Steamboat Suggestions

I'm not by any means a guru on trails around The Boat, but when I was there last year I hit up Coulton Creek, Scott Run, etc. trails in the area a bit northeast of town, near the town of Clark. I was with the wife, so did more like 10 miles, but the trail system was pretty extensive and I think you could easily make 15-20 miles out of it. The riding was mostly characterized by nice fast singletrack with some moderate technical sections. I don't think you could go too wrong riding out there. Also, someone's put out a nice topo map of trails in the area that I picked up pretty cheap at the bike shop in town. Might try to get back out there again myself this fall. Enjoy.

A real epic style ride is to ride the dirt forest service road all the way to Buffalo Pass, ride south on the Continental Divide trail to Fish Creek Falls trail back into town. The final portion I consider pretty darn technical, so, if that's not your thing, don't do this ride. I think it was about thirty miles round trip. You could save about 10-12 miles and 2,500 feet of climbing if you get dropped off up top.

I've also ridden (quite some time ago) around the Hahn's Peak/Steamboat Lake area northwest of town. The local bike shop set me up with a pretty tame figure eight type ride through gorgeous meadows and aspen stands.

I should also add that the technical, final portion of the Fish Creek Falls Trail ride is hugely popular with hikers. So, ride very couteous and attetentively.

Fish creek was awesome on Saturday, other than the 100+ hikers I saw. It is a better ride on a weekday when there are not so many hikers. If you are looking for something you can start in town any of the rides on the ski mountain will do. You can bike up the ski mountain, down the mountain view trail to fish creek or buff pass and loop back into town. Emerald mountain has enough trails to keep you busy for a while. The trails on Emerald Mountain can be short or long, and there are endless options, just no trail map. The clark area north of town has a bunch of riding options likr have been mentioned. What kind of rides are you looking for??

I suppose I'm looking for trails with a decent climb (1500 to 2500ft) and a sweet singletrack descent. Don't mind fire roads to climb, don't like descending on them.

Also looking for a ride that can be shuttled. Since the inlaws are in town, the wife sometimes doesn't want to take 3 hours to ride, and she will drop me off. (I can usually get two rides in on those days)

What time does the strawberry springs close? Last time I was up there, I remember them closing at 10pm. And nobody liked that.

www.strawberryparkhotsprings.com has info on hotsprings hours. As far as shuttleable rides go, Fish Creek is high on that list. You can get dropped off at the dumont lake area on rabbit ears pass and bike back to town by either the mountain, fish creek, or buff pass. There is some other stuff to shuttle off of buff pass, like Soda mountain and the power lines, but I am not sure how to give you directions to those over the internet.

My Wife and I rode from Dumont Lake North on July 1. Our intention was to link up with the Mtn View trail and then ride down the ski area. It was a bit early in the season and quite wet but the real problem were the hundreds of deadfall trees. We probably carried the bikes a mile out of the first 5. We ended up heading to the Buff via Fish Creek Res and then down to town. Either way the Dumont Lake trail #1102 would be a kick in the butt if the trees were cleared. Anybody know if that has happened?

thanks,

BeanMan

had a blast in steamboat!! Thanks for the trail suggestions, and it was nice to meet the guy heading down fishcreek falls trail. I rode the dumont lake then down the ski resort (pete's wicked->valley view) on saturday. Watch out for the cable!! Killer ride, however it seemed like I climbed a ton... What is that, about 25 miles?

We're heading back up in a few weeks, and I'll be sure to head down the fish creek from dumont lake next. probably a much better downhill than the ski resort...

Rumor has it that the local taxi company will drop you off at dumont lake?

Again, thank for all of your suggestions!!!

bikebum said:

had a blast in steamboat!! Thanks for the trail suggestions, and it was nice to meet the guy heading down fishcreek falls trail. I rode the dumont lake then down the ski resort (pete's wicked->valley view) on saturday. Watch out for the cable!! Killer ride, however it seemed like I climbed a ton... What is that, about 25 miles?

We're heading back up in a few weeks, and I'll be sure to head down the fish creek from dumont lake next. probably a much better downhill than the ski resort...

Rumor has it that the local taxi company will drop you off at dumont lake?

Again, thank for all of your suggestions!!!

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Damn! You got to ride Pete's Wicked! How was that??
I was up there for 10 days last week and every single day they were doing construction! I couldn't ride it at ALL!

Lucky

unfortunately, the trail was closed, however, I met a guy who rode it a day before me, so I had a heads up as to what to expect. The trail was sweet, and i knew they were woking on the lift up there, and there was a cable about 5 feet high crossing right over the trail. Scared the sh*t out of me, as i flew right under it before seeing it, and i was looking for it.

The trail was nice, but I would have preffered a better way down the mountain. Probably going to ride down fish creek next time I start at dumont lake.

Good to meet you on the trail and to hear that you had a good trip down the mountain. Fish creek was sweet as always. We are shuttling it from buff pass tomorrow after work again. I think one of the guys may be running a helmet cam, so I may have to post up video if we get some.