Vapor Trail 125 - Marshall Pass to Silver Creek Trail to Rainbow Trail western end

Miles	8.16 (mile 100 through 108)
Elevation Start	10,820
Elevation End	9,506
Character	Singletrack, some of Colorado's very finest. First you climb, then you descend.(Sounds like CO singletrack, eh)

cdt picture Recreational riders of the Monarch Crest know this as part of the typical shuttle-ride version of the famous ride. South from Marshall Pass on the combined Continental Divide/Colorado Trail route to the top of the Silver Creek Trail.

This begins a world-class singletrack descent. Part buff and smooth, part tire-popping busted up rock garden, all rocky mountain beautiful. Follow Silver Creek from it's headwaters, right next to where the trail drops east off the Continental Divide ridge to where it grows, filling beaver ponds and splashing through small rapids trailside. (click the first photo for a huge version)

This section has a bit of work up front, then a big fun play-time downhill. Ends in the famous section of double-track flooded by a beaver pond, and then on to ride the Rainbow Trail!

At the end of this section, you'll pass the north end of Otto Mears' first tollroad, which runs from the highest part of the Silver Creek road over a high ridge near Porphyry Peak (11,583 ft.) to the old mining district of Bonanza. The beginning of the section was Otto's Marshall Pass.

looking east into the Silver Creek canyon
The view down the Silver Creek canyon from the Continental Divide Ridge

some pictures of the Silver Creek Trail

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