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?