Sunday Sunrise and Uraling along the Platte River Roads

I woke before dawn this morning and since I was up, went out to try and catch the sunrise.  I'd apparently missed a pretty good one yesterday you see.

 Moonset

The sunrise was disappointing in the colors it produced on the eastern sky, still, not too bad considering.

I went back home and did some chores and then headed out once more on Scarlett just before noon with no destination in mind really.  It took some wandering down county roads towards Franktown and then from there more wandering to Russellville and later county road 11 towards Castle Rock.

Strangely banded cows I saw on the road to Russellvile

As I approached Castle Rock, my mood lightened and I started enjoying the ride.  Up until then, it had been more of a chore than anything else you know?

It occurred to me that it had been a while since I'd been down to the South Platte River Road which leads one to the small settlement of Foxton.  Now armed with a destination, Scarlett and I made our way to CO105 from Castle Rock, and turned west and south from Sedalia on CO67 towards Foxton.

The road there was about 19 miles of tight twists and turns, sharp ascents and descents, on terrain that at times was snow-packed, to muddy, to dry dirt to snowy mud.  It kept my speeds down but then again, I wasn't in a hurry either.  After all, no sense sliding on some ice and off the road right?

Finally got to the Platte River recreation area near Scraggly Peak and from there it was slow wandering alongside the river taking pictures at the usual spots:

The old South Platte Hotel

Coming up on the monument below, I was surprised to find it had been moved closer to the edge of the road, it used to be further in, closer to the water.  The sign next to it explained the move and gave some badly needed history for the monument.

 Monument to a Railroad Hero

 Cathedral Spires

 In the photo above, you can see the road which takes one back

to US285 and from there back to town.

Pictures done, I took the paved road north towards US285, this is a wonderfully twisting road by the way, just watch your speeds on the southbound lane since you can get going pretty fast due to the steepness of the road at times.

Once on US285, Scarlett and I slabbed it all the way home.  Temperatures would range from the mid-40s at the start of the riding, to the mid-30s on US285 and back to the mid-40s once I was back in the metro Denver area.

I'd started the ride under clear blue skies, you can see clouds were gathering throughout the day as I rode.  We're supposed to get some snow tonight, but I've my doubts it'll be much of anything.