Have I told you how much I love Riding Colorado?

[ChucksKLRST]

Todays short 130 mile ride.

Today I left the house about 08:00 to go ride down to Deckers for a cup of coffee on my way to the South Platte river road. The little Versys X300 was the bike of choice. Along the route I noticed that a few leaves on the bushes and trees were just starting to turn to their golden yellow, just ever so slightly. Winter is not far off. I am not going to bore you with a lot of verbiage today, just take a look at the pictures.
https://goo.gl/maps/zD8117WLTvF1yYMq8

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Leaf Peeking with the Big Versys.

It has been three weeks since I have been up into the High Country. It is late Sept and the Aspin have been changing from their Summer Greens to their Autumn Golds. Decided I need to take a ride up and get some pictures, before they turn to their Winter Browns and blanket the earth from the inevitable coming snows. Chose to ride the Big Versys for this excursion over Guanella Pass. (11669ft). I should have realized , because the Local News has been advertising Guanella Pass and Kenosha Pass, as prime Leaf Peeking areas , that traffic was going to be heavier than normal. I figured that it was a Thursday and most people would be at work , I would avoid the weekend crowds. Wrong, and Wrong again. The assent up Guanella was slow going with every one gawking at the leaves. Once at the summit, it might have been a Walmart Parking Lot. Cars everywhere. Hard to get a good picture without unwanted cars in the picture. Here are the pictures for today’s Leaf Peeking.

https://goo.gl/maps/PbMz4HfoY7UjWkhZ7

 

[okckeith]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Late October’s Overnight Ride. October 20 thru 21 2022

The Aspin have shed their golden leaves, and what remains on the branches are winter brown. The motorhomes and travel trailers have all been put back in storage or moved south. The Colorado High Country Byways and Highways are now free from the scenery gawking tourist. The weather guessers are forecasting one last warn beautiful couple of days of Sun and Warmth in the mountains before winter fills the passes with snow.
I had been talking to my wife, Sue, earlier in the season about doing some overnight rides, as I have ridden everything, out and back within a day’s time frame. Wednesday evening she said to me “GO RIDE an overnighter before the weather changes this coming weekend. Go get one last High Country ride this season” Great Idea. I quickly packed my civilian version of a Go Bag, checked out the FJR, and plotted an overnight route on my Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas and planned to head out Thursday morning around 0730.
I had planned about a 500 mile loop with the first day to be just less than 300 miles and the second a 200 mile day. Gets me home and across the Zoo of Denver before all the animals escape from their work places. The first day my route was to take me out (Highway 285) across South Park to Buena Vista and then up over Cottonwood Pass (12126ft) crossing the Continental Divide from East to West. From there down (Rd306) to Taylor Reservoir Recreation Area. From there (Rd 742) parallels along the Taylor River through Taylor Canyon. With lunch at Almont Three Rivers Resort. From Buena Vista to Almont is 50 miles of some of the best riding. Beautiful Vistas from the top of Cottonwood Pass, to gorgeous views along the Taylor River Canyon. The roads are a FJR / ST motorcyclist delight with sweeping curves. One major advantage to riding this during the Off Season in late October is the lack of traffic. I only had two vehicles in front of me for the complete 50 miles. The FJR made quick work of them and that is with some stops for photo ops. During tourist season this route is quite crowded.
I arrived at the “Three Rivers Resort” looking forward to their tasty Bacon Burger, only to be greeted with a “Closed for the Season” sign. No Bacon Burger for me. One of the down sides to riding Colorado during the off season in late Oct. So onward to the town of Gunnison, Colorado, another 18 miles down the road. Stopped here at a Mickey Dee’s and had their version of a Bacon Burger. Function Food.
I had thought about stopping and spending the night in Gunnison but it was still too early in the afternoon and not enough miles for my travel plan. Turned east on (Highway 50) toward Monarch Pass (11312ft). Highway 50 traverses the high planes between mountain ranges and follows the Tomichi Creek to the little village of Sergeants at the base of Monarch Pass before crossing the Continental Divide from West to East. A pretty ride with some High Speed curves and s few Colorado Highway Patrollers out of Gunnison. No, I did not get stopped, I had lots of time and this is supposed to be a relaxing road trip. I just set the Cruise on the FJR at the speed limit and let it do what it does best, keeping me from getting a speeding ticket. Made the climb up to the summit of Monarch Pass and stopped for a couple of more pictures. The east side of the pass takes us down across (Highway 285) on to the town of Poncha Springs, where I stopped for an Ice Cream treat. Here Highway 50 crosses 285 and continues on to Salida, Colorado. Here in Salida is where I will spend the night. Found me a place for dinner in down town Salida, along the river called the Boathouse Grill. Cool place. If ever in Salida stop in for lunch or dinner.
End of Day One. 275 miles for the day.

