Gravel Ride around Chambers Lake on County Road 103
Mon 12 May 2025
With the upcoming Wild Horse Gravel event in DeBeque next weekend, Grace and I decided that we should get in at least a 40 mile ride on gravel. Temperatures are rising in the Front Range (forecast was mid 80s today), I wanted to get up into the mountains to also test some of my new gear that I bought for my mid-summer trip to Gravel Ride Norway with Beers and Bikes tours.
The 'trailhead' is on county road 103 off of Hwy 14. Not marked and it is about a mile before the Chamber's Lake campground turnoff. The county 103 road is found by the large sign for Glendevy. About 1 1/2 miles on 103 is a parking lot with a vault bathroom. Starting the loop here is starting at the high point on the trail. That means an easy free wheel to start with a 5 mile downhill. However, that results with end of the day 5 mile uphill workout. We picked this trailhead because I couldn't get information about how much of the road would be open to car travel. Government websites show the road is seasonally closed until June. However, the road was clear and dry. We could have continued on to the Tunnel campground or a bit further for a start point on the ride and saved the grueling 5 mile finish.
The scenery was amazing. The first 5 miles (yes, I wasn't a fan) was a downhill run through the burn area that was the Cameron Peak/Chamber Lake fire. However, the burn damage vanished once we hit the Tunnel campground and from there on, a very scenic ride. The burn area is interesting in it's own right and biking along the Chamber's Lake was ok. The lolipop loop of CR 99 run though the huge Diamond Ranch. Some very good views. We also startled a small group of antelope on the edge of the road (and puzzled them as they stopped to stare us down from the hillside - how dare we use 'their' road).
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Poudre Trail to Timnath
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Wild Horse Gravel Race in De Beque Colorado
