Sunset is a great intermediate trail that sidehills heading South from the intersection with Eagle Valley. If you choose this adventure you won’t be disappointed. The trail is full of twists, turns, rocks and the occasional perfect bermed turn that you can grab a handful of throttle in and roost your buddy. Sunset maintains elevation across the hillside and then heads downhill and exits at a gravel road.
Shake your hands out at the top of Eagle Valley Trail. Slide the goggles back over your wide eyes and light the motor up. Click down into 1st and feed the clutch lever out. You can see the first 50 or so yards of the trail and its nothing too exciting so wick it up a bit as you stand, ready to attack another brilliant Montrose Colorado trail. As you wind through some scrubby trees the trail gets a little tougher. You crest a hill and dive back down into a wash. The fresh re-route takes you into the wash and then exits abruptly into some bigger rocks and climbs back to more mellow ground.
Quickly you realize that this thing is going to side hill a lot so you change your mindset and get your balance dialed in. After a few more exposed sections you make a hard left on some bedrock and climb again through rough terrain. Nothing super hard or dangerous, just loose rocks and steep climbing. As you bend back right and contour to the South there are some more exposed ledges that you need to pay attention to. Stay loose and keep the weight on the outside peg to keep your rear tire planted.
After a few more minutes there is a decent drop off to navigate. Check up at the top and survey the obstacle. Nothing terrifying but definitely steep and rocky. Not too much front brake now. Let the bike do the work and get on the binders at the bottom. The trail switches back to the right and then to the left and climbs back up. Now you are climbing to the top of the trail and there are more trees and red dirt. This section is super fun and tops out with a wicked left hander that begs you to pitch it sideways and pour the coals to it, be careful because there are always more rocks in the way here in our valley but you have to lift the front wheel on this one.
After a little twisting and turning up top you flick your steed back to the right and start descending. Lots and lots of downhill through more rocks. There are lots of little places to jump and play on your way back towards the adobe hills below. Only a few more little tricky sections on your way back down and you hit a long adobe sidehill that dumps you out on to a gravel road and the intersection with the Moonlight Mesa Trail.
Stay tuned as we describe more of our favorite local trails!