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Ashcroft to Crested Butte and back - Cher, Bill, and I left Boulder Saturday morning around 4 and drove to Ashcroft. A number of others, including Christie, Logan, and Karl, drove to Crested Butte the evening before. We were able to send camping gear around with them. We didn't start riding 'til around 9 Saturday morning, but the weather forecast was good.
We rode the famous and popular Pearl Pass. We came up with a few reasons why it's famous and popular:

it's high; at 12705' I've only ridden one pass that's higher (Imogene - 13114') and I can only think of two others in Coloroado that are higher than those two (Argentine - 13132' and Mosquito - 13186')
it hosts the oldest mountain bike event in the world, started in 1976
it's drivable so many more people have been over it than the (we found out later) far better Star Pass and Taylor Pass route

The ride is brutal. It was continuously steep from the Ashcroft side and very rocky in sections. We walked a lot. Then we crested the pass and walked a lot on the way down.
Exhausted from the ride, I was happy to have a fairly short ride for our rest day in Crested Butte. We car-shuttled our bikes up to Schofield Pass (10707') and rode the classic 401 Trail mostly downhill to where we had cold drinks waiting. Karl hitch-hiked up the pass to retrieve the other car while the rest of us enjoyed beer and wine in the shade.
Stubborn as we are, we stuck with Monday's plan to ride back to Ashcroft. Really, we didn't have a choice. It was the only logical way to get back to the car we left in Ashcroft. Bill drove back since he had to work, and under-employed Karl took his place. The weather forecast wasn't great so we snuck out of Crested Butte a little before 6 in the pre-dawn darkness.
The Star Pass (12300') Taylor Pass (11928') route ended up (as shown in the photos) being phonomenal. There's a lot of singletrack, almost the whole route is ridable, and it stays up high for a long, beautiful section between the two passes. I'd like to do that ride again in both directions.

Tags:   Cher id_node_id_68514 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_68575

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This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Ashcroft to Crested Butte and back - Cher, Bill, and I left Boulder Saturday morning around 4 and drove to Ashcroft. A number of others, including Christie, Logan, and Karl, drove to Crested Butte the evening before. We were able to send camping gear around with them. We didn't start riding 'til around 9 Saturday morning, but the weather forecast was good.
We rode the famous and popular Pearl Pass. We came up with a few reasons why it's famous and popular:

it's high; at 12705' I've only ridden one pass that's higher (Imogene - 13114') and I can only think of two others in Coloroado that are higher than those two (Argentine - 13132' and Mosquito - 13186')
it hosts the oldest mountain bike event in the world, started in 1976
it's drivable so many more people have been over it than the (we found out later) far better Star Pass and Taylor Pass route

The ride is brutal. It was continuously steep from the Ashcroft side and very rocky in sections. We walked a lot. Then we crested the pass and walked a lot on the way down.
Exhausted from the ride, I was happy to have a fairly short ride for our rest day in Crested Butte. We car-shuttled our bikes up to Schofield Pass (10707') and rode the classic 401 Trail mostly downhill to where we had cold drinks waiting. Karl hitch-hiked up the pass to retrieve the other car while the rest of us enjoyed beer and wine in the shade.
Stubborn as we are, we stuck with Monday's plan to ride back to Ashcroft. Really, we didn't have a choice. It was the only logical way to get back to the car we left in Ashcroft. Bill drove back since he had to work, and under-employed Karl took his place. The weather forecast wasn't great so we snuck out of Crested Butte a little before 6 in the pre-dawn darkness.
The Star Pass (12300') Taylor Pass (11928') route ended up (as shown in the photos) being phonomenal. There's a lot of singletrack, almost the whole route is ridable, and it stays up high for a long, beautiful section between the two passes. I'd like to do that ride again in both directions.

Tags:   id_node_id_68515 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_68575

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The batteries in my camera died after only taking a couple photos. These two hunters (father and son) gave me batteries so the photos start again here. The 14-year-old son had a deer permit. It was opening day for bow and arrow deer season. Pearl Pass is visible on the skyline in the left side of the photos.

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Ashcroft to Crested Butte and back - Cher, Bill, and I left Boulder Saturday morning around 4 and drove to Ashcroft. A number of others, including Christie, Logan, and Karl, drove to Crested Butte the evening before. We were able to send camping gear around with them. We didn't start riding 'til around 9 Saturday morning, but the weather forecast was good.
We rode the famous and popular Pearl Pass. We came up with a few reasons why it's famous and popular:

it's high; at 12705' I've only ridden one pass that's higher (Imogene - 13114') and I can only think of two others in Coloroado that are higher than those two (Argentine - 13132' and Mosquito - 13186')
it hosts the oldest mountain bike event in the world, started in 1976
it's drivable so many more people have been over it than the (we found out later) far better Star Pass and Taylor Pass route

