35.1 miles
Distance
2,660 ft
Climb
-6,505 ft
Descent
2 miles
High Point

The typical Monarch Crest route, starting from the ski area, traversing to Marshall Pass.

Detailed Description
Monarch Crest - The Classic is a highly rated 35 mile popular expert route located near Salida Colorado. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a hard overall physical rating. This route includes 5 trails. This route climbs 2,660 ft with a max elevation of 11,968 ft then descends -6,505 ft.
Local Trail Association
Local trail association
Salida Mountain Trails (salidamountaintrails.org)
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12 Reviews & Comments

  • + 0
FallenTimber (Aug 17, 2022 at 12:23)
Trail Silver Creek
This descent makes all the uphills of the Crest worth it. So much fun.
[Reply]
  • + 0
FallenTimber (Aug 17, 2022 at 12:22)
Trail Rainbow
If you like cross country, you may enjoy this one. It seems to drag on and isn’t my style (I prefer flowy trails). Uphill, short downhill, ravine and sharp switchback, uphill. Repeat for 11 miles.
[Reply]
  • + 0
Frontrange (Dec 4, 2021 at 14:08)
Trail Rainbow
All of rainbow trail (100 miles) is moto legal.
[Reply]
  • + 0
ivaughn (Aug 6, 2021 at 11:16)
Trail Rainbow
It seems like this trail allows motos as well (based on signage and the fact that I passed 3 guys on motos on my way down). Maybe some sections are restricted to the user groups that Trailforks indicates?
[Reply]
  • + 3
provin1327 (Aug 26, 2019 at 8:30)
A fun and classic route. The traverse above treeline provides some great views and the descent down to Marshall pass is pretty rad, fast and chunky. If you like loose and fast you'll love Silver Creek. Beware that most of the hard work, climbing, and effort comes in on the Rainbow trail. This is after you have already put in 20 miles of riding and descending. Definitely do-able for the average mountain biker but budget around 6 hours of total riding time. Also, there is not 3,700' of climbing on this route as the elevation suggests. That is incorrect. It's more like 2,600'.
[Reply]
  • + 1
whoisadam (Jul 29, 2019 at 19:23)
Trail CDT CT - Monarch Crest Trail
Rode this trail and came down Greek Creek, rode this trail again and came down Agate Creek, so cant comment on the trial past Agate, but the 7.5 miles of this trail I have done is amazing, probably one of my favorite climbs, grade is not too steep, some fun rocks thrown in here and there, bits of fun downhill. I recommend going down Green Creek, that trail is a hoot and way more fun than Silver Creek and Rainbow in my opinion. Green has hardly any uphill and is an action packed downhill all the way with many fun turns, rock gardens, stream crossings. Silver was fun but not as fun as Green and was over quick. Rainbow is more of a cross country trail with tons of ups and downs if you're into that, no real sustained downhills until you get to the end of it.
[Reply]
  • + 0
trixy (Jul 15, 2019 at 17:28)
Trail CT - Marshall Pass
Open and ridding dry
[Reply]
  • + 1
packowitz61 (Sep 25, 2018 at 8:04)
Trail Rainbow
This trail shows as a black diamond. Is it technical or a lot of climbing, or both?
[Reply]
  • + 2
FreeRangeDinngo (Jun 29, 2018 at 8:00)
Trail Rainbow
MTN Bike Project says this trail is 11.3 miles of singletrack with 410 ascent and 1373 of descent from what looks like the same stop and start as Trail Forks. That's a big difference from the 1314 ascent and 2295 descent listed here. ???????
[Reply]
  • + 0
tntevinrude (Jun 24, 2018 at 20:37)
Trail Silver Creek
You
[Reply]
  • + 1
forrestgladding (Aug 29, 2017 at 11:03)
Trail Rainbow
Great Trail, I just think most people are really tired by this part of the ride and dont enjoy the up and down flow as much as if they were fresh. Trail has good flow, but it is pretty up and down.
[Reply]
  • + 1
FreeRangeDinngo (Jun 29, 2018 at 20:16)
Trail Rainbow
That is most definitely true....
[Reply]





Trails in Route

Details

  • Riding area
    Methodist Mountain Trail System
  • Primary Activity
    Mountain Bike
  • Difficulty rating
    Black Diamond
  • Route Type
    Point to Point
  • eBike Allowed
    No
  • Bike type
    AM, XC
  • Direction
    One Direction
  • Physical rating
    Hard
  • Ridelogs
    325
More Stats for Monarch Crest - The Classic mountain bike route
  • Altitude change
    -3,845 ft
  • Altitude min
    7,462 ft
  • Altitude start
    11,307 ft
  • Altitude end
    7,464 ft
  • Grade
    -2.1%
  • Grade max
    -60.1%
  • Grade min
    34.6%
  • Distance climb
    10 miles
  • Distance down
    22 miles
  • Distance flat
    3 miles
Avg: 4.15 (6 votes)

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  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Inadequate
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
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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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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
  • Backcountry Ski
  • Nordic Ski
  • Snowmobile
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Photos

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Videos

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Silver Creek Trail Salida, CO
Silver Creek Trail Salida, CO
6:02 | 112 | comments: 0 | favs:
Jul 28, 2022
Riding Monarch Crest Trail. Salida, CO
Riding Monarch Crest Trail. Salida, CO
6:51 | 119 | comments: 0 | favs:
Jul 26, 2022

Recent Trail Reports Along Route

statustraildateconditiondescription
CT - Marshall Pass
Oct 15, 2022 @ 7:53am
Oct 15, 2022
Rainbow
Oct 15, 2022 @ 12:53am
Oct 15, 2022
Silver Creek
Oct 15, 2022 @ 12:53am
Oct 15, 2022
A few newly downed trees across the trail but otherwise green conditions.
CDT CT - Monarch Crest Trail
Sep 11, 2022 @ 8:36am
Sep 11, 2022
Marshall Rd Connector
Sep 11, 2022 @ 8:36am
Sep 11, 2022
more reports »
  • By ACree & contributors
  • #9166 - 6,166 views