T'Dubing the Four Mile/Buena Vista Area

Friday, September 5

An overcast and rainy day, no riding and basically just staying inside the VRRV to stay warm.

I woke to 51° outside and 58° I side so need to fire up the catalytic propane heater to warm things upon awakening.

Watched less than three camping rigs drive by, heading further up the valley to the campsites that are closer to the overlook points with a view of the Collegiate Peaks.

Saturday, September 6

I woke to 40° outside and 43° inside, not too bad but yeah, ran the heater for a little bit 

It turned out to be a clear but very hazy day.  Still, I decided to ride out as planned to check out Cottonwood Pass, about 22 miles west of town.

Traffic wasn't too heavy which was good since my TW200 was going through high altitude hiccups since I hadn't put in the high altitude jet in the carburetor.

The summit parking area was full of tourists, but the spots I like to use for pics were just big enough for Yagi only:

The view from the pass summit parking looking back the way I came up.

Rode back the way I came, tanked up in Buena Vista and rode back to camp by way of County 315.  I wanted to check how many campers had come in for the weekend.  Surprised to see less than 25% of the sites were occupied.

Sunday, September 7

A nice sunny morning that changed to partly cloudy but warm in the afternoon.

I rode out after lunch after a morning of lounging at camp.

I rode the Lenhardy Cutoff aka County 376 all the way to the Turtle Rock campground area.  Lots of whoop-de-doos on this "road", definitely not RV-able!  Still, not too technical, the only parts that gave me trouble were the deep sand sections where the road used dry creek beds.

At the high point section of 376:

Ended up near one of the camping sites I'd used before.  All sites in the area are now "designated" by signage now, to prevent idiots from making their own sites.

I then rode through the Midland Tunnels to pose Yagi:

The thumb shaped rock at the north end of the Midland Tunnels, there's a small campground there.

I also checked out the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area north of Buena Vista and on the western side of the Arkansas river.  Not bad sites, lots of trees and all the sites were occupied...so apparently popular.

Rode back to camp using the US285 Highway.  Didn't bother auditing site usage along County 315 this time 

Rest of the afternoon was mostly cloudy but nice and warm overall.