Basically, south. Trail numbers are included in the video. I would recommend getting a map of the area from Latitude 40. I have no affiliation with them. They just have great maps that are very durable. I've gotten to where I take pictures on my phone of the areas we intended to ride so that I can zoom in on the picture without having to get readers our. (Yep, I'm that old.)

I purchased a 300 2-stroke two years ago (300 XC-W TPI). I enjoyed it, but for the CO terrain, I personally feel that the 350 4-stroke is the better bike (350 XCF-W). And I'm 100% certain that some in my own group will disagree. I didn't grow up riding 2-strokes. The 4-stroke just has more low-end, immediate torque which is handy when riding slow, technical terrain. I'm going to give the 300 2-stroke another go this year but it will either become my back-up bike or I'll sell it for another 4-stroke. We shall see.

We refueled in Aspen. Just don't be stupid on the pavement in town and you should be fine. No guarantee of that, obviously. We've been twice and had no problems. One trip we even stopped for a bite, parking 6-8 bikes on the road. We backed the bikes up to the curb to better conceal that most of them weren't plated. Had the same experience in Telluride the one time we made that trip, including passing a Constable at a Stop Sign who was very chill. One of the guys in our group even stopped to talk to the guy. Enjoy the ride. It's a LOT of fun. P.S. If you get an oversized Acerbis aftermarket tank on your FI bike, you don't have to worry about refueling. ;-)

@@singletrackscott1053 Thanks for the quick response!! A couple more answers might ease my anxiety 🙃 1. It looks like the trail ends at a gondola, how do I get to the paved road from there? 2. What's the approximate distance & time each direction?

It is. It’s in Hot Springs.

"Closed for Restoration" trails are usually barricaded with rocks and trees, and are marked as such. To my knowledge, we rode no such trails (nor would we). Can you provide a timestamp of this video where you contend we rode such a trail?

Thx for the clarification.

My friend and I are going to be in this area and want to do this hike! How bad was it? We are not experienced hikers…but we would love to try!

Agreed, and will try to be more attentive to this issue. About the only time I ride off trail is to get video of my group riding by, which is hard to do while on trail if its a single track. There was one video (Rosebud Gulch Trail) where several riders are seen way off-trail, but those guys aren't part of our group. No clue who they were; just someone passing my group.

Pros and Cons of each. If you take the toyhauler and base at the campground at Taylor Reservoir, you're right in the middle of everything. Trails in every direction, you've got gas available and food options. That said, you can find some decent places to stay through VRBO either in Pitkin or South Crested Butte that don't require trailering. If you don't mind trailering, there are some cabins in Ohio City (I'm staying at one in July), and there are hotel rooms in Gunnison where you have more food options. And if you want to ride the Alpine Loop out of Lake City, starting in Gunnison is a lot closer than starting in Pitkin or South CB. If you want to ride from CB to Marble, being in South CB is closer. Guess my final answer would depend on how many are going, what are you riding (bike, ATV or UTV), what type of riding are you looking for (leisurely, technical, etc.), and how important is food variety?

@@singletrackscott1053 Just me and the wife she will be on a quad or 50 inch utv we are older late 50s i can ride hard techincal for about 5 hours at this age lol i love technical but will be limited since i cant get any of the guys i ride with willing to do this trip FYI i hate riding miles and miles on just dirt roads

@@concreterepairspecialists9926 If just the two of you, I'd take the toyhauler and stay at Taylor Reservoir, which is sort of the hub of that area. If you stay in Pitkin, Almont or south Crested Butte, you end up riding "miles and miles on just dirt roads" to get to some better terrain. (That said, if you had to choose between those options, Cement Creek (from south Crested Butte) is soooo much better than either Spring Creek Road (from Almont) or Cumberland Trail (from Pitkin). Cement Creek has diversity in the trail and is much more scenic. If you're at Taylor, you'll have some road to get back to anywhere, but you'll have more options. Slaughterhouse Gulch is a great trail for both of you. If you want a challenge, you can ride up and over Cumberland and then double back on Napoleon Trail (wife can either join you on Napoleon or take Cumberland back over and meet you). From Taylor, there's a short ride up to Mirror Lake that is road, but Mirror Lake is really pretty. (Take a fishing rod.) And you can take the money you save by not getting a cabin (some of which will obviously be spent on gas pulling the toyhauler) and rent a jeep at Lake City. The Alpine Loop will take you all day in a Jeep but its beautiful and it gives your butt a break from the saddle. ;-) Hope that helps!

PS Don't knock being in your 50s. Some of us are there too. Age is just a number! (BTW, Gunnison has a great ER ... or so I hear.)

Yes. www.latitude40maps.com/

www.latitude40maps.com/

Neither. A newbie. He hasn't been on a bike since that trip. And the bike he was riding belonged to me.

38.8998192,-106.586237

When riding from Taylor Reservoir, if you get to Rocky Brook Road, you missed the trail head. Although you can jump onto Doctor Park in a couple places off Rocky Brook Road.

Thankfully it doesn't happen often. ;-)

I agree completely. Probably my favorite ride. Glad you enjoyed it.

Seems I'm always on the receiving end of those puddle splashes. Gotta work on my technique!

BTW, the offtrail riders from 6:18 to 7:00+ aren't part of my group. When the video starts, I allow all of the guys in my group to go past to get footage, i.e., I'm bringing up the rear in my group. All those riders starting at 6:18 came from behind me. Can't control what other people do. Lot of people riding in Colorado in August.

I would think it would be doable if you go slow enough. Being lifted and having larger tires wouldn't hurt.

@@singletrackscott1053 awesome thank you!

@josh What timeframe will you be out there? I plan to be in the same area. Do you have a group going?

