Bikepacking the San Juans with Paul Bikis
The San Juan’s are a young mountain range just outside Durango CO and a premiere destination for mountain bikers across the globe. We set out for three days to ride rugged alpine ridges, dense aspen forests and technical mountain country - covering over 75 miles of trail. The terrain proved to be unpredictable and gave us a little bit of everything. We learned the challenges and benefits of bikepacking over backpacking, got pretty tuckered but persevered through natures elements.
On the first day we rode up Hermosa Creek Trail to intersect the Colorado Trail at Hotel Draw. We had originally planned to start at Molas Pass but on a day ride before the trip we found that there was too much snow to start that high. The ride was around 30 miles and climbed about 5000ft. Clouds passed over giving us glimpses of sunshine as we loaded up on water before climbing to the ridge top.
We found it was nice to mix the technical trail with a little bit of road riding, allowing us to take off our packs and pedal lightly. The rolling valleys were peppered with changing aspen trees below.
On day two we started with a series of rolling ridge tops along the Colorado Trail. It was a great mix of moderate climbs and steep technical decents. We climbed high into the remote mountains giving us views of the snow-capped Needles Range across the valley.
We hit snow just before Indian Trail Ridge as we climbed up to 12,000 ft. The wind picked up and it stared to snow sideways on us as we crossed the most difficult and exposed section of trail. Riding was nearly impossible but we kept our spirits high with music, dance breaks, and sheltered cuddle piles.
We were all grateful when we came over the last crest and saw Taylor Lake in the bowl below. That would be camp for the night and the beginning of our long descent back down to Durango.
The morning greeted us with sunshine and blue skies. The energy and spirits of the group were high knowing that we had 6000 ft of descent ahead of us.
As we rode through the keyhole on Kennebec Pass we thanked the mountains for allowing our safe passage. Then we dropped our seats, turned the shocks to party mode, and began our final descent back into Durango.
The ride down was full of color as the autumn aspen trees shed there leaves and other shrubs prepared for winter.
Follow Paul’s adventures on Instagram at @pbikis
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