57 Mile Elliott, Colorado Creek

Last Local Ride for 2012

Still lots of snow on the ground, the temps are staying above zero and no club ride planned, so it was posted on the FST site that we should do a ride in the Whites. Well ask and you shall receive, 4 of us meet at Hilltop at 8:00 AM and had a good breakfast, then drove to 57 Mile Elliott and the Colorado Creek Trail.

When we arrived it was 22 (f) above and the sun was out with promises of a nice day and we weren’t disappointed. The trail was last groomed by BLM the week before but the trail was in such good shape you’d of thought they had just done it.

The plan was for an 80 mile (give or take) loop going to Colorado Creek Cabin, Borealis-LeFevre Cabin, then on to Windy Gap Cabin, run by Wolf Run Cabin and back to the rigs. The start was excellent, as I said and we had a groomed trail all the way to Colorado Creek cabin. Once we turned off onto the Big Bend Trail the snow started to get a bit skinny from all the wind, but we still had a decent packed trail.

After we passed the Borealis-LeFevre Cabin the snow picked up again but so did the overflow in spots and we had to run on ice for about a mile just before the Windy Gap Cabin. From there we headed back east towards Wolf Run and had a variety of snow conditions from nice and deep to windblown and skinny.

By time we got back to the rigs it was 5:00 PM and 41 (f) above. We all agreed it was an excellent ride for the last local run of the season. I figure by next weekend the snow will either be gone or slushy ice. So the next trip or two will be down towards Cantwell or Summit, but I think I’ll be digging the ATV’s out in the next week and get ready for the Memorial Weekend get together our new president has called.

So enjoy what time you have left and start planning for the mud and dirt.