Where is the best singletrack in the US?

[Tom Purvis]

"Per Löwdin" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > The Wasatch Crest trail can't be beat for the single best trail anywhere.
>
> Thanks, found it with a google and bookmarked it.
>
> (But each of the multitudes of riders who've done it think
> > that.) Matched, yes, but not beat. The Park City area ski resorts have lots of white-knuckle and
> > ear-splitting-grin singletrack.

I've ridden around Park City. It's very nice.

> The area would not bee too far from Durango and Crested Butte so it could fit in.

Per

Be careful making assumptions like that (Park City is not too far from Durango) from looking at the
map of the USA. Western Colorado and Eastern Utah together is a BIG area. And in July much of it is
hot, dry, and remote.

Park City to Durango is pretty much all-damned-day in a fast car. And during July and August, most
of it would be hotter than Hades. Not a bad drive, but a long, hard journey pulling a BOB trailer
with a mountain bike.

You are from Europe, correct? Netherlands maybe? Can you drive for 8 hours in one direction at high
speed and still be in your country? You can in Colorado. The highway distance from Durango to Denver
is over 600 kilometers.

I warn people who want to tour the American West by *car* that they should try to pick an area and
stay relatively local to that area for the time that they are on vacation. If you're going to do
this by hardtail-pulling-BOB-trailer, you should choose carefully the total distance of your
journey, IMHO.
--
Tom "pull a BOB across the Utah desert in July?" Purvis Salida, CO

 

[Craig Brossman]

"Tom Purvis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You could finish out by hauling BOBs over Trail Ridge road in Rocky Mountain National Park, back
> into the seething Front Range toward the airport in Denver. Or I think you could haul them over
> Rollins Pass and into Boulder (is there any Wilderness Area to cross there?)
Nope, free and clear from near the Winter Park resort all the way to Eldoro, not wilderness to recon
with. I would say it is all very rideable with BOB.
>
> I can imagine finding a week's worth of singletrack near Durango,

Without a doubt, assuming we don't have near the fire season we had last year. We lost several
trails around Missionary Ridge which may not open up this year because of danger of falling trees.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado

 

[Per LöWdin]

> Be careful making assumptions like that (Park City is not too far from Durango) from looking at
> the map of the USA. Western Colorado and Eastern Utah together is a BIG area. And in July much of
> it is hot, dry, and remote.
>
> Park City to Durango is pretty much all-damned-day in a fast car. And during July and August, most
> of it would be hotter than Hades. Not a bad drive, but a long, hard journey pulling a BOB trailer
> with a mountain bike.

I get your point. Hades is precisely what we would like to avoid.

> You are from Europe, correct? Netherlands maybe?

Sweden.

> Can you drive for 8 hours in one direction at high speed and still be in your country?

Yes, even twenty.

> You can in Colorado. The highway distance from Durango to Denver is over 600 kilometers.
>
> I warn people who want to tour the American West by *car* that they should try to pick an area and
> stay relatively local to that area for the time that they are on vacation. If you're going to do
> this by hardtail-pulling-BOB-trailer, you should choose carefully the total distance of your
> journey, IMHO

I think you are perfectly right. You have the phenomena with Americans travelling in Europe, trying
to see it all in a few weeks, or westerners travelling around all of India or China in a short time,
it gets rather pointless and superficial not least because they are constantly on the move never
getting any depth.

In a sense it is better to see more of less, and leave some room for spontainity, we particularly
don´t want to have a grand plan which determines every day.

On the other hand if the landscape is beautiful and the traffic moderate it is not unbearable to do
a few days on the road. It may be hot yes, on the other hand we cycled quite far in tropical or
semitropical countries, http://user.tninet.se/~ipg289h/fu99/MTB.html and enjoyed it.

Now, the US har turned up as an option. Seems Colorado, Crested Butte, Fruita, Durango, would have
some of the best singletrack in the world, and if we go we will go for that. Seems we will have
seven weeks and if we add anything to Colorado it would be either Utah or Yellowstone.

Per

http://user.tninet.se/~ipg289h/English.html

 

[Jd]

[email protected] (Dave) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> There is a San Juan hut system that runs from Telluride, CO to Moab, UT.
> http://www.sanjuanhuts.com/

He said "singletrack". That's virtually all boring forest service roads.

JD

 

[Jd]

"Per Löwdin" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Now, the US har turned up as an option. Seems Colorado, Crested Butte, Fruita, Durango, would have
> some of the best singletrack in the world, and if we go we will go for that.

Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less crowded.

JD

 

[Penny S.]

Per Löwdin wrote:
> Now, the US har turned up as an option. Seems Colorado, Crested Butte, Fruita, Durango, would have
> some of the best singletrack in the world, and if we go we will go for that. Seems we will have
> seven weeks and if we add anything to Colorado it would be either Utah or Yellowstone.
>
> Per
>

warning, Yellowstone is summer is RV hell.

Penny

 

[Bb]

On 17 Mar 2003 07:57:54 -0800, JD wrote:

> Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less crowded.

I wonder how much different that would be from Sweden, though. A lot of the enjoyment in
travel/riding is doing something different from what you've experienced.

I do think he's in for a lot of misery, though. You have to live in that heat for awhile to be
accustomed to it.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

[Bomba]

JD wrote:

> Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less crowded.

You're championing somewhere that isn't on your doorstep? Is this just a plot to keep the trails to
yourself?

 

[Per LöWdin]

"JD" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Dave) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > There is a San Juan hut system that runs from Telluride, CO to Moab, UT.
> > http://www.sanjuanhuts.com/
>
> He said "singletrack". That's virtually all boring forest service roads.
>
> JD

 

[Per LöWdin]

> He said "singletrack". That's virtually all boring forest service roads.

That is right, we are not to keen on forest service roads, are looking for endless winding technical
singletrack, epic rides, prefer it if it is not DH-oriented. Don´t care too much for rides where you
need body armoury and 6" of travel.

Per

 

[Sorni]

"bomba" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> JD wrote:
>
> > Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less
crowded.
>
> You're championing somewhere that isn't on your doorstep? Is this just a plot to keep the trails
> to yourself?

No flies on you, JH!

Bill "SoCal sucks, too" S.

 

[Notaknob]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> The season will be July and August.
>
>
One thing to remember is that this time-frame puts you smack-dab in the middle of fire season. The
best laid plans can easily be thwarted by a lightning strike or a Forest Service closure. You
should have some flexability in your plans. Another thing is that much of the country west suffers
from +38 temps during that time. If it was me, I'd plan for high-altitude rides or for areas near
the 49th parallel.

nk

 

[Jd]

Raptor <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> The Wasatch Crest trail can't be beat for the single best trail anywhere. (But each of the
> multitudes of riders who've done it think that.) Matched, yes, but not beat.

If that's a matter of opinion, you are entitled to it. If you are basing this on what you see as
fact, then you are sadly mistaken. I found the Wasatch Crest fun, but by no means the best trail.
Besides the crowd scene, you are never "out there". You can always see either Heber City, Park City,
SLC Metro area, or one of many manmade structures atop the ridges that serve alpine skiing. I'd rate
Avery Creek/Black Mountain in the Pisgah NF well above the Wasatch Crest, as well as a multitude of
other rides in the West.

> The Park City area ski resorts have lots of white-knuckle and ear-splitting-> grin singletrack.

Park City can be fun, but much of it is shuttle monkey served, so those trails tend to be torn up by
barneys in Darth Vader outfits on engineless motorcycles.

JD

 

[Jd]

bomba <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> JD wrote:
>
> > Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less crowded.
>
> You're championing somewhere that isn't on your doorstep? Is this just a plot to keep the trails
> to yourself?

Nope. If one delves further into NORTHERN California instead of just downerville and flake bahoe
there is plenty of great singletrack waiting off of uncrowded 2 lane highways. Use your imagination
and do something that most internet drones would never think of.

JD

 

[Penny S.]

JD wrote:
> bomba <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>> JD wrote:
>>
>>> Don't believe the hype. Northern California is much better and less crowded.
>>
>> You're championing somewhere that isn't on your doorstep? Is this just a plot to keep the trails
>> to yourself?
>
> Nope. If one delves further into NORTHERN California instead of just downerville and flake bahoe
> there is plenty of great singletrack waiting off of uncrowded 2 lane highways. Use your
> imagination and do something that most internet drones would never think of.
>
> JD

oohh.... the gold country; the redwoods, Shasta country, the coast range, ???

is that more like it?

penny

 

[Per LöWdin]

> Northern California

Can you be a little bit more specific?

