A Little Riding, A Little Climbing....Mostly Relaxing

Tuesday, July 8

A little bit of riding just to see if I had campers nearby, none for a mile or so.

The lighting was pretty good on Pikes Peak before the clouds moved in after 11 a.m.

Spent most of the relaxing at the campsite, reading an ebook and enjoying the quiet solitude.

A total of five cars drove by going somewhere else, that's it.

Mild winds, a little bit of a sprinkle for rain, and that was it for weather today. Very nice conditions for the most part. 

Tuesdays post-sunset was not bad: 

Wednesday, July 9

A bit more riding than yesterday, roughly 12 miles of forest road goodness.

First a stop after 2 miles from camp to check out the view atop the rocks near the site of the annual "Revival" campsite on FR324.

A view of Pikes Peak

I then rode along FR324 to its junction with FR323.  From there, it's less than a mile or so to Scorpio Rock Dome.

Parking Yagi under the shade of a tree, I walked up the path that leads to the exposed rocks of the Scorpio rock dome. 

Got back to camp by Noon with no issues, Yagi performing like a reliable champ.

There's now a small group tent campers in the site next to mine with the nice view of Pikes Peak.  They're doing some target shooting, very sporadic but quite loud.

Although Martha and I have camp there before, it's more of a group site and hard to hold just by oneself.  Glad I picked the one I'm at!

Temperatures were in the mid-eighties but I stayed comfy in the gazebo.  Using camo netting from Amazon for shade that lets air pass through.

It's a better option than the solid tent material panels that can be bought with the gazebo.  Those are better in windy and cool conditions.

Oh, and also using a spray bottle full of water to act as a mister, works pretty good!

The sun though, when not blocked by clouds, radiates heat through the roof panels of the gazebo.

Trying two of the solid panels to act as barriers to the radiates heat.  Seems to help but of course, once I had them in place, it got cloudy.  We'll see.

Weekday Camping Again

Well, survived yet another 4th of July Weekend's fireworks idiocy.

I heard though, some teen lost his arm while engaging in a Roman Candle fight.  Darwin at work, folks.  Another will probably lose an eye due to fireworks.  

In the Stoner State, it's illegal to use fireworks which explode or leave the ground, this includes Roman Candles.  Enforcement thereof is nonexistent as far as I can tell.  

Now camping on Rampart Range Road area, in the Pike National Forest, north of Woodland, CO.  

Weekday Camping is camping during the work week, planning to return home for the weekend.

The weekends, with school out, tend to be full of weekend campers, frantically trying to get their money worth out of their noisy SxS and ATVs.

Berthoud Pass and Back Home

Once the temperature outside reached 50°F, I headed off on Yagi, my TW200 towards Berthoud Pass.

The pass was only 5 miles away but a steep climb at times on US 40 as on heads towards Winter Park.

It's paved highway so no real challenge, mind you.

Here's the view from near the summit sign, looking North.

Heading back down:

I decided to check out the road to Urad Valley on the way back to Jones Pass Road.

The valley is home to the Henderson Mine Complex where Molybdenum was and apparently is mined till this day.

It's also home to the Urad SWA (State Wildlife Area) and Urad Lake.

I rode Yagi to the end, where the trailhead parking into the SWA is located.  

It's a pretty rough 3 miles or so but the lake seemed nice:

The lake appears to be on private property owned by the Henderson Mine company.

I dimly recall a large reclamation effort resulted in the current valley conditions and the creation of the SWA.

I returned to camp and had an early lunch.

The weather clouded over again and I decided might as well head home a day early.  The weather was actually nicer at home you see.

So I broke camp and was home by 4pm or so.  The Jones Pass Road has several small campsite; though accessing them can be tricky.  

Saw a couple of RV sites even further up from where I camped, bet it gets cold at night....

An Attempt to Summit Jones Pass

I rode yagi, my TW200, about 2 mi up Jones Pass Road this morning trying for the summit. 

Alas, it was not to be, the last half mile or so is still blocked with snow, pretty deep snow. 

Views of Uma and the campsite from Jones Pass Road.

Things clouded up pretty good by Noon so I spent the afternoon hanging out in the VRRV.

Maybe I'll ride to Berthoud Pass tomorrow if the weather is warm enough.