Boondocking Again along Rampart Range Road - Pike National Forest

 Martha and I left the overcrowded Metro Denver area at 10AM and by 12:30 PM were setting up camp on the southern end of Rampart Range Road in the Pike National Forest.

The day was already hot when we left the neighborhood with an expected high of 98°F (36.6°C).  It was much cooler at the campsite with a high of 78°F (25.5°C) forecasted as a high.  The fact that it got cloudy helped a lot as well. 

The site was occupied when we got there but the camper flagged us down as we were leaving to find a different site and told us he was leaving soon.  So, we pulled in and waited a few minutes and got the site!

No winds to speak off, just light breezes.  Perfect.  Well, almost perfect, initially there were a lot of biting flies but eventually they went away.

Our view of Pikes Peak

We just relaxed at the campsite the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed a nice sunset to start off a few days of camping.

Uraling to Berthoud Pass and Jones Pass

Yesterday, I rode Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol to the summit of Berthoud Pass on US Hwy 40 to see what conditions were like there.

No snow issues anymore, still some snow as you'll see but not where it impacts vehicles.  The day was quite cloudy and it would feel chilly when the sun was blocked but not bad when the sun would shine on you.

The requisite pic of the Pass Sign

Looking north towards Winter Park

US 40 heading north

Shortly after I started descending back down towards I-70, I stopped at what turned out to be a lovely little rest spot with a small creek running strongly with Spring snow melt.

One of several hair pin turns on the road to

Berthoud Pass

Further on down, I was stopped to take a picture of the peak and happened to look behind when a bear popped out of the woods to the left in the pic below!

The bear was cognizant of traffic before he dashed across the highway and tried to find a way to the woods on the other side.  He ended up rushing along the guard rail for a bit, away from me, until he found a spot that wasn't hanging up high in the air.

A stupid cager who came up on the bear, followed along, probably shooting video for his/her IG account and scaring the poor bear all the while.

Here's the spot where I was standing when I spotted the bear:

Further on down, closer to the settlement of Berthoud Falls, I rode onto Jones Pass road to see if it was open and clear of snow.

I wouldn't make it all the way to the snow but could see from where I was forced to stop that there was snow on the trail.  I "ran out of clutch" you see, and I didn't want to stress it further after it cooled down.

This is as far as I made it....the pass trail runs along and below the ridge shown in the middle.

I found a couple of sites closer to the main trailhead for Jones Pass Road that looked quite doable for the VRRV.....the one below was the largest I found but would be hard to "hold" by a single rig.

I then attended an event at the Easter Seals camp where a Muscular Dystrophy Camp was holding an event for their kids to give them rides in sidecar motorcycles.

Uralisti friends of mine had attended this yearly event before and this time I was in town so I figured I'd help out.  The event was great if a bit disorganized in terms of paperwork.  Still, I did get to give one 11 year old girl, Clara and her counselor Alyssia (sp?) a ride on Scarlett.  Sorry, no pics.

There were way more sidecar rigs than kids available to give rides to due to paperwork issues.  I ended up leaving while the kids were at dinner so I wouldn't get home in the dark.

Got home just fine, with only minor rain sprinkles along the way.  I'm getting old, 4-5 hours in the saddle and I was feeling quite sore and in some pain.  Ah well, it beats the alternative eh?

Hail and a Day Ride on Rampart Range Road

 Sunday, June 9

We got a severe thunderstorm warning and shortly afterwards got hit by heavy rain and marble-sized hail (some almost golf ball-sized)!

Buildup from the gutter drain pipe out front

During the peak of the hail storm:

Thing 2's Toyota Pickup Truck got lots of hail damage on its horizontal surfaces.  I'm presently waiting to see how a neighbor's damage survey goes with USAA, an insurance company we both use, to see if I should ask for an inspection as well.

The roof tiles are less than six months old so hoping they withstood the hail's impacts.

Wednesday, Jun 12

No chores, so went for a day ride on Scarlett to check out road conditions and campsite availability on Rampart Range Road in the Pike National Forest.  It's about a 2 hour ride each way which highlighted to me how out of shape I've gotten in terms of long hours in the saddle!

Lots of campsites in the Fee Area and also in the dispersed camping area closer to Woodland Park.  Road conditions were dry, a lot of washboard and some gravel in spots.  I did find a couple of new sites and recorded them accordingly on Google Maps.

Some views of Pikes Peak and road conditions:

Topaz Point

As you can see, things clouded up pretty good as the afternoon wore on.  I would end up getting sporadically rained on as I rode home via Colorado Springs and CO Hwy 83.

The winds got really strong and gusty as I neared Parker, CO and it felt like I was getting sand blasted when it picked up the road dirt!

Got home just fine, Scarlett did great and she went over 75,000 km during this ride.  So I changed out her engine, transmission and final drive oils before dinner.  The next day, checked Scarlett's valve clearances - AOK.