Per

 

[Raptor]

JD wrote:
> Raptor <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>The Wasatch Crest trail can't be beat for the single best trail anywhere. (But each of the
>>multitudes of riders who've done it think that.) Matched, yes, but not beat.
>
>
> If that's a matter of opinion, you are entitled to it. If you are basing this on what you see as
> fact, then you are sadly mistaken. I found the Wasatch Crest fun, but by no means the best trail.
> Besides the crowd scene, you are never "out there". You can always see either Heber City, Park
> City, SLC Metro area, or one of many manmade structures atop the ridges that serve alpine skiing.
> I'd rate Avery Creek/Black Mountain in the Pisgah NF well above the Wasatch Crest, as well as a
> multitude of other rides in the West.

Certainly, if your goal is to get away from it all, the Wasatch Crest sucks. The views from it that
you note are a big part of its worth though. For variety of riding, variety of ecology, elevation
(3000' delta, 10000' top) and kick-your-ass exercise or skill building potential, it's terrific. And
it's 40 minutes from wherever you are in SLC.

>>The Park City area ski resorts have lots of white-knuckle and ear-splitting-> grin singletrack.
>
>
> Park City can be fun, but much of it is shuttle monkey served, so those trails tend to be torn up
> by barneys in Darth Vader outfits on engineless motorcycles.
>
> JD

I hardly ever see a DHer on the trails I ride. Most of these are too tight and twisty for
real bombing.

I admit I cannot be viewed as an expert on US mtb trails since I don't have near the
travels you have.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

 

[Penny S.]

here's a thought

this is the Lewis And Clark expedition bicentennial. The Lolo trail, while not single track, could
be kind of a cool ride. It's all various weights of forest road linked up to follow the route they
took over the bitterroot mountains on the Idaho/Montana border. Now granted it could be busy just
for the bicentennial.. but the history and all that are pretty interesting. Plus it's lovely country
and there are lots of hot springs. a permit will be required, but it's just to keep track of folks,
not a lottery or anything like that.

now here's another idea. The Idaho Centennial Trail ( nothing to do with the above) goes along
Rockies N/S through Idaho. There is a western portion and an Eastern portion on opposite sides
of the continental divide.You could pick it up outdoors Boise, and follow it north, picking up
the Middle Fork of the Salmon River trail. I'm pretty sure that AMB Idaho was on a portion of it
last year.

You need to check maps to make sure you don't hit the wilderness areas with your bikes ( big no-no)
but I just talked to a ranger today and Wild and Scenic River corridors in general are not subject
to the no bike deal. I've been looking at maps all day for other reasons, and this looks way cool as
long you can avoid crossing anything with "wilderness" designation, which looks easy enough to avoid
The only possible thing might be that portion of this wild and scenic corridor may the portion of
the Salmon that's within the River of No Return wilderness. Now I am pretty sure that a portion of
the trail that AMB-Idaho rode last year is part of this Centennial trail system. Now that was
sa-weet... you'd love it. (the portion along the Secesh river, for those of you who were there)

Keep in mind that Idaho has the largest chunk of contiguous "roadless" areas in the lower 48, much
of it us just national forest and not designated wilderness. I know there are miles and miles of
trails of there.

dang that is a good idea....

If you are even remotely interested, I can get the links easily. Penny

 

[Per LöWdin]

> > Besides the crowd scene, you are never "out there".

> Certainly, if your goal is to get away from it all, the Wasatch Crest sucks.

Well, in my experience the best singletrack is found close to major towns or in areas with a long
history of habitation and culture, never or rarely in true wilderness areas. The reason is quite
simple: the trails are made by people, a lot of people will make a lot of trails, whereas where
there are no people, there are no trails.

Per http://user.tninet.se/~ipg289h/English.html

 

[Penny S.]

Per Löwdin wrote:
>>> Besides the crowd scene, you are never "out there".
>
>> Certainly, if your goal is to get away from it all, the Wasatch Crest sucks.
>
> Well, in my experience the best singletrack is found close to major towns or in areas with a long
> history of habitation and culture, never or rarely in true wilderness areas. The reason is quite
> simple: the trails are made by people, a lot of people will make a lot of trails, whereas where
> there are no people, there are no trails.
>
> Per http://user.tninet.se/~ipg289h/English.html

Per, did you see my post about possibilities in Idaho... the beauty of the trails is that they have
been built specifically for recreational travel....
2/3/4/ day backpacks, horse pack trains and so on, and that they are in very good condition.

I think you'd have to bee there to see just how far away from habitation even the day use trails (
like the ones that AMB Idaho rode last year) are.

Penny