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This is the beginning of the long gradual climb after passing Mt Crested Butte. Gothic is just past the trees in the bottom middle of the photo, Schofield Pass is 10 miles up the road around the mountains on the left, and the 401 trail descends the mountain in the background and then rolls up and down through the trees on the far slope on your right.

Almost to Schofield Pass with Emerald Lake on our left. JD had kindly dropped back to chat about Emerald Lake while Sorni chatted with a couple of cool locals up the road. Unfortunately Schofield wasn't the top of the climb as we had another 800 ft of singletrack climbing up the slopes on the right.

Schofield Pass is down to the left and these are the mountains looking north out towards Marble, CO. We're almost to the highpoint of the ride here.

Sorni cruising the upper section of 401.

And this is a view from 401 looking back on the valley we had ridden up. We had passed the base of Mt Crested Butte (the peak in the center of the photo) a couple of hours earlier. Now it was mostly downhill all the way home with some grinder ups and downs along the slopes to the left of the photo.

Sorni and JD crankin' through some aspens on upper 401.