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Chilkoot Pass
Chilkoot Pass was added to the northern end of the Klondike
riding area in 2014. It's a short lariat loop from the Agate
trailhead. Or, it's a quick passage to Agate from its own trailhead on the
Dinosaur Tracks Road. The riding is easy beginner-level, with nothing
technical and very little elevation change.
Riders approach the Chilkoot trailhead
on the Dinosaur Tracks road. We're looking west. Yeah, the views are not exciting.
But it's a useful trail. Photos May 21, 2014 by Bruce.
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| As a stand-alone trail Chilkoot won't raise much interest
for hard-core Moab riders. But what it offers is a continuation
of the easy western singletrack route of Klondike
Bluffs riding area. There's now continous trail from Jurassic
north to Jasper to Agate and now Chilkoot,
a cruise of around 6 miles with very little climbing and no terror for
newbies.
And it has a nice big trailhead parking lot, right on the main gravel
road, with a toilet. So a lot of sedans and small SUVs park here even if
they're headed to Jasper/Agate or Mega Steps.
View north from the beginning of the
lariat loop as it forks off the Agate trail a few feet from the Agate
trailhead parking.
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The little lariat loop is only 1.4 miles long with about
30 feet of total elevation change. This makes it a plush and quick ride
for beginners and kids. The scenery isn't inspiring as the trail winds
through barely-vegetated dirt. But the singletrack is well-built and flows
nicely.
The trail winds through boulders
blackened with desert varnish. A few desert marigolds bloom in the May
sunshine. |
| The circle of the lariat hits the dirt road to the dinosaur
tracks. Here's a small parking area. It's just after the dinosaur tracks
road turns east to head for the mountains, and just before the fork where
a smaller road turns right toward the Agate trailhead, then goes on to the
Mega Steps trailhead. The advantage of this
trailhead is, it's on the main dirt road and is more friendly to RVs,
sedans, and flimsy bike racks. (Note: this trailhead is a couple of miles
away from the actual Dinosaur Track trailhead where Dino
Flow starts.)
We're approaching the Chilkoot
trailhead from the south. The trailhead sits at the top of the loop of the
lariat.
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From this northern trailhead, you can select the
"Cutoff" trail which takes you quickly to the Agate trail 0.5
miles away, or the main Chilkoot trail which is a horrific 0.9 mile
journey to Agate.
Looking south on the cutoff trail. |
| So what's this trail good for? It puts a bit more
singletrack into the easy loop of Dinosaur road, Dino
Flow, Jurassic, Jasper
and Agate (see the Jurassic page). And it's a quick way to test the
kid's abilities with a short ride.
Experts will use this trail as a connector when grinding out the miles
at the end of a hard riding day, making a loop around the valley.
Easy pedaling.
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Clockwise loop from the Agate Trailhead:
0.0 Go through fence, take right-most trail
0.3 Fork left to Pass
0.9 Chilkoot TH, keep R
1.1 Keep L
1.4 Back at Agate Trailhead
Looking down toward the Agate
trailhead. |
Getting there, Northern Klondike Chilkoot TH: On Highway 191 8.5 miles
south of I-70 and 6.5 miles north of the southern Klondike Bluffs road
(about 5 miles north of the airport), watch for a "Northern
Klondike" sign at N38 49.504 W109 46.893. Turn east (toward the
sandstone bluff). Keep to the right as the road winds south around a small
hill. 1.2 miles from the highway as the road is heading east toward the
bluff, the Chilkoot trailhead is on your right.
Agate TH: Go a bit past the fenced parking area then fork right on a fainter jeep road
at N38 49.103 W109 46.061. (The
main road continues to the dinosaur tracks, with an alternate trailhead
here for the Dino Flow trail.) At mile 1.6 from the highway, you'll come to the TH for the Jasper and Agate
loops (N38 49.087 W109 45.625) on your right.
Mega Steps TH: Continuing past the Agate TH, at 2.0 miles you're at the
bottom of Mega Steps at a larger parking area N38 49.179 W109 45.417.
Bathroom at Chilkoot TH. No water, no camping.
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