Pueblo Reservoir is a great place to mountain bike in the winter. It is normally dry and is 5-10 degrees warmer than here in Colorado Springs during the days. It often gets colder at night, so mornings can be brisk.
Although I had raced at Pueblo Reservoir on the old course at the nature center and ridden the trails around there, I’ve never gone down to ride the new trails on the south shore in Pueblo Lake State Park. Most of them aren’t that new anymore.
Yeti from UpaDowna was going down last Saturday and it worked with my schedule. Another friend Dave also went down.
From the red gate where most people park there are several short canyon drops to the lake. There are also 2 bigger loop trails farther out. They are Outer Limits Trail/Pedro’s Point and Voodoo Loop.
We started with Outer Limits Trail/Pedro’s Point. It has some tight single track along the top of the cliffs above the lake with great views. You can get an interval workout because it keeps going up and down around drainages.
We didn’t ride the Voodoo Loop but it looks like it would be fairly similar to the Outer Limits Trail but on the other side of a finger of the reservoir. The Voodoo Loop is about 10 miles.
We went back to the red gate by way of the Stonehenge Trail. Then we dropped down Skull Canyon which had some fun technical sections. From there we climbed up Water Tower and out to the Arkansas Point.
Based on the other riding I’ve done down there and what I’ve heard about the south shore trails, I was expecting some great riding. I wasn’t disappointed and we all had a great time.
I’ve created a Google Map of our Pueblo Reservoir mountain bike ride. Click on the photo icons to view photos. You can also see the photos on SmugMug. The map from the trail builders makes a good trail map since the trails are well marked.
– UltraRob
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Tags: Colorado, mountain biking, Pueblo Reservoir
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Just passed through Pueblo for the first time in my life last weekend. I remember it only from an address that was part of a PSA they'd run on Sunday mornings during cartoons.
Is there camping (dry camping/bookdocking) out that way by chance? I'm looking for a good place to set up and hit trails for a few months this winter.
I just made a video of some of the trails at Pueblo Reservoir. Have a look at my blog called "roundisit.blogspot.com". It's over to the right on UltraRobs blog.
Brian, there is camping available in Pueblo Lake State Park and also a dock. Check out their camping page for more info. I'm not sure I'd want to spend more than a few days there though. Also it can still be quite cold some of the time.
Thanks Rob and Yeti. Appreciate the comments. I've done the Fruita/Moab circuit a number of times now and I can't say I have any reason to look beyond that–other than other places are out there. Probably will end up settling into So UT for the spring. First stop is probably going to be No AZ for a bit and then NM for a bit (not sure where just yet).