After the start we follow the road to the "Georgetown Loop" railroad station. Then it's on to a paved bike trail, parallel to I-70, climbing to Silverplume. From here we are all the way to near the summit of McClellan Mt. on the old railroad grade of the "Argentine Central Railway". Leaving Silverplume the dirt road changes to a 4WD road (closed for motorized travel) and then to a nice trail. From shortly before Pavilion Point it's a 4WD road again. After intersecting (water depot) with the 4WD road coming up from Clear Creek (south fork) there are more easy miles to the old Waldorf town site, and finally in wide switchbacks up to near the summit of Mt. McClellan. Here the road ends, as plans building a railroad to Grays Peak were not realized. To Mt. McClellan, Mt. Edwards and finally Argentine Pass, there is no trail. It's grass, rocks, some scree - altogether not too bad, but very exposed to wind and weather. From Argentine Pass we follow the Argentine trail (old stagecoach road!) down west to a (first and only) switchback, where we will have a water depot. Straight (southwest) cross country over a meadow we reach the grassy north ridge, interspersed with some rocks, of Decatur Mt.. We will climb up to the main ridge (coming from the left/east from Argentine Peak) and go west along the ridge, a little bit rocky, although on a faint animal trail, briefly up, about 50 ft. down and then to the summit of Decatur Mt.. The next part is easy - southwest on a faint trail to a saddle and on to a tailing pond under a hut (directly under the summit of Revenue Mt. on its north side). After this old mine an old trail leads to the saddle west of Revenue Mt.. We follow an animal trail to Silver Mt. and reach over its false summit the main summit. The course goes, again cross-country, down into the next saddle, up the ridge about 350 ft., with some bad footing,  and traversing along a contour line to a 4WD road. Now it's all the way down to Montezuma, to our rest at the "Montezuma Inn".

The first half of this "South Loop" is on 4WD roads - deteriorating the further we get. Passing the old mining town of Saints John, the course goes up to Glacier Mt. and over a plateau on to Teller Mt. A small but easy ridge without exposure, with a faint animal trail,  leads then down to a saddle northwest of Handcart Peak. Footing is not very good, but it's a short section before grassy flats lead to the summit of Handcart Peak and down the other side (water depot). The bump between Handcart Peak and Webster Pass can be skipped by circling on the northwest side on an animal trail. From Webster Pass we follow the road leading to Red Cone for a short time before turning to the left (northwest , then north). Grassy sections change with more rocky ones while climbing Pt. 13214, going down a little bit and up Landslide Peak and on to Geneva Peak. Down into the next saddle footing is bad footing, but up Sullivan Mt. it's getting better again. The next summit is Santa Fe Pk. This whole night section (from Glacier Mt.) is very exposed to wind and weather! From Santa Fe Peak a 4WD road leads down north to where we connect with the earlier part of the course coming from Silver Mountain. From here to the aid station in Montezuma (cabin at the Montezuma Inn) it's the same route we had some hours ago.

Montezuma - Loveland Pass

We go down main street to where the pavement starts. Here we turn right. After 200 yards on this dirt road, at a huge rock, is the start of a nice trail (very old road bed) into Peru Creek, and then a good dirt road to Lenawee TH (sign, but maybe not easy to find in the dark). A scenic trail leads up to the saddle south of Lenawee Mt.. Here we go straight (to the right is the ridge to the summit) about 0.1 miles to the upper end of the A-Basin ski-lifts. A dirt road brings us all the way down to the highway and the Snake River, which is just a creek. Here we may have an aid station. Up to Loveland Pass: From the road maintenance shed we follow the road for 30 yards, turn right on the old road, over the bridge, follow an old trail parallel the creek up the valley. After about 300 yards, we cross the creek (should be possible without getting wet feet) and stay pretty close to the creek on it's east side for a while. It's mostly grassy, a few willows, maybe a little bit wet. Being close to the switchback of the highway, we cross the creek again to it's west side, fight our way through some willows and get up to the highway. On it we walk around the switchback and, leaving it, straight up, then turning west till we are below the highway again. Walking parallel to to the highway we reach our aid station at Loveland Pass.

Loveland Pass - Jones Pass

The first half of this section is mostly cross country and strenuous. The second half is on trails and the good dirt road from Bobtail Aid Station up Jones Pass. - After leaving Loveland Pass we will follow a ridge very exposed to wind and weather all the way to the saddle south of Hagar Mt. The first mile or so it's a trail, which ends when we come to some steeper ups and downs. These are a little bit rocky, as well as the section after Pt. 13010 (water depot). From the saddle we angle to the left, west under Hagar Mt., following cairns through boulder fields and grassy patches till we are on the ridge again. Here we find a trail, which is exposed in places with steep drop-offs to the left. Finally turning northeast into Bobtail Creek, we are on a good trail, leading us through some forest and meadows - but it's a long way down before we finally reach the "Bobtail Aid Station". As Jones Pass may not be open before around middle of September because of snow, we are not sure if we will have this aid station. The Denver Water Department is clearing the pass in September for going over it for some maintenance work they are doing once a year at the Gumlick Water Tunnel. But Jones Pass Aid Station is only 2.7 miles further, up all the way on a well maintained 4WD road.

Jones Pass - Berthoud Pass

From Jones Pass there is a relatively new trail, part of the "Continental Divide Trail", going on the west side around Bobtail (12,803ft.), to Pt.12,666 and down into the saddle east of it. Here we leave the trail for a short time. After going over Pt. 12316 (water depot) we meet it again and follow it all the way to Berthoud Pass. There is only one mayor climb - when the course climbs Stanley Mt.. The last section to the Berthoud Pass Aid Station is on a 4WD road, which starts at the top of the ski lift. That's an easy, "relaxing" part.

Berthoud Pass - Alice

Following cross country another short ski-lift to its upper end, we turn left and follow a new trail uphill all the way to the saddle between Colorado Mines Peak and Mt. Flora. Shortly afterwards the trail ends (as of Aug. 11, 2001). Staying on the quite often very windy ridge to the summit of Mt. Flora is mixed grass and rocks. Down the east side there is a trail for about a mile or so, circling around Breckinridge Peak on it's north side. After the trail ends in the middle of nowhere (as of Aug. 11, 2001), footing is bad. But soon we reach a 4WD road, which in some places is worse than every trail, and follow it till we take a left/north at an intersection, towards Mill Creek. 50 yards after crossing Mill Creek, the road turns right (up) into the forest. Just half a mile and we start going downhill again. After passing Pt. 10574 there is an old cabin (Forest Service) on the right side of the road. 15 yards further (where there is the first tree on the right side) a narrow trail goes off to the left. 10 minutes later we reach a saddle - we follow the good trail, going down and then about 100 ft. up again, till we come to an old mine, where a 4WD road starts, bringing us down (going straight, the direction the trail had) to Fall River. When meeting the wide (but not really good) dirt road, we follow it to the right (down the valley) and over a bridge. Where after the bridge the curve to the right ends, an old trail (difficult to find where it starts) goes off to the left, uphill. When it flattens after about 10 minutes, we go another 200 yards and then x-country to the left for 3 minutes, till we come to our Alice Aid Station (going uphill we can't miss the 4WD road which goes from Alice to Loch Lomond).