Dogs Leashed
E-Bikes
Not Allowed
Family Friendly
Every trail on this route is a green or easy blue, with options to stay on the gravel road if anyone gets tired.
Located on Forest Service land, sometimes closed for races.
Overview
Ride some singletrack that has just enough features to make you giggle and then stretch out your legs on the gravel roads. Ride through moose habitat, see some trains, and be rewarded with some great views of the Continental Divide.
Need to Know
Covered parking is free in the summer. Many cafes and restaurants at the trailhead. Winter Park Resort has lots to entertain the family and bike shops if you need a rental or a repair.
Description
Start at the free covered parking structure at Winter Park Resort (if you have a family this is a great place to entertain the family while you ride. Charge around the loop and trade off family duties with your partner.)
Ride through the base area and ascend
Turnpike for a few hundred yards. As the road turns left, keep an eye out on the right for the turn onto lower
Tunnel Hill Trail. Descend the few switchbacks and make the hard left turn onto
Serenity. Some undulating terrain with a few rocks and roots for challenge will drop you off next to the rail-road tracks.
Continue on to
Ice Hill and you'll find the most challenging climb of the ride. It is short, steep and roots placed just where you don't want them. See how high you make it! The summit of the climb is where
Eye to Eye joins from the left.
Here, you'll descend and then traverse through a clearing eventually meeting
Little Vasquez Rd. Cross the road and bear left slightly to join
Blue Sky for a long consistent climb through the trees in an area where moose like to hang out.
At the end of the trail, turn sharp left and start climbing
Tunnel Hill road. When you crest the road, you'll be next to the Denver water aqueduct. The lovely plateau is followed by a descent, and then another climb. Two switchbacks and a climbing traverse will yield great views of the Fraser Valley and Parry Peak.
Now you are on the long descent of
Tunnel Hill road, and right at the bottom of the descent, if you still have legs, look right to start the moderate climb of
Upper Cherokee. Continue up the climb until you reach the junction of
Green World where you can descend down a well-maintained downhill trail. This will dump you back onto
Tunnel Hill road which you should follow until you reach the junction at Trestle Bike Park.
Turn left to descend the road back to the base, or if you still want more look on the left hand side of the road for the entrance to
Tunnel Hill Trail.
History & Background
You start near the historic Moffat Rail Road Tunnel through the Continental Divide. You'll also see Denver Waterboard's aqueducts that divert water from the Pacific watershed back to the Atlantic watershed, providing water to the Front Range.
Contacts
Shared By:
Tom Gulden
with improvements
by Alexander Vogenthaler
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