Thursday, September 04, 2008

Two Elk and Meadow Mountain trails

I was able to get out of town for Labor weekend for a couple rides in the Vail valley. On Saturday we rode Two Elk trail via Shrine pass road and Bowman's Shortcut off of Vail pass. The climb up Bowman's Shortcut is pretty brutal but rideable. The reward is the view at "The Top of the World":
Dave set Beau up with a new Turner 5 spot. He broke it in well on this trail!

The descent past Vail's back bowls was beautiful with plenty of flowers still in bloom.

When we got down to the Orient Express lift, my camera battery died. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the technical parts of the trail in the gully leading to Minturn. It's the kind of riding we're used to riding around Lyons; lots of rocks, some steep exposure and some hard falls!

On Monday Beau and I got out again and rode Meadow Mountain from Eagle Vail. This trail had a steep 2000+ foot climb for the first 4.5 miles. This part of the trail was especially craptacular:

We took a break at this near mint condition homestead at the top. The single track started to the right of the cabin.
This is where the real fun started! The single track was twisty and tight through the aspens.

I'd definitely like to hit this trail again before the snow flies. Below is the route we took and elevation gain.

I put the icing on the cake by riding a lights mandatory Tuesday night ride. 3 rides in 4 days, what's not to like about that!

3 comments:

redstone said...

Yup, 2 Elk is definitely a sweet ride. Meadow Mt looks purdy darn good, too. I'll add that to my list of Vail area rides I've got to do :) thanks Tree!

debaser said...

It's been too long for 2 Elk for me. I've got to get back.

-b said...

Hey Tree, I'm glad you checked out the Meadow mtn ride. I'm actually inclined to like that ride over Two Elk.