#401trail

[thejoshuascott]

Getting a weekend breather at elevation. 📷 @internationalmanofbeer #weekendfun #colorado #401trail #ridebikesdrinkbeer #8wired #crestedbutte #ridebikesbehappy #mtb #bike #cycling #mtbapparel #getoffthecouchandgooutside #outdoor #outdoorinspiration #mountainshred #findyourhappy (at Trail 401) https://www.instagram.com/p/BndzXgzjMUT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mjtkvqbo7m16

[gabeofiesh]

Last one. For today. Sorry I'm not sorry. #mtbcb #401trail

[cbmr-blog]

Feature Hike #2: Rustler’s Gulch Trail

Hike Time: 45 Mins – 1 Hour

Difficulty: Intermediate

Hike, bike, run, and camp your way to Rustler’s Gulch Trail located just past Gothic Mountain!  As you make your way to the trail, you will travel through the unique and historic town of Gothic, an old mining town now used as a biological laboratory.  Don’t forget your camera as you will be surrounded by unbelievable views.

Continue for another 6 miles past the town of Gothic before turning right on Rustler’s Gulch Road.  Here, you must cross the East River by foot or vehicle.  Depending on the height of the river and type of vehicle you drive (SUV highly recommend), be cautious before crossing as you do not want to ruin or damage your vehicle.  We were driving a Subaru Outback and had to turn around and park before crossing by foot as the river was too high. 

Once past the river, travel another mile before reaching the Rustler’s Gulch Trailhead!

Now that you have made it to the trailhead, take a moment to look around and snap some photos of Mt. Baldy, Mt. Bellview, and the East River Valley just south of you.  The views are magnificent here and words do not do justice.  As you begin the hike you will eventually come across a beautiful view of Precarious Mountain standing at 13,306 feet.  Continue a little further down the trail and you will run in to some beautiful waterfalls.  Catch your breath, take some photos, and relax here before heading back down.

Do you like to camp?  Gothic Campground is a great place for you to set up camp before making your way to the trailhead.  Here at Gothic Campground you will experience amazing views of the East River Valley, making it an ideal spot for a beautiful sunrise or sunset. 

Also, bring your mountain bike along as Rustler’s Gulch trail nestles up to the world renowned 401 trail.  Whether you are looking to explore the 401 biking trail or you are wanting to get off the beaten path and do some awesome camping in one of the most beautiful spots in the Gunnison Valley, Rustler’s Gulch Trail is the ideal place to get lost.  So get out there, have fun, and make memories!

[trentbonaphoto]

#pedalfasterFriday @cbshabo rails a dusty corner on the #401Trail. #mtb #CrestedButte

[afemalesolotraveler]

MTB

All I can say about my latest weekend getaway in CB is wow. Just Wow. It's such a good feeling to see an obvious improvement in something new to me. I spent 16 years doing pretty much the same thing over and over again (ballet) and sometimes feel like it's next to impossible for me to be good at something new. I have horrible self esteem when it comes to picking up new--and particularly athletic--endeavors. Even living on a mountain all winter, I felt slow to improve upon my skiing and snowboarding skills. Largely that was because I almost never got out on the mountain, but even so, I hit a plateau pretty early on and it was so hard to get over it. Now, almost 3 months into biking season, I have been downhilling only 3 times and on an XC track 2 additional times only. I moved here to work hard and play hard. Somehow, I'm only getting the first half of that scenario and it sucks. It's killing me to stare at the mountains all day and hear about my friends' days riding while I'm working at this crap job with bosses that don't understand why young people pick up everything to move to the mountains. That's why bailing on work for 4 days and hoping on a bike was such a welcome reprieve. I felt bad for oh...two minutes, then never looked back. I got to ride a full day on the trails at Mt. Crested Butte. It was my first lift-access day and it was crazy fun. I felt myself improving on each run, and didn't have any gnarly run-ins or toss-offs. I stuck to the green trails for the first half of the day, but even after one run, the easiest of those were feeling too easy. Got to the intersection and chose the path that was described as being more of the downhilling feel with berms and jumps versus the pedaly XC style trails and was hooked. Mt. CB is an easy place to learn how to ride and practice standing up out of my seat (not an easy thing for a road biker), and to start to practice scoping out trails, obstacles, and gaining speed. I moved up to some blue runs and enjoyed feeling the wildflowers whipping my legs and arms and improving my technique for turning while weaving through thick aspen growth. Day 2 we shuttled up Schofield Pass in the Gunnison Wilderness to ride the famous 401 trail. Holy. Crap. Way out of my comfort zone and worth every second. We hiked up to almost 12,000 ft and the views were worth pushing a crazy heavy bike up the side of a mountain. I got to see Castle and Conundrum peaks for the first time (two 14ers) and was awe struck at the view at each and every turn going up. As soon as the downhill started, I knew I was in for a few tosses off the bike. I managed to only take one spill that earned a scrape when my tire got stuck in between two rocks in one of the stream crossings. That earned me one wet foot and a very non-impressive arm scrape/bruise. It's weird, I don't know if it's that I'm moving too fast to process the thought of careening off the side of a mountain while moving rather fast through a single track on the side of a mammoth mountain side, or if it's just that I'm more comfortable on a bike--any bike--thanks to so much road biking, but I'm braver rolling through this than I have been on any new, mountain-based adventures. I partly have the AT to thank for that one, too. I'm so used to staring at trail at this point that it's second nature, but still, I'm rather impressed with my bravery after this weekend. Maybe, too, it's partly that I had zero chance in hell of keeping up with the crew that I was with, which includes the extreme badassitude of the Harmony's (hopefully more on them later because they are rad to the max indeed), Brett's complete comfort with throwing himself down nearly anything, and Couch and Nico's obvious ease with a bike. I was left alone to negotiate my own lines and was forced to build my skills on my own on the fly. The 401 trail was a hell of a place to start learning, that's for sure. In the milliseconds I was left to think about anything other than not hitting a line weirdly and being thrown off a cliff, I got to thinking about how I'm really not opposed to working for my fun. Going uphill never seems that bad when you get to fly through terrain I couldn't imagine rolling over even while cruising down a road for 900 miles with a full load. Being able to go with a group that was enjoying everything probably even more than I was because this is what they live for made it even better. Even as we were getting poured on, out of breath, eaten alive by mosquitos, bike parts wiggling a little too much, squeaking a little too much, sore from the day before, we were all smiles. I cannot believe some of the shit my bike went over and I'm still very much learning to trust the gear below me, but I'm so ready to scrape myself up more if that's the thrill I know I can get out of it. I'm a total view whore and mountains are my catnip, so mountain biking is turning into a necessary tool in my arsenal so I can go further faster and see more. I'm so pumped that I'm picking up on it faster than expected and extraordinarily grateful that I have a team of great coaches to help me along. I'm thinking my bike purchase in Durango will be a mountain bike first and road bike second, so I can spend my week or so off there hitting every trail I can get on. I have a week in Angel Fire where I can use the mountain everyday, and I plan on doing that, even if it's just for a run or two. Maybe with all this practice, my very recent dream of hiking the CT then turning around and biking it back might become a reality. It's worth dreaming about. Hey, life is for living.