Trail Overview
Bear Gulch Trail is a 4 mile long intermediate single track through the Gunnison National Forest. It’s a scenic and challenging route that is a mix of flowy dirt single track through beautiful aspen groves, and big technical rock problems. There are frequent rock gardens made of big boulders, with uneven gaps and holes between the rocks that make it tricky to cross. The trail climbs steeply up the mountain for the first half, and then descends down through similar terrain for the second half. Riders have to go both up and down several blunt rock ledges and drop offs with no bypasses. The rock obstacles are spread out all throughout the route, but you do get lots of flowy and easy sections in between the obstacles for a break. The east side has some of the trickier rock obstacles, as the trail climbs up a gully that is wet and muddy, lined with mossy rock walls, and exposed in spots. It’s a really scenic spot on the trail, with unique obstacles that will be a good challenge for the average rider. Expect lots of slippery roots, steep climbs and descents, constant rock gardens and ledges, and the potential for downed logs.
Difficulty
This is an upper intermediate difficulty due to frequent challenging rock obstacles all throughout the 4 mile long route, including big boulders/rock gardens, blunt rock ledges, tall drop offs, and steep rocky climbs. This trail is very physically demanding, but you get some flowy singletrack segments as breaks in between the obstacles.
