Mountain Bike

19.1 miles

Distance

3,671 ft

Climb

-3,691 ft

Descent

2 miles

High Point

The Monarch Crest receives all the attention, however its the lesser known Canyon Creek that deserves more of that attention. Topping out at 12,600' not only is it the highest elevation trail in the Monarch Pass zone it is also the longest true downhill trail in the area descending 3500'.

Start and end your ride at the Snowblind Campground, parking is available on the road just outside of the campground. Begin by riding up County Road 888 until you reach a junction at private property. Here take a right to continue on Tomichi Pass Road NF-888 and continue to treeline; you'll find a trail sign marking the beginning of the Canyon Creek singletrack.

It starts off with a short pedal followed by a significant hike-a-bike where you'll push nearly a 1,000 vertical feet up a rugged and loose series of switchbacks to the summit and the start of the extremely long and memorable descent.

Detailed Description

Canyon Creek - Sawatch is a 19 mile popular expert route located near Salida Colorado. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a extreme overall physical rating. This route includes 5 trails. This route climbs 3,671 ft with a max elevation of 12,575 ft then descends -3,691 ft.

Route Supporters

Best of Colorado MTB
since 2019

19 Reviews & Comments

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Trails in Route

	County Road 888				4 miles
	Tomichi Pass Road NF-888				3 miles
	Canyon Creek				12 miles

Details

Featured
Riding area

Salida
Primary Activity

Mountain Bike
Difficulty rating

Black Diamond
Route Type

Loop
Bike type

AM
Direction

One Direction
Physical rating

Extreme
Ridelogs

54

More Stats for Canyon Creek - Sawatch mountain bike route

Avg time

3 hr 8 min
Altitude min

9,240 ft
Altitude start

9,317 ft
Altitude end

9,298 ft
Grade max

-50.2%
Grade min

57.7%
Distance climb

9 miles
Distance down

10 miles
Distance flat

2,884 ft

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Trail Conditions

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Unknown
Snow Groomed
Snow Packed
Snow Covered
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Freeze/thaw Cycle
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Wet
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Ideal
Dry
Very Dry

Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)

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bi-directional trail
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Trail Ridden Direction

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Trail Popularity ?

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.

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ATV/ORV/OHV Filter

ATV - 50 inches
OHV, SxS - 60 inches
Jeep - 72 inches

Max Vehicle Width

inches

Ridelog Year

Radar Time

x Activity Recordings

Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.

mountain biking recent
mountain biking (>6 month)
hiking (1 year)
moto (1 year)

Activity Recordings

Trailforks users anonymized public skilogs from the past 12 months.

Downhill Ski
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Winter Trails

Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.

x Missing Trails

status	trail	date	condition	description
	Canyon Creek	Jul 27, 2023 @ 4:29pm Jul 27, 2023		Pretty dusted out and dry. Loose rocks everywhere. Trail needs love even by backcountry standards.
	Tomichi Pass Road NF-888	Aug 27, 2022 @ 11:01am Aug 27, 2022