Passes & Canyons Blog

I took off on the CB750 not knowing where I was headed so I wandered over onto Parker Road. That at least would get me out of town.

I knew from a couple rides that there is a road that runs diagonally between Parker and Castle Rock and I had only ever taken that road coming to Parker, never going to Castle Rock. In fact, I wasn’t even sure (memory not clear) where it came out in Parker. So let’s go find it and take it the other direction.

I got into the old downtown area of Parker and eyeballed Main Street heading west wondering if that was where that road came in. I didn’t think so and I kept on. I had the idea in mind that I wanted Hess Road but wasn’t sure.

Next I came to Twenty Mile Road and that looked promising so I turned. At the very least, this was exploring. After going west a short distance, Twenty Mile Road turned north and soon intersected with Main Street. OK, turn left. I guess I’ll see where Main Street goes.

I knew that Parker had grown enormously over the years but I always had it in mind that it had grown mostly to the east. Wrong. There is a huge part of the city to the west, and I went right through it. This was clearly not the road to Castle Rock. In fact, as I got further along I could see the Reuter-Hess Reservoir further south, confirming that I had really wanted Hess Road. But I had never been west out of Parker on Main Street so again, this was exploring.

Where did this road come out? Well, first of all, it came out of the city into open fields and no development at all. (This road is so new that my mapping software, a few years out of date, does not even show it.) You know as well as I do that that won’t be the case for long. But it went on and hit I-25 at the I-25 exit for the Cabela’s store on the south end of the metro area. Now I knew. And by this time it was Ridge Gate Parkway.

After crossing I-25 Ridge Gate Parkway bent north and soon it intersected Lincoln Avenue. I went west on Lincoln Avenue, now figuring I wanted to work my way over to Chatfield Reservoir. I’d been over there a couple times recently and had seen this road, Rampart Range Road, that went off somewhere that had me curious.

I turned south off Lincoln Avenue onto South Quebec Street and that wound its way further and further south, becoming Monarch Boulevard along the way. I had been this way recently. When Monarch Parkway hit Castle Pines Parkway I knew exactly where I was. I turned west on Castle Pines Parkway to Daniels Park Road and took that south to U.S. 85. Then north, past Sedalia, and off at Titan Parkway, which leads over to the road going around the south of Chatfield.

Titan Parkway runs straight west almost to Chatfield State Park and then a 90-degree turn puts you on Rampart Range Road. A little ways south you hit Waterton Road and this is the road around the south end of the park and reservoir. But where do you go if you continue south? This was what I had come to find out.

Of course, this area is where you find Roxborough State Park, an area of gorgeous rock formations. Continuing south on Rampart Range Road I saw for the first time some neighborhoods built in really beautiful settings among these rocks. Oh my gosh! I bet these places are expensive.

Then the road went up a bit of an incline and curved in between two miniature flatirons and I was starting to think that, oh boy, this is really going to be cool. But I came between the rocks and there was a sign, “Residents only right lane,” and a guard shack. I stopped at the guard shack and a very nice older woman, in the role of guard, greeted me.

“Howdy. I’m exploring,” I said. “I was wondering where this road goes.”

“This is the Arrowhead gated community,” she replied.

“So does this road come out somewhere else?” I asked.

“No, it’s one way in, one way out.”

“OK, I guess that’s all I need to know,” I replied, knowing that meant I was now supposed to turn around. And she pointed me to the turnaround, just in case I wasn’t totally clear on the matter.

Now I know.

Biker Quote for Today

Every mile is my destination. Every failure is my motivation. I’m a rider. I live to ride. Nothing comes between me and my bike. I’m a rider and I’ll survive. — Sagar ZZ

I was out riding Wednesday on that warm February afternoon. Is Colorado a great place to live or what?

As always at this time of the year, I was being opportunistic. It was warm; I rode. I make a point to ride each of my bikes at least once every calendar month and I can check February off the list.

