Ride the Monarch Crest Trail

The Monarch Crest Trail has been rated as an IMBA Epic ride and is for sure an epic ride especially ending the ride with the Rainbow Trail. The Monarch Crest Trail is best ridden as a shuttle and begins at the very top of Monarch Pass just outside of Salida or Poncha Springs, Colorado on highway U.S. 50. The High Valley Shuttle service offers two shuttles a day at 8am and 10am for for a fee and it is best to call ahead and reserve a spot. The trail begins right at the summit of Monarch Pass at an elevation of 11,312 feet. You begin climbing for the first mile and a half or so and at which point you are up on a high alpine traverse and ride above 11,000 feet for about 11 miles. There are several excellent trail options off of this ridge including the Fooses Creek Trail and Agate Creek Trail, both of which offer some great descents and cut the ride a little shorter. The "standard" Monarch Crest ride includes dropping down to Marshall Pass, riding sections of the Continental Divide and Colorado Trail, down to the Silver Creek Trail which is an amazing descent through high-alpine meadows and dense forest along the Silver Creek. Once you finish descending the Silver Creek Trail you can bail out if you're too tired and take a dirt 4x4 road down or proceed to finish the ride by taking the Rainbow Trail all the way back to the road. The Rainbow Trail is really flowy, fast singletrack with a few short but steep climbs and is about 9 miles long and is worth every bit of effort. Once you finish the Rainbow Trail you are dumped out right on highway 285 and you can coast the last 4 miles or so back to the High Valley Shuttle parking lot where you began.