TRYING OUT TIFFANY
After taking in the impressive view of the Middle Tiffany and Tiffany Mountains and the area we rode the previous day over near Winthrop, we headed toward Little Tiffany Lake (the locals call it Upper Tiffany Lake, presumably because it sits higher than Tiffany Lake by about 900 feet) to climb the bowl that surrounds roughly two-thirds of the lake. Little Tiffany Lake sits below the summit of Tiffany Mountain and the scenery is simply spectacular, as is the climbing.
Before we really even tired of climbing about Little Tiffany Lake, we dropped off the hillside to what the locals call the Pothole, which is really just a swamp in the summertime, and climbed another bowl just above it and just below and to the side of Little Tiffany Lake. The hillclimbing there might have been a touch better than above Little Tiffany Lake because it's a larger area and more wide open.
Then it was boondocking through an area ravaged by the Tripod Fire, which burned more than 175,000 acres in 2006 (the snow was particularly good in this area), before crossing Parachute Meadows and hitting the Bottle Springs Trail. The Bottle Springs Trail is very similar to the Honeymoon Trail in that it's not groomed and you really wouldn't know you were on a trail. It's these types of trails where going with locals is such a good idea.
We hit part of Skull and Crossbones Ridge (how cool a name is that?), Finney Flat and passed Twin Peaks and Cougar Mountain (5,649 feet) as we made a huge loop on our way back to the truck.