|
Reviews 1 - 5 (9 Reviews Total)
| View All
| Next 5 |
Review Date
October 15, 2007 Overall Rating
 5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5
Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once
|  |
Reviewed by: Guyechka
,
Weekend Warrior Summary:
Awesome trail! It has a little bit of everything. There are some creek crossings with rock gardens to remind you of the east coast, some riding through pines on buff trail, and some high desert portions to round everything out. While there are definitely some technical parts, they don't last very long. Put them together, however, and look out! Recommended Route:
Park off 285 just south of Poncha Spgs, just past CR 200. Ride up the dirt road and then left onto CR 201. This takes you to the Rainbow Trail trailhead. Ride back down on the Rainbow Trail to your car. It's about 19 miles roundtrip. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Monarch Crest, Midland, anything in Crested Butte.
Would you like to Comment?Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
|
 |
Review Date
October 24, 2005 Overall Rating
5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty
3 of 5
Technical Difficulty
3 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Once a week
| |
Reviewed by: lwmyers
,
Weekend Warrior Summary:
The rainbow trail is one of the premier singletrack rides not only in the arkansas valley but in the whole state. It is a singletrack ribbon that strecthes from monarch pass to just south of the trailhead for Crestone peak just south of Westcliffe. The seperate sections vary in distance and difficulty with most sections between 3 and 12 miles one-way, and is vitually all rideable for a skilled mountain biker. Can be combined with a shuttle for multi-day trips. Recommended Route:
For an introduction to this trail I would recommend the Bear creek to Methodist mountain portion. We do the loop this way: start by parking your vehicle at the national forest boundary cattle gate at mile 3.3 on cr 101 south of highway 50 just east of Salida. From this point ride uphill an additional 2.6 miles to the trailhead for the Rainbow trail, go west or right. This portion of the trail is very smooth, with a few roots and rocks, it is easy to go extremely fast on the downhill sections and there are some sharp turns and steep edges so control yourself until your familiar with the trail. After 6 miles of ups and downs in and out of drainages you intersect with cr 108, take it downhill or right. This is a screaming downhill ride with lots of large lose rocks and huge waterbars, tons of fun. From here I recommend taking powerline road, which is a seperate ride in and of itself, downhill to the east from cr 108 to highway 50. Then ride 1.5 miles back east on highway 50 to cr 101, and peddle back up the 3.3 miles along side the beautiful creek back to your vehicle. Takes aprox. 3 1/2 - 5 1/2 hours. Other recommended trails in the same area:
monarch crest trail to silver creek
monarch crest to greens creek
continental divide trail monarch pass to boss lake
colorado trail twin lakes to halfmoon creek
colorado trail mt. princeton to cottonwood creek
lookout loop in the ark hills east of salida
jones park downhill in colorado springs
palmer park in colorado springs
ute valley park in colorado springs
Would you like to Comment?Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
|
|
Review Date
August 30, 2003 Overall Rating
5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty
4 of 5
Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once
| |
Reviewed by: chefhearn
,
Downhiller
, from mpls Summary:
HOLY HUCK AND BUCK!!!!!
I have never done such a screamer in ALL MY LIFE!!!! Do yerself a favor and have one of yer loser buddies that don't ride drive ya to the top. This I guarantee will be the hussle of a lifetime. HUGE rollers, baby heads galore, river bottoms, and tree roots evrywhere!! If you are a gimp and get off by riding paved trails and you wear a singlette.....this is NOT for you, open 'em up and let it RIP!!!! Recommended Route:
Salida to Cotopaxi Other recommended trails in the same area:
ANY...you are in the FREAKIN rockies, for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!!
Would you like to Comment?Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
|
|
Review Date
July 2, 2003 Overall Rating
5 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Every few months
| |
Reviewed by: Mike Housh
, from Pueblo, Colorado Summary:
Most of the reviews of the Rainbow Trail start at Salida. The Rainbow trail runs from Salida to New Mexico. The best route is to go to Westcliffe and pick a trail head either north or south from there. The trail runs about 100 miles north and south. The trail also has connections to every valley to the west throughout the Sangre DeCristo range. The trails often follow portions of the old roads up to lakes and mines along the range. The trails range from fairly easy to very difficult. The scenery and peacefullness are absolutely the best to be found anywhere in the world, and are worth the trip.
Would you like to Comment?Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
|
|
Review Date
November 14, 2001 Overall Rating
5 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once
| |
Reviewed by: Fred
, from Denver, CO Summary:
There's plenty of climbing, don't get me wrong. But when it's only a fraction of the time, you know it is but a pinner percentage of the overall ride. Very nice high-mountain riding. That guy Rich, I don't know what he is talking about (Not a good sharer, probably. Hates Colorado snow too.). It was pretty busy when I was there, admittedly-- measured only by parking lot capacity in town-- but nothing that could take anything away from such a great ride. Recommended Route:
I did the shuttle from the junction in town up to the pass; took the long, sweet ride [mostly] down from there.
Would you like to Comment?Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
|
|
|
Reviews 1 - 5 (9 Reviews Total)
| View All
| Next 5 |
4.89 of 5
