As there were menacing clouds further up the valley towards trail 405 , and we had been told that trail 405 was quite muddy, we decided to do a ride we have done before Flag Creek / Deadmans Gulch. A 20.1 mile loop. The route starts with a slog up a 5.9 mile ride up to Reno Divide, Before heading down to 3 miles of perfect singletrack along Flag creek

It was very cold and in places there was snow on the ground, and the trail quite chewed up by motor bike traffic, so the going was slow at times. We headed up bear creek , towards Deadmans Gulch.

There was a significant climb up to the top of Deadmans gulch at mile 17, but from there it was all down hill back to cement creek, with the 32 switch backs down through the aspens.

In the evening we had a mexican meal in Winter Park which was very good.

DAY 18