Rico, Colorado is located in a narrow valley beside the Dolores River, around 20 miles or so generally south of Telluride. For two places so close, they couldn’t be more different. Million dollar 600 square foot fake Victorian “cottages” in Telluride vs. a town that, if you took a black and white picture, could in many ways still pass for the 1890’s. I was more comfortable in Rico, needless to say. We stayed three nights at The Mineshaft Inn, a hotel/hostel which is currently your only choice there. The other option for lodging was apparently bought by Telluride Ski Resort and turned into a dorm for the resort workers. The Mineshaft Inn has character, and we rented the entire place out.
Check out this cool old wood stove in the parlor at the Mineshaft. American made and old I am sure.
Thursday our ride leader took the day off, and we decided to ride Calico, the “feature” trail, I guess, if there is one in the area. Eilon on his 690 wanted to try some single track, and what better trail to take a beginner on a 330 pound bike? None of us had ridden it before and I can tell you ignorance is bliss, truly. We rode it from the upper end to the lower end, in mostly a north to south direction. The trail is 20 miles long and follows the ridge line of several peaks (Elliot, Sockrider, Storm) to the west of Rico. It starts around 10k feet and immediately climbs straight through the trees until you reach Elliott Mountain and the end of the treeline. The 690 did OK, but it was way too much bike for the trails, and Eilon was a bit whipped. We all pushed and pulled on it to get it up some steep climbs. We had only gone a few miles in the first hour. Soon, the trail became a shelf trail as it wound its way past 12K feet.
This is what it I call a shelf trail. It falls off 800 feet estimated to the right.
Then, this.
A rock slide took out part of the trail here and it was pretty uncomfortable crossing it. There is no way you would have stopped if you made a mistake and went off the side. I was in front of my buddy Joel, and had stopped while I fought off vertigo. He asked me what was going on, and I told him I was scared. He said he was too. Somehow that made me feel better and I got across—we all did with each other’s help. The trail went up to a peak and we stopped for lunch. We were maybe four miles into the trail.
Here is a bigger picture to give perspective. You can clearly see the rock slide area and see how far you would tumble. Yes, it has happened.
As usual, the views were incredible. Somewhere down there is Rico.
Looking north towards the Lizard Head Wilderness and the feature that gave said Wilderness its name.
We realized we had to get the 690 out and one of the other guys was ready too. Consulting our Lat 40 map, we took the East Fork Trail down two miles to a forest road. Eilon had a GPS so he was good from there and the other rider going back followed. We went right back up the way we came, two miles of a constant climb, not overly tough, but man I got tired hanging on. We got back on Calico and immediately had more endless shelf trail to deal with.
Around Storm peak, single track trails from all sides of the mountains converge like spokes on a wagon wheel. The amount of pure single track there is mind blowing. It would take weeks to explore.
It was getting later and after consulting the map, we took yet another single track, Burnett Creek Trail, back down toward Rico, It was a blast! It turned into a jeep trail eventually and came out right in downtown Rico. We had made it over halfway through Calico, having to help bulldog a 690 through it slowed us down some. Don’t worry, we will finish it.