Mountain Biking to Monte Cristo 8-3-12

It was a hot day that Justus, Dave and I mountain biked up to the Monte Cristo ghost town.  I had hiked this before and noticed that the vast majority of the trail is a dirt road, so perfect for biking. 

The river crossing, where bridges have historically not lasted, is a large log.  It was a bit tricky to get the bikes over the root ball, but otherwise there was plenty of room for both person and bike.

The rugged ridges along the river were gorgeous with the blue sky backdrop.

The trip to Monte Cristo was a nice challenge for people that haven't been on bicycles much and especially for Dave who had been sick for a couple weeks.  The elevation gain is not huge, but it is a steady gain, and even where it seems flat you are doing a bit of pedaling. 

It took us a couple hours to get in.... only about 30 minutes to get back out!  Everytime we stopped we were swarmed with biting deer flies too.  Yikes.  It was worth the trip though!

One of the cool things in Monte Cristo is the old railroad turn around.  It seems so out of place now, with no trace of train track (other than one buried under the trail and uncovered by the river's erosion of said trail).

There were also pretty wildflowers out there for our viewing pleasure.  What a lovely day!

Toward the end of our ride, Dave was going to attempt to bicycle through the river instead of crossing on the log.  It got deep pretty fast, so he turned around, but it was very entertaining for Justus and I, and probably very refreshing for him!  : )