West Alder Trail - 798

Total Miles
4.0

Elevation

3,334.38 ft

Duration

1 Hours

Technical Rating

7

Difficult

Best Time

Summer, Fall

Trail Overview

West Alder is a fun and challenging single track in the Rio Grande National Forest near South Fork, Colorado in the La Garita Mountains. The south end of the trail enters a dense forest of pine trees with a high percentage of beetle kill. The forest has thin little trees that closely line the trail, sometimes making a tree pinch not much wider than your handlebars. The beetle kill results in a lot of small downfall over the trail. You'll likely have downfall at awkward heights, like little downed trees at head height you have to duck for, or a foot above the trail. The trail tightly curves through the forest, with some embedded rocks on the surface. It gets rockier as you go north, having to ride over a bunch of embedded small boulders. There's a steep descent in the beginning down to a creek, which crosses through a grassy spot, and then the rest of the trail gradually climbs up 1,000 feet in elevation. It traverses across hillsides, through meadows, and goes in and out of the dense forests. It has a rocky slab section with ledges, embedded boulders, and small roots as well. There is a bigger rock ledge obstacle next to a scree field that is taller and more blunt which is more difficult. Later you'll ride through a rock pinch between a couple of big boulders that's easy to get jammed between. It crosses dry rocky ravine bottoms and side-hills across grassy hillsides on narrow rocky sections of trail. The north end of the trail ends on Alder Road, which you can take north to the West Alder ATV trail.

Photos of West Alder Trail - 798

West Alder Trail - 798
West Alder Trail - 798

Difficulty

This is a more advanced trail because there are constant rock features that will be challenging for inexperienced riders. This includes rock pinches, tall ledges, and just a constantly rocky surface that will tire you out over the 4 miles.

Technical Rating

7

Status Reports

There are no status reports yet for this trail.

Access Description

There are small parking areas along Bear Creek Road and Alder Road that can be used for staging and dispersed camping.

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