Some of my favorite Colorado Rides, Part III

Hi folks, here's some more of the roads I've ridden on in the Great State of Colorado, which I thought you might find enjoyable if you're ever here on a motorcycle. Next installment probably won't happen till sometime in July after I explore southwestern Colorado with my family.

Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway

Listed as a scenic byway by byways.org, it's eastern end is located near the town of Fort Collins, Colorado. It's western end is the small town of Walden. I must say, it's really one of the more lonely yet entrancing roads I've ridden on yet.

See the highlighted in light blue route above, courtesy of byways.org: LINK

You get to traverse the Cache La Poudre canyon with its high rocky walls and a memorable tunnel carved out of the solid rock. There's of course a crossing of the Continental Divide at Cameron Pass and the scenery while you ride through the Roosevelt National Forest will stay with you for a long time. Just make sure you've a full tank, no much in the way of civilization between the two end points!

Looking at the Medicine Bow Mountain Range on CO14

Near Cameron Pass

My ride on this scenic byway, a long day, but quite the ride: LINK I see its been over a year since I've ridden this road, perhaps this summer or early fall. Weather is a factor at the higher elevations, consult the CDOT site below to ensure you can make it all the way through.

I tried in late March of 2008, had to turn back: LINK

The Collegiate Peaks

Colorado has a lot of mountains as you know, the highest among them are called the Fourteeners since they all reach a minimum elevation of 14,000 ft. The Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway allows you to ride within reasonably close view of seven of these fourteeners, within striking range of three passes: Monarch, Poncha and Independence Pass which all cross the Continental Divide. At the northern end of this byway, you can also see Mount Elbert which at 14,433 ft is the highest point in the state.

Courtesy byways.org: LINK

The Collegiate Peak byway is 57 miles of beautiful scenery which challenge you to keep your eyes on the road while you ride past the snow-capped peaks to the west. Fastest way to get there is on US285 from Denver which will junction with US24 and place you near the southern end of the byway. Or you can take I-70 and work your way down from Aspen, through Independence Pass and then take in the Collegiate Peaks enroute to the south and the town of Salida.

My ride through the Collegiate Peaks Byway: LINK

One final note: if you end up riding this byway from North to South, be sure to enjoy the twists and turns of US50. From Salida its a short hop to Monarch Pass (yep, cross the divide again), then you can continue West or head back East on US50 and twist your way through this nice motorcycling road (though usually lots of cars as well) to the city of Pueblo and the I-25 superslab.

Guanella Pass

Established as a route through the continental divide between the mining towns of Georgetown and Grant, this scenic byway is a bit dodgy in terms of road conditions. My blog entry records lots of potholes at its "paved" beginning with the remainder being packed dirt with small loose gravel/rocks. Still, I managed to ride it on Maria, my 1150RT, so just take it nice and slow.

One of the rewardings views you see at the summit of Guanella Pass, I believe that's Square Top Mountain in the background.

Courtesy of byways.org: LINK

Here's a link to my ride of the Guanella Pass: LINK If you ride this pass from the north end at Georgetown, you are then in a good position to get back on US285 at Grant and make your way down to the next favorite ride of mine, the South Platte River road area.

South Platte River

This is a very navigable dirt road for the most part, going slow will not only get your there safely if you're not riding a dual-sport motorcycle but will also allow you to gawk at the marvelous rock formations, canyon walls and rushing river scenes provided by the Platte River.

I usually get to it by riding out of Denver on US285 and turning south at Pine Junction on CO126. CO126 or Pine Valley Road is a finely paved four lane road with a few twists and turns couple with noticeable changes in elevations as it plunges down towards Buffalo Creek where it becomes South Deckers Road. Beware gravel accumulations on the twisting curves near Decker specially in the Spring.

From Deckers, you turn north on CR67 which is the S. Platte River road. It quickly becomes dirt where it splits off with CR67 heading NE towards Pine Nook which will, through its own twists and turns once you get back on pavement get you to Sedalia. However, to see the real platte river road, keep heading north on the dirt road.

