Colorado Trail Race

Colorado Trail Race

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 - 6am
Start: Waterton Canyon Trailhead - Denver
Finish: Junction Creek Trailhead - Durango

Past Results and Records

The CTR: 470 miles and 65,000' of elevation gain winding through the Colorado Rocky Mountains from Denver to Durango. Approximately 300+ miles of singletrack at elevations ranging from 5500' to a gasping-for-breath 13,200'. The CTR is a monster! If the monster is in a good mood, you may experience Colorado's beautiful sunny blue skies and wildflowers blooming as far as you can see! But, be warned — the CTR's mood can change on a whim, and you may just as likely find yourself getting besieged by massive hailstones and lightning bolts. In short, don't come to this race unprepared — no one will be there to rescue you.

The CTR is similar to The Arizona Trail 300 and The Great Divide Race. There is no entry fee, no support, no registration, and no prize money. It is a self-timed ITT (Individual Time Trial): all that is provided is a route description, a suggested start time, and a list of results. However, all individuals participating are strongly encouraged to donate time or money to the Colorado Trail Foundation. Without them, we wouldn't have this trail!

Race Rules:

Race from Denver to Durango, self-supported, under only your own power, along the entire CTR route.
No pre-arranged support, with the exception of maildrops to a post office.
Don't break the law.

Not clear enough? Read the CTR rule FAQ.

Colorado Trail Info:

For the most part, the Colorado Trail is very well marked. However, you will want to purchase The Official Guidebook for a complete description of the actual trail segments and mountain bike detours. Any shortcutting or deviating from the course, intentional or not, will result in a DNF, so please study the route and know it well! You may, however, ride off course to resupply/sleep/eat as long as you return to the exact same spot you left.

For the first runnings of the CTR ('07 & '08), detours around parts of the trail were taken to make the route as rideable as possible. This year ('09), that has changed and the route sticks to the trail as much as possible. There are segments with prodigious amounts of hike-a-bike, and also segments with miles on end of high alpine riding. In particular, the Cataract Ridge segment is not a good place to be during an electrical storm. So come prepared to do some hiking and to exercise good judgment regarding the weather.

Also highly recommended for carrying en route is the Trailside Databook. The newest version (4th edition) has updated elevation profiles in addition to information on mileage, where to find water, good campsites, and also the Cataract Ridge Reroute.

Here is a CTR GPX track and a 500 point pre-split CTR GPX track. Also availabe is a Googleearth .kml file. The entire CT is shown in this file (cyan - data obtained from here ) as well as the CTR detours (red) and various waypoints delimiting the segments and detours.

Course Overview:

NOTE: The mileage and elevation gain in this graphic are underestimated. To generate this graphic (and much more!) yourself, download Topofusion, and open the supplied .gpx file.

Course Description:

Waterton Canyon to Wellington Lake Road - Ride Segments 1, 2, and 3.

Lost Creek Wilderness Detour (CHANGE FROM '07 & '08) - From Wellington Lake Road, head right for 8 miles into the town of Bailey. Ride US-285 for 20 more miles to the summit of Kenosha Pass and regain the Colorado Trail there.

Kenosha Pass to Wurtz Ditch Road (CHANGE FROM '07 & '08) - Ride Segments 6, 7, and 8. Ride the first part of Segment 9 to Wurtz Ditch Road.

Holy Cross / Mount Massive Wilderness Detour - Detour around the remainder of Segment 9 and Segment 10 as described in the guidebook.

Halfmoon Creek to Clear Creek Road - Ride Segment 11. Note: Do not ride the alternate old Hope Pass route.

Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Detour - Detour around Segment 12 and part of Segment 13 as described in the guidebook. Note: This includes following CR-371, NOT Hwy-24.

Avalanche Trailhead to Saguache Park Road - Ride the remainder of Segment 13, then ride Segments 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Leave segment 18 at Saguache Park Road to start the La Garita Detour. Note: The guidebook starts the next detour at Cochetopa Pass Rd., but you will ride an extra 6.5 miles along the CT to Saguache Park Road

La Garita Wilderness Detour (CHANGE FROM '07 & '08) - Go right on Saguache Park Road, and join the La Garita Wilderness Detour on Rd NN14. Follow the mandatory Detour to Spring Creek Pass as described in the guidebook.

Spring Creek Pass to Stony Pass Road. (CHANGE FROM '07 & '08) - Ride Segments 22, and rerouted (Cataract Ridge) segment 23. Note: This reroute is included in the latest Guidebook, 7th Edition "Revised", and will also be included in the CT Databook, 4th Edition. The Guidebook is in stores now, and the Databook will be available mid-June..

Weminuche Wilderness Detour (CHANGE FROM '07 & '08) - Go right on Stony Pass Road and descend to Silverton. Climb the pavement up to Molas Pass and regain the CT there.

Molas Pass to Junction Creek Trailhead - Ride Segments 25, 26, 27 and 28.

Course Description Word Document. Extra details!