Estes Park is the gateway town to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Usually, I don't go to the RMNP after they've closed Trail Ridge Road for the season. But, I had an appointment with Randy, the URAL dealer in Fort Collins to get the updated EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) mapping for Scarlett; so I figured it was an opportunity to see how much snow had collected on the peaks within the park.
So, the morning was spent meandering along the roads that remain open in the RMNP pretty much year round. The weather was sunny with clear skies and temperatures would soar from the mid-30s to the high 50s by the afternoon.
The weather was so nice, the park was packed, in most spots, with cagers enjoying the beautiful views.
Views of Longs Peak from McCall Reservoir, just off
of Colorado Highway 66
The middle peak is Ypsilon Mountain
First we rode towards Many Parks Curve where the road onward is now closed. This would be the road one takes to Trail Ridge Road. After I parked, I walked around a bit but none of the pictures proved worth posting. Then, I walked past the road closure barrier, perhaps a quarter mile or to get these pictures:
Valley View
Coming back into the main portion of the park, I took the road towards the Moraine Park campground and got the following two views.
Using the 50-200mm Telephoto lens, from quite a distance away.
Continuing further on, one ends up at Bear Lake but it was crammed with cagers, with more waiting for a parking spot so I retreated, taking the below picture as I left the area.
Near Bear Lake
Heading back towards Estes Park, I got gas (Scarlett, at 36MPG, reached 280 km with only .3 gallon remaining in the tank).
A quick late lunch at McDonald's and then Scarlett and I headed on US34 towards the town of Loveland where I picked up I-25 North towards Fort Collins.
The upgraded EFI mapping, version XXOR_1.02, was uploaded with the usual bit of connectivity-related delays. The throttle bodies were very close in terms of synchronization but Randy tweaked it till they were almost dead on.
I'll be blogging about this EFI mapping in a future post, but initial impressions are very good!
Spending the night at a hotel in Loveland, with my loving wife, who was attending the Colorado State Nurse Conference.
12 comments:
Not much snow yet. Why do they close the road? Just in case there is snow?
36mpg! Pretty nice...
It's a yearly thing here RichardM, I think it's a budget issue along with preventing accidents for tourists. Mt Evans, independence pass, and a couple of other major passes are also shut for the season.
The scenery is just too beautiful -- sort of unfair of you having all that magnificent visual material to work with on your blog while the rest of us labor without any big sky views. At least I find comfort in the fact that you're hampered by having the URAL in tow.
Picture #2 -- you missed a chance photographing that big guy statue. That's the sort of scene that Fuzzygalore.com travels the world and the seven seas to find. Those sweeping landscapes have you missing the things we mortals are reduced to appreciating.
You probably skipped a photo knowing she sold her URAL yesterday in favor of a *cough* Triumph Bonneville...
Just wait till we get more snow Steve, this stuff so far is just a teaser. As to the big guy, was at one point less than ten feet from him, he wasn't looking that good closeup, deterioration.
36 MPG does sound good, but are you still limited to 60MPH top end? Although 70/75 with a hack does seem to be excessive. The scenery is outstanding as usual. Add it the weekend getaway with the wife and it becomes bragging about the great life.
Bautiful shots, Dom. I am surprised about the lack of snow in your pics, and really hope that you'll soon get the playground you desire for your URAL.
As usual - incredible mountain vistas, don't get those here!
AZ HD, Max cruising speed is 70mph but I've found cylinder head temps are higher than 423F so not for long periods. And yes, to me life is better in the slow lane....if I wanted to be a squid, I'd be riding a crotch rocket.
Thanks for your kind words .... We'll see how the new efi map affects mileage, there's been tankful a where the rig got 40mpg!
Thanks SonjaM, there's report of snow in the mountains so there's hope.
Thanks VStar Lady, it's kind of hard to take a bad picture of the scenery around here....
I love RMNP. I have only visited in the summer. I love your photos. One of these days I will visit in the fall and/or winter. Estes Park is a great little town.
Thomas Osburn, the Trail Ridge Road which is a main feature of the park is one of the better rides here in Colorado. Thanks for commenting.
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