You'll skirt the base of Long Scraggy Peak, enjoy rock-strewn canyon walls carved out over millenia by the South Platte River. Fly fishermen have been in evidence most times I've ridden this road.

Long Scraggy Peak

Boulders along and in the South Platte River

My usual resting spot along the river, the old South Platte Hotel

This area holds a special place in my rider's heart, it was the first area where I was introduced to mountain exploring by John Sanoke, my riding mentor. Thanks John!

Explore this area at your pace, find Foxton Road which will take you to what John Sanoke called Cathedral Spires:

My rides along the South Platte: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3 LINK4 LINK5 LINK6 LINK7

S. Platte River Road will eventually lead you to Foxton Road to the North where you can then meet up with US285 once again. Now, you can take US285 back into town or shortly after getting on the slab, you can get off at Pleasant Park Road and enjoy this scenery instead while headed east towards Denver:


Pleasant Park Road will eventually, after teaching you the meaning of 15mph limits on curves, get you to Deer Creek Canyon Road which you can then ride to shake out the rest of your need for twists before being back in the Denver Metro area.

CDOT's Road Conditions and Cameras: LINK This is a great site to see if a pass is open or not and what kind of road conditions exists at said passes.

Byways.org's great listing of great riding roads: LINK

First installment of "Some of my Favorite Colorado Rides, Part I" LINK

Second installment of "Some of my Favorite Colorado Rides, Part II" LINK

Increased exposure for the blog: Ruba.com

One of my postings, about the buildings of lower downtown Denver, then and now, was added to a listing of "traveler generated" travel destination reports.


The site is run by Ruba.com which is, according to them:

Established in 2008, Ruba is a user generated travel guide site. Ruba enables users to discover their next trip by browsing highly visual guides written by other travelers. Guides are collections of the best places including attractions, activities, lodging, restaurants, and more that are grouped along interesting themes such as "The Top 7 Most Picturesque Towns in Provence France". Members of Ruba can build and maintain their own Guides as well as explore Guides from similarly-minded travelers. Ruba also embraces the highly social nature of travel planning via tight integration with Facebook and Twitter, and Ruba integrates Google maps for geographic locations and addresses. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Ruba was founded by serial entrepreneurs Mike Cassidy and Arnaud Weber whose past ventures created over $650M in market value. Ruba is backed by two leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms—Benchmark Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. For more information, visit www.ruba.com or search for Ruba's page on Twitter or Facebook.

Here's the link on Ruba.com which shows my posting: LINK

Far as I can tell, anyone can post their own travel guides. I'd not heard of them before they contacted me, they asked me if they could post about my blog posting. I figured, why not?

Some of my favorite Colorado Rides, part II

Here's a few more of my favorite roads to motorcycle on here in the great state of Colorado.

Pikes Peak

America's Mountain, the inspiration for Katherine Lee Bates' poem "America the Beautiful", which became one of the more well known songs about this great country of ours.

The road is open year round but subject to closure due to snow/weather. It's best to call ahead, specially in the Winter/Early Spring months. It's 16 glorious miles with sometimes jaw dropping views, sharp dropoffs, about six miles of gravel/dirt road with the rest paved and on a good day some far ranging views of the Front Range and the mountains to the west. Don't let the report of gravel dissuade you, it's doable by even large bikes such as Goldwings and my 1150RT, Maria.

It's located near the city of Colorado Springs, watch for Us24 West from the I-25 Slab and you'll see signs for the Pikes Peak Road, you really can't miss it. If you get to Woodland Park, you missed it. While you're in the Colorado Springs area, make sure you check out the Garden of the Gods. Truly an amazing collection of giant rock formations.

Sunset at the Garden of the Gods

Courtesy: PikesPeakGallery.com

May on Pikes Peak

Here's my rides involving Pike's Peak: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3

Info site on Pikes Peak: LINK

Mount Evans

The highest paved road in the US I am told. You can get to the Mount Evans Road from CO103 from either Idaho Springs on I-70 or Bergen Park on CO74. CO 103, near Squaw Pass was where I discovered one should not downshift from second to first while going downhill on packed snow. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of my R1150RT, Maria, on her right side, spinning down the hill on her right valve cover while I slid along a few feet behind her.

