Living in Denver has its advantages for the Mountain Biker. We have many trails close to home, and even more located just into the foothills. Yet, we have heard a lot of good things about the Colorado Springs area, with some people swearing the riding is better down there than up in our neck of the woods… Is there any truth to this? Follow along.

On our way up, we saw an awesome convoy of electric trucks heading down to Louisiana/Texas to help repair the damaged lines from Hurricane Rita. They were lined up, at least 50 vehicles (although we jumped in somewhere in the middle of the line). It was a good omen to start the day.

We started with the long drive (ok, not THAT long – about an hour) to CO Springs, and we made our first stop in Criterium Bikes. This store is just off the highway, but more importantly is open early on a Saturday, which was our main concern. We spoke with one of the nice cats there, and he pointed us to the Captain Jacks trail area, sold us an excellent map of that area, and we were on our way.

Actually getting there wasn’t too difficult, taking another 30 minutes or so to wind our way up the narrow road, past Helen Hunt Falls, and finally to the Gold Camp Road trailhead. There were many cars parked here, but surprisingly few bikes were in evidence. It seems this area is also popular for hikers and families just out for a stroll. No sweat, we saw a few during our adventure, but not many. Solitude was the name of the game for most of the trails we were on, with only the odd hiker or biker here or there. Pretty nice, given how close to town we were.

We started out by heading west on the Seven Bridges trail, which is essentially just a flat railroad grade. We got our first taste of one of the hallmarks of this area, which is the pea gravel. Overall, the gravel is pretty easy to push through, but every once in a while you will loose traction going up hills, or get pushed off course a bit on the downhills. It was more a matter of always keeping your head on your riding…and problems could easily be resolved before getting messy.

At the first junction (going right) we began ascending Captain Jacks trail (or so the maps says). The grade is pretty constant, and overall was very rideable…except for those of us who don’t do well in the morning – and need a few extra stops on the way up. :) At the top there is an intersection where you can go left or right. We opted to go left into what would turn out to be a nasty section with a lot of gravel, and some mandatory bike pushing. Yet, on the same section we saw some fantastic singletrack, with some great photo opportunities with the leaves of fall starting to come out in force. Once we passed the nasty climb, this trail began to shine…

And then we made it to the next intersection, which is just after the stream crossing. This led us to a right turn and an awesome descent down Trail 666 (Bear Creek Trail). This trail took us into a large valley and the trail hugged the southern slope, it had some sweeping downhill sections, some tricky rock gardens, and some tougher slippery descents. Finally, near the bottom there are a few stream crossings to put the final touches on this exciting section of trail…

We wanted to hit as much as we could while in the area, so we proceeded down to the Palmer loop, which was recommended to us at the bike shop. This section starts out pretty mellow, with a gentle climb continuing for a few miles before reaching the top… along the way you pass a nice shady stream crossing which is a good place to catch your breath before the final pitch. Once the trail levels off you do some ridge top riding for a bit, before turning the corner and beginning your down. And what a blast it was! This downhill section took us a bit by surprise because the first part of the trail was so mellow. This section is a rocky, rooty, washed out mess! Never having seen the trail, we were a bit tentative, although we both pretty much made it with no problems down to the first really tight switchback. There we had to dismount to make the turn…and just past that turn there are some large rocks which surprised the hell out of us…and made for a tricky section. We decided to rest at that point and collect our wits about the cool obstacles we just cleared…

The rest of this downhill section is not quite as steep or as technical, but it is still a lot of fun and requires constant attention to avoid hitting the wrong rock at the wrong time and wiping out. However, we both made it down without incident, only stopping to take the occasional picture for the scrapbook. Making it back to the road, we saw a sign for Section 16 – which we still aren’t sure what that means exactly…although this loop might be called Section 16 AND Palmer Loop.

At this point, we knew we had some climbing in front of us, as we needed to get back up to Captain Jacks to finish out that trail. Yet, this was about 3 miles and 1500’ up the Gold Camp road…made all the more difficult by the large amount of traffic that rolls along this dirt road, providing plenty of dust for you to inhale along the way. This climb was not fun at all, although was plenty do-able in the middle ring (2-1, the lowest gear for me). At some points it was necessary to pull off to let cars pass, and if you got into the pea gravel all forward momentum would stop. Just sort of a lousy climb.

Yet, it turned out to be worth it, as the rest of Captain Jacks was a lot more flowy singletrack than we had seen that day. There was a lot more gravel here, but the higher speeds meant it wasn’t as much of a concern as we could just float over it. This section was really a ton of fun, and had some very interesting sections carved out of the pea gravel. We pretty much stayed on this trail until it reached the bottom…and it was over way too soon. The final stretch was along a lower section of Gold Camp Road, this time it was a railroad grade, and overall very flat. We had two tunnels to pass through to keep things interesting before making it back to the car.

So, what do I make of the trail system in this area? I think the best thing about it was that it was different than anything up near Denver. Riding on the hard packed and loose gravel is just a different sensation than riding on solid trail. And as such, we really felt like we were getting our money’s worth riding on something we hadn’t seen before. Other than that, I can say we had an enjoyable day, but I can’t say it was better or worse than a day of biking near Denver. Any day on the bike is better than any day doing anything else. :)

It is definitely worth checking out, and I’m sure we’ll be back. We’ve heard good things about some of the trails above Captain Jacks such as Jones Park and the Pipeline. Those will be our next stops!

Full spread of CO Springs pics in the gallery.