Purgatory/Animas on mountain bike?

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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rdp32
Posts: 443
Joined: 2/17/2014
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Re: Purgatory/Animas on mountain bike?

Post by rdp32 »

Eli Watson wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 10:43 pm The first few miles are chunky techy mostly downhill til you level off in some amazing flat meadows before dropping off again down some smooth but fast switchbacks to the River. Then you're alongside the River in annoying super chunky rolling tech and getting off to hike-a-bike at every uphill, then you finally get to some choice XC pedalling until the Wilderness boundary. You will hike-a-bike considerably more getting back to the car because not only is it uphill / you're tired / extra weight on your bike, but because it's too chunky. I can't remember a single section that had a noticeable drop off to the side that wouldn't compare to your average trail in Colorado for a rider of reasonable skill. I did the 42 mi from Purgatory and back in a day on my hardtail 29er, so that uphill on the way up from the River on the way back was brutal.
Thanks Eli. I would be doing a much shorter day than you or Justin; my plan would probably be to ride in from Purgatory and then hike up to camp in one of the basins (probably No Name, but maybe Chicago) for the first day of a 4-ish day backpacking trip. Then on the last day I would hike out from camp in one of the basins (probably Chicago, but maybe No Name or Ruby) and ride back up to the Purgatory TH. I can't tell from your descriptions if the bike would actually make it easier/more fun than just walking though! Sounds like it may be toss-up
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