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Captain Jack's Loop (Stratton Open Space Ladders Cheyenne Canyon Captain Jacks Buckhorn Trail Columbine Trail Spring Creek Trail Ladder Ladders Gold Camp Road)

Mountain Biking Trail

Hard
13.54 mi
2,314 ft
One of the original classic mountain bike rides, Captain Jack's still delivers a rocking-good time!

The Captain Jack’s Trail is cemented in mountain biking lore as one of the original go-to mountain bike rides. That’s because Captain Jack’s was originally a dirt biking trail that existed even before the sport of mountain biking. The lore surrounding Captain Jack’s is murky, but according to Otis Guy, Captain Jack’s is responsible for inspiring Doug Bradbury to create the first Manitou front suspension fork for mountain biking.

Joe Breeze, one of the godfathers of mountain biking, lists Captain Jack’s as one of his all time favorite trails in an article on He characterizes it as “a crazy ball-roll downhill singletrack.” While this trail was excellent decades ago, Breeze recently rode it with his son and cousin and claims that it’s “still great fun."

Today, the named Captain Jack’s trail remains open to motorized travel, but many of the other trails in the region—some of which were once open to motos—are now largely only legal for nonmotorized travel… which means mountain bikers are in luck!

A variety of trails lead to the top of the descent, but the route mapped here is one of the best. Once you drop into the primary descent, Captain Jack’s drops quickly down the mountainside. The trail tread consists of classic Colorado Front Range decomposed granite, but the loose rock and sand is deeper and looser on Jack’s than average due to the motorized traffic. Be prepared to ride the wave of granite as your tires surf over the surface.

The trail does get gnarly in places, with rock gardens, root drops, and more. The trail tread is dug into a deep trench in places from the decades of traffic, which opens up wall ride options and the ability to choose from multiple lines.

Sources:

Written by Greg Heil
Created By
Strava Routes

Route and Elevation

Segments

NameDistanceElev. Diff.Avg. Grade
Jam in Joe's Garage0.61 mi197 ft6.1%
Parking lot to Chutes XC2.23 mi636 ft5.4%
Molly's Forest0.28 mi69 ft4.5%
Roots/Rocks Talking S#!+0.31 mi33 ft0.2%
Mid Ponderosa Trail0.16 mi26 ft0.5%
Upper Meadows Loop Climb0.49 mi203 ft7.8%
Chamberlain: Upper Meadows Loop to The Chutes0.57 mi220 ft7.3%
Mid Chamberlain Climb0.39 mi131 ft6.2%
Upper Meadows Loop to Gold Camp0.96 mi318 ft6.2%
Last 1/2 Chutes0.47 mi220 ft8.8%
Connector Climb0.16 mi115 ft13.5%
Only a ½ Mile0.47 mi226 ft9.1%
Ladders0.23 mi102 ft8.2%
Top of Chutes to High Drive2.73 mi479 ft3.3%
Top Of Chutes to Jack's Overlook4.90 mi1,204 ft4.6%
gold camp-final push0.27 mi59 ft3.3%
No Time to be Lost1.62 mi315 ft3.7%
GC Gravel to Columbine1.46 mi295 ft3.3%
Gold Camp Dirt to High Drive2.34 mi417 ft3.4%
gold camp dirt2.39 mi456 ft3.5%
GCR 2nd Tunnel to Top Lot0.62 mi108 ft3.3%
High Road gate to top of Buckhorn1.92 mi659 ft6.5%
High Rd gate to High Drive/Capt Jacks2.75 mi686 ft2.3%
High Rd gate, Buckhorn, Capt Jacks to Gold Camp Rd5.17 mi-1,033 ft-1.3%
Buckhorn from the boulders1.27 mi545 ft8.1%
Buckhorn Climb1.40 mi640 ft8.3%
Up Buckhorn - Down Jacks (end at HD)1.97 mi604 ft2.3%
Half Full Half Empty0.67 mi315 ft8.8%
Up Buckhorn1.25 mi525 ft8.0%
BuckJacks Enduro4.48 mi-1,063 ft-1.9%
Buckhorn 2nd Cutback to the T on Jacks0.62 mi328 ft10.0%
Marble surfing0.58 mi-338 ft-10.9%
Down to Up on Jacks2.29 mi-745 ft-5.9%
Upper Captain Jack's0.54 mi-292 ft-10.1%
The Whole Captain2.76 mi-817 ft-5.6%
Jacks to here.1.64 mi-387 ft-3.9%
Jacks First Mile1.07 mi-210 ft-3.6%
Captain Jack's2.37 mi-650 ft-5.1%
Minus the Mathletes1.92 mi-669 ft-6.4%
May's to Morgan's1.13 mi-371 ft-6.1%
double them 0.33 mi-118 ft-6.4%
Fast and Last of Jacks0.68 mi-335 ft-9.0%
Jacks Corners - DH0.65 mi-315 ft-9.1%
Don't kill any hikers DH2.42 mi-991 ft-7.3%
The Whole Creek0.69 mi-240 ft-5.2%
New Colombine0.68 mi-207 ft-4.9%
Spring Creek Descent0.59 mi-243 ft-7.5%
New and Old Lower Columbine Down1.16 mi-633 ft-10.3%
Swashbuckling switchbacks, full drift!0.62 mi-427 ft-13.0%
Final Sprint to the Lot0.27 mi-39 ft-2.0%