After work, rode over to CO State Highway 67, aka Phantom Canyon Road. It used to be a railroad route between the town of Florence and Cripple Creek. Apparently a lot of gold was transported by train back in the day.
Nowadays it's a pretty smooth dirt road with two narrow railroad tunnels and one remaining steel bridge (I think it's been restored, looks too good).
Towering, rocky canyon walls
The southern or Lower Tunnel entrance
The northern side of the Lower Tunnel
I rode past the Upper Tunnel and turned around after riding across the Steel Bridge pictured below.
Another view of interesting Canyon Walls
Posing Yagi near a rocky ledge
Here's a view of the southern side of the Upper Tunnel:
There were several tent campsites established along the creek bed that carved out the canyon, no cell service but I guess the campers I saw come out here to disconnect from the real world.
Got back to the Penrose BLM campsite with no issues. No clouds so not much of a sunset today. Perhaps tomorrow.
10 comments:
I am guessing the dirt roads can get quite slippery when it rains...
Nice shots of the tunnel and Yagi on the ledge, Dom. Beautiful area.
Thanks SonjaM, I should have worked harder in the ledge pictures but safe places to stand were not available.
The third photograph is a masterpiece. The composition, variations in light and the placement of the motorcycle are perfect. You and Yagi have the photographer-muse thing going on.
The ride looks wonderful from my perch in the living room. And I have to say more and more I am thinking about a TW200. It's odd, my mind has been focused for a long time on bigger bikes -- Suzuki DL650, Kawasaki KLR650, BMW F650GS, Triumph Scrambler, etc. But I know how tall and heavy those machines are, and how slow I ride. No reason I can honestly think of to have something that big. The TW200 looks good and just seems so functional.
Are you content with the power it has? And do you think the fat tires are an advantage on dirt and gravel over say the knobby tires on the Yamaha 250 motorcycle or the Honda CRF250L? I can only assume the TW200 will easily out perform the Vespa on dirt and gravel. I ride with it but the suspension leaves much to be desired. The scooter just isn't designed for much off the pavement.
As always, great stuff.
The road looks to be well maintained as does the bridge. And touristy signs along the way. Who maintains it? Cool tunnels
It’s a state highway so.....
The tunnels give you some idea how small the trains were....
Thanks Steve for the kind words and feedback, yeah I really thought the third pic turned out well. I love the TW200, it easily negotiates rough terrain, loose rocks and gravel. Stuff that would beat up my urals is nothing to the t-dub...and like you I ride slow to look for shots. It’s only got like six inches of suspension travel at best so you won’t be seeing me jumping logs or hill tops....highway speed is 55mph at best and that’s fine by me.
I kinda like the 4th photo more than the 3rd...
Nice seeing you off road with 2 wheels. I think Phantom canyon is very cool and you've captures some good views of it. Been on it with 2 and 3 wheels, very bike friendly and on the Ural you don't get too beat up, although I did manage to lose a muffler on the Ural on one of our Uralista outings. It's not a good off road adventure without losing a muffler off of those rigs, right.
Thanks Spat, I remember your rig losing the muffler and you’re using leftover power wire you found near Cripple Creek to “fix” it. Truly a WWID moment!
The fourth one could have turned out better focused....
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