@@haroldbleemel8537 not sure on timeframe yet. May do pre rut or during but scouting it next week to determine. Have three others going with me. We plan to hike deeper into wilderness

What about you?

You just did! What can I do?

@@singletrackscott1053 I’m headed up to Taylor park / crested butte are and I’m try to put together some all day loop rides for intermediate level rider (60 y/o ) On a KTM 500. We’re staying in Almont. Thanks for any help

@@jackstrawfromwitchita5978 you looking for scenery or techincal or both? Are you looking to ride from where you're staying or is trailering an option? (And I'd strongly recommend pickup up a Latitude 40 map to help with the planning.)

What single track did you find that was more than you felt you could handle? That'll probably make it easier for me to answer your question.

Obviously the FI bikes handle altitude better. No more jetting issues. On virtually every one of my videos, I'm on a 2015 KTM 350 XCF-W. I do not have a Rekluse because I like being involved in shifting, but I ride with guys who have a Rekluse and swear by them, and they are very good riders. I'm also a big fan of the FI 350 in terms of power, weight, and fuel economy. I can handle 100+ miles on my stock tank without any worries. There are two guys in my group who were on WRF 450s who are both now riding 350s (one switched KTM and one to a Husky). Now, all that said, I have sitting in my garage a 2022 KTM 300 XC-W that I've owned for about 4 months but have yet to ride. It's my first 2 stroke bike. I plan to take both bikes to CO this August. We'll see which one I prefer.

@@singletrackscott1053 thanks for the info The Sherco is fuel injected and fairly close to power of the 350 ktm. One guy on our trip saod he thought the sherco had a little more but we had just pulled him and his submarine out of the water crossing in arkansas. Is yours street legal? Thanks Doug

@@douglasbegnaud1 mine is NOT street legal. As for Arkansas ... #WPS!

I think the legally correct answer is yes, you should be plated, but my experience has been that if you aren't riding wheelies down main street and are just riding to a restaurant or to get gas and you're being considerate and obeying traffic laws, you get left alone.

I have the 350 XCF-W. Sips the gas (100+ mile range on stock tank), lots of low-end grunt. Does pretty much anything I ask of it. Love the bike.

There are honestly so many "fingers" on that lake that it shouldn't be hard to find some calm water, even on Labor Day weekend. I know that (34.5758946, -93.4546503) is known as wakeboard cove but it's pretty narrow and there are always boats anchored. Another cover that's a bit wider but shorter is (34.5609204, -93.4554835). While I'm not certain about this location, my buddy who owns the houseboat in the video parks it at (34.6218577, -93.3914776) which is on the inside of a peninsula so that you don't get the waves pushing your boat around and the front of the boat looks out into the open water. Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend!

Parts of it, yes. It's a very tough trail.

@@singletrackscott1053 Timberline is fun, I felt Star Trail was a bit more technical but equally as fun. I would pretty much try any trail out there. I mostly ride single track in Central Texas, rocks, without the elevation.

@@jasonbehr7144 I rode Star last year with a group where I played the role of sweeper (riding last, making sure we didn't lose anyone) and we had one guy in the group without much experience on a dual-sport who rode slowly; the kind of slow that actually hurts you in terms of endurance. I'd love to re-ride Star without that issue.

Funny you should ask. I didn't grow up riding so I figured a 250 was the place to start. My research suggested that 4 strokes were less maintenance and since I'm anything but a gear head, that sounded perfect for me. My first bike was a 2004 YZ250F. Yamaha had a 2 year head start on the other Japanese manufacturers on 250 4 strokes and they'd gotten good reviews. Loved loved loved that bike. Rode it all over Colorado, learning to feather the clutch to control throttle engagement. But when I bought my 2015 KTM 350 XCF-W, it was a game changer. Obviously a bigger bike in terms of engine size, fuel injection and the magic button ... electric start! I had no idea when I was riding the YZ how much of a wrong bike it was. Now, all that said, at this very moment, I have in my garage a gorgeous 2022 KTM 300 XC-W. I've owned it for about 2 months and it has 0.2 hours on it. Just haven't had a chance to take it anywhere to give it a test ride. Still have the 350 4 stroke. I'll keep it as a backup bike for Colorado (we always have one, just in case someone has a breakdown) and, if the 2 stroke isn't my thing, I don't think I'll have any trouble selling it. So, that's a long way to go to say I chose 4 strokes for maintenance issues - and there really have been very few, which I like (not counting the 2 times I've dunked the bike in the exact same location 3 years apart) - but I may be moving to the 2 stroke category soon. For what it's worth, I do see a LOT of 2 stroke KTMS in the mountains of Colorado.

The maps are available from Latitude 40. The cabins? Well, that's just good old fashioned internet searches on vacation rental websites.

Lewis, we have some "young bucks" in the group that tend to be in the front, hauling a** and looking for super technical terrain. The rest of us retaliate by making those guys wait on us. ;-). I'm all for some technical, but I also like to check out the scenery. The Taylor Reservoir area has so much to offer in terms of trail types. There's still a few of the single tracks we've not ridden but it seems every year, we stumble onto another gem.

I know a lot of people talk about Sargents (which I've not ridden) but the Taylor Reservoir area has a lot to offer, including this ride which is one of my favorites.

A quad will definitely limit you. We did it one year and I wouldn't do it again. It required planning two ride itineraries that we hoped to link up at some point but the rate of travel is so different, it was really hard. That year, we based at lower Cement Creek and planned a ride to Aspen and back. Bikes went up and over Mt. Tilton onto single track. Quads had to go around Tilton via Reno Ridge Divide Road. We ended up running into each other at the sign above Taylor Lake, the bikes on the way back and the quads never having made it. Even over the same terrain, the quads will travel slower. If the quads plan their own routes, it could work. If you tried to stick together, the bikes would miss out on some amazing single track. My $.02.