Gold, Silver And Gambling: How Colorado's Gaming Towns Came To Be

When mining dried up, three Colorado towns found a way to stay alive. Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek welcomed gaming.

sportshandle.com

https://goo.gl/maps/wL8v5ExSU7X1mdV3A

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Day two found me awake before sunrise. By the time I got myself together watched a bit of the local weather on the Motel room TV and had the included Motel Breakfast, it was getting light. Nice little local motel for a somewhat reasonable price called the Gateway Inn. The route for today was to follow (Highway 50) along the Arkansas River to just before Canyon City and turn left (north) on the (HW 9) to (County Rd 11). Then on to the intersection of (Rd 11 and Rd 1) into the town of Cripple Creek,
I left the motel at 07:30 in temps of 29 degrees. A bit cool along Highway 50 that parallels the Arkansas River as it winds through the canyons. Fortunately I had my electric liner and electric gloves. Never take a trip to the Colorado High Country without. It is beautiful ride along the Arkansas River during the sunrise. The rising sun glistening through the trees, the bright sun painting over the shadows on the sides of the canyon walls. Of course riding east in the early morn, it was a bit of a challenge to see with the glare in my eyes as I rounded a shadowed corner into the bright rising sun.
Before I knew it the sexy female British voice of my Garmin 550 GPS was telling me to turn left in a quarter mile onto (Highway 9). Here we start our ride back north again and begin to climb into the hills north west of Canyon City, were we meet up with( County Rd 1). High Park Road. This traverses over hill and dale, up and down, around the bends on a route that will bring many smiles to the rider. Also very scenic. The choices are ride fast and pay close attention to the road or… Ride slow and pay a lot of attention to the scenic vista views. Take your pick. I chose to ride a bit slower this morning. As I was approaching the intersection of (11 and 1) the fuel range was reading 50 miles till empty. There is a little country store called the Evergreen Station, time for gas and another cup of coffee. This store lies at the base of the mountain( Rd 1) that climbs up to Cripple Creek @ (9500ft). Another great little twisty, winding road. More of a Sport Bike road vs. a Sport Touring road. Filled up with coffee and gas, headed up the road to CC, what a blast of a ride. I had to stop at the Cripple Creek Colorado veteran’s memorial and pay my respects and get a couple of pictures. Rode through the main street of Cripple Creek. CC is one of three legal gambling towns here in Colorado. Cripple Creek, Black Hawk and Central City. These three towns were dying off, so back in 1990 the State Colorado designated them for legal gambling. Since then the casino have moved in and revitalized these town, but the old locals died out or sold out, as they could not afford the new property taxes, because of the increase values of their old properties. https://www.coloradoinfo.com/blog/colorado-casinos



As I headed out of town up and over the mountain I stopped for a couple of pictures overlooking Cripple creek and the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the far back ground.
Still a bit too early for lunch so I decided to head north of Highway 67 to Woodland Park and then on to Deckers for lunch. At this point I am about 60 miles from home, over and through some of my local canyon roads down into Denver. I make the ride to the Deckers Café about once a week to sit out on the patio listen to the gurgling of river running by and have a tall coffee. Very peaceful in the morning and a great ride to and from through the foothills along the river. Gotta Love Riding Colorado.
End of ride 210 miles for the second day total miles for the overnight ride 485.

Salida to Aurora

goo.gl

 

[Sunday Rider]

Beautiful pics and report. Did you take some of those pics on the fly?
Thanks for the ride along

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Beautiful pics and report. Did you take some of those pics on the fly?
Thanks for the ride along

Yes, I have the technique down as long as my gloves are not too bulky.

 

[Al st1100]

As I headed out of town up and over the mountain I stopped for a couple of pictures overlooking Cripple creek and the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the far back ground.
Still a bit too early for lunch so I decided to head north of Highway 67 to Woodland Park and then on to Deckers for lunch. At this point I am about 60 miles from home, over and through some of my local canyon roads down into Denver. I make the ride to the Deckers Café about once a week to sit out on the patio listen to the gurgling of river running by and have a tall coffee. Very peaceful in the morning and a great ride to and from through the foothills along the river. Gotta Love Riding Colorado.
End of ride 210 miles for the second day total miles for the overnight ride 485.

Salida to Aurora

goo.gl

Have you ever been down Phantom Canyon Rd or Shelf road out of Cripple Creek ? What I've read is that they are kept up very well and unless raining useable with car or motorcycle.

