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Buffalo Creek Mountain Bike Area
7 reviews
4.57 of 5
There are literally dozens of trail combinations in the buffalo creek area, my favorite is proceeding up buck gulch from Pine Valley Ranch, it is a climb of around a thousand feet over a distance of aprox. 2 1/2 miles. Once the trail flattens out you will reach an intersection, go left or east. This is skipper trail. A very pleasant series of ups and downs. This section is another aprox. 1 1/2 miles. Next you will reach a four way intersection. Generally most people go left or back north to form a loop on strawberry jack, which is another 2 1/2 mile singletrack downhill all the way back to Pine Valley Ranch. If you choose to go straight at the intersection it will take you down a 2 mile downhill thru partially burned forest called sandy wash trail. This trail will end at a closed forest service road that will take you back uphill to either the baldy trail (which connects to charlie''s cutoff), or all the way back to the intersection with buck gulch and skipper trails. If you choose to go right at the intersection of strawberry jack and sandy wash you will be on charlie''s cutoff which connects the skipper trail to the baldy trail. There are many possible loops in this area, and it is easy to cover 30 or 40 miles in an afternoon on your bike here. However it can become confusing because some of the trails tend to look alike, so please take a map your first couple of times here.
From Denver head south-west on highway 285, to the intersection with highway 126 at pine junction going south. Follow the signage at the town of Pine to go west on a paved side street to the parking lot at the Pine Valley Ranch. From there follow the trail over the wooden bridge to where in curves south and heads up buck gulch. From Colorado Springs go west on highway 24 to Woodland Park, turn north on highway 67 and follow to Deckers. At Deckers to over the bridge and continue north on highway 126 to the town of Pine. The area is also accesible from the south buffalo creek rd. off 126 just south of the community of Buffalo Creek. This road is also well marked.
Summary: Found this track as highly rated on Singeltracks.com so thought i would give it a try. We rode the Gashouse option to the top and back to the bottom on the Sandy Wash downhill. Was a total of 16 miles. I see why it rated so highly, great trail conditions, lots of options, beautiful scenery. Well worth the 1.5 hour drive from my home. Will definitely ride as often as opportunity presents.
Recommended Route: Lots of unexplored options, cant recommend yet.
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Summary: The Buffalo Creek Trail system, has the best single track on the front range. If you want to go out for a 2-3 hour ride "and never dismount"
see my recommended route.
Recommended Route: Park at the Pine Valley parking lot. "Free Parking"
Go up the double track to the bridge, turn left onto the bridge.
go straight up the trail until the fork, stay left and take the strawberry jack trail. Take strawberry jack to charlies cutoff.
Turn left on charlies cut off and take to homestead,turn right.
Homestead turns into sandy wash, "hold on" sandy wash is a killer
downhill. At the bottom of sandy wash turn right onto fire road.
Take fire road to shinglemill,turn left onto shinglemill and climb
to the top. At the top turn right on to morrison trail. Go down morrison to the fire road. Turn left on fire road and take to baldy trail.Turn right onto baldy "and start climbing at fork stay right onto baldy."don't take gashouse" continue up baldy trail to miller gulch. Turn right onto miller gulch and take to strawberry jack. Strawberry is approx 1.5 - 2 miles is the first hard left you will see. Take strawberry jack all the way back to the bridge. This ride is approx 30 miles. It's the one of the funnest on the front range."bring snacks and alot of water" Enjoy.......................................
see map
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/publications/buffcrk.pdf
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Summary: Many miles of smooth single track with a few tech spots to keep it interesting. Some of the trails ride throught burned out forest making for a unique ride in the front range. Everything is well marked but donwload a map and bring it so you don't get turned around. Overall, an excellent trail system close to Denver.
Recommended Route: A 2-3 hour loop on smooth single track, double tack and a less than 2 miles on forest road.
Skip Pine Valley Ranch and ride out of Buffalo Creek. Park near the Forest Service Work Station on 126 near the intersection of 543/ Buffalo Creek Road. Get on 543 and follow the creek southwest on easy doubletrack , make a left onto Shinglemill. Climb through the burned out forest to the Colorado trail. Turn right on the CT to the Meadows campground gate located at an obviuos intersection and back to the right. Follow the road from the campground over to forest road 550 and make a left and climb a short distance to Gashouse Gulch road/trail. Take Gasehouse Gulch to Miller Gulch on the right. Take this fast double track to Sandy Wash trail on your right.This fast singletrack takes you back to the 543 road where you started your ride. Cross the street and back to your car.
Summary: I think I covered 25 miles. Seemed like a lot of climbing. I ride a SS and it seemed harder than it should have been (though I back tracked several times, made wrong turns, etc). If you know where you're going this is a great lightly treaded trail system. The singletrack is nearly perfect in sections, however there are a number of fireroads to get from trail to trail, though nothing wrong with that.
There are still lots of mile to be covered in this place. Would like to ride the Colorado Trail and others closer to Pine Ranch. If you have a day off it's actually not that far from Denver/ Boulder. Or they have 120 camping spots..would make a great weekend trip.
Tight, untouched singletrack. Twisty, fast downhills. Lung busting climbs. This place has it all...well not too much technical stuff but if you love singletrack this is an awesome place.
Recommended Route: Headed out to this awesome trail system the other day in preperation for the upcoming Xterra. Parked at Wellington Lake, headed down the 543 for 3 miles past the Colorado Trail to Gashouse gulch. Right on Baldy and climbed. Great climb here on pristine singletrack through an area that got burnt down back in '96. Looped back down via Gashouse gulch on even more pristine, tight, little tech at times, singletrack. Discovered I did the wrong loop for the race and proceeded up 543 again to Gashouse and stayed on gashouse this time instead of turning at Baldy. Rode up, once again, tight singletrack, some sand at times but not dismountable. Gashouse goes through another area that got burnt down. Headed up Gashouse, where I had previously gone down, to Miller Gulch. Left on Miller Gulch to Rd 553. Up 553 to Buck Gulch. Down a super fast , not quite singletrack, great kickers. Right on Strawberry Jack up a lung busting climb. Another fire ridden area with fallen trees in the middle of the trail, some hike-a-bike. Back to Miller gulch to Gashouse, down gashouse, again to 543 and pretty tough 3 mile climb out to Wellington Lake after all the climbing on the real trail.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Monarch Pass, Rainbow Trail(1-2 hours away), Mt. Falcon
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Summary: The trails out here are in great shape and they are hella fun. If you like smooth singletrack and riding relatively fast you will not be dissapointed here, especially if your looking for an epic. No tech riding here, but fast turns can get tricky. This area can be ridden pretty easily in about five hours time if you've got the juice. Any number of trail combinations are possible. Get a good map and be prepared to explore, the trails are blazed very well. One map that shows the entire system can be downloaded here:
The downhills on the Colorado Trail, Gashouse and Sandy Wash are HUGE payoffs for your climbing efforts.
Recommended Route: Skip Pine Valley Ranch and ride out of Buffalo Creek. Park near the Forest Service Work Station on 126 near the intersection of 543/ Buffalo Creek Road. Get on 543 and follow the creek southwest to 725- Shinglemill, 724- Morrison Creek or 723- Tramway. All three trails on your left and climb to the Colorado Trail- 1776. Take the CT to 543 and turn right on the road, head over to 550 and make a left to Gashouse Gulch. Follow the signs, check the map. Take 726- Gasehouse Gulch to 727- Baldy to 730- Miller Gulch. From there you can keep going on Miller or access 728- Homestead to finish on 730- Sandy Wash. Once you return to the creek and 543 coast back to your car.
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