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.

 

[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

Awesome pictures and write up. Looking forward to day 3.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

That is sensational. Well done Flyn'. I'm with Rick, bring on day 3. One comment. I saw that you had a steak at the Brown Bear. When I saw your camp photo it occurred to me that might be a good spot for the brown bears to get a steak. A Flynrider steak, extra rare. .

Cheers

 

[Rocky_imp]

Lovely pictures
In 2010 I spend several days riding in the Canadian Rockies and had a similar experience.
Your post brought back some great memories of that ride.

 

[the Ferret]

Dang, what a beautiful place to ride a motorcycle.

 

[curlyjoe]

Great pics Flynrider! The last time I was in that part of the country was in 1987. My wife to be and I went cross country in my '86 mustang GT w/ T-tops and spent a week in the rockies. I'd like to get back there on a motorcycle.

 

[emptysea]

My wife and I drove almost the same route you're taking in SW Colorado 20+ years ago. The mental images of that part of our trip are still nearly as vivid as your fantastic photos. As was just said above, we hope to take our bikes there someday.

Looking forward to the next installment(s)

 

[HikerToo_imp]

cool, what life is all about....

 

[Doug_imp]

That is some beautiful country there, I would love to get out that way again someday. In the late 90's I went with a friend on a Jeep trip on the Alpine loop. Only time I have been there. That last pic it looks like Black bear road zig zagging down the cliff. I've never been on it but I hear it's not for the faint of heart. That's a good bit of snow for late June. I would guess the nights were still pretty cold up there.

 

[drodg33]

Beautiful pictures

 

[specialist8]

Looks like an amazing trip and some stunning landscapes. Can't wait for more updates.

 

[redbirds_imp]

That is such amazing country with a post card view around every bend. Drove that Million Dollar Hwy in '81 in a crappy Ford rental car. Scary to say the least.

Hope more pics are coming soon.

 

[flynrider]

Thanks for all the nice comments. I really think I lucked out this vacation ride that wasn't even planned.

Day 3

Most of you have already heard about day 3. While rounding a curve on the Million Dollar Highway my CB was viciously attacked by Bambi. See the full story here :

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6354

Although I was back on the road in about 20 min., the crash kinda put a damper on the day. After breakfast in Ouray, I made my way to Gunnison where I got a room and spent the afternoon regrouping and patching up.

I ended up without my Plexistar windshield and a not very attractive duct tape job to seal the cracks in the lower gauge cover.

The other pricey casualty was the left side Over Racing engine guard. Mr. T gave me a smokin' deal on a replacement set.

Day 4

The plan for this day was to ride up to Crested Butte for lunch and a look around, then back down to highway 50 towards Monarch Pass.

Headed north out of Gunnison, the road begins the climb towards Crested Butte.

Here's where the highway ended at Crested Butte. For a desert rat, all this green was beginning to hurt my eyes

There was some kind of bicycle event going on and just outside of town I came across this nylon slum

Later in the day I wound my way up to Monarch Pass (11,312 ft.). Without my windshield it was noticeably chilly at this altitude.

I found a campground about a dozen miles down the east side of the pass. About 20 ft. behind my camp was the North Fork of the Arkansas River. It begins up in the pass and is only about 30 ft. wide at this point.

Day 5

The plan for the day was to leave my camp set up in Monarch and ride a loop up to Leadville, Breckenridge and back.

As I headed north, a sign pointed out a county road that supposedly would take me to a ghost town called St Elmo. The road snaked between a couple of 14K ft. mountains along a fast running creek. Eventually it turned to dirt/gravel. The lack of signage convinced me that I'd probably got off track, so I turned back. Later I found that I was only about 10 miles short of the town. Oh well, it was an interesting detour and a great road to ride.

Back on the highway I stopped in Buena Vista for a great late breakfast at Jan's Family Restaurant (I'll definitely stop there again), and started the climb north towards Leadville.

Leadville was having some kind of festival and half the streets in the town were blocked off. Since I was still full from breakfast, I pressed on over the hump to Freemont Pass.

After passing through the ski town of Breckenridge, it was time to climb again. I met these bike riders at the 11,542 ft. summit. When asked if they were crazy to ride their bicycles up to this altitude, both replied, "Yep!". Apparently, the big thrill is on the downhill side. These guys actually passed me doing about 55 mph on the way down.

State highway 9 wound its way down to the valley where I found myself in a place called South Park (no kidding!).

Last stop for the day was my camp up in Monarch. This was truly a great ride!
Day 6

After 5 days of fun, it was time to start making my way towards home. The plan was to ride south on US 285 to Monte Vista, then east over Wolf Creek Pass to Cortez for the night.

The first leg to Monte Vista was down a wide valley, but the road started to get more interesting as I turned east towards Wolf Creek Pass.

Approaching the pass the skies began to darken, so I pulled over near this odd tunnel to don my rain gear. The tunnel doesn't appear to go through the mountain, so I wonder what its purpose is (snow tunnel?).

A short time later I came to the summit. Still no rain, but it was pretty chilly above 10K ft.

The steep road takes a lot of twists making its way down. Note the runaway truck ramp at the upper right. At this point in the ride, the skies opened up with marble sized hail. Due to the shape of the road, I managed to stay under that storm for almost 10 miles. I was sure missing my windshield at this point.

Since I was headed down the west side of the pass, I could tell that this little roadside waterfall was destined for the Pacific ocean.

A few hours later I rolled into Cortez and found a room for the night. The next day was going to be a 420 mile run across the desert back to Phoenix and I wanted to be rested up.

Day 7

Not my favorite leg of the trip. I got up early to get across the desert before the temps heated up, which worked out well.

After 8 hours on the road, I eventually rolled into Phoenix around mid afternoon. It was over 110 degrees and after having spent a week almost entirely above 7,000 ft., it was not a pleasant homecoming.

For an unplanned vacation I must admit that this one turned out pretty well (plane and deer disasters aside). When I checked it with my flying buddies about their trip, it turned out that a heat wave in the Northwest made their camping trip less than comfortable. They were wishing they'd gone with me.

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Fantastic story and great photos. You rode through some wonderful country. That campsite looked beautiful. Green grass, good shade and clean water. Perfect. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

 

[curlyjoe]

Beautiful ride and photos Flynrider. Do you know what that building was behind the "nylon slum"? Looks like interesting architecture.

 

[the Ferret]

AWESOME Flyn! I see pics like that and I just want to start planning a ride. I'd say your vacation turned out better than if the plane had run. What great pics.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Fabulous thread. Thanks for posting Flyn.

 

[Rocky_imp]

More wonderful pictures
Glad that you were able to continue after the Bambi incident.

 

[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

Awesome pictures and write up. Thanks again for sharing your trip with us.

 

[flynrider]

Beautiful ride and photos Flynrider. Do you know what that building was behind the "nylon slum"? Looks like interesting architecture.

I've got no idea. It's at the south edge of town and Google maps shows the weird shaped building, but doesn't say what it is.