But even if I didn’t have that incentive I would have been out. It’s just too nice not to. It has been quite cold in the morning but by 11 o’clock it has been in the 50s and that’s good riding weather. And there’s no snow or ice on the ground, unlike in that photo above. (I shot that photo at the Elephant Ride a few years ago. Yeah, there was plenty of snow then.)

Riding the fully faired Concours and then the unfaired CB750, back to back, it was pretty dang obvious how much benefit that fairing offers. I was perfectly warm on the Connie but definitely felt a chill on the CB. But I turned on my electric vest and all was just fine. Didn’t even need the electric gloves.

Now, I would hope that this is not the last of my February riding. I see nothing in the forecast that suggests we’ll be snowed in the rest of the month, but you never know. Assuming that doesn’t happen I should be out a bunch more times. I’m really counting on getting a lot of miles under me this year. And I’m not waiting till May to get started.

Biker Quote for Today

Whether rain or sunshine, heat or cold, my bike and I are on the road.

I owe Mark Odette on this one. He sent me an email way back in September and I forgot about it, but was digging through old emails today and ran across it.

For those of us who like to get off the paved roads (I include myself generously; since getting my V-Strom I haven’t been off the pavement nearly as much as I wish I had), one topic of interest is where to go to do so. Sure, there are gravel roads all over, but which of them are worth riding, and pack the best bang for your time buck?

Maybe you should check out www.trailtaker.com. Click on that link and go to their trails map and then click on one of the markers. That enlarges the map to show an area of the state and if you give it some time the map starts filling in with all kinds of trails.

For instance, I clicked on an area that runs from Lake George on the east to Aspen on the west and Alma on the north to Salida on the south. There are more trails than I can count, colored red, green, and blue. Red is advanced, blue is intermediate, and green is beginner. The legend also shows grey as unknown and black as expert but I don’t see any of those here.

And what are these trails? Well, I clicked on one that runs off US 285 toward the Collegiate Peaks. I’ve been down that road many times and looked at a road going off into the hills and wondered about it. I’m thinking this is that road. The site tells me this is Clear Creek and that it’s 9.18 miles long. It’s blue. Clicking on the “Trail Details” link it doesn’t actually give me that much more information, other than that it’s a gravel road suitable for a passenger car. And there is a link to download a GPS file (.GPX) of the trail. It also notes that the information is not verified because it has been imported from public date provided by the U.S. Forest Service. Many of these trails are like this.

Over to the east of Fairplay, near Tarryall Reservoir, there is the Packer Gulch trail (7.8 miles). Here the blue of the trail actually refers to being intermediate for 4×4 vehicles. For motorcycles it is rated unknown. It calls for high-clearance vehicles and the road is not maintained for passenger cars.

Let’s get to something a bit gnarlier. A little west of Buena Vista, with a southern terminus near Tincup, is the Timberline trail (30.3 miles). This is rated advanced for both motorcycles and ATVs and 4x4s are not permitted. This is listed as Trail Class TC4, Highly Developed. This appears to be a Forest Service designation meaning “high standard trail with significant structures, tread hardening possible.”

So you get the idea. Is that just a gravel road going off to nowhere or is it actually a trail? This site might be just the answer.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: If your Motorcycle is misaligned, you don’t have to discuss politics to correct it.

Do thermometers lie? I was out riding on Saturday, a sunny 48 degrees and my fingers were turning into ice cubes. And I was wearing my non-electric winter gloves, with Thinsulate© lining. How could I be so cold on such a warm day?

I understand that the 60 degrees showing on our thermometer out front is not to be trusted because it is sheltered and has a southern exposure. But I trusted the 48 degrees the thermometer out back, in the shade, told me. Of course I wore my electric vest–I never ride without that at this time of year.

So I took off on the V-Strom and hadn’t gone three blocks when I realized I would have been happy to have had long underwear on. Sure I could have gone back but what the heck, I can live with it. So I won’t whine about my legs being cold, although they definitely were.

But then by the time I was gone about five miles my hands were really getting cold. And it was a sunny day! I don’t get it. This is Colorado.

Oh well, I was going for a ride. So I did.

