Our last day was to be spent getting in some shuttle runs on Mt Eldon. Not the double blacks since we didn't bring the bikes for that, but there are some awesome trails on this mountain for all levels of rider. Rather than camp out and have to spend time thawing out in the morning, we decided to get a motel6 room so that we could get an early start riding in the morning. Temps were near freezing in town, but interestingly temperature inversion meant that temps were closer to 70 at the top of the mountain, perfect for riding with a nice breeze.
LAP 1:
Lap 1 took us up to Mt Eldon lookout, a drive I had not done before. The road up is short at 4mi but rough. 406 would sit out lap 1 while Kreechan and I would try to figure out a good route back down
A gate stopped us from driving all the way to the top, bastards!
But the extra credit was worth it, rewarding us with excellent views nearing 360 degrees. Looking north and east:
Looking west and south:
The trail from Eldon lookout down to Sunset trail was chunky and steep, not exactly ideal for biking with tight maneuvers around rocks.
But the views and the aspens we rode through were incredible
Most of it was ridable. The only hiker we saw all day we met up here near the top.
He thought this trail was not rideable on bikes, so we had to prove him wrong
More traversing through aspens
There was some really tough climbing at elevation, from the aspen grove up to this ridge. Most shuttlers don’t do this part due to the climbing and chunk factor & time required, but it was a cool experience once.
Things open up once we’re on the open ridge
The views especially, were excellent
Lots of chunky trail awaited us on the descent down Sunset
Aspens were lighted up by the sun in places
Flow was good too
We soon started dropping below the tree line and found a boulder field that offered some fun rolls
There were a few lines to choose from
And once through, was a fast rolling descent that made up for all the climbing we had done earlier
We then climbed up to another saddle
It wouldn’t have been so bad but for the elevation
On the north side however it was pretty much all downhill, all flowy, and all fun
Kreechan enjoying Shultz Cr trail
An alternate line offers a drop into a g-out
LAP 2:
A view from the back side of the peak we saw the day before. Lap 2 took us back to the top. It was my turn to sit out this lap while 406 and Kreechan would do the same run as before, less the extra credit to the lookout.
The view was no less stunning the second time up
The boys were off!
On the drive down I check out a drop on Wasabi trail we’d seen from the road. Paging QS!
At the bottom I decided to check out Rocky Ridge trail while I waited
It started off with a smooth and flowy descent but soon turned into a rocky technical climb
While fun, it took nearly an hour and I was 30 min late getting back to the truck for the next lap
For this one we headed up FR522. Kreechan would sit out and retrieve stuff from the hotel while 406 and I would ride Riccochet to Secret Tr to Supermoto to Schultz Cr.
Ricochet was a little hard to find but we soon picked it up and found it to be little ridden, but a fun rocky technical trail
It would weave up and down around rock, logs, and drops
It was not very flowy but fun nonetheless
Lots of short tricky sections to keep things interesting
Once we found ourselves on Secret Tr there was a bunch of climbing before the trail leveled off and we could get our flow on
Most of secret was a fun up and down trail too, but the challenge was enjoyable and we soon found ourselves on a part of the trail we rode last year
This “dragons back” section was memorable, but easier this year in the dry
This climbing section was also tricky. You must dodge rocks here, and then get to a couple very hard moves up some rock step ups. After a few tries I was able to conquer all of them, which I could not do the last time here.
406 makes it past the hard part
406 liking the singletrack
Passing a cool waterfall section
And this tricky corner
We have nowhere near the trouble this corner gave us last year
My turn on another banked turn
No pics on the last bit of trail as we were running late. We hit some singletracks at the bottom that per 406 “did not suck at all”. In fact, none of the trail here sucks and it is definitely worthy or more time here. We were off back to SD before 4pm, and were back at home shortly after midnight.
While the N Rim probably isn’t worth a trip all on its own, its definitely a worthy addition and in reach of a trip to Gooseberry or Flagstaff. I’d like to go back at some point and check out the AZ trail on the N Rim, not to mention all the other stuff in Flag that we didn’t get to. Too many trails, too little time!!!
