Pot-O-Gold

NOTE: Seasonal Wildlife Closure of this trail Dec 1st - Apr 15th.

The Pot-O-Gold trail is an intermediate trail with a few tough (climbing) turns.

The purpose of this new trail was to create a singletrack connector on the west end of the Methodist Mtn Trails system, west of King Gulch, between the Rainbow Trail from Bear Creek to Mears Junction, and the Double Rainbow Trail, to avoid the two-track road going up or down Sand Gulch.

This trail works well in either direction:
As a climb (shown), it starts off mellow before grades get pretty steep while working its way up the first ridge. You'll need your granny gear, and you might need to walk up a few armored climbing turns. Once on top of the mesa, things get a little easier but it's still some work to get to the Rainbow Trail. All in all, Pot-O-Gold is a tough climb, don't underestimate the time and energy to do this three-mile trail.

As a descent, it begins by winding through some trees on the top off a ridge then opens up with some awesome views of the Arkansas Valley looking north toward Mount Shavano and the Chalk Cliffs. As it leaves the ridge, it descends into a drainage, then back out onto the opposite ridge. From there, it descends through many steeper climbing turns down to Sand Gulch. The last mile is a fun, flowy trail that connects with the Double Rainbow Trail.

This new trail provides several fun loops to consider:
The long loop is the Triple Rainbow starting from Salida, going up Bear Creek Road (CR101) all the way to the Rainbow Trail. Turn right (west) onto Rainbow Trail heading towards Mears Junction until you get to Pot-O-Gold. Go down it, turn right onto Double Rainbow. Add Spartan West and Spartan East, and either continue east on Little Rainbow, or enjoy Solstice back into town.

Another great loop is coming up from the Double Rainbow up Pot-O-Gold to the Rainbow Trail, then left/east on the Rainbow Trail, down Gutz and perhaps Sol Train East and down Race Track - or - Sol Train West, Little Rainbow down Solstice.

A shorter loop would be to go up Double Rainbow up Sand Gulch Road, left on the Rainbow Trail, down Pot-O-Gold and back on Double Rainbow. Or just ride Double Rainbow and Pot-O-Gold as an out-and-back ride. It's a hard, fun ride with some good, tight, stacked turns, nice ridge views, and some flowy sections.

The Pot-O-Gold trail was built by Dirty Candy Design and the Colorado Mountain Club, for Salida Mountain Trails and the US Forest Service.

Access Info

No parking near this trail, no shuttling of this trail. Get to it on your bike via the options listed in the description.