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Voodoo Child!
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
Chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise just a little sand
'Cause I'm a voodoo child
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
Gotta love Jimi!
It is possible to mountain bike some of the route to Mt. Antero!
First, the road to the dispersed campsites above the stream crossing is accessible by a Toyota Tundra 4 door 4x4.
Second, dispersed campsites above the the stream crossing were available on a Saturday afternoon. In fact we got almost to treeline and found a really good campsite for 4 tents and room for 2 vehicles. Tribute to Team Canada
So, mountain biking on Mt. Antero?
I've ridden my road bike to the summit of Pike's Peak in competitions and for training several times and I've done Mt. Evans as well. But I've always wondered if a MTB ascent was possible.
Mt. Antero seemed like the most likely possiblity. We climbed / pushed the mountain bikes to ~13.4K ft. then finished on foot to the summit.
Strava data on the climb
The road is really steep, averaging over 12.4% gradient over 4.1 miles to where we dropped off the bikes ( just beyond the trail marker sign) Clint at the trail marker. We dropped the bikes about 2 switchbacks later
The road has lots of loose softball size rocks which makes it very difficult haul on the ascent and very sketchy on the descent.
Sample pic of climb hard to tell that this is > 12% grade
Overall assessment --
Road to treeline (C+ ) - saw a Mazda Mirano, Chevy Silverado truck and several other NON-tricked out vehicles pretty high up. BUT, don't count on finishing without some thuds, scrapes, scratches and dings. Lots of downhill traffic on Saturday afternoon, so be prepared to back up and yield.
Campsites (A+) Plenty of dispresed camping if you camp on Saturday night and ascend on Sunday.
MTB possibility - (B- ) It's a steep road. We are all pretty good roadies and ok MTB'ers and it was really hard. I'm sure that competitive MTB'ers could achieve faster times and slightly higher elevation ( perhaps another 500 feet) and certainly faster times on the descent. However, there are lots on ATV's and Jeeps that you have to be careful of and the the final 500 ft to the summit is strictly on foot.
The gang --
The Gang
The video
Good Luck!
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
...gets a bad rap as a boring Sawatch mountain. My friend & I did a full moon hike of it a couple of Octobers ago... We were snowed on during our ascent, had the privilege from the summit of watching the moon set, the sun rise & had an awesome time up there! One of my favorite hikes so far! Good job finding "your way" to bring a little more fun to this mountain!
Congrats on your hard work! I tried to ride Antero many years ago, but ditched the bike way short of the summit. I think I made it to 12,000' from the lower TH on an old clunker. Biking Antero is the WAY TO GO! The greatest sufferfest you will ever experience and endure. I will never forget the descent, it was a jackhammer all the way down. I had to stop because my forearms hurt so bad from the braking. I was doing about 15, 16, 17 mph and it was killing me. That kind of pain stays with a man! Greatest adventure I ever had the pleasure of doing. Mt Lincoln is another 14er you should consider riding from Quartzville. Or do Bross and Lincoln from windy Point. Either way it's gonna be hard and a lot of fun! Don't let this be your last biked 14er.
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