Priest Gulch - Trail 645

Priest Gulch is a classic southern Colorado single track, with scenic mountain views and typical high alpine obstacles. The north end descends off of the South Calico Trail, snaking down through a pine forest on a semi-steep grade, with water bars and lots of challenging embedded rocks and roots. It rides through scenic aspen groves, with narrow side-hilling sections across wide open meadows, and a couple tight switchbacks. The bigger obstacles start after the first couple of miles. The trail has a series of big root bands and rocky boulder sections. Some are ledges, and some are rock gardens. Several heavy obstacles will challenge the average rider. The rocks start to feel relentless in the middle of the route and don’t seem to let up. At the three-mile mark, there is a significant root obstacle that has become dug out between root bands, which are spaced at an inconvenient spacing for tire placement. By the time your rear tire hits the root band, your front tire is jammed up against the next root band. This obstacle stays slick and slippery in the shade, and less experienced riders may end up having to push their bike up. You’ll go up this obstacle when riding the trail from north to south, even though you are mostly descending from north to south for the entire route. The last couple miles on the south end get easier again, going faster through meadows and following a creek. It straightens out and allows the rider to click up a few gears and maintain some flow. The trail is open to motorized use from 6/1 to 10/31.