Arkansas River Valley Sampler
A mixed-surface ride from downtown Buena Vista
The Arkansas River Valley Sampler combines a variety of dirt surfaces beginning in downtown Buena Vista for a 20 mile loop through the piñon-juniper woodlands of the Four Mile recreation area. As you circumnavigate midland hill you get a sense of what makes the valley an outdoor paradise, with copious amounts of smooth and flowy dirt trail coupled beneath massive views of the collegiate mountains . This high mountain desert, cradled between the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges, is a geological and anthropological wonder. In our opinion, the most special place in all of Colorado.
A large portion of our route utilizes the trail system adjacent to town, beginning at the Barbara Whipple trailhead. Once you cross over the Arkansas River, follow the remnants of the “hack road” that once connected the railroad depot at Midland Hill to downtown BV. This connects you with the Midland Bike Trail (CR 304), a rail-to-trail conversion that follows the old railroad bed east to CR 315. From CR 315, meet up with Lenhardy Cutoff (CR 376) for the remaining 10 miles back into town.
Because the trail and jeep road system is so extensive we recommend first-timers to follow the route. We chose this specific path because the mostly blue and green trail really lets the utilitarian beauty of a gravel bike shine through. However, if you’re feeling spicy you could also just go nuts.
This ride has a larger amount of singletrack than we normally post so keep that in mind. It can be challenging at points, with some front-loaded trail and a rowdy jeep road descent. So if you don’t have experience with singletrack or some confidence in bike handling, parts of this ride could turn into brief hike-a-bikes.
Having recently ridden Gravel Graceland’s Lory Loop, we were ready to push ourselves on more singletrack. This felt like a logical step-up. personally, we don’t think any stretch of trail is so difficult that you would find yourself walking for too long of a time. but After all, what’s the point of having a gravel bike if you are not of the mindset to push through what some may consider not bikeable? if you do find yourself in over your head there are a couple of bail out points along the way too (with occasional trail markers and maps).
