Saint Mary's Glacier and CO 103 Vistas

Another beautiful day for riding here in Colorado. Temperatures would climb into the low 80s down in the Front Range but I would be riding most of the day in the high 50s and low 60s. My destination was the small town of Saint Mary who's claim to fame is the Saint Mary Glacier apparently.

I'd seen the sign for Fall River Road and St. Marys many times while transiting I-70 westbound to Loveland Pass and points beyond. The exit is located just west of the last exit for Idaho Springs and can be easy to miss if you're not in the right lane once you pass the town limits for Idaho Springs.

Fall River Road, follows a mildly winding path along the river with thick pine forests on both sides. Soon you come upon a few hairpin turns taking you further up in elevation. The road is nicely paved up till you end up at Silver Lake at which point it turns to packed dirt and gravel.

I cruised on past Silver Lake and explored the dirt roads which led away from the lake. Found myself next to Lake Quivara and posed Brigitta accordingly:

Lake Quivara

Here's the view at the end of a trail called St. Mary's Court. It's about as close as I could get until the terrain got GS-worthy and not something for Brigitta.

Near the end of St. Mary's Court Rd

Further exploration of the roads proved fruitless as they tended to dead end into dirt cul-de-sacs. I rode back towards Silver Lake and posed Brigitta next to the water crossing one must go through. The crossing is part of the drainage for the lake apparently; not too deep closer to the lake, a few inches perhaps.

Brigitta's first water crossing

I rode Brigitta across the water crossing twice, with no issues. Kind of fun in a way but I am sure it'd be less fun if the water proved deep enough to either get in her air intakes or up her exhaust pipes! This isn't the first time I've had to cross water on Brigitta but flood zones in low lying areas in the city don't count.

Here's another view of the mountains containing St. Mary's Glacier, which apparently is just a perennial snow field and technically not a glacier as it does not flow according to the entry in Wikipedia.


I elected not to park at the trailhead for the base of the St. Marys Glacier, it was a 3/4 mile walk and being in motorcycle boots, I just did not see it being much fun.

I rode back towards the Interstate on Fall River Road, taking a detour down Rainbow Road to see how far I could get. The road starts off easy enough, just packed dirt and small rocks.

Riding down Rainbow Road, I think that's Parry Peak in the distance but it also could be Mt. Eva

A couple of miles down the road though, it got rockier and rockier. Steeper and steeper it got and finally I stopped and turned myself around when all I could see in front of me were large rock outcroppings with barely any dirt between them! Definitely a road I'll have to ride on a GS someday.

Back on Fall River Road, I made my way past the hairpin turns that remained past Rainbow Road and got on I-70 heading east.

I got off at the CO103 exit at Idaho Springs to ride that lovely loop of paved road which takes one past Echo Lake and the entrance to the Mount Evans Road. Traffic was light and the sun made the high 50s temperatures bearable.

You'll recall it was on this road where Brigitta lost her input spline gear and I was forced to get a tow truck for her. I am happy to report no such issues today with the replacement transmission.

After going past Echo Lake, I came upon a nice distant vista of mountains along CO 103. I took many shots and these two came out the best. Yep, they're of the same stop but one is a closeup and the other tries to give you a feel for the bigger picture:

this is the best shot of the day, in my opinion

Finally, before leaving this scene, I give you a panoramic shot: warning, big file.

I continued on CO103 and shortly after Juniper Pass came upon this view of distant peaks:


I continued riding down the mountain on CO103, enjoying its twists and turns as usual. I got caught behind several slow moving cagers but it was still enjoyable to feel Brigitta respond to my steering inputs; its as if she was showing the road that she wasn't afraid of it or what had happened to her transmission the last time we were on this road!

I cruised through Bergen Park and Evergreen, and took CO74 through Idledale, Kittredge and Morrison. Headed south from Morrison to US285 which I took northbound into the Denver metro area. The rest of the ride was just city riding back to my home neighborhoods.

184 miles today, about six hours or so in the saddle. Not too bad. Some really interesting dirt roads to be ridden in the St. Marys Glacier area, someday. Still, I am really happy with how Brigitta did on these roads before I turned back.

Hope you got some riding in today.....