North Routt in the fall, what a pleasure.

 For those of you who know me you know I recently relocated from South Routt County to North Routt County. For about the last month and a half I've had the pleasure of exploring the Clark/Hahn's Peak area as my free time has permitted and have been absolutely loving the riding. Colorful locals, named single-tracks, unnamed single-tracks, ATV/OHV chunk trails, MOTO trails, Jeep tracks, dirt roads, peaks, valleys, lakes... they all come together to form a little known slice of heaven between Steamboat Springs and the Wyoming border and form some of the ribs of the Continental Divide. The best part being that it's now all accessible right out of my driveway!
     Now, here's the cherry on the sundae... I also moved in just as autumn was arriving, and North Routt is renowned for it's autumnal display. It's been a while since I posted so I figured rather than doing individual ride write-ups ad-nauseum I'd opt to get things going again with a photo collage overview of this fall's riding in and around North Routt County. Hope you enjoy the eye-candy. I know I did while riding it!

Hahn's Peak Lake

Willow Creek Pass

Sand Mountain from RCR62

A snow capped Hahn's Peak in the distance from RCR62

Steamboat Lake/Sand Mountain backdrop from FR410 above Hahn's Peak Village

Pedaling through beautiful Aspen groves on FR490.A on Hahn's Peak

The Zirkels in the distance from FR490.A on Hahn's Peak

Colorful display on FR403 just east of Clark, CO

A magnificent display looking towards the Zirkel Wilderness from FR468

More colorful Aspen groves on FR 468

Another nice display on FR468

Unnamed singletracks to explore through golden fields.

A snow capped Farwell Mountain from Pearl Lake. I had summited Farwell on my bike just a few days before the snow hit.

My trusty steed at Hahn's Peak Lake.

Zirkels in the distance from FR411 on Hahn's Peak

Steamboat Lake from Hahn's Peak

Majestic views on a gorgeous fall day from FR 411 on Hahn's Peak

More majestic views on a gorgeous fall day from FR 411 on Hahn's Peak

The foot side of Sleeping Giant(Elk Mountain) can be seen in the distance in the center of the photo, taken from the summit of Beryl Mountain next to Hahn's Peak.

Poking around at the edge of the Flat Tops

Well, it's fairly early spring here in the greater Steamboat Springs area which makes it time to start assessing the rideability one of my favorite places to do some gravel grinding, the Flat Tops Wilderness. With peaks and parks that extend up over 12,000 feet of altitude I had no doubts that I would be stopped at certain points due to snow pack but alas, one must try. Here are a few shots from a 62 mile ride that took me up every dirt road that accesses the Flat Tops between Oak Creek and Yampa.

Rio Blanco County Road 8, The road to Dunckley Pass

Entering Rio Blanco County climbing towards Dunckley Pass

Just before the end of winter maintenance on the road up to Dunckley Pass

Just a few miles up the road is closed still in early spring

Descending back down to the valley from the road closure

For anyone interested in more detail on this ride the full details are available here.

New Pedals!

Upgraded my pedals today to a new set of Shimano XT's!

Welcome!

The infamous first blog post.... hmmm... This blog will be a learning experience and an attempt to document some of the adventures my life may take me on, mostly related to biking and bikepacking. Welcome everyone and I hope you find some of this useful.