Mountain Biking – Mineral Creek Stamp Mill

Got off the road and on to the trail for some change of pace.. Got a new saddle. First time to really take this bike out on a local trail and beat it up as it is typically relegated to studded tires for winter riding.  Certainly not a high end mt. bike but works fine.

Mineral Creek behind town offers a pretty straightforward ride along an old mining road for a nice 16 mile RT from the doorsteps.

MB1

MB2

But it doesn’t take long to get rough. The avalanches from Jan ’14 have pretty much made the road impassable…again. I found in interesting that most the remaining debris were large boulders scoured from the earth and carried down the mountainsides in huge avalanches. Here I pass through the debris of the Mile High Couloir.

MB4

Clean debris line.

MB7

Some tunneling through trees.

MB3

At the end of the trail is a stamp mill that hydraulically smashed rock for gold taken from the hillsides above the mill.

MB5

Had to carry the bike a few times.

MB6