The town I grew up in, Cañon City, is on the Front Range about an hour east of Salida. It’s 60 twisting, turning miles down the Arkansas River through Big Horn Sheep canyon. Growing up, we called this stretch of Highway 50 “the River Road”.
I had been thinking of other places to ride near Salida and I remembered hearing about mountain bike trails in Cañon City. Having spent my formative years there, I was intrigued. There were no mountain bike trails when I was growing up, mainly because I’m old and mountain biking hadn’t been invented yet. Although I would argue that riding my stingray bike on the footpaths along the irrigation ditches that crisscross town with my cousins was some kind of mountain biking progenitor. We just didn’t know it.
This past week, I decided to head down the river to check it out. I got an early start from Salida and rolled into Cañon around 8:00 a.m.
The Cañon City trail system is called Oil Well Flats and is located just off Red Canyon Road north of town. It’s an area I am familiar with from the occasional family trips into Red Canyon Park and later in life from gravel rides up the Shelf Road to Cripple Creek. Driving up Red Canyon Road, it’s impossible to miss the impressive sign for Oil Well Flats.
At 7,000 feet, Salida is considered high desert. Cañon City has a similar climate but at 5,000 feet it’s hotter, dryer and definitely more deserty feeling.
I parked at the lower trailhead. My plan was to ride a clockwise loop of about 12 miles taking in the majority of the trails on the map. The first thing I noticed was the geologic/oilfield theme to many of the trail names.
From the lower parking lot, the trail climbs steadily until it breaks out of the trees into a meadow that appears to have been created by a long-ago fire. Cañon City is visible far below.
I didn’t know it at the time but my destination was the top of that mesa straight ahead.
No, I didn’t make it up this.
Shortly after this feature the trail pops out onto a 4WD road that curves around the back side of the mesa. A half mile later, the Island in the Sky trail forks left off the road. All the trails at Oil Well Flats were marked with signs with the exception of Island in the Sky but it was pretty obvious which way I needed to go.
The first part was through a dense stand of scrub oak. It was difficult to see the trail and my hands were constantly getting thwacked by branches.
Higher up the trail goes through a stand of piñons and larger pines. It started to look a little like Salida’s trails.
Breaking out of the piñons, I came to the only smooth, straight section of trail in the whole place. This leads to the climb up the backside of the mesa.
But no need to worry, the rocks came back soon enough, just in time for the climb.
Topping out on Island in the Sky with an outstanding view of Cañon City, the Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Cristos beyond.
Wrapping around to the business side of the mesa it became obvious why it’s a cliff. The thing is solid rock. The trail went from a mix of dirt and rocks to just rock. Sort of like riding on a broken sidewalk.
And then you get to the cliff, which is pretty darn spectacular. I’m not a great judge of height but I’d guess it’s a 200-foot drop straight down to dirt and probably another 400-500 feet down to the valley floor.
The views from the cliff were a nice reward for the climb and would have been the highlight of the day until something even better happened.
I had stepped off my bike to take some pictures and to try to figure out which way the trail went. There are no tracks on rock, so on most rock trails they set up cairns to mark the way. There were no cairns to be found, so I was walking along slowly, trying to pick up the trail. I looked down the hill and saw a large brown dog and thought to myself, there must be some hikers coming up the trail. I looked around and didn’t see any hikers, then looked back at the dog and realized, that’s no dog. That’s a bear!
It was about 50 yards away, slightly downhill. Holy crap! What do I do? Am I supposed to look big? Small? Am I supposed to be loud? Quiet? Run or stay still? How does the saying go? If it’s brown, do not frown. If it’s black, give him a snack? Crap, I couldn’t remember. What I did remember is that bears, like dogs, are scent oriented. The wind was blowing across us, there’s a good chance it doesn’t even know I’m here yet. Calm down. It’s not acting threatening. Pictures, I need pictures.
The problem with bears, I learned, is they look like big, dopey dogs. No snarling, no growling, no barring of teeth. Kind of friendly looking, to be honest. And that’s the problem. Bears disconnect what your eyes see from what you know is true. If shaped like friend, why dangerous?
I watched as it slowly ambled up the hill, tangent to where I was standing. Then, at the point it was directly downwind of me, it stopped and looked up. It was clear from its body language; it was now aware of my presence.
It was still about 50 yards away but something about locking eyes with a bear in front of me and a 200-foot cliff behind me told me that was enough photography. I put away my phone, picked up a grapefruit-sized rock in each hand (just in case) and proceeded to wave my arms and holler like a mad man. I remembered that most bears don’t really want to mess with humans. So that you don’t look like prey you want to look as big and as human as possible.
It looked at me for a few moments, then turned away as if to say, “idiot…” and continued on its way.
Ok, that was about as much excitement as I needed for one day. I got back on my bike and headed down the hill, constantly looking back over my shoulder, to be sure Mr. Bear hadn’t changed his mind about his lunch options.
Back on the bike, heading off the mesa.
Looking back at the mesa from the valley floor. My bear encounter happened in those tall trees on the far right.
Anticline was my favorite trail of the ride. Probably because it was mostly downhill, but also because it included a bunch of smooth technical rock features that were a blast to ride over.
Back to Tectonic Shift. Loop almost completed.
Back at the trailhead. Day done.
I really enjoyed riding Oil Well Flats. Cool trails, but definitely not for beginners. Rugged, technical riding. A full-body workout. The kind of riding that will hone your bike handling skills. It would be interesting to go back again to see if I could ride some of the more technical features I goobered up the first time around.
But for me, the most interesting thing was the feeling riding there gave me. I don’t know if it was the dirt, the vegetation, the smell of the air or the warm sun. But the combination brought me back to those days of riding my stingray with my cousins. Not so much a memory as a feeling. A feeling I hadn’t felt for many, many years. It’s hard to describe. Childhood maybe…
And that bear will be forever burned into my memory. I grew up in Cañon City for 18 years and visited my parents regularly for many years after and I never saw a single bear. Didn’t even know they lived around there. I’ve never seen one around Salida either. I had to return to my hometown for the privilege. Definitely worth the trip.