Marshall Pass

June 7

Martha drove home for a social engagement this evening, she'll be back this weekend.

Another view of our campsite

I rode over to the eastern entrance to Marshall Pass Road to see if I could reach the pass summit.  It was not to be....

The road is Forest Road 200, a nice dirt road, mostly smooth with some bumps here and there; some rocks here and there but up until the last mile before the summit, quite navigable even by RV!

 Part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range

visible from Marshall Pass Road.

 Mount Ouray

No issues riding the first 8 of the 10 miles to the pass summit.  The ninth mile was a bit wet with melting snow patches here and there, but nothing for Yagi to deal with.

As I came up on the last mile though, I was stopped dead by a long stretch of snow-covered road.  Nope, wasn't going to try and get across that with Yagi, not by myself anyways.  It was really slick and really soft, my boots sinking easily into it as I walked on top of the snow pack for a bit.

Nearby, there was the truck/trailer with this interesting looking vehicle lashed on top.  No one around though, so not sure why it was there.

At couple of two man side by side ATVs came roaring up and they stopped as well at the snow packed road.  Made me feel better about not trying to go further as they elected to turn around as well.  Apparently the road gets pretty rough up ahead they were told.

So I made my way back down the mountain.  Rounding a curve, I saw a flash of brown run up into to rocks; I managed to stop and walk up to this marmot who sat there looking suspiciously at me.

I pulled over once to let the racing ATVs roar their way back down the mountain and glanced to the side; noting the nice color the sun was painting the Aspen trees with at this time of day:

Views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range:

 Mount Ouray again.

View of Lake O'Haver, zero cellular signal but

looks like a really nice campground.

As I made my way back towards the highway, I saw this other dirt road labeled 204 and decided to explore it.

Nice dirt road, a few little bumps on the road you have to watch out for but really pretty easy.  I took the portion of the road that kept ascending, hoping for a nice view of nearby peaks.

Instead I found this snowmobile cabin that's available for public use apparently.  I supposed it can get used for a gathering spot for the snowmobile club that maintains it.  It would also be great as shelter in a snow storm I figure.

This site also has the best cellular reception I've found in the area...four bars!  I even got a call from a college buddy and the quality of the call was great.

Riding back down 204 to 200, I ended up at the information board near the Poncha Creek Trailhead:

  Quite the extensive amount of trails for

snowmobiles in the winter...

"and don't call me Shirley...."

I did a little bit of exploring in the BLM area and found other nice campsites that offer good signal, seclusion, shade and tranquility.  I'll have to return to this area again, it's great for boondocking.

 Yagi and the Sangre de Cristo Range

A view of the URRV, from near our closest neighbor

with line of sight to the our campsite.