Dyke Trail MTB Ride

Back in September, we spent a long weekend in Crested Butte biking in the beautiful fall leaves.

On our way over from the Front Range we rode Doctor's Park, then headed to Crested Butte where we found a great campsite next to the Slate River northwest of town.

Purple Mountain from our campsite:

The next day we started out with the short ride of Strand Hill. In the past we've ridden Strand from town,  requiring lots of road miles and the upper loop, neither of which I'm particularly fond of. In retrospect, I wish we had added Echer to the ride, but it was still gorgeous:

After riding, we headed west to the Dyke Trail in the afternoon, which was one of the most beautiful experiences in recent memory.

From town we drove west on Kebler Pass to the turnoff to Lake Irwin, hopped on our bikes and headed up the road towards Irwin. Just past Lake Irwin a left hand turn onto a small spur road brought us to the start of the Dyke Trail, and 6 miles of beautiful, moderately challenging singletrack. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Eventually, we met back up with Kebler Pass at Horse Ranch and headed back east on the road to the car.

This ride was out of this world. The changing leaves on the huge old growth aspens were literally breathtaking. Even the ride back up Kebler Pass was so beautiful I barely noticed the climb. However, we did this ride right at sunset and the traffic on Kebler was still significant. If possible, do this ride early in the day or during the week to avoid the crowds.