Cripple Creek, CO, USA

Long weekend loop between Colorado Springs and Canon City

April, 2021

3 days / about 130 miles

This was a fun long weekend ride with my neighbor Tom. Our departure was dependent on the weather, but we lucked out and it was so great to be able to tour in late April in the Colorado mountains!

We drove to CO Springs and got permission to park at a public high school close to the hills. Given our crap level of fitness in the height of Covid, it took us the majority of the day to make the long slog up Gold Camp Rd., arriving in Cripple Creek in early evening. We grabbed some supplies and coasted down the steep upper part of Shelf Rd. until we found a decent camp spot. On Day 2, we rode the rest of the way down Shelf Rd and found some burgers in Canon City, then ‘traversed’ east to the start of Phantom Canyon. That road is pretty awesome riding, with tight canyon walls and some tunnels, but the constant uphill grade definitely wore us down. We made it to the first big switchback and called it a night. Day 3 was climbing the rest of the way up to Victor, then retracing our path down Gold Camp Rd. back to the Springs.