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Doctor Park Mountain Bike Trail
Crested Butte, Colorado
MTB TRAIL STATS
Avg Rating:   |
0 trail reviews |
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Status: |
Difficulty: ? |
| Length: 19 miles | Global Rank: 551 |
| Tread: Singletrack | Configuration: Loop |
| Ridden: 19 | Wishlist: 18 |
Directions:
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Description: Doctors Park offers some fantastic downhill on the Gunnison Spur of the Colorado Trail. This trail can be ridden as a loop or you can use a shuttle if riding up eight miles of road doesnít appeal to you. Most people park at the bottom (North Bank Campground) and ride or shuttle up Spring Creek Road to Doctor Gulch (trail 554). After going about eight and a half miles up the road, where the canyon starts opening up into a wide valley, look to the right (southeast) and you will see doubletrack crossing thru Spring Creek and going up the gully. At the time of this writing there was a trail sign on the south side of the creek for 554. After leaving Spring Creek Road, at exactly one mile there is a right hand turn; trail 554 continues to the right. This is the typical route, but you can go straight if you want (more on that later). Go right and continue up, winding your way on the doubletrack to the top of the ridge. After about three miles you will come to heavy forest. Continue working your way along and after another mile you will break into a large open meadow; this is Doctors Park, and this is where the real singletrack and the fun begins. From here you have five miles of fast downhill. The top section is a bit steep and rocky, but it is a lot of fun. After a mile or so you get into some fantastic cruising thru aspen forest; this is the best part of the trail. Let your bike run and enjoy the miles. About a half mile from the bottom the trail gets steep and rocky. Motorcycles also use the trail, so it can be chewed up and loose in this section. If you are tired, stop and take a break so that you are ready to work your way down the steeps. The trail can be a bit technical and the drop-offs are severe, so the penalty for mistakes is higher. Now, about alternate routes, the top of the ridge is crisscrossed with a few trails, and you really canít go wrong exploring as long as you remember that you want to work your way to the southwest corner. After crossing Spring Creek, instead of taking the right-hand turn at one mile, you could just go straight (trail 550), toward the east joining the Colorado Trail further up making for a longer ride. If you are really hard-core, you may even consider starting off at the Dinner Station Campground many miles to the north (the Matchless Trail). If you are into camping there are many formal and informal places to camp near Spring Creek, or the whole Taylor River Valley, for that matter. I highly suggest getting the Latitude 40 map for Crested Butte.
Description: Doctors Park offers some fantastic downhill on the Gunnison Spur of the Colorado Trail. This trail can be ridden as a loop or you can use a shuttle if riding up eight miles of road doesnít appeal to you. Most people park at the bottom (North Bank Campground) and ride or shuttle up Spring Creek Road to Doctor Gulch (trail 554). After going about eight and a half miles up the road, where the canyon starts opening up into a wide valley, look to the right (southeast) and you will see doubletrack crossing thru Spring Creek and going up the gully. At the time of this writing there was a trail sign on the south side of the creek for 554. After leaving Spring Creek Road, at exactly one mile there is a right hand turn; trail 554 continues to the right. This is the typical route, but you can go straight if you want (more on that later). Go right and continue up, winding your way on the doubletrack to the top of the ridge. After about three miles you will come to heavy forest. Continue working your way along and after another mile you will break into a large open meadow; this is Doctors Park, and this is where the real singletrack and the fun begins. From here you have five miles of fast downhill. The top section is a bit steep and rocky, but it is a lot of fun. After a mile or so you get into some fantastic cruising thru aspen forest; this is the best part of the trail. Let your bike run and enjoy the miles. About a half mile from the bottom the trail gets steep and rocky. Motorcycles also use the trail, so it can be chewed up and loose in this section. If you are tired, stop and take a break so that you are ready to work your way down the steeps. The trail can be a bit technical and the drop-offs are severe, so the penalty for mistakes is higher. Now, about alternate routes, the top of the ridge is crisscrossed with a few trails, and you really canít go wrong exploring as long as you remember that you want to work your way to the southwest corner. After crossing Spring Creek, instead of taking the right-hand turn at one mile, you could just go straight (trail 550), toward the east joining the Colorado Trail further up making for a longer ride. If you are really hard-core, you may even consider starting off at the Dinner Station Campground many miles to the north (the Matchless Trail). If you are into camping there are many formal and informal places to camp near Spring Creek, or the whole Taylor River Valley, for that matter. I highly suggest getting the Latitude 40 map for Crested Butte.
added on August 8, 2006 by 
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