Northern Utah Mirror Lake Highway Loop with pictures (comp write up)

[Frulk_imp]

Rode 244 miles today on Utah's famous Mirror Lake Scenic Byway with a friend that recently picked up a BMW ADV 800. This road consistently ranks in the top 10 rides in the lower 48. Had a blast. Not much traffic. Temps were mild. The map isn't the best but the red outline shows the route. We went counterclockwise. After breakfast at my house we left at 0900hrs and hit the road.



This pic was taken 60 miles into the trip. That's Mt Timpanogos in the distance. Tops out around 11,200 feet. on the other side to the right of the ridge is Salt Lake City


Next stop was a small country store in Samak. These folks are known for their smoked trout


Shown here is Slate Gorge. Been meaning to bring a rod and climb down to the water and fly fish it. There are miles of streams like this in the area.


This is towards the top of Bald Mt. Pass. We started the ride at 4,400 feet at my house and we're close to 10,000+ feet at this point


Pano is close to the top of the pass


On the Continental Divide looking north towards Hayden Peak and the High Uintas wilderness


We're on the north slope of the Uintas heading north towards Evanston, Wy.


Looking south back towards the High Uintas Wilderness where we came from


After refueling in Evanston, Wyoming my riding partner decided he wanted to cross another pass and took off and I needed to get on the freeway and make time as my family was waiting for me at the Snow Basin Ski Resort for their weekend Music festival

This pic was taken looking south into Echo Canyon from the rest area there. In the distance I'll be making a hard right and then head west towards Mt Green, Ut. and Snow Basin Resort.


Not sure if East of the Mississippi there are many of these...we even have some stretches posted at 85MPH


Behind the bike is Snow Basin, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics downhill (15 miles from my house). This road is shown on the map as the red loop just before the end of the trip.


Entrance to Snow Basin


Base Lodge and the music festival
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b492...amitqo.jpg

Must have been 45 HD's in the bike parking area. somehow two cafe'd bikes ended up on either side of of me...a Thruxton and an older Suzuki with some nice engine mods.


Descending from approx. 8300 feet at the Snow Basin parking lot to almost 4600 feet as I make for the home stretch down Trappers Loop was a hoot.

Some thoughts on the bike.

1) The café seat IS more comfortable than the stock but does not allow for the fore and aft movement and after a couple hundred miles I can feel that limitation in my knees.

2) I detected some buzziness in the grips. It does not appear to affect my hands with tingling unless I have a death grip on the bars while cornering hard at speed.

3) Altitude doesn't really affect the power delivery. There is enough torque present at over 10,000+ that I don't remember having to shift more on the climbs

4) As a naked tourer this bike is exemplary. I had a constant side wind for about 35 miles until I turned west on one stretch. No fairing to catch the wind, and a 540 pound bike (more or less) add up to some confidence inspiring handling at freeway speeds in strong crosswinds.