Bicycling

The Schofield Pass area is mountain bike heaven. Road biking, on the other hand, is somewhat limited in the area because your only paved option on the Marble side of the pass is the road connecting the town with HWY 133. While Highway 133 somewhat popular with road cyclists (even so, sections have virtually no shoulder), the Marble road is narrow, curvy, has no shoulders and sees frequent traffic. Thus, we don’t recommend it for road biking. On the Crested Butte side, you can road bike up a few miles to Crested Butte Mountain Resort from the town of Crested Butte, after that the road becomes dirt. Details for mountain bike routes below, and be sure to check our map to get the complete picture.

One popular albeit lengthy day is to ride the Schofield Road between Crested Butte and Marble, with a night in either town. Popular strategy from either direction is to drive the first section of road travel. From Crested Butte, consider parking at the town of Gothic, or at Schofield Pass. From Marble, park at the top or bottom of Daniels Hill (only a few spaces at the top). For overnight accommodations check websites such as the Chamber of Commerce sites in our links menu (see sidebar).

Perhaps the most classic of the rides in terms of scenery and varied difficulty is the 12 mile Leadking Loop. This is done from the Marble side. As with cycling the Schofield road, again folks frequently park at the top of Daniels Hill though spots are limited. The route is fairly simple as the roads in this area are limited. It’s tough to recommend the best direction for the loop. Those in the know say that going counter clockwise (south to north) is best because you end with a nice long and relativly smooth downhill.

Leadking Loop in brief (see this for details): At the top of Daniels Hill stay to the right so you’re on the Crystal/Schofield road and ride relativly smooth sections interspresed with rough for 3.7 miles to the famed Crystal Mill, then continue a few hundred feet to the summer homes of Crystal. Continue through Crystal and do the eventually steep loose climb to the Leadking/Schofield roads junction (.6 mile from Crystal). The junction is obvious, but you might be so tired by now you miss it anyway, so take care. Turn left at the junction and continue climbing up loose rocks and through a boreal forest to Leadking basin, where the terrain opens up to a a vast alpine panorama. Bear left, cross a vehical bridge over the main drainage, then begin a relativly smooth but lengthy climb up switchbacks to a classic high altitude divide just below timberline. From here, it’s a howling descent for about 5 miles down to the Marble valley.

As Crested Butte is considered the motherland of mountain biking, we figure we should mention the best single-track route on their side of Schofield, Trail 401 (the USFS trail number). To reach 401 drive (or ride) the Schofield Road up northerly from Gothic to Schofield Pass. Trail 401 heads to the right off the road here, with obvious tread and signs. The trail loops back southerly for 15 miles of incredible alpine riding, with several sections taking you above 11,000 feet. Finish when you reach a dirt road, which takes you down to the Rustler Gulch trailhead on the Schofield Road (where you hopefully stashed a car). If you’re hardcore, start and end in Crested Butte.