I headed down Jordan Road to Arapahoe Road and turned east. I crossed Parker Road and decided to follow Arapahoe further and see where it went. I knew I’d been out that way before but just at the moment I couldn’t remember. And it did go on straight pretty far, until just before reaching C-470 it started wiggling. Then I remembered, it twists around and then heads north and intersects Smoky Hill Road.

Yep, that’s what it did, but then, where does it go beyond Smoky Hill? I guess I’ll have to find out.

Well, the answer is not very far. It winds around through a shopping area briefly and then dissolves into a housing development, becoming nothing more than a small collector street. And then it just ended where new development is still going on and there are more empty lots than new homes.

I turned south on Titus Way, which quickly brought me back to Smoky Hill. OK, my hands are cold enough, I’m turning right and heading home. It wasn’t as long a ride as I might have liked but at least I did get out. Friday would have been better–it was warmer–but we were just coming home from Grand Junction and I missed the better, warmer part of that day. So I rode on Saturday.

I had a realization though. There I was with freezing hands and while, sure, I could have worn my heated gloves but I didn’t, still, there is really no good reason why I didn’t have some of those chemical heat packs stuffed in my jacket pocket for just this sort of occasion. I have some, and once you buy those things there is no reason not to use them because if you keep them too long they lose potency. Why weren’t they in my pocket?

They are now.

Biker Quote for Today

Missing: Husband and motorcycle. Reward for motorcycle.

With this terrific December weather–and portents of cold to come–I’ve been getting in a lot of riding. And lately that has meant exploring. I love exploring. Generally I just follow my nose and go.

On Saturday I headed out on the Honda with kind of an idea that I might ride up Deer Creek Canyon, cut over by Tiny Town, and then come on back down on US 285. But my plans got thrown off.

First I headed west on Belleview but I had forgotten that a little west of Federal you run into Bow Mar and can’t continue. I jogged north to Quincy and continued west as far as Wadsworth and then turned south on Wadsworth. That got me to thinking, “Where does Wadsworth go, way far south?” I kind of had the idea it came out at C-470 near Chatfield Reservoir but couldn’t remember it all exactly. So I went south.

Sure enough, I crossed under C-470 and there was Chatfield on my left and I was running on south along its western boundary. My (perhaps incorrect) recollection was that this road ran down to Martin-Marietta and to Waterton Canyon, where you had no choice but to go up the canyon, and I was pretty sure that was closed to vehicles. Which is to say, that the road ended. We’ll see. Can you go all the way around Chatfield?

There’s a point where the road bends to the right if you’re going to Martin or you can turn left onto Waterton Road. It looked like it might go through. Sure enough, it goes around the south end of the reservoir/park and hits a T-intersection with Rampart Range Road. Really? I’ve only ever gotten to the Rampart Range via Sedalia. I’m going to have to check this out someday, but for now I was interested in getting around Chatfield Reservoir so I turned left.

Rampart Range Road goes north until it bends right, now heading east. This was now Titan Road, which hits South Santa Fe/US 85 at that fairly new interchange (marked “Titan Road” oddly enough!). So I’d done it. I never knew you could go around Chatfield ever before.

Heading north then on US 85 I was going to just hit C-470 but I came up on Highlands Ranch Parkway and decided to explore some more. I had been on this particular road before but only parts of it. I had no idea where it came out on the other end. Time to find out.

This parkway winds its way through this whole, large development, now passing houses, now passing through massive, sprawling shopping districts with their all-enveloping smell of fried chicken. I passed Lucent Boulevard, then Broadway, then University Boulevard. Where the heck does this thing go?

Well, right after University I found out. It bent sharply north and I suspected I was on a different street. I looked at the first sign I could see and–holy smokes!–I was now on Colorado Boulevard. Really?

OK, so the rest of the way home was pretty standard: Colorado to Orchard, to DTC Boulevard, and home. But that was a fun ride. I went places I’d never been before. Did I ever tell you I love exploring?

Biker Quote for Today

I might look like I’m listening to you but in my head I’m riding my motorcycle.

