Review Date
June 11, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: enzo269 ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
As others have said, it is not a technically demanding ride, however it has some beautiful single track, some nice fast descents and longs climbs to get your heart rate up... I would not recommend this ride on the weekend.. It attracts a lot of weekend warriors (ie Mt. Falcon type crowds) and was very crowded.. If you do ride on weekend, I would recommend avery early start..

Recommended Route:
Rode and out and back from the top parking lot (Centennial Cone lot) up Travois Trl. past the Centennial Cone.. Could have easily continues an extra 1.5 miles to the Golden Gate Canyon parking lot but chose not to.. Some of the trail is closed right now for elk calving.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Apex, White Ranch, Golden Gate Canyon

Review Date
September 17, 2006

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: smolakian ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
The loop is complete now! It's smooth new singletrack with nothing really technical. Just smooth and fast waith a 2 mile section of fire road. Lots of ups and downs.

Recommended Route:
I rode clockwise from the upper trailhead but everyone else was riding the other was. i'm gonna try it counter-clockwise next time.

Review Date
August 18, 2006

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 2 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: plm ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
This is a fun and fast trail, but not technically challenging. There is one man-made stairstep section to a stellar view, and a few sections of sharp switchbacks, but otherwise fairly easy and fast narrow winding singletrack. The area feels very remote, and because it is new, there were very few people on the trail. Jefferson County has implemented an alternate user schedule described above (bikers on even-numbered weekend days, and hikers on odd-numbered weekend days - weekdays are open to everyone), and yes, that means there are no hikers out there when you ride on your day. This would be a good trail to bring a beginner on, especially once the loop opens up (see below). Right now, it is about 24 miles out and back, and will be about 12 with a loop.

Recommended Route:
There are two trailheads, the Centennial Cone trailhead, accessed via 119 and Douglas Road, and the North Trailhead, accessed via Golden Gate Road. From the Centennial Cone trailhead you have two options. You can take a fairly boring double track jeep road until it abuts private property. Beyond the private property, the jeep road picks back up and takes you to the North Trailhead, then you do a loop around on the single track. Jefferson County is negotiating a purchase of an easement that would allow us to traverse the private property, but until then it is off limits. You can bushwhack for 10 minutes along the fenceline to connect the roads, but it's really not worth it (and you make a social trail no no) The singletrack is much more fun. I would suggest taking the singletrack from Centennial Cone trailhead and riding it all the way to the North Trailhead and then coming back. It's a bit downhill to the North Trailhead, and then a bit uphill back to the car. If the North trailhead is open (not sure) it might be a better option to do an out and back from that trailhead, so as to do your uphill first. On the other hand, the uphill isn't THAT uphill, so it is not a big deal.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
If you get there and it's not your day, Golden Gate and White Ranch aren't too far, although Chimney Gulch is probably the closest option.