Why do I mention the above, check road conditions before you go when in the late Fall and Winter months! Parts of CO103 don't get as much sun so you could, like I did, encounter no snow on the way up from Idaho Springs and suddenly find yourself on snow.

Courtesy: Google

My first ride up Mount Evans, back when I still owned my first motorcycle, a Honda 750 Aero Shadow. LINK

My second ride on Mount Evans: LINK

Info site for Mount Evans: LINK

Independence Pass

The second highest paved road in North America with the summit at 12,095 ft, open from late May to the first snowfall in late autumn
.

You get to Independence Pass either by way of Leadville using CO91 from the I-70 Superslab and its junction with US24 Southbound till you get to CO82 which is also the road to Twin Lakes. Conversely, you can go through Colorado Springs heading west on US24 and come at CO82 from the South.
I first traversed this pass and its portion of the Continental Divide back in September of 2007. I was seeking shots of the aspen trees as they turned colors in the fall. It's quite the tourist activity, this seeking of the fall colors, so beware the cagers if you decide to cross this pass then.

You'll end up in Aspen, a world renowned ski resort, continuing on CO82 will eventually take you to Glenwood Springs and it's awesome canyon walls. You can catch the I-70 superslab back again here.

Riding Independence Pass: LINK Another day, another ride on Independence: LINK

Ken Bingenheimer's info page on Independence Pass: LINK

Loveland Pass

Loveland Pass, at an elevation of 11,990 ft is another place where one can cross the nation's continental divide with relative ease. It's an alternate route for hazmat/oversized cargo carriers who cannot use the Eisenhower Tunnel. The tunnel is what the I-70 superslab uses to cross the continental divide as do 99% of all cagers who cross the divide at this point. According to wikipedia, Loveland is the highest mountain pass in the world that regularly stays open during a snowy winter season.

The exit for Loveland Pass is just before the signs for the Eisenhower tunnel so keep an eye out as you near the tunnel. Again, beware the weather, its more than two miles up from sea level at this point and you can encounter ice even in June! I did: LINK



Here's my rides involving Loveland Pass: LINK1 LINK2

The first installment of this series is here: LINK The category is "Ride Recommendations"

CDOT's Road Conditions and Cameras: LINK This is a great site to see if a pass is open or not and what kind of road conditions exists at said passes.

Byways.org's great listing of great riding roads: LINK

A Ride on Rampart Range Road

A nice sunny day today but a bit on the cool side in the morning, high 50s but it felt warmer as I rode south towards Sedalia, CO.

I went down Parker Rd, through the town of Parker, then using the Crowfoot Parkway to get me to Castle Rock. From Castle Rock, its a short hop to the small town of Sedalia where I picked up CO67 westwards.

Soon after Pine Nook where a small store is located, no gas, one reaches the northern end of the Rampart Range Rd and its junction with CO67. I turned onto the road to see how far I could get. Turns out, I could get pretty far. It's just a packed dirt road with a bit of loose pea-sized gravel, so not bad when riding Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer. I am not sure I would have continued on with Maria, my 2004 R1150RT which is a lot heavier and slightly taller than Brigitta.

Both sides of Rampart Range Road are heavily forested with pine trees. I rode along making perhaps 20mph, which for me is pretty good, while looking for sights to photograph.

Here's the first rock formation I found interesting enough to stop and pose Brigitta by:

A nicely balancing rock

I continued on Rampart Range Road, riding past many campsites by the side of the road but there were so many trees that the small glimpses I spotted of nearby rock formations and mountain views were not worth stopping for.

I spotted a sign for Devil's Head, and who could resist that name right? I rode on and soon arrived at the Devil's Head trail head parking area. Some pretty cool rock formations were in evidence as were many hikers. I saw several of the cages that had sped by me while riding, bastards. I didn't see one cager today that was not careening down the road, it made for some worrisome moments on the trail where blind curves were involved but it all proved OK.

