Taking the long way home.

Temperatures from the mid-50s to low-60sF°

A beautiful sunny day in the Front Range today. I was able to leave work shortly after lunch since I had all my hours in and there was work planned for tonight. (Bonus, got a call later that it was canceled!)

I headed out West on the I-70 Slab and was soon near the town of Morrison. From there I cruised to the west on Bear Creek Canyon Road, it's a very twisty and fun road to ride and there was very little gravel from the snow removal operations. I soon cruised by the small towns of Idledale and Kittredge.

I took the road south out of Kittredge towards Parmalee Gulch and Indian Hills. There's some nice twisty roads along the way as well but gravel and speed limits kept me going pretty sedately until I hit US285 which I headed back to Denver on as I'd spotted approaching gray clouds from the west.

Once back to Morrison, I cruised the road leading South of town and found some interesting rock formations to take a picture of Maria by:

Rocks south of Morrison

After a bit of cruising up and down the Morrison area I got on the C470 slab southbound and got off at Ken Caryl Boulevard. I spotted a Sheriff Motor Patrol officer on duty while enroute. I'd always seen State Patrol or City Motor cops, he was the first sheriff unit I'd seen.

I headed south along Ken Caryl Valley and soon junctioned with Deer Creek Canyon Road which I took West. You may recall I'd not been able to make it all the way to Fenders on this nicely twisting road due to ice/snow conditions the last time. Well this time I made it all the way to Fenders but while there was little snow/ice except on the sides of the road; there was a boatload of gravel! I was forced to stay in narrow channels of clear road left behind by cars in order to keep off the loose gravel.

The gravel is slippery stuff, so my speeds were down from normal cruising on this usually fun to ride road. Oh well, spring will come soon enough.

I turned around at Fenders after I started seeing some snow flakes falling around me as I road. I headed back the way I came on Deer Creek Canyon road and continued seeing snow flakes fall until I cleared the foothills. Then the sun broke out and all was warmer.

You can the approaching weather front, they're calling for light snow showers in the foothills tonight:

Looking West towards Deer Creek Canyon

Looking East towards the Front Range

The last picture shows you how nice and sunny it was over the Denver Metro area and Front Range.

I cruised home on the C470/E470 slabs in order to make up some time, it was nice and warm all the way home. Got in perhaps 120 miles of riding today, counting the mileage from my home to work. Not a bad little ride.

The weather is supposed to be gorgeous throughout the weekend, we shall see.