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Have you ever been down Phantom Canyon Rd or Shelf road out of Cripple Creek ? What I've read is that they are kept up very well and unless raining useable with car or motorcycle.

Yea I have ridden them quite a few times over the years, however it has been a few years since I have been down that way. An adventure bike or a duel sport is a better choice to ride those roads. Not an street bike. I have ridden it on my V-Stroms and my old KLR .

 

[Al st1100]

Yea I have ridden them quite a few times over the years, however it has been a few years since I have been down that way. An adventure bike or a duel sport is a better choice to ride those roads. Not an street bike. I have ridden it on my V-Stroms and my old KLR .

DARN!!

 

[ChucksKLRST]

A slow overcast cold Sunday. Winter is not to far off. Time to think about the winter motorcycle maintenance tasks. Finished changing all the clocks back which gave me an extra hour. I was up an hour sooner than normal. My sleep pattern did not know it was back to standard time yet. Decided it was time to do an oil change on the little X300 Versys.

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Our High temp today was 57F in the City (Denver) and around 50F to 55F in the foothills. Tomorrow the high temp is suppose to be 22F degrees with 2 to 4 inches of snow in the city. I had to get out one more time with the bike before the end of the month and before the cold weather comes in tomorrow. Rode the V-Strom down along the South Platte River, one of my favorite rides. Took a few pictures along the way.

 

[Bright Rider]

High Country Trifecta II.

If any of you have been following my ride posts on my Face Book Page, you have read of me mentioning my Ride Trifecta. I call it my High Country Trifecta. Each year I try and do a motorcycle ride to Trail Ridge Rd in Rocky Mountain National Park, Mt Evans, and Pikes Peak. The last couple of years I have only been able to accomplish only two of the rides, Trail Ridge, and MT. Evans. I posted my Trail Ridge ride a few weeks ago and this past Friday I was able to accomplish my Mt. Evans ride. Only one more peak to go. I will try and do Pikes Peak this month, if it does not snow at the summit, before the end of September.
Last Wednesday I was surfing my Moto forums on my computer, and it dawned on me that Labor Day weekend was coming up. I have not been to the summit of Mt. Evans this year and Mt. Evans summit traditionally closes right after Labor Day. I better get my reservation and GO RIDE. Got on line, registered on the Park Service website and made my reservation for Friday Sept 2. Two dollar reg. fee and I have a lifetime Fed Parks Pass. I am all set to go.
My Reservation window for Mt. Evans was for 0800-1000. This required me to leave the house at 0700. Another early morning rise and shine for this old retired guy. My route is one that I ride a lot up to Echo Lake as this is the starting point for the climb to the summit of Mt. Evans. The ride to Echo Lake is one of my favorite routes and I have ridden it a lot. Across Denver on Highway 285 to Upper Turkey Creek Canyon, then a right turn on to High Dr. which drops out in Old Evergreen. Passing the Evergreen Golf Course on Upper Bear Creek Rd, I Ride back through the canyon past some very, very (Lots of Money) expensive homes. A few miles later I make a right turn onto Witter Gulch Rd. This road starts the climb up to Squaw Pass Rd. Witter Gulch Rd has quite a few steep switchback turn on it. This is preparation for the switchbacks on Mt. Evans. Once onto Squaw Pass Rd (103) it is a beautiful ride topping out at 11,000 ft before a slight decent to the Echo Lake Lodge at 10,000ft. Here is the entrance to the Summit of Mt. Evans, State Highway 5. It is an overstatement to call this road a highway. I presented my Reservation document and my Federal Parks Pass had headed up Mt Evans Road. 14 miles later I was at the Summit, (14,200ft. according to my GPS.) Took a few pictures and then headed down to ride some of my fav. twisty’s before crossing the city to home. Part two of my trifecta is done. Great ride, 150 miles and many more smiles.
https://goo.gl/maps/8uETGoVcJ6CAkwr47

Dude, all these beautiful pictures makes me want to ride my bike out there and retrace your routes and/or get some of us riders together and find some more. I've got at least one more year before I can retire and possibly do so. Thank you for sharing. -B.R.

