The new Spartan West and East trails were completed late last week, and have already seen quite a bit of user traffic over the Memorial Day weekend – we hope you enjoyed your outings!
We want to thank Arrowhead Trails (Spartan East), and Tony Boone Trails & Tango Trailworks (Spartan West+) for building two really nice new 2-way non-motorized user trails for SMT. Spartan West ended up being close to 1.4 miles long, and Spartan East close to 1.7 miles. Add the very short new connector from the Little Rainbow trailhead to the Double Rainbow trailhead and we now have 3.3 miles of brand new trail on Methodist Mountain.
Both Spartan trails have relatively easy grades (a few spots might require granny gear), a slightly wider trail tread, are mountain bike optimized, and should answer some of the demand for easier trails near Salida. While both roll & flow through the pinion trees, Spartan East offers great views of Salida and S-mtn, and Spartan West offers impressive views of the Sawatch Mountains. The new West trail allows for mountain bikers, those who ride up County Road 110 from town to Little Rainbow, to get off the road sooner and have a quiet ride going up the hill (200 vertical feet in almost 1.5 miles) instead of more washboard and cars on CR110. In reverse this trail is a blast, with lots of rolling twisty trail, some berms, and bigger turns. Please do control your speed as you will likely encounter other users.
Spartan East has only 100 ft. of vertical gain/loss, crosses the Skull trail, and connects into Little Rainbow towards CR108. This trail should pedal a little easier, and the trail bed has quite a bit of inslope and tilt in places to steer riders along the trail in a fun way. One of the features is a large bowl shape area that contains a spot with some of the biggest trees in the Methodist Mountain trail system.
Ride these new trails from town to get off county road 110, or park at the 110 trailhead and hike, run, or ride from there, and perhaps do a loop via Little Rainbow. We don’t recommend parking at the lower CR110 crossing, the 110/Little Rainbow TH is much better for this, with overflow parking towards the Double Rainbow TH, and is a safest spot to unload dogs, bikes and/or kids. Note: the bottom of Skull is already a no-parking area.
Please be aware that the trails are currently very soft in places, especially Spartan East which crosses several dry washes. Over time, with use and with some moisture, both sides should pack down quickly and form a narrower track. If you haven’t used your fat bike in a while this might be a good time to get it out. It will float across some of the deeper sand and gravel, and will cause less frustration in the worst spots. Your SMT project lead thinks it’s the perfect tool for that job right now.
A big thank you goes out to all our SMT members and supporters, as you make it possible for SMT to hire professionals to build trails properly and quickly, and also to the BLM for approving our trail concepts.
These trails should show up in your favorite trail apps shortly, like mtbproject.com, etc.
