Pennsylvania Gulch | Sublime Punishment

Trailhead coordinates: N40°02.138’ W105°28.144’

Back In Time

Driving down Wall Street in the Boulder foothills is like driving through a scene in Butcher Holler.  A light rain showered the area all day filling a thousand little puddles along the Dirt road, giant jagged rock walls blooming with blue spruce and aspen trees, the occasional Detroit relic on one side, a flowing stream on the other sharing the scene with propane tanks and woodsheds nestled within towering pine.  Looking for a challenge I settled on Pennsylvania Gulch with a starting point at the town site of Sunset.

Private road; oops

This is perhaps the most difficult route for this ride, one reserved for the advanced and slightly insane.  I parked at the top of the south Switzerland Trail and made my way down to the town site of Sunset.  This was my first attempt at Penn Gulch so my first hurdle was to locate the trailhead.  Making my way around the town site of Sunset I stumbled upon what I can only describe as the Paris, CO hideout.  A trail running along a stream, you finally come to a rather spacious cave opening, all that was missing in this scene were a couple of dueling banjos.  Figuring I had missed the trail earlier I backtracked and found myself in a ridge hiking along an eroded waterway in deep woods and scat I couldn’t identify; hardly a trail, I concluded I was way off track and turned around.

Rideable but loose

Finally back at the Switzerland Trail a fellow biker steered me in the right direction and I was on the trail in no time.  The trail climbs immediately on very loose Dirt and gravel.  The gravel slowly turns to rock and the rocks seem to get bigger the higher you go.  If this isn’t enough to give you pause, add in the steep grade and what you have is an afternoon of sublime punishment.  It would take a well conditioned athlete with superior skill to make this climb without dismounting and I’m not too proud to say I possess neither, apparently!

It gets worse!

Determined to map this beast, pushing on through the rain, albeit light, and wind I finally reached the plateau in a time just shy of an hour and an elevation gain of approximately 1,300 feet, which is quite a ratio of rise and run.  I can’t recall a time when I walked a climb more than I rode, which should give you an indication of just how difficult this route can be.  Coming down is just as challenging and very precarious given the abundance of rock and the steep grade.  “Step Off” if you possess limited skills or inferior equipment, no peanut butter and jelly sandwich will save you here.

This was the hardest climb since Vail Mountain and Walker Ranch and easily the most dangerous.  I understand that one can perform a loop extending all the way to Nederland and perhaps one day I’ll give it a shot but definitely in the opposite direction.  You can find the trail profile at Pennsylvania Gulch and remember that Pennsylvania Gulch begins around the 6.20 mile mark.

Thanks for clicking in and hope to see you on the trail.

Finally at the top

Dirt Life