The Emerald island of singletrack

Although I was on several assignments recently in Steamboat Springs (old hometown) I always spend some cardio-time on the amazing trails on Emerald mountain (AKA Howelsen, Quarry mtn, Emerald). This will go down as one of the greenest Summers in quite a while and the foliage is at an all-time high too.

The flowers were out early and the grasses were taller then I can ever recall in 28 years in Steamboat. I was also fortunate enough to work with yeticycles.com ambassador and professional snowboarder Justin Reiter and local ski racer/teacher Emily Colin.

A classic view of Steamboat from the bluffs on emerald.

The extremely tall grass on the lower Lupine trail almost slows down Emily in the switchback section. In addition to her biking skills, Emily also founded a really cool non-profit in 2010 pedalforchange.org. If you love to bike and give back to those in need, definitely check this out.

Oh, did I mention the ferns were tall too. This is the new trail (morning gloria) named after local entrepreneur  Gloria Gossard who donated the land allowing sections to be taken care of responsibly by making good sustainable trails for hikers, bikers and horseman.

Emily heads down a fern section of Morning Gloria as I feel like I'm in an Amazon jungle filming a documentary.

Back at the stables near the rodeo grounds a couple Colorado craft beers wait for some attention after an amazing couple of hours deep in the emerald jungles of Howelsen Hill!