T'Dubing along Eleven Mile Canyon Road

As forecasted, the weather today has been mostly overcast with sporadic rain showers.  

The day started with a foggy sunrise:

one of the locals enjoying the sun

However, for most of the morning, though overcast somewhat, the sun did shine through on occasion as I rode on the Eleven Mile Canyon Road.  Temperatures were cool as we're at around 8000+ feet in altitude but not bad.

Eleven Mile Canyon Road used to be part of the Midland Railroad System, the first one apparently to cross the Continental Divide in the late 1800s.  On its western end, the Eleven Mile Dam and Reservoir exist.

According to what I found on Google while trying to find out how it got its name: Eleven Mile, the dam and reservoir were created in the 1930s by Denver's efforts to create backup water sources for their growing needs.

The canyon itself was carved by the South Platte River, one of the major Colorado rivers.  It was originally known as Granite Canyon, due to its many large granite dome rock formations.  They're quite scenic, these rocks, I must admit, here's just a few of them:

These rock formations are apparently a somewhat overlooked rock climber's mecca.  The more popular locations such as Garden of the Gods and others getting better publicity and way more crowds!  I think the climbers I did spot are happy with being out of the limelight.

The river was also host to many fishermen, I think most of them were Fly Fishermen but what do I know.  The fish caught here are apparently quite the sport though they're only "catch and release" according to signs I saw as I rode along.

I say many fishermen, but really, everyone I saw had their own piece of the river, out of sight of other fishermen.

As the road used to be a railroad bed, there remain three narrow gauge tunnels similar to the ones I've seen near Buena Vista:

Lots of history to this road!  There's 4 campgrounds accessible via this road, run by the US Forest Service.  All were full according to the sign at the road's entrance.  There's a $9 fee per vehicle, $4 for motorcycles.  I'm not sure how well the attendant was at the fee station, I could see that the Interagency Pass was accepted and which I showed, but she still said I had to pay the $4.  I gave her a $20, she couldn't make change so she just returned it to me and told me to go on through.  Sigh.

Anyways, it's quite the scenic road, well worth exploring if you're out this way.

I returned via mostly not technical FR 393 to County Rd 98 which eventually leads one back to Blue Mountain Road.  A good morning of riding I must say.  The afternoon would turn wet and dreary.