The ride is brutal. It was continuously steep from the Ashcroft side and very rocky in sections. We walked a lot. Then we crested the pass and walked a lot on the way down.
Exhausted from the ride, I was happy to have a fairly short ride for our rest day in Crested Butte. We car-shuttled our bikes up to Schofield Pass (10707') and rode the classic 401 Trail mostly downhill to where we had cold drinks waiting. Karl hitch-hiked up the pass to retrieve the other car while the rest of us enjoyed beer and wine in the shade.
Stubborn as we are, we stuck with Monday's plan to ride back to Ashcroft. Really, we didn't have a choice. It was the only logical way to get back to the car we left in Ashcroft. Bill drove back since he had to work, and under-employed Karl took his place. The weather forecast wasn't great so we snuck out of Crested Butte a little before 6 in the pre-dawn darkness.
The Star Pass (12300') Taylor Pass (11928') route ended up (as shown in the photos) being phonomenal. There's a lot of singletrack, almost the whole route is ridable, and it stays up high for a long, beautiful section between the two passes. I'd like to do that ride again in both directions.

Tags:   hunters id_node_id_68516 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_68575

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This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Ashcroft to Crested Butte and back - Cher, Bill, and I left Boulder Saturday morning around 4 and drove to Ashcroft. A number of others, including Christie, Logan, and Karl, drove to Crested Butte the evening before. We were able to send camping gear around with them. We didn't start riding 'til around 9 Saturday morning, but the weather forecast was good.
We rode the famous and popular Pearl Pass. We came up with a few reasons why it's famous and popular:

it's high; at 12705' I've only ridden one pass that's higher (Imogene - 13114') and I can only think of two others in Coloroado that are higher than those two (Argentine - 13132' and Mosquito - 13186')
it hosts the oldest mountain bike event in the world, started in 1976
it's drivable so many more people have been over it than the (we found out later) far better Star Pass and Taylor Pass route

The ride is brutal. It was continuously steep from the Ashcroft side and very rocky in sections. We walked a lot. Then we crested the pass and walked a lot on the way down.
Exhausted from the ride, I was happy to have a fairly short ride for our rest day in Crested Butte. We car-shuttled our bikes up to Schofield Pass (10707') and rode the classic 401 Trail mostly downhill to where we had cold drinks waiting. Karl hitch-hiked up the pass to retrieve the other car while the rest of us enjoyed beer and wine in the shade.
Stubborn as we are, we stuck with Monday's plan to ride back to Ashcroft. Really, we didn't have a choice. It was the only logical way to get back to the car we left in Ashcroft. Bill drove back since he had to work, and under-employed Karl took his place. The weather forecast wasn't great so we snuck out of Crested Butte a little before 6 in the pre-dawn darkness.
The Star Pass (12300') Taylor Pass (11928') route ended up (as shown in the photos) being phonomenal. There's a lot of singletrack, almost the whole route is ridable, and it stays up high for a long, beautiful section between the two passes. I'd like to do that ride again in both directions.

Tags:   id_node_id_68517 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_68575

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This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Ashcroft to Crested Butte and back - Cher, Bill, and I left Boulder Saturday morning around 4 and drove to Ashcroft. A number of others, including Christie, Logan, and Karl, drove to Crested Butte the evening before. We were able to send camping gear around with them. We didn't start riding 'til around 9 Saturday morning, but the weather forecast was good.
We rode the famous and popular Pearl Pass. We came up with a few reasons why it's famous and popular:

it's high; at 12705' I've only ridden one pass that's higher (Imogene - 13114') and I can only think of two others in Coloroado that are higher than those two (Argentine - 13132' and Mosquito - 13186')
it hosts the oldest mountain bike event in the world, started in 1976
it's drivable so many more people have been over it than the (we found out later) far better Star Pass and Taylor Pass route

The ride is brutal. It was continuously steep from the Ashcroft side and very rocky in sections. We walked a lot. Then we crested the pass and walked a lot on the way down.
Exhausted from the ride, I was happy to have a fairly short ride for our rest day in Crested Butte. We car-shuttled our bikes up to Schofield Pass (10707') and rode the classic 401 Trail mostly downhill to where we had cold drinks waiting. Karl hitch-hiked up the pass to retrieve the other car while the rest of us enjoyed beer and wine in the shade.
Stubborn as we are, we stuck with Monday's plan to ride back to Ashcroft. Really, we didn't have a choice. It was the only logical way to get back to the car we left in Ashcroft. Bill drove back since he had to work, and under-employed Karl took his place. The weather forecast wasn't great so we snuck out of Crested Butte a little before 6 in the pre-dawn darkness.
The Star Pass (12300') Taylor Pass (11928') route ended up (as shown in the photos) being phonomenal. There's a lot of singletrack, almost the whole route is ridable, and it stays up high for a long, beautiful section between the two passes. I'd like to do that ride again in both directions.

Tags:   Cher id_node_id_68518 id_perms_bryan_public id_album_68575

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