Also checked Yagi, TW200's valve clearances, found intake too tight for .003/.004, loosened and adjusted to loose for .003 and very snug for .004.  Exhaust was fine.

A Sunset with Scarlett

I finished prepping Umarang the VRRV for storage and drove her to Buckley Space Force Base this morning.  I rigged a single solar panel to keep the house battery charged and then rigged a second cable from the house battery to the chassis battery to keep it charged up.  

There'd been rumors of damage to the RVs in the storage lot but I didn't see any.

This afternoon, I worked on lessening the lean angle Scarlett's tug.  I discovered that the front upper support arm was pretty much locked tight with rust.  Several applications of penetrating oil and lots of effort produced little gain in freeing the threads to do adjustments to the lean angle.

Much grunting, cursing and sweating in the 90 degree heat later....all I was able to get was a 1 degree reduction.  Sigh.  I didn't want to force things as I feared breaking the upper forked rod.

She felt fine as I rode to catch the sunset tonight as part of the test drive.  I might work on it more but then again, perhaps not.

It was hot and sunny today, with a brief period of severe thunderstorm warnings in the afternoon.  They proved much ado about nothing for our area.

Update: June 9

Found a spare "Rod with Fork", and realized that I could remove the seized one on Scarlett's front upper support arm.  I couldn't screw it inward you see, due to the threads having seized.

rod with fork

Took some effort but finally got the old rod out and the new one in.  Now I could "easily" adjust the lean out of the tug!  

I think I have the leanout correct now and it doesn't look like I'm leaning to much to the left!

Back Home Early mostly due to Midges!

Wednesday, June 5

Lazy day today after a brief recce of the North Sand Hills Recreation Area.  The recce reminded me how unsuited it is for my camping requirements.  The access road is sandy and the access to campsite locations even sandier.

The trails are very sandy and Yagi, my TW200 showed me how unhappy she is on loose sand.

I rested the rest of the day away, as it turned warmer though still windy in the afternoon.  Still, the wind apparently had kept the swarms of midges under some control.  Luckily, the midges don't bite, just like to swarm in thick clouds.

The sunset was bland but I went out anyways for pics.

Uma at the Walden Reservoir

Here's a pic of the alpenglow on the mountains behind the town of Walden.  Note the swarms of midges hovering behind the VRRV, out of the winds.

Thursday, June 6

I woke late, almost 8 AM, it felt good.  The plan had been to hang about one more day before heading home on Friday.  However, a quick walk outside changed this plan.

The winds had died down you see and the swarms of midges had increased exponentially now that the winds were calm.  Though they didn't bite, it was a bit freaky moving about surrounded by them, occasionally one or more trying to get my attention by either flying near my ears or up my nostrils!

By 10:30 AM I had broken down camp, and left the midges to their own devices.

Four hours later, I was home.  Traffic was fine and only heavy at the expected points as one neared the overcrowded Front Range where Metro Denver is located.

Home for a bit I think, we'll see.

T-Dub'ing to the State Forest State Park

This morning, once things warmed up at bit (56 degrees), I rode my TW200 on CO Hwy 14 about 25 miles to the State Forest State Park's Moose Visitor Center.

Buckhorn Sheep came by to visit

A view of the campsite from CR 15a

State Forest, yep that's the name of the forest, a bit uninspired perhaps?

The visitor center was pretty small but it did have some stuff to look at:

Barbed Wire Moose

The above moose is supposed to be designed the same size of a record moose.  That hump on it's back its 6 feet off the ground, I stood by the statue and the hump was a couple of inches taller than me!

The info pamphlet from the visitor center recommended cruising County Road 41 for moose sightings.  So off I went in search of moose.

Alas, no sightings of these magnificent beasts, but some pics of nearby mountain peaks:

I saw and cruised through a couple of large campgrounds, not bad in terms of dispersion and location.  There were few rigs onsite this time of year.

I rode back towards Walden in windy conditions, not as bad as yesterday but definitely windier than I like.

As I approached the campsite by the Walden Reservoir, some pics:

The bugs were out in force with the warming temperatures!  Luckily for me, though they fly in thick clouds, they don't bite.  Google Lens says they're midges.

In the afternoon, I rode out again to try and circumnavigate the reservoir.

Walden from near the "top" of the reservoir

From across the campsite, can you see Uma?

Furthest point reachable.

As I returned to my campsite's vicinity, I made a short detour to get closer to what looked like a whole flock of pelicans:

Tomorrow, perhaps a recce of the North Sand Hills Park about 25 miles to the north of Walden.  

So far in this area, I've seen Buckhorn Sheep, Geese, Pelicans, Seagulls, assorted small birds, ducks, one Blue Heron, Beaver Lodges but alas, no moose.

Clear skies for tonight's sunset but nothing to make me drag the camera out.