Amy and Pat Taylor

Neither words or pictures will reproduce our experience. This is simply a reminder for our old age -- and our next trip here. We will ride this again.

The Views

With innumerable breathtaking sights, in this ride, you get to see everything the mountains have to offer - up close and personal.

The River and Streams

Crystal clear of course. Actually, clearer than clear. When the water glides over the smooth areas, the pebble rock bottom glistens, but so clearly that you hardly see the water at all. However, in most areas, the river and the streams babble along over rocks, creating an aquatic symphony. We see short waterfalls and shutes rushing between the rocks.

One of the best views on the mountain is at the beginning of the ride. Chasm Falls is a trail of its own. People who don't ride the trail hike up just for Chasm Falls. It is a roaring shute in the river with hikeable terrain alongside the river. We parked our bikes for a few minutes and walked a small portion of the hike.

At about 60% of the way up, we saw on an opposing face a waterfall of about 1,000 feet. What was special about this waterfall is that it was more of a vertical stream rather than a fall as it was not airborne. The cliff face was about 75 degrees, and the water was splashing and weaving between the rocks, contouring to Mother Nature's pathway.

Wildflowers

My Lovely enjoys the wildflowers. The wildflowers dot the sides of the road, they are splashed through the meadows, and they grow out of the tops of the rocks.

The Meadows

The meadows are rich and lush. Greenspaces, wildflowers, aspens, and evergreens, all fed by the river running along its side, or feeding a pond within its boundary.

The meadows were exciting because we were on the hunt for wildlife, and specifically the ever elusive moose.

Wildlife, Tracks, and Scat

Hiking and riding are like going on a hunt, except the thrill is in the sight, not the kill. As we ride, our eyes are scouring the terrain for wildlife. An eagle, a hawk, elk, bear or moose, anything really.

As we rode the path, we came across a female elk, several chipmunks, pika, and a deer, but we wanted the moose. As we rode, we witnessed tracks of several animals, certainly deer, elk, and a bear. And we found scat of several critters as well. It just makes the hunt more exciting.

The Moose still alludes us, but someday we will find him… til then, he is still a unicorn.

Cliffside Views

When I say Cliffside, I mean that you can stand there with your toes hanging out with nothing below for 100s of feet (no,we didn't do that, but there it was).

I mean that as you stand there, 25 feet in front of you is the treetop of a 70’ tree.

With a ride like this, you get to see different iterations of many of the views. That is to say that you get to look out over the lush meadows at an eye level view, and then again from several hundred feet above. There are overviews several hundred feet above the valley, and other overlooks 1000, 2000, and 3000 feet above the valley. The same features of the mountain have many facets as you travel up the mountain.

As you ride, on one side of you there are trees, rocks cliff faces soaring up, and on the otherside is the clear view of distant snow topped mountains towering over a valley, a meadow, a river and the roadbed bearing the dust that you just kicked up.

The Clouds

The end of the trail is the Alpine Visitors Center 11,796’. The temperature dropped over 20 degrees along the ride due to the elevation gain . We rode into the clouds - literally. As we reached the top, we found snow (left over from the winter), and the clouds were hitting the side of the mountain and being pushed up. It was like a fog except the fog sits still, and the clouds flow with the wind.Read more