Sargents Area Ride 10/6-10/7 2001

Four of us rode in the Sargents, CO, area on Saturday, Oct 6. We met at Shirley Site. SteveV brought his new 2002 KTM400 4-stroke. Yes, Charley, there is a Great Pumpkin.

The temps were cool, just right for riding. After riding parts of the Crest Tr, Agate/Lime turnoff, Elk Run, and some two-track to Nelson Cr, we headed for the Summit Trail.

MikeT and SteveV rode Tank Seven, which has been greatly improved this year by the FS trail crew. DudleyF and I boogied on some old logging roads. After meeting again on the Summit Tr, we headed up to the Skinny Tr.

The trail was dry, so some of the uphills were a little dicey.

The backside over to the Bonanza area down through the aspens was great. The leaves had all fallen, so the trail was littered with 'pieces of gold'.

Eventually we wandered down to the west Rainbow Tr for a quick trip back to the trucks. 65 miles for day one was not too bad. Steak dinner at Rick's Patio was followed by bench racing and chocolate mousse. An early bedtime brought dreams of trails to come on the morrow.

Sunday we drove to the county yard at Daly Gulch (near Sargents). Four riders suited up for another cool day, and we were off. Daly Gulch, Quakey Mtn, Waunita Cr Tr, Can Cr Tr, and the back way to Pitkin.

SteveV and Rick

Jay goofing off at the water feature

We drove down to Ohio City, then up Willow Cr Rd to the Willow Ridge turnoff. The two-track up the ridge is steep, and the dry ground made for slippery going. Eventually, we reached our prize: a 'new' trail.

I found this trail last month while scouting for the COSF01 but was unable to ride it due to the lateness of the day. MikeT was obsessing about riding it, so here we were. The trail has had very little motorized use. It wanders north, and at first, I thought we were heading down to Gold Cr, but the trail eventually led back to Willow Cr Rd.

The trail had no sign showing its name (it DID have an open-to-motorized use sticker), so we christened it Hidden Willow Tr. The sign at the north end was 20 feet off the road and not easily visible, unless you knew where to look. This trail is the third motorized one that we found this year that is not on the Gunnison FS map. Will there be more next year??

After a snack, we rode part of Alder Cr Tr (the second new trail of the year), then rode up Willow Cr Tr to Fossil Ridge Tr. We passed a couple of outfitters preparing to haul food and supplies to a small hunt camp further up the trail. Fossil Ridge Tr was its usual scenic self, and I even enjoyed the downhill switchbacks at the east end.

Fossil Ridge

We rode some dirt roads to Pitkin, then wandered around on Malcolm's horse trails before heading back to the horse camp and Canyon Cr Tr to Whitepine Rd and to the trucks. We finished with 90 miles on the odo. It was sprinkling lightly on the last mile to the truck but then stopped. The weather was fantastic all day. We had seen some snow flurries to the far north, but they never reached us. We saw many deer, and I almost hit an elk when he crossed a gravel road in front of me.

I'm sure there'll be a few more riding days here and there in the remaining fall season, but watch out for the predicted early snow.

As we say, it doesn't get any better than this. Until tomorrow!

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