Pogwatigue Perambulations: Left Hand Canyon

Yesterday, I loaded my bike up and drove to Boulder to take off on a long ride up in to the mountains. Looking for something a little different than Lookout Mountain Road, which defiantly climbs the face of the mountains, I wanted to try a ride that went higher and further up and in to the mountains, but did so more gradually.   When my friend Dan and I took a ride last fall, he suggested Left Hand Canyon to me as a future ride possibility. Looking at the maps earlier this week, it fit the bill for my desired challenge.

I parked on the north side of Boulder and hopped on my bike. Soon, I was working my way up a steep grade along Old Stage Road. To my dismay after working hard to climb a few hundred feet, the road took me about as far down hill before intersecting with Left Hand Canyon Drive.   Once I turned left on to Left Hand Canyon, I was all uphill, roughly 3,000 feet in the next fifteen miles. I maintained a fairly steady 4-6 MPH most of the way, not fast, but light-speed compared to Lookout Mountain Road. I took one extended rest after surpassing 7,500 feet in elevation and a bunch of short stops for pictures.

The hardest part of the whole ride was the last mile and a half of the road leading in to the village of Ward.   The grade steepened considerably, forcing me to make about a half-dozen stops in that short stretch. In Ward, I bought some refreshments and rested for about fifteen minutes. Then, I had a tough decision to make; return the down Left Hand Canyon Drive or take the Peak to Peak Highway to Boulder Canyon Drive. It was about 4:30 PM. The former option was safer, fifteen miles of easy downhill coasting almost all the way to my car, which would unquestionable bring me back to the car well before sunset. On the other hand, the topography of Peak to Peak Highway was a mostly unknown, it could be a lot of up and down. Too much 'up' in proportion to 'down' and I might find myself in trouble.

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Knowing that I wouldn't likely have this opportunity again, I forged ahead and was well rewarded for it. The eleven miles of the highway in to Nederland, were mostly down, including some of the most exhilarating miles on my bike. Moreover, the mountain views surpassed even that which I had experienced on the climb up Left Hand Canyon. I took a short break in the town of Nederland before beginning the final and best segment of the ride, the descent down Boulder Canyon. I've driven a lot of scenic byways, but this was the first time I savored coasting down one on a bike. Flying down the canyon road I was surrounded by the towering rocks and accompanied by the rushing mountain stream without a windshield or carbody separating me from the scenery.

The ride wasn't done when I got to the bottom of the canyon which exits right in to downtown Boulder. I still had about four miles to go, much of it uphill again, to get back to my car.   I rode a couple miles--in the decreasing daylight--through a residential section of boulder and then connected with an easy gravel trail that took me--in the increasing darkness--back to the car.

With a final cumulative elevation gain of 4,600 feet, this ride ranks fourth on my all time ride list, following New York (7,600 feet), Maryland (5,250 feet) and my last last ride in Philadelphia, Brandywine Battlefield (4,800 feet). However, normalizing for distance traveled, this ride blows the others away, with an average gain of ninety feet per mile; almost thirty percent more than the next closest, Brandywine Battlefield at seventy-one feet per mile.

Trip Statistics
Length: 50.6 miles
Ride Time: 5 hours 56 minutes
Total Time: 7 hours 34 minutes
Avg. Speed: 8.5 MPH
Max. Speed: 37.7 MPH
Total Ascent: 4,600 ft.
Max Elev.: 9,363 ft.

Elevation Profile