Black Forest Exploration
Looking back to where the pavement ends.
Sunday was such a gorgeous day I had to ride. The only question: where?
It was clear I wasn’t going to the mountains. Last week’s ride convinced me that I won’t be heading up in elevation till things warm up again next year. So I got to thinking about the Black Forest area, down toward Colorado Springs. I’ve never explored that area, and wasn’t even sure there were many paved roads down there, so it seemed like as good a time as any to find out.
Blasting down on I-25 I planned to get off at Monument but came upon an exit just north of there that I had never taken. This was exit 163, labeled County Line Road, Palmer Lake. Time to explore. I headed east. West would have taken me to Palmer Lake and I’ve been there plenty of times.
I couldn’t really tell but looking just now at Google Maps I see this entire area is heavily built up, with roads and homes covering the entire area. It’s hilly with a lot of woods. I just headed east and once I came over a ridge the trees ended and so did the development. It was mostly just grazing land from there until I hit CO 83, which comes up out of the Springs, through Franktown and Parker and back into Denver. At the highway I continued east because I could see a lot more hills and woods up ahead.
By the way, this road is also called the Palmer Divide Road, so it must be up pretty high, but on such a great fall day it was just as warm and nice as you could ask for.
I was only able to go a few more miles through the trees when I came over another ridge and not only did the trees peter out, so did the pavement. You can see that in the photo above, with the asphalt ending right where that road heads off to the right. This is exactly the sort of thing I bought the V-Strom for but I really wanted to ride the Concours this day so that meant turning around.
I guess I really need to plan things out more carefully. Last week I took the V-Strom on a ride that would have been better suited to the Connie. This time it was the reverse. I’ll figure it all out some day.
The other thing I keep telling myself I should do–but never remember when it matters–is to look at the map before I go out. I often come to a place where I think, “hey, that looks like an interesting road, I wonder where it goes,” but except when I’m in my most adventurous mode I am reluctant to find myself in a spot where I only hope there is a connecting road up ahead or else have to turn around. I wouldn’t have to follow a predesignated route, but it would be good to know that if I go this direction long enough I will come to some road that will get me out of here.
Anyway, I turned around and headed back to 83 and turned north and just cruised on home. Not as much of an exploration as I had hoped. But now at least I’ve looked at the map and I know I want to go back on the Suzuki and keep going on that road, off onto the gravel. You see, after a few turns you go north just a short distance and then the road runs along Kiowa Creek, up toward Elbert. That looks like a nice ride. I’m gonna go check it out.
Biker Quote for Today
Motorcycles are better than men/women because motorcycles don’t care if you are late.
Tags: motorcycle exploring
