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Doctors Park
5 reviews
4.4 of 5
Begin riding north from Granite (approx. elev. 8350') on Spring Creek Road (a/k/a Rd. 744). Ride about six miles north, climbing to about 9700'. Pass Deadmans Gulch Trail (No. 744.1C) on your left at a bend. Continue on the main road about 1/2 mile, until you see a descent to the right and down to Spring Creek with a doubletrack on the other side. You'll have to ford the creek. . . .
Climb the doubletrack (Tr. No. 554.1) until it intersects Trail 550. Veer right and climb fairly steeply (eventually you'll reach 10875', which is where I took the photo on this page). At some point the road either turns off onto a singletrack or becomes one; I don't recall exactly. You're now on Doctors Park Trail (No. 424), and you'll cross an alpine meadow that I assume is Doctors Park. At some point on the singletrack (whether before or after the meadow I don't recall) you'll reach a junction where you can go left and climb or right and stay level. There's a sign there, and I believe it refers to a spur. Veer right (I believe that's the spur, but I'm not sure). Continue south several miles on Trail No. 424. There is some steep and occasionally technical descending as the trail meanders south. Watch out for steep dropoffs; in places the trail is about six inches wide with a steep plunge to the left if you lose your footing. . . .
When you've descended to perhaps 9500' or 9000', you'll enter beautiful aspen groves. The trail climbs a bit in places, but it's mostly downhill. The final half-mile or so is a steep, loose descent that will test your bike-handling ability. If tired, be careful; there is no shame in walking down a steep section if you feel unfocused or not skilled enough to clean it. You'll reach a campground. Go west on a wide road to Granite. . . .
Parts of this ride are remote. If you do it, tell someone your route and when you expect to be back. Although I've picked "advanced" for the skill level, much of it is fine for intermediate riders, and they can walk the difficult portions of the descent.
From Gunnison, take Colo. 135 about 10 miles north to Almont, then Taylor River Road (a/k/a Rd. 742) to Granite. From Crested Butte, take Colo. 135 about 13 miles south to Jacks Cabin Cutoff, then east on the cutoff (Rd. 813) to Taylor River Road. Turn left toward Granite. Park in Granite fairly near the intersection of Taylor River Road and Spring Creek Road (a/k/a Rd. 744). Parking legally in Granite is not as easy as one might think for such a tiny hamlet; you may have to park some distance from the intersection.
Summary: There is some awesome singletrack in the descent down to the Taylor River, mostly in the middle section through the aspen groves. But the top part of the single track is so narrow for it's hard to give it the speed it deserves. And the bottom part is loose, dry, and steep. The really sweet part of the downhill is not worth the 2500 foot climb mostly on boring dusty road. I can only give this trail 3 chilis.
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Summary: I absolutely loved this ride. It was a great climb (100% rideable) followed by a great dowhnill singletrack.
My only dissapointment is that I only had time to do the main route. From looking at the map and checking out the singletrack at the high point, one could find countless ways to expand this ride.
The dowhnill was fast and flowy. Not what I would call technical, but still the kind of ride that keeps you grinning from ear to ear. I highly recommend this ride
Recommended Route: you can follow the main route recommended on the crested butte mtb website, or get creative and explore the matchless mountain area.
For a long ride, you could join this loop with the reno/flag/bear/deadmans loop.
Other recommended trails in the same area: get a guidebook and start from there
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Summary: Folks, this is may be the best trail in Crested Butte area (20min from CB). It has it all.
The road ride is a mellow and meditative spin. Couple huffs but nothing major. The sound of Spring Creek is quite hypnotic. Not much car traffic which is nice change from 401, which can be a mighty dusty.
Look for the unsigned (summer 05) doubletrack climb accross the river on the right after the signed left that leads to the backside of the Reno/Flag Bear area (if you are an absolute nut, you could conect those rides in with Doctor's... maschocists only). There are a couple of tumble down cabins at the beginning of the climb. The water can be swift and will definitely be cold, so on guard.
The climb is tacky and fun. Somewhat remenscient of the Strand HIll climb but a grade harder. The soil in this area is unique and grippy... you'll like it. It is a hot and exposed grunt. Go right at the intersections. It is easy routefinding.
Up top you'll have the usual unreal CB views. This is the good stuff. The flowers in the area however, don't match the classic CB rides. But you won't find more buff singletrack (upcoming, anywhere, possibly in the state, and I've been looking). Soon you're on the singletrack pictured with this review. Nothing special, rooty, freshly cut. Wait.
After a ripping pitch through a meadow, you come to a very unique technical, off camber section. The is some good exposure and less than expert rides will be walking (or should be). This goes on for a good 20 minutes... at this point experts will be stoked and the rest frazzled.. you're 12 miles in here.
And now the goods. A huge buttery rip through the aspens. Classic big ring nirvana. This section will make you get religon. Do it.
The final 2 mile plunge is through a dry switchbacking section to the campground. Again, less than experts will be walking. If you can nail this section though it provides the over the top finale.
You need to do this ride. 7/10 for aerobic, up to 8/10 for technical and 10/10 overall. Enjoy.
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Summary: Spring creek road from start is actually a moderate-easy- nine mile climb with two small hills to the intersection with dirt road 554-(the road markers are gone). The river more or less follows the road the whole nine miles.The turn off is the dirt road going up a canyon just off the right side of road at the nine mile mark.Follow dirt road 554.1 uphill for five miles-(500ft)-(staying right at all intersections)until you come to sign for doctors park. The area is called doctors because of a mine called doctors.You will come to a intersection in forest,go right.After 14 miles of dirt road you are finally at trailhead and at 11,181ft and maganese peak.The first mile takes you through a small meadow and down through switchbacks and steep traverse. Once you reach the valley below you have four miles of sweet smooth fast single track to the finish.Another way would be to ride the first four miles up from the end of trail and just ride the sweet single track.The very end of the trail has some steep switch backs.Acclimatizing is something to take into consideration or going at a slower pace.
Recommended Route: Described above.Submitting a few pictures; can view at search trail pictures.Do this ride.
Other recommended trails in the same area: (Flagg,reno,bear).Upper loop to Strand hill,401,snod grass.
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Summary: The singletrack deserves five stars. I'm giving the ride four stars because the riding on Spring Creek Road is uninteresting. The road does pass through a beautiful gorge, however, so the scenery is great.
One nice thing about this ride: I doubt any motorcycles could safely go on the singletrack portion, and I didn't see any. I did see a couple of ATVs on Spring Creek Road and the doubletrack on the other side of Spring Creek.
Recommended Route: If you see a duplicate of this trail on the website, it's because in the other one I incorrectly referred to Spring Creek Road as No. 722 rather than No. 744. I reposted the trail here to correct this error, but it's possible that both trail descriptions will remain on the website.
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