Stormy clouds for Yoshie

It was time for Yoshie, my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom/Dauntless Sidecar Rig to get some exercise this past Saturday.  No real destination in mind but having spotted gray clouds over the Front Range Mountains, we found ourselves headed their way.

Yoshie and I rode the southern half of the beltway that almost circles the Denver Metro Area, getting off at the Wadsworth Blvd exit so we could get onto Deer Creek Canyon to see what we could see.

What we saw was dozens and dozens of bicyclists riding up and down this canyon road, must have been some event that drew so many there.  I turned off and headed towards High Grade Road and Pleasant Valley Road, still not escaping the bicyclist and but at least there were fewer on these steeper mountain roads.

Soon enough we were in Conifer and we took CO73 towards Evergreen, still trying to get closer to the storm clouds.  We did get sprinkled on but it didn't last long now was it heavy enough to cause me to stop and put on rain gear.  It was here though that I found out my horn wasn't working, bummer.

Once I got to Evergreen, we rode on CO74 eastwards towards Bear Creek Canyon Rd in the vicinity of the town of Morrison.  Traffic was remarkably light for a weekend but I wasn't complaining.

The skies were solidly gray overhead but I was not having much luck finding suitable cloud formations to use as a backdrop, so I settled for some rock formation shots:

 A view of the curvy roads one can enjoy on Bear Creek Canyon Road

west of Morrison, CO

 I see this ring-like rock formation each time I cruise through 

Bear Creek Canyon, this time I stopped to get a picture of it for you.

It's not really an arch though it is similar to one....more like a couple of

rock columns joined at the top into an arch.

Since I was in the neighborhood, Yoshie and I turned into the Red Rocks Park to check out its rock formations in the gray light that pervaded the area.  The park was crowded with cagers, parked in spots which precluded good shots for me.  Still, managed to pose Yoshie in a couple of spots for you:

I left Red Rocks Park and entered Morrison via CO93, cruised on through and then connected with US285 to get back on the C-470 super slab and once again traverse the bottom half of the Denver Metro Area.  Merging onto the E-470 Tollway, it was pretty light traffic again after the usual chaos that is E-470 on a weekend.  I got off the Gartrell Road exit and saw some interesting cloud formations off to the west and north.

I was rained on twice while on the expressway, but neither event caused a lot of water and Yoshie and I outran the rain each time.

Stopping near the Cherokee Trail High School, I was able to get a shot of the cloud formations which had caught my eye, turning around, I saw that the storm clouds had followed me off the mountains and were almost overhead!

 Near the Cherokee Trail High School, north of Smoky Hill Road

That's the Aurora Reservoir in the distance.

Now heading towards home, I saw this gap in the storm clouds where the Front Range Mountain peaks were visible.  I made a quick stop near the weather radar "golf ball" on Smoky Hill and got the above and below shots:

There was plenty of lightning and thunder by now so I made a quick stop to fuel up and then headed on home.  I made it with plenty of time to spare before the little rain we got started coming down.  As I write this, the counties to the SE of us were getting "Severe Weather" alerts, with reports of winds gusting to almost 60 mph!    I guess the storm just blew right over us and decided to give the folks to the SE of us some grief instead.