We spent the entire day {yesterday} on the Animas Mountain. We found the trail in a book {Best Durango Hikes} we picked up a couple days ago downtown Durango.
The Animas Mountain Trail was also located on a list of mountain bike trails - so we thought we'd jump in feet first and hit a bike trail the first day!
The trail was EXTREMELY rocky and rough. I have a new appreciation for the term {Rocky Mountains}.
The climb to the top was extremely rough. We tried to ride but really pushed our bikes 90% of the time. It was rocky with extremely large rocks and loose gravel.
Not only was the trail loose and rough but we had a 2,000 feet elevation change from the base of the mountain to the peek!!! We pushed our bikes up rocky terrain for 3 miles!!!!
This is just a little sample of the trail. I wanted to take more pictures but it took too much energy to keep getting my phone out of my pack. It's crazy how thin the oxygen gets at 7,000 feet elevation.
Here is a picture of one of the trail maps that were located along the ride, sorry, i meant hike. Hahaha!!
I have to say, the 3 mile climb was worth it! The views were spectacular. Keep in mind that this picture was taken on my iPhone. Just wait til you see the pictures we got on Tim's camera that does panorama.
We travelled back down the mountain. Jeremiah road the entire way down... I pushed my bike again in a lot of places. I was able to visit with a Colorado resident who informed me {I only ride this mountain when I'm training for an event!}. Hahaha. Leave it to the Arkansas outta Towner's to jump in feet first.
We had a blast!!! It was beautiful!!! We did a total of 5.6 miles with a 2,000 foot ascend and a 2,000 foot descent.
What a day it was! We are headed to Silverton today.