 

[DaveD]

Wow! I happened upon your posts and pictures a couple days ago and your description of one of your routes really caught my attention. I rode to Denver last summer for my youngest daughters' grad school graduation from University of Denver. Took two days on US 30 to get there. Lot's of great family time in Denver, sight-seeing (packed in the rental minivan), and food! The bike stayed parked, though, until time to head home. Fortunately, I had three days to head back and was able to dip my little toe into the mountains (or, at least, foothills?). Routed the Garmin to 67 and on to Colorado Springs, US 50 via Pueblo and so on. Anyway, 67 is beautiful, then turned onto W Pine Creek road which soon turned to gravel (which I wasn't exactly planning on!). I stopped and asked a few guys unloading their dirt bikes from pickup trucks if they thought I would be ok on the ST1300. They weren't too sure but I thought why not, I'm here aren't I? While I'm very glad I went forward, got a little nervous when I saw that 15% grade sign! Glad it was down hill and the road was smooth and well packed. Story shortened, the rest of that morning was was so awesome, beautiful and all!
Was fun to read your stories and get that little jolt about a couple roads I was fortunate to ride. For sure I MUST GET BACK!

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Wow! I happened upon your posts and pictures a couple days ago and your description of one of your routes really caught my attention. I rode to Denver last summer for my youngest daughters' grad school graduation from University of Denver. Took two days on US 30 to get there. Lot's of great family time in Denver, sight-seeing (packed in the rental minivan), and food! The bike stayed parked, though, until time to head home. Fortunately, I had three days to head back and was able to dip my little toe into the mountains (or, at least, foothills?). Routed the Garmin to 67 and on to Colorado Springs, US 50 via Pueblo and so on. Anyway, 67 is beautiful, then turned onto W Pine Creek road which soon turned to gravel (which I wasn't exactly planning on!). I stopped and asked a few guys unloading their dirt bakes from pickup trucks if they thought I would be ok on the ST1300. They weren't too sure but I thought why not, I'm here aren't I? While I'm very glad I went forward, got a little nervous when I saw that 15% grade sign! Glad it was down hill and the road was smooth and well packed. Story shortened, the rest of that morning was was so awesome, beautiful and all!
Was fun to read your stories and get that little jolt about a couple roads I was fortunate to ride. For sure I MUST GET BACK!

Had you taken the left fork on 67 you would have had 10 miles of dirt/gravel road winding thru the forest.. All doable on the ST (but not preferred) if it is dry. I did that route on a old gold wing once. The route you took down the 15% hill was only three miles to the pavement. The 10 mile dirt 67 comes out 5 miles further down onto the pavement along the river.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Had you taken the left fork on 67 you would have had 10 miles of dirt/gravel road winding thru the forest.. All doable on the ST (but not preferred) if it is dry. I did that route on a old gold wing once. The route you took down the 15% hill was only three miles to the pavement. The 10 mile dirt 67 comes out 5 miles further down onto the pavement along the river.

Crazy, I'm reading this thinking it sounds familiar, so I check spotwalla and sure enough, I was there. I came out of Castle Rock to Deckers, and on to Mount Evans. I still smile when I think about the road disappearing in front of me because of the 15% grade, good times.

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Hur-rah, I was able to finally after a bit more than two weeks able to get out a do my first ride of the year. Rode a short 100 miles on the Big Versys. Today's temps were in the high 40s to mid 50s degrees. Made a mess of the bike do to the snow melt, but it was great to GO RIDE anyway. Rode one of my winter routes, (have to stay out of the twisties in the mountains) south east of Aurora. Crossed over I-25 at Castle rock and ride north on 105 to Sedalia then on over Castle Pines and back to Parker on home to Aurora. The weather fibbers are predicting about two more inches of snow tomorrow so this ride will have to keep my Parked Motorcycle Syndrome in check for a while. Here is the route and a few pictures from today.

https://goo.gl/maps/pEpaRqScmFm87N1H6

 

[ST-venture]

I haven't been able to get out of the neighborhood street for a month now. Maybe tomorrow.
While you are out and about, maybe move the Colorado Tag or A-Z game. I have been the only one doing them for more than a couple years now.

 

[sherob]

I'm still locked in the hood as well... just got more snow! Warm the hell up already!

 

[ChucksKLRST]

Yesterday I was able to get out with the VStrom for short 105 mile ride. Rode across the south side of Denver to Sedalia and then south on Highway 105 to Palmer Lake. I have ridden this road hundreds of times. It is a favorite of the motorcycle community, as it meanders along the Rampart Range ridge line with it's gentle curves. and shallow ups and downs of the landscape. Around 25 miles of riding bliss. Then turn around and head north. Same road completely different views of the Rocky Mountain peaks and horse farm country. I turned off of 105 at the Wolfensberger Rd. This is a short ride of a few miles of good twisties up over the ridge into Castle Rock. From there on Crowfoot Valley Rd into Parker and then home. A couple three hours of riding before our weather changes and we get more snow.
https://goo.gl/maps/s817n8btDbnFN3h67