Yesterday it was so nice outside I decided to go riding. I chose to go along the Emerald park trail because of the scenic views.
This trail was the first trail I rode when my buddies got me into mountain biking. Its a loop that is normally started on the Arkansas River Trail. Once you start on Emerald Park Trail it seems like never ending switch backs going up. Mostly on gravel. After you get to the top you are rewarded with awesome views to south.
Once you start back down you have a choice of steep dirt switch backs or steep paved road that is just as bad as switch backs. Usually on the weekends road cyclist will be going up and down the paved road. You can get going really fast on the way down. My first trip up here I went over the handle bars on the way down the dirt path. Both the road and the switch backs take you back to the river trail
I still consider myself a novice on a mountain bike and start getting nervous next to cliffs with large drop offs. So I get off and walk when I think there is a chance of getting hurt or if I think my life might be in danger from falling off a cliff.
Drops with pointy rocks make me think I made the right decision. I am sure that there are some of you more experienced riders that do not consider that a drop but I would rather play it safe.
I crawled down some rocks to get a better view of the surroundings. All while thinking to myself how stupid I was to go down these just to get a better picture.
The last time I came up to this spot I had ran out of daylight. It got dark and I hadn't brought a light with me. I ended up having to walk my way back down with the led light off my phone. Lesson learned this time I had a light on my bike and brought an extra flashlight.
The wind was really strong and the temperature started to drop so I didn't hang out long enough to need those lights this time. Better safe than sorry though.
These images were shot on a OnePlus 5T and editing was done with SnapSeed.