I had to take advantage of the great weather we’ve been having in early December so I headed out Friday to put some miles on my Honda CB750 Custom. Not sure where to go but following my nose I decided to follow Smoky Hill Road out as far as it goes–and find out where that is.

Smoky Hill goes a long way. I know I’d been out that way before but at one point I got to where I was pretty sure I had gone east on some other road and so staying on Smoky Hill meant something new. Well, a short while later it ended at the entrance to some big country club housing development. So I wandered on through and found my way out the other side, onto County Line Road. What do you know.

I turned east on County Line and it was just a short distance to the eastern edge of the development, and that was also the eastern edge of development in this area. On east it is all prairie. See the photo above.

That eastern boundary is Delbert Road. I was interested in going south but was just a bit more interested to take it north and see where it went. So I turned north. But it didn’t go far before it became a dirt road and I stopped. I was on the Honda, and the Honda can go just about anywhere as long as it’s not too extreme but this road looked dicey.

Plus, this all looked familiar. I was convinced I had been here before, though having arrived from a different direction. Doing a search on this blog I found this post from January 2016 that confirmed it.

But here’s the thing: when I wrote that post nearly two years ago, I was coming north and ended up going west. That means I’ve never been further east on County Line Road than right there. That’s some place new to go sometime soon.

This time, however, I headed south on Delbert Road, unknowingly reversing my path from last January. I was looking for a paved road headed west so I turned onto Buckboard Road but that soon turned to dirt. No matter, the Honda can take this. I then wound around and found myself right back where I had been, having just navigated a large circle. The area is full of ranch-style homes with lots of acreage–horse properties, I presumed.

Having looped back I ended up going back out the way I’d come in and continued south on Delbert. This brought me to East Parker Road and I headed west to CO 83 and from there on home.

So yeah, technically I was revisiting ground I had been over before but you know what they say about a road looking totally different when you go the other direction. Plus, there has been a lot of development out there in just two years. And who knows, maybe the next time I try following Smoky Hill Road to its end it will keep on going. Heck, five years from now I’d bet on it.

Biker Quote for Today

Whether you are sad, lost, lonely, or broken, there is always a fix . . . motorcycle.

I took another potentially “last ride in the hills for 2017” yesterday. The weather was so nice, and I knew the roads were clear, so what else could I do?

While it was very warm in the city, as soon as I turned up Clear Creek Canyon, with the deep shade cast by the steep canyon walls, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. That’s OK, I had my electric vest on and had finally found my misplaced winter gloves, the ones with a Thinsulate lining. I was cool but not uncomfortable.

Cruising up the canyon, however, it soon also got quite windy. When the wind comes howling down a canyon it can really turn into a blow but this was moderate, though gusty. At one point I passed a guy on a Harley heading down the canyon and I was convinced it was Bill. Bill lives right off CO 93 and runs up to Black Hawk to gamble frequently and this guy was dressed like Bill dresses, had the same open-face helmet, and even looked for all the world like Bill. We waved.

Reaching Black Hawk I stopped for a belated lunch and texted Bill. No, he and his wife were busy planting tulip bulbs they had just brought back with them from a trip to Holland.

With a free lunch in my belly and a little extra pocket money, courtesy of the Lodge Casino–thank you very much–I got back on the bike. And I noticed immediately that the temperature had dropped while I was inside. Plus, I was going to be climbing for a while. Thank goodness for the electric vest.

Getting further up on the Peak-to-Peak I was as last in the sunshine, though the wind was whipping. Initially I had considered going all the way to Nederland and the Boulder Canyon road but had long ago ruled that out. And at the higher elevation it was colder and I was now reconsidering my plan to cruise over to the Coal Creek Canyon road to head down. But I’ve been up and down the Golden Gate Canyon road so often lately that I really, really wanted to do a different route. So I blew on past the Golden Gate turn-off when I got to it.

It seems I wasn’t the only motorcyclist who had the idea that this was a day for the hills. This was mid-day on Wednesday but there were still a good many bikers up there.

