Cross Mtn. beta

[sgbass]

I'm meeting up with a buddy at Cross Mtn on Tuesday, but I've never been. I read the previous thread, so I'll bring my playboat.

What the fastest way there from Boulder? How long should I expect the drive to take?

Thanks!

[danger]

only way i know from boulder: broadway south (becomes 93), turn right on hwy 6. go through clear creek canyon to I-70 west. take silverthorne exit. turn right on hwy 9 north to kremling. turn left on hwy 40 at kremling. go through steamboat and then 16 miles west of maybel and stop at "the tree".

time: 2 hours to kremling + 1 hour to steamboat + 1.5 hours to cross.

enjoy,

-dan

[sgbass]

thanks, dan!

[cstork]

That is the slow way.

You can save 30-45 minutes by taking I-70 west to Rifle. Take 13 up to Meeker. Before Meeker turn briefly west (1 mile) on 64 and then north to Maybell. This road is part (1/3rd) gravel, but it's a good road. Also pretty. If you have a good map and are adverturous, you can try to find a dirt road that is 24-26 miles up the this road and fork left. This saves you another 15 minutes. I had no trouble on this road with my subaru. When you hit highway 40, you turn left, and in 4 miles is the tree that marks the putin road.

The dirt road that saves 15 minutes is on my Recreation Map of Colroado and my DeLorme Gazeteer, one of which you should all have.

I also think you are better picking up I-70 in Golden. They have the new C-470 spur that goes into 93. Hwy 6 up Clear Creek is so slow.

Cross Mtn is a great run. Have fun.

[goatboater]

Just a little tip: I ran cross two weekends ago and considering the beautiful weather and decent flow I figured someone else would certainly be there. Man was I wrong. As you wil find out, the canyon is seriously out in the middle of NOWHERE. Turned out it was just me and my buddy, so we ended up hiking/jogging the shuttle, which is seriously bitch (we didn't know about the trail on the canyon rim so we ended up going back out to the highway and then in and out both dirt roads- sucked even worse). It took us 2.5 hours and was about 9.5 miles. So if you're only taking one car, I would definitely hang around Steamboat for a while to see if you can find someone else that's going down there to run shuttle with. Good luck.

Ben

Oh yeah and just in case you were wondering, it was still worth it. Very cool run.

[cstork]

When I ran Cross Mtn last year, there were lots of people there. Even a bit crowded. If it's a nice day and Cross Mtn is between 1500 and 4000, I think it is very likely there will be people.

How can you find the canyon rim trail?

[sgbass]

Thanks, all.