For you Boulder County peeps that need to explore further out:
I’ve put together a super fun route leaving Evergreen and exploring Clear Creek County, then heading back. We will ride twisties up to squaw pass, then descend to Idaho Spring on jeep trails. Then up some new jeep trails to an overlook, then back down to Idaho Springs. Then we will take jeep trails and mining roads over Saxon Mountain to Georgetown. Then frontage roads back to some mining roads up and over back to squaw pass, then return to Idaho Springs. Late lunch in town, then back to Evergreen OR you can head back home from there.
This is an intermediate plated dirt bike or DS ride, or a quite advanced Big Bike ride. If you come on a big bike, you need exceptional skills and newish tires. The hard part is going up Cascade Creek to the top of Saxon Mountain. The rest is easier standard A-route “68J” skills. Expect steep long climbs with large embedded rocks, some loose climbs too. Also expect some incredible views, and seriously fun terrain that you’ve probably not ridden yet.
Total route is 68 miles, with opportunities to get gas halfway through. Max elevation is 11,037 ft, so bring your mittens. 11k’ of elevation gain and loss total.
Meet at my house June 6th at 9am. 83 Meadow Ln, Evergreen CO. Feel free to trailer to my house. KSU 9:30am. If we get some monster snow storm late May, this might need to be postponed.
GPX tracks:
Michael and I rode part of the Cotillion route last weekend on our way back from Spring Creek, and were both reminded of how fun and legit the route is in places. So I want to be clear, since we as a group mainly have a rating system for ADV only; an intermediate ride on a dirt bike or DS is way harder than intermediate on an ADV bike. Michael just posted a video on Youtube of going down what we will be coming up on Cascade Creek here: https://youtube.com/shorts/3vdGcqSK-wk?si=fDDCN7kqYgLb6Gri It is steeper than it looks. That is going to be the hardest part of the ride.
I’m bumping this thread to keep it on the radar. Coffee and donuts at my house before we head out!
Reminder: this ride ain’t easy as a solid intermediate dirt bike ride. But, it gets progressively harder and you can have a great time with the first half and if you feel the need to turn around, it will be all downhill back to Idaho springs.
Cascade Creek is still a white knuckle climb (see link to Micheal Howard’s video in my previous post), and the descent down to Georgetown is miles of rocky switchback goodness.
Looks like a great day. Bummed I will be on the bench with my shoulder injury for at least another month.
The following would make a good breakfast stop and see some neat old airplanes on the way to Evergreen. Plus the Italian Sausage is awesome. Food is usually ready by 0730.