And it got colder. By the time I reached the turn-off for Coal Creek Canyon my fingertips were getting numb. Thank goodness for the electric vest! And now I could start losing elevation, although I still had to climb up to Wondervu. Would that road be icy? There was melted snow running across the road in numerous places along the Peak-to-Peak and sooner or later that snowmelt would definitely be turning to ice.

But the road was OK and I got over the hump at Wondervu and headed down. And it was really nice to be going down Coal Creek for a change. And despite the cold it was, still, a great day to be out riding.

So I came down to CO 93 and turned south. Of course, this road between Boulder and Golden is notorious for high winds and on this day it lived up to its reputation. I rode close to the right side of the road to give myself all the room possible whenever the gusts would try to push me into the northbound lane. I came through the west side of Golden and past the Taj Mahal then turned south to get on C-470.

It was when I had just crossed over I-70 and the southbound lanes were converging that the most powerful gust of the day blasted me relentlessly across my lane and into the lane on my left. Fight it though I might, resistance was futile and I had only a split second to check my mirror to see that while the car behind me to my left was close, there was room for me in front of him. If he’d been 10 feet closer it would have been hairy.

And oh yeah, it was right after this that it occurred to me that my fingers were no longer cold.

The rest of the ride home was uneventful. Chalk up one more ride in the hills for 2017. Will this one be the last? We’ll see. I’ve got all winter to ride the prairie.

Biker Quote for Today

If you don’t like motorcycles then you probably won’t like me, and I’m OK with that.

I turned south on Quebec from Belleview, figuring I’d cruise down toward Daniels Park. It occurred to me I’d never much been south on Quebec south of Arapahoe Road so it would be interesting to take it further. Then I thought, “Where does this road go, anyway? Where does it end?” So I decided to find out.

Turns out Quebec goes a lot further. Past C-470, which I knew, but even on past where University Boulevard has bent east and become Lincoln Avenue. Is this going to take me all the way to Daniels Park?

But then a little further, when it hits McArthur Ranch Road (a road I’m totally unfamiliar with) it changes suddenly and is now Monarch Boulevard. And keeps going. From here we’re no longer going straight, but instead curving all over and the further we go the more it curves, even heading due east for awhile. Are we going all the way to Castle Pines Parkway? That’s the road that runs west from I-25 to Daniels Park.

Yes we hit Castle Pines. And Monarch was still heading south. Holy smokes, where does this road go?

Not much further, as it turned out. Yet.

Monarch curved around a bit through a neighborhood and then ended abruptly at the dead end in the photo above. But a sign nearby announced that soon it will be extended into the new Lagae Ranch area now filled with bulldozers shoving dirt around, which you can see beyond the sign.

So I found the end. I headed back to Castle Pines Parkway and went east to I-25 and then wondered where that road goes as it continues east past the interstate. Well, let’s find out.

I think I’d been on this road before, though. It arcs northeastward first above and then in front of the relatively new Rueter-Hess Reservoir, and the road itself became Hess Road apparently just on the other side of I-25. Hess Road, I knew, comes out on Parker Road a little south of the town of Parker.

But I got there and saw Hess continuing east and wondered, “Where does this road go?” I guess I’ll find out.

Hess itself does not go far at all. It almost immediately intersects with Hilltop Road and I knew where that went. It bends south and then east until it hits a north-south road that runs down to Elizabeth.

I didn’t want to go that far and just have to come back so I took the first turn I found, which led me into The Pinery. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in The Pinery but it is labyrinthine and easy to get lost in. But I knew that Pinery Parkway will take you back to 83 so I just meandered around until I hit that road and took it out of the development.

Now I was back on 83 and there was nothing to do but head north and home.

I call that a good ride. I love exploring and finding out where roads go. I’m one of those riders who doesn’t pick a destination but instead, just picks a directions and goes. And I never seem to run out of roads that make me ask that question: Where does this road go?

Biker Quote for Today

Four wheels may get you there, but two wheels will make the journey memorable.