Ned/Eldo/Caribou Flats/Rainbow Lakes Look

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From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids

Despite the crappiest surface ANYWHERE, this is still an awesome ride. A nice warm up to the old town of Eldora before the climb up a very worn out 4x4 Forest Service road. You kind of get the sense that the FS really justs wants this thing to get back to nature. It is rough, loose, semi technical in places, and big elevation gain. Walking up the 2 or 3 steep, loose pitches isn't even an option: you just gotta get off the bike on those. I did cut off a couple of the gnarly stretches by just riding through the pines. But they are too tight in most places.

From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids

The drop down to Caribou Flats is so beautiful! Grand scenery. I took the spur that goes up to the flank of Arapahoe Peak but it peters out to a hiking trail just before the end. There's a little cabin up in there that looks to be a little heavenly hide away.

From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids

From 2012 Mobile Pics and vids

The stretch to Rainbow Lakes Rd was full of water holes! It must have been way drier the other time I rode this. There were at least 5 crossings of mud pits where I just had to hope that it wasn't too deep or filled with loose rocks. They all were passable though a couple of them were well above 2 feet deep!

Over at the Sourdough Trailhead area, I took another spur that looked intriguing. It's on the south side, a bit east of the parking area. It reconnects with Rainbow Lakes Rd but along the way you get great views and there is definitely good camping hidden away here with very little visitation. Neat.

After I left here, the skies opened up! And the lightning struck! It was a wet and somewhat scary stretch down the old railroad grade road, exposed to the clouds for a lightning strike.

All in all, this is a grand ride. If only the south end of 505 were a bit smoother.

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