Starting from the shelter house side, its a deceiving climb to the treeline followed by a little technical downhill into a curve back uphill into another a little climb. The shape of the trail there looks like a large switch back but its not all uphill. Once past all that it flattens out and rides the side of the hill towards Rio Grande. It has a few sections that are mostly up hill or down but if you keep your speed up you'll traverse it in minutes.