New Santa Fe Trail

Quick Ride Summary: DISAPPOINTING - Wednesday, June 17th, 2009, I rode from the trailhead at Palmer Lake, CO to Colorado Springs, CO where the trail connects to the Pikes Peak Greenway. The distance was 18 miles with a net loss in elevation of just over a 1000 feet. I do NOT recommend this trail for the casual rider or for any type of road bike. The trail surface was advertised as crushed stone but often deteriorated to mud holes with sections so steep I still slid downhill with all brakes locked. Little, if any, evidence of trail maintenance within the Air Force Academy grounds.



I have added a chart of the Percent Grade as an overlay to the elevation chart. You will notice the spikes in the grade that indicate very steep sections of the trail.


I started in Palmer Lake and the trail was quite nice and stayed on the railroad grade to Monument, CO. If the entire trail had been this nice I would be giving you a glowing report rather than reporting a complete disappointment in the overall trail.



There were shelters and other amenities at the Palmer Lake and Monument trailheads, and a nice shelter just before entering the Air Force Academy. There were numerious signs concerning the flora, fauna and geology of the region. In fact there were so many that they were actually intrusive.





This trail passes along a beautiful section of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, but the expected serenity of riding along was marred by continuous road noise from I-25 and the constant drone of the airplanes overhead at the Academy.


Just south of Monument the trail left the railbed for long sections. At one time the trail surface was so bad that I thought I had wandered off the main trail onto some side trail, but was assured by a rider coming the other way that I was still on the New Santa Fe Trail. The trail had huge erosion ruts and several times I had to dismount and push the trike around obstacles and up hills that even the two wheelers could not navigate.


Finally, the trail left the Academy grounds and was back on the railbed for a nice couple of miles before reaching Colorado Springs.

In summary, the scenery was great, but the ride was at times quite unpleasant. Unless something changes I will not ride this trail again. I took no pictures of the ugly parts of the trail.


You may see all the pictures I took on this ride by visiting my Picasa site HERE

George S. Mickelson Trail

Note of Exception: The George S. Mickelson Trail, Black Hills, South Dakota. This is obviously not a Colorado trail, but since it is not that far away, Colorado riders may find it interesting. It is also an excellent example of what can be done with retired rail lines of considerable length. The website for the 108 mile George S. Michelson trail may be visited by clicking HERE, or by clicking the title of this trail.

Quick Ride Summary: I made two rides, both restricted by weather. The first was on Tuesday, June 9th. I rode 34.57 miles with a net loss in elevation of 1580 feet. Temp. in the low 50’s. Started at noon after rain all morning and was chased by thunderstorms for the entire ride. Trail surface is gravel or crushed rock, well maintained considering the previous winter and the current rains. Most of the time rolling resistance was high, requiring effort to even go downhill. Trail was best suited to mountain bikes. The surface was occasionally marred by the tracks of large animals.

The second ride was on Thursday, June 11th, early in the morning. It was only 4.9 miles because going further up the trail would have meant traveling on slick, muddy dirt roads. We tried it but turned around, went back to paved roads, unloaded the trike and took what was available. It was cold.

Clicking a graphic will usually render it full sized. Then use the back arrow on your browser to return to the blog.

I have included my GPS trail map in both "road" and "satellite" versions, and have rotated the elevation map to match the direction of the trail.

In spite of the fact that I ride a trike that is more suitable to paved trails and roads and that riding the Mickelson was more effort than I had anticipated, this trail is FANTASTIC!

Except for where the trail parallels the road, the silence is deafening. I flushed 6 turkeys in the first mile and a half and was constantly spooking antelope, white tailed deer and regular deer all of whom sprung off like they had built in trampolines. The only person I saw on the trail was Fran who would race ahead of me to the next trailhead, in case rain would end the ride, and then walk up to trail to meet me and to enjoy the trail herself. The trailheads can be from 5 to 16 miles apart.

I came to a place with a shelter and sign called Sanator. It was once a regular stop on the rail line where a very large tuberculosis Sanatorium was located. You can see a picture of the sanatorium across the bottom of the sign.

Other locations still had the telegraph (not telephone) lines that paralleled the rail line. Mines, ranches and small communities were also frequent sights along the trail.

I have included the following video just to give you an idea of what it is like for hours at a time. I’m doing about 10 miles per hour and holding the camera in one hand.


The pictures included are not in any particular order except for the one of me at the start of ride # 1. All the pictures are available on my Facebook account. See the link later in the Blog.

There are frequent tunnels of green and deep cuts through the rock. As the trail exits the Black Hills, near the end of my 35 mile ride, you will notice the absence of trees and see that the cuts are now through dirt rather than rock. There the trail passes through large ranches with cattle and horses.

I ran across this relic, about my age, lying alongside the trail.

On the second ride, in order to see more wildlife, I took it much slower, and quieter. Consequently I rode past a small herd of deer that did not spook, but rather just stared at me curiously.

The trail passes many mines of everything from gold to pegmatite and mica.

The trail also passes through a few town including Hill City, Custer, and Edgemont.

I recommend this trail to riders of all skill levels. But note that the trail map comes with an elevation profile of the trail for a reason. This is a mountainous area and the trail is rarely flat. It you don’t choose wisely, you can be pulling a hill for more than 20 miles. I chose segments that were, on the average, downhill and I still had to climb hills of 2 to 3 miles in length.

One pays a fee to ride the Mickelson. It is three dollars for a day or fifteen dollars for an annual pass. Day passes may be purchased at most trailheads and the annual pass may be ordered on their website. Copies of the Mickelson Map are also usually available at each trailhead.

If you want to see all of the photos I took, click HERE to go to my Facebook album of this trip.

Or, better, click HERE to see them in my Google Picasa album.

Or here is a slide show with all the pictures:


I will go back and finish the trail at some point in the future.