Author: Brittany Walker Konsella

Salida is probably more known for its riding off of Monarch Pass along the Monarch Crest. While variations of the Monarch Crest are certainly awesome, Salida also has some great other riding options. Back in mid-Septemeber a front was passing through and I didn’t want to ride in the pouring rain, or potentially snow, in Crested Butte. I was looking for a good desert ride that was not too far away from home and the Arkansas Hills Trail System, off of the S-Mountain, fit the bill.

The first weekend in October took us to Aspen for our friend Jordan’s Wedding. With it being peak leaf time over there and the forecast looking pretty good, we planned for some adequate time for riding. Day one we landed in Hay Park outside of Carbondale. For days 2 and 3 we ended up enjoying the company of riding with our Carbondale-based friend Ann. For day 3 Ann thrilled us with a ride of epic proportions on Red Table and Basalt Mountains. Day 2, however was a bit more mellow, sticking to enjoying the fall colors while mountain biking in Snowmass on more established trails. The riding was fantastically beautiful and amazingly fun.

Mount Sopris has always fascinated me. Before I was even a backcountry skier and paid attention much to that sort of thing, Mount Sopris caught my eye. Rising over 6400 feet from Carbondale at the valley floor with it’s twin east and west summits both sitting at 12,953′, Sopris is simply the Queen of the Valley.. It’s vertical rise reminds more of what I’ve experienced while skiing volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve loved Mount Sopris for all the fabulous skiing that it has to offer, but now I love it for the biking too.

The Alpine Tunnel is something we definitely here about in these parts. And, rightly so! It’s a huge engineering feat, especially for being built in the late 1800’s. Years after closure of the tunnel, the tracks were largely removed and a road was formed in its place. Today it’s a AWD road, but with its moderate railroad grade, this road is also great for biking – perhaps even more-so this year than in previous years as the upper part of the road has been closed to cars due to road damage from a recent landslide.