Here's some of the views from Devil's Head and its nearby areas:

A hint of a mountain peak, teasing me onwards

At the Devil's Head Trail head

A distant mountain range, not sure which one it is, maybe Thunder Butte

My first view of Pikes Peak

I continued onwards on Rampart Range Rd, which was now traversing the Pike National Forest, each curve negotiated revealed a tantalizing glimpse of a further curve, perhaps to some scenic view. The road kept teasing me with these views and I found myself about 20 miles later at a junction between Rampart Range and I thought was Forest Road or FR 348.

26 miles back to Sedalia....hmmm

Oh look, only 10 miles to pavement!

So faced with turning back and riding about 20 miles back to CO67 or going 10 miles towards CO67, I figured I'd take the "short way". I was to regret this slightly.

FR348 turned out to be quite the GS-worthy dirt road. I encountered exposed rock outcroppings at the beginning and end of it. Between these lovely terrain patches, I encountered rolling dips, sloping banks, narrowing of the road at points, spots where loose gravel was accumulated 2-4 inches deep. Teenage boys on motorcycles and ATVs passed me every so often, giving me an upraised fist (sort of like the "black power" sign) as they passed. I guess that's either the greeting they give each other while dirt riding; or they were expressing surprise or dismay? at seeing me on this trail with a street motorcycle!

So, it was not too bad overall. There were points where I had to put my feet out to the sides when I hit deep gravel or sand and the wheels started sliding a bit. I managed to not drop the motorcycle though so its all good.

Finally, after a LONG ten miles at basically 10mph or slower, I finally got to the end of the FR348 and onto a parking lot filled with pickup trucks and trailers which carried ATVs.

You could see a beautiful view of Pikes Peak from this parking lot, which is off of Rainbow Falls Road.

Pikes Peak looked a lot closer than what it seems in this shot

A bit more dirt riding, albeit on much smoother dirt now, got me to CO67 as the sign back on Rampart Range Rd had promised me. There's a sign for Rainbow Trout at this entrance so it's easy to miss or assume its private property, which its not.

I turned west on CO67 and finally got out of first gear, which I'd been using for the last couple of hours I think. It felt good to gain speed and feel the cool wind hitting me again.

Views on CO67, note the recovering hillsides, denuded after the massive forest fires in recent years

A view of the South Platte River soon after I turned onto CR67 from South Platte River Rd

I twisted my way on CO67 towards the town of Deckers, the road was fine and traffic was sparse so it was quite enjoyable. I made it to Deckers where there was a large group of Harley-Davidsons gathered in front of the grocery store there.

I did not stop, instead turning north on South Platte River Road, passing through the small hamlets of Trumbull and Oxyoke and enjoying more twisting curves. I went onto Douglas County 67 where it junctions with South Platte River Road. I had dimly remembered it being only two miles of dirt road, doable dirt road, from past rides.

Turns out it was closer to 5 or more miles of dirt road, I was quite happy to finally see pavement when I reached the small outpost of Sprucewood I will admit! The road conditions were not bad, I just was tired of dirt riding. Update:17May09: Forgot to mention, if you like rock domes, this particular stretch of dirt road had several hidden under the many trees bordering both sides fo the road!

I wicked up the speed one more time once back on CR67, adding some more curves and twisting turns to my count for today. If you like curves and hairpins, this is another road to consider adding to your ride schedule. I went past the junction with Rampart Range Rd and continued on all the way to Sedalia.

The rest of the ride was basically retracing my route from this morning, I got home a little bit after 5:00 PM and got ready to take my loving wife to dinner. She surprised me by asking to take a ride around the block on the back of my motorcycle!

Not wanting to give her time to change her mind, I gave her my spare helmet, my Firstgear mesh riding jacket and had her put on some boots. We went off shortly after the gear was on. I have to tell you, it felt weird having a passenger in the back of me on the motorcycle!

I could feel the front portion of her helmet coming forward and touching my back. Still, we managed to survive going around the block. More practice and a better fitting helmet is quite in order if we're going to actually do rides together of course. Still, it's a start! She even asked me about taking my sons for a short ride as well. Will wonders never cease?!