Sunday, October 11, 2015

Uraling along Squaw Pass Road

Another beautiful and warm Fall day here in Colorado.

Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar rig and I rode out of our home neighborhoods shortly before 9:00 and spend the next hour or so dodging church-goer traffic frantic to make what I must assume was the 9 O'Clock show at their church.

Once free of the metro area, I headed west into the foothills using Bear Creek Canyon Road out of Morrison, winding and climbing my way past the little mountain towns of Idledale, Kittredge (where I spotted a URAL rib parked by a restaurant; turned out to be Steve and his daughter out for breakfast).

After chatting with Steve for a bit, continued motoring on CO74 and ended up at Evergreen where I stayed on CO74 and headed north out of town towards the turn for Squaw Pass Road aka CO 103, the road that leads to CO5, the Mount Evans Road.

Mount Evans has been closed for the season, though I doubt its because of snow, more likely because a date on some bureaucrat's calendar in the CO DOT had been reached.

Very windy today, what Fall Colors I did find will not last much more as the winds had pretty much picked clean the Aspen Trees in the usual spots for pictures.

 Just a few miles west of Echo Lake, a view of the top of 
Mount Evans, snow-free as you can see.

 At the scenic overlook less than a mile from Echo Lake, where
one can "see forever" on a clear day.

Got to Echo Lake and found it swarming with cagers, so elected to not even stop and get a picture of the Mount Evans Peak before making a U-turn and starting back down the way I'd come on Squaw Pass Road.

 There really isn't much fall color left on the Aspens along the road
but here's a spot for you.

I decided to ride down Old Squaw Pass Road for a change, found it to be bordered by many homes now although there were more groupings of Aspen trees to delight the eye with their Fall Colors.




I left Old Squaw Pass road soon after the above pictures, rejoining Squaw Pass Road which I took back to the town of Evergreen and basically retraced my route back towards the Denver Metro area.

Got home safely shortly before 2:00 PM after covering perhaps a bit over 120 miles or 200 Kilometers of rather meandering riding.  It was close to 87F when I got home, a warm day indeed.

The snow, cannot come, soon enough.

13 comments:

Learning to Golf said...

Scarlett looks good out amongst the fall colors. I agree about the cooler weather not getting here soon enough. After being in the high 80s last week we are back into the low 100s this coming week.

redlegsrides said...

Yes she does! We usually get our first snowfall the third week of October, hopefully this year's snowfall is on schedule

RichardM said...

Beautiful riding weather though all of the heavy traffic doesn't sound like too much fun...

redlegsrides said...

It never is Richard, sometimes, I think this state is getting crowded. It is, what it is...

Unknown said...

I went out pavement riding yesterday and dirt riding today and discovered pretty much the same thing, Dom: The quakies in the High Uintas' foothills (9,000' to 10,000') are well-past peak color. In fact, many of the trees are already bare.

As far as fall color, based on the photos and narratives you shared of your trip a few weeks back, it seems you couldn't have chosen better days. You snapped and shared some pretty spectacular autumn pics. Again, well done.

Trobairitz said...

There may not be a lot of leaves left on the aspens, but what are there sure are pretty.

redlegsrides said...

Ry Austin, yep I think the peak has passed in the mountains, it's time for the lower elevations now. Thanks for the comments.

Trobairitz, they're especially pretty if you can find them with the sun shining through them....

VStar Lady said...

Scarlett adds just the perfect touch of autumn red to the Aspen yellows. By the by ... I can wait for snow.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks for your comments VStar Lady.

SonjaM said...

What a lovely contrast. You really seem to luck out with the weather.

redlegsrides said...

SonjaM, thanks, the weather has been very good lately....

Anonymous said...

Just rode through there on Thursday...it was beautiful!

redlegsrides said...

Truly, motoventures, truly....