It’s summer, and that means it’s time to do one of my favorite in-town rides, the Cottonwood Loop. The Cottonwood Loop is in the Arkansas Hills north of Salida. From town it’s a 20-mile round trip involving an eight-mile gravel ride up to the trailhead, followed by a twelve-mile single-track descent.
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Mid-November. Still too early to ski. And while the higher-altitude trails are beginning to be snowed in, here in town the riding is great.
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And for the ten of you who occasionally glance at this blog, thank you for your patience.
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This past Thursday, I decided to head up to Buena Vista to check out what they have to offer in the way of mountain bike trails. I had never ridden in BV but I know they have a network of trails in the Arkansas Hills similar to Salida’s. The trails are the creation of the Buena Vista Singletrack Coalition and their website has maps and information to help you orient yourself. The Midland Hill section on the south end of the network looked promising and I plotted out an eleven-mile loop for my introduction to BV mountain biking.
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Long before it was a mountain bike town, long before it was a hiking town, long before it was a camping town, Salida was a river town. Every June since 1949, pandemic years excepted, they have held an event called FIBArk, for First in Boating in the Arkansas river, to celebrate the river and those who love it. That first event was a single race of 57 miles from Salida to Canon City. Twenty three entered, only two finished. These days, FIBArk is a full-blown four-day festival with multiple races on and off the river, music, food and all types of white-water shenanigans.
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When I’ve mentioned to my new neighbors that I’ve been riding the dirt roads and trails in the Arkansas Hills a couple of them have asked, “Have you been to Turret?”
Huh? Where?
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Whoa, two posts in one day! Our snowshoe adventure in the previous post actually happened yesterday but I just got around to organizing photos and posting it. This happened today. I will be returning to my regular haphazard “schedule” starting in 2021 so don’t go getting used to this twice a day thing.
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