33.8 Kilometers Singletrack	3,748' 1,142 m Ascent -3,267' -996 m Descent
6% Avg Grade (4°) 40% Max Grade (22°)	10,165' 3,098 m High 8,382' 2,555 m Low

CT - Segment 14: Highway 50 to Chalk Creek TH

21.0 Miles 33.8 Kilometers

Singletrack

3,748' 1,142 m

-3,267' -996 m

6%

40%

10,165' 3,098 m

8,382' 2,555 m

Shared By Holly Borowski

Conditions