Mountain Biking Molas Pass, Silverton, Colorado
Yesterday we spent sitting in a car driving the Alpine Loop out of Silverton so we were ready for an active day where we could stretch our legs. We decided a day of mountain biking was in order and that we would check out a portion of the Colorado trail starting from Molas Pass. We parked at the Little Molas Lake trailhead and took the Colorado Trail to the east from there.
Our goal was to bike about 10 miles out and 10 miles back the way we came, making it a 20 mile round trip ride. The trail started out on the more mellow end of things and quickly began climbing. Beautiful views were immediate and soon we found ourselves on terrain that was more rolling in nature, which on the way back to the car really just made the trail feel like you were always going uphill.
The trail was rather steep and technical in some spots where we both found ourselves hiking our bikes to get around the feature. I would rate this trail difficult overall based on how technical some features were as well as exposure in certain parts. While I found myself walking a bit, there was nothing to complain about with how gorgeous the views were. Today we had some wildfire smoke that made the views a little bit hazy, but it wasn’t so bad that you couldn’t enjoy the views. We ended up turning around about 8 miles out - a little before the Engineer Mountain Trail intersection. There were quite a number of Colorado Trail hikers that we passed! It’s probably one of the prettiest sections of the trail.
After we turned around, it did not feel all downhill from there like many mountain bike rides do. Instead, it felt like it had much more uphill than we would have liked, and as I said before, it sort of felt like a ride where you were going uphill both ways.
Our decision to turn around ended up being a smart one as we started feeling some rain drops a few minutes after making it back to the car. We hustled back for the last few miles because we could see some dark clouds quickly approaching. Thankfully, we didn’t get wet, but we did get a free bike wash on the way back to the hotel!
Overall, it was a great day. I highly recommend checking out this section of the Colorado Trail. That said, it clearly wasn’t made with biking as the primary purpose so seeing it on two feet would be a great alternative if you ask me. We did cover more distance on bikes than we probably would have on foot though. Our mileage clocked in at 16.1 miles with 2000 ft of vert (it sure felt like a lot more than that…maybe my GPS was off? :) ). Maybe next time we’ll be back with backpacking backpacks on!
Such a fun day!
