This route is wicked hard. Probably one of the funnest, biggest, enduro slogs in Colorado. You can get more water in Oskar Blues if they are open, but prepare for an odyssey.
The Little Burrito
(yes, the author knows that "Burrito" is Spanish for little donkey, so this is a little, little donkey. So what?)
Who says Boulder doesn’t have epic singletrack rides fraught full of misery and some awesome techy gnar? “But,” says you. “But, but, but, Boulder has no trails” You say.
Lo, I give you the Little Burrito! The perfect nearly-all-day super ride with some of the best trails you’re going to find in the County! 40 or so miles of goodness, with a beer in the middle of the ride! The Little Burrito has it all: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...
Here’s the route:
- First, park at the Overland Loop parking lot at Heil Ranch. Starting summer of 2019, you can ride the new School House Loop and then head up the Overland Loop. Overland is directional, but take whichever direction they have you go this month and head north young person!
- When you get to the main Heil parking lot, keep on trucking up Wapiti trail.
- At the Ponderosa loop junction (the fork in the trail), head right for just a little bit to Wild Turkey Trail
- Turn right on the Wild Turkey trail and head back south.
- Take Picture Rock trail down into Lyons.
- And now for something completely different: short road section!
- Take Red Gulch Rd north
- Right on Old St. Vrain
- Left onto St. Vrain Rd (Hwy 7) and ride 1/2 mile to the Bitterbrush trailhead
- Go up the Bitterbrush trail. Now, comes the techy hard climby part. Hope you ate your Wheaties today.
- At the intersection of Bitterbrush and Antelope, go left (up Bitterbrush even more). This ain’t no easy walk in the park ride!
- Do the Nelson Loop at the top of Bitterbrush (most people go clockwise around this loop for swoopy goodness.
- Ride down Bitterbush ONLY to Antelope and turn left onto Antelope
- Ride down Antelope trail to Antelope Rd.
- Right onto Apple Valley Rd.
- Right onto Main Street (Hwy 36) and left onto Broadway.
- BEER THIRTY! Drink a cold malty one and maybe have a snack at OSKAR BLUES! No, beer is not mandatory, but really it is helpful. How are you feeling? You are just over 1/2 done with the Little Burrito!
- Backtrack your way to Hall Ranch (via Antelope trail)
- Go up Antelope, but skip the Nelson Loop this time.
- Turn left onto lower Bitterbrush (aka the rock garden) and head back down to St. Vrain Rd/Old St. Vrain/Red Gulch Rd
- Go up Picture Rock (I bet you’re pretty tired now)
- Right onto Wild Turkey trail and out to the overlook
- Right (west) onto Ponderosa Loop and around all the way to Wapiti
- Fly down Wapiti trail to the parking lot
- Jump onto Overland loop and pedal-sob your way back to your car.
- Looking for a good way to die in a margarita and burrito after this ride? Head to Wapos up in North Boulder.
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Details
- Featured
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Riding area
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Primary ActivityMountain Bike
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Difficulty ratingBlack Diamond
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Route TypeOut & Back
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eBike Allowed
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Bike typeAM, XC, Uni
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DirectionBoth Directions
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Physical ratingExtreme
More Stats for Lil' Burrito mountain bike route
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Altitude min5,360 ft
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Altitude start5,710 ft
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Altitude end5,715 ft
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Grade max-28.1%
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Grade min33.6%
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Distance climb20 miles
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Distance down19 miles
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Distance flat2 miles
- Unknown
- Snow Groomed
- Snow Packed
- Snow Covered
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- Freeze/thaw Cycle
- Icy
- Prevalent Mud
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- Variable
- Ideal
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- Very Dry
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
- > 96%
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- > 80%
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- < 50%
- bi-directional trail
- no data
- < 2 days
- < 1 week
- < 2 weeks
- < 1 month
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- > 6 months
- Downhill Only
- Downhill Primary
- Both Directions
- Uphill Primary
- Uphill Only
- One Direction
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- mountain biking recent
- mountain biking (>6 month)
- hiking (1 year)
- moto (1 year)
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