Riding the Rockies (long overdue post)

[flynrider]

So around the end of June this year, I had a flying/camping vacation to Montana and Idaho planned with my flying buddies. Just before taking the runway, my preflight checks indicated that my alternator had quit making electrons and I watched my friends fly off to the north without me. After an attempted fix later in the day I tried to launch again but the alternator was still intermittent. On top of that, my engine suffered a mysterious power loss as I arrived back at the airport (not related to the alternator) and I ended up flying a glider back to the runway. Clearly, the gods were not in favor of this trip. Not wishing to waste my week of vacation chasing two mysterious malfunctions, I decided to repack my camping gear on the CB11 and make the best of the time I had left.

I was equipped with my new Sony video/still camera, but had lent my lanyard cam to a friend, so I could only take "side of the road" pics

Day 1

I departed Phoenix at 4 AM to avoid as much of the desert heat as possible. My goal was to be about 500 miles away in the cool mountain town of Silverton, CO by that afternoon.



The long haul from Phoenix to Durango was mostly across relatively uninteresting desert. I rolled into Durango at around lunchtime and stopped for a bite and about a bucket of iced tea. Now that I was in the Rockies, this is where the trip really started.

From Durango it's just a 50 mile ride up US 550 to Silverton, but it's a pretty impressive 50 miles, including two passes above 10K ft. Here's one of them.


I've been riding this road since around '85 and the CB11 with it's fuel injection is by far the best high altitude bike I've ridden. Looks right at home among the 13K ft. peaks.


As the first day came to an end, I found a nice spot to set up camp next to Mineral Creek, just a few miles from Silverton. It was down 3/4 mile dirt/gravel road, but the CB11 handled it nicely.


After a tasty steak at the Brown Bear Cafe in Silverton, I headed back to camp and had a fun night hanging out with my camping neighbors around the campfire.

Day 2

I decided to leave my camp set up and spend the day riding the local area. I decided to ride to Norwood, which didn't seem to have anything of interest, but it looked like a great ride getting there (It was!). Following that I decided to visit the popular ski town of Telluride.


Just down the road from Silverton, looking back the way I came.


Even though it was almost July, the snow came right down to the road.


This section of US 550 is called the Million Dollar Highway. It started as a toll road for wagons supplying the mining towns. Much of it is cut right into the side of the granite cliffs and lacks guard rails. If you're not comfortable with heights (like me) this road can be a bit unnerving. It's not unusual to round a curve while looking 2,000 ft. down to the canyon floor.


CO 145 is a fantastic little road that follows the San Miguel River, then climbs right up the side of a cliff to Norwood. No pics of the dramatic cliff section as there was really no place to pull over. Just a straight drop off to right of the white line. Here's a pic of the lower section.


The view of the mountains just to the east of Telluride was pretty impressive. It's hard to concentrate on the road with views like these.


That's it for tonight. I'll pick it up with day 3 tomorrow.