Passes & Canyons Blog

We went to Dinosaur National Monument this past weekend for three days and loved it. Besides seeing the place, I wanted to see how the roads would be if you were on a bike–a dual sport bike of course. I already had a pretty good idea you wouldn’t want to take those roads on a street bike.

We came in at the east end of the park, turning off U.S. 40 at Elk Springs onto the Bear Valley Road or County Road 14. From here to the Echo Park campground, where we were headed, it’s about 46 miles of gravel–some of it quite rough. This road later becomes the Yampa Bench Road, which runs alongside–but way above–the Yampa River.

I’ll tell you about the road some other time; it’s definitely doable on a bike as long as it’s not rainy.

What I want to tell you about now is the guys who showed up in the campsite next to ours our second night there. We had gone up on the rim for the day and when we came back in the evening there were four motorcycles right next to us. Judy headed back to our site and I plunged right in, having a good time shooting the bull with these guys for half an hour or so.

They were out of Texas and they connect with each other for these rides through ADV, the Adventure Rider forum. They had trailered up to Oak Creek, Colorado, and took off riding from there. Between them there was a smaller KTM–not one of those big new Adventures–plus a Kawi KLR 650, I believe a Suzuki DR650, and another bike I thought he told me was a BMW but the guy is a big Triumph fanatic so I’m not so sure. It definitely wasn’t one of the big, newer BMW adventure bikes. I don’t know; I just don’t know every bike on sight.

They’re on a 2,800-mile ride with no time constraints. They’ll take it day by day. One guy told me he’s got the whole month set aside but expects they’ll do it in about two weeks. Their route was prepared for them by a fellow in Utah who sells these sorts of plans. That’s an interesting concept. Heck, I map out Colorado rides for people frequently and I don’t charge a dime. I don’t plan to start charging, either.

Taking off from Oak Creek, which is south of Steamboat Springs on CO 131, their route guy did get them off to a good start by sending them over Dunckley Pass and Ripple Creek Pass. They were heading into Utah, then up into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and then back to Colorado. And they’re doing most of it on the dirt.

These are not a bunch of young guys, either. They all have grey hair. The first one we encountered was heading to the outhouse just after they arrived and he said hello and “I’m getting too old for this.” Apparently not too, too old, though.

Their trip got off to an inauspicious start when one of them improperly engaged his clutch right at the start and before he had rolled eight inches, he told me, he dropped the bike. And then, they said, the guy we had met hadn’t gone a quarter mile on the dirt when he went down. Some people were starting to have reservations.

They got rolling though and things smoothed out. Coming over Dunckley and Ripple Creek, one said, it was gorgeous but the road was so rough you couldn’t look at the scenery, you had to keep watching the road. Bill and John and I rode over that pass once about 25 years ago and I do remember it being so rough that I didn’t remember much about the scenery. It’s truly is gorgeous, by the way. I’ve been over it in cars a number of times so I’ve had a chance to look.

Not sure quite what their route was from Meeker, where they came out, but they came into Dinosaur the same way we did, on the Yampa Bench Road. I believe they said one or two more bikes went down along this stretch. I remember there was one really muddy spot and that gave someone some trouble.

They made it in, though, and were thrilled to be out on the first night of this great trip. The next morning we all packed up around the same time and Judy and I left first. We were all going out via the road up to the rim so I was pleased to be ahead of them so we could stop and I could get some shots looking down on them as they came up the road. I picked a good vantage point, got shots of them below, then more shots of them as they passed us and went on up. We waved and they waved and that was the last we saw of them.

Biker Quote for Today

A good rider can overcome marginal equipment. However, even the best equipment can’t overcome a marginal rider.

We decided we wanted to go camping up past Mount Princeton Hot Springs and looking at the map we saw there was one campground way up there where they didn’t take reservations. Campground reservations are fine except when you want to go spur of the moment. Too often you get there and everything is reserved, even though no one is there at the moment and in some cases never show up. At least at this one campground we’d have a chance.

The trouble was, looking at the map it appeared that maybe the campground was not accessible from the main road, but only by going up a less-developed parallel road on the north side of the creek. The main road runs on the south side of the creek and it was not clear if there were bridges. So we took the less-developed road.

Yeah, “less-developed” only scratches the surface. This was an out-and-out dual-sport road. Very doable on the right bike but do not take your cruiser on this road.

We reached the campground and were lucky to get the very last site. And we then soon found out that indeed there were bridges, including one just about 100 yards down the road from the campground. Oh well, we got there.

It was a nice place to camp. Way back up there you’re not going to have a lot of traffic going by on the road, especially this road. If we had camped further down the canyon we would have had traffic going by all the time. So we spent a pleasant evening and night.

In the morning we figured to go out via the main road. We also knew that St. Elmo, said to be one of the best-preserved ghost towns in Colorado, was just a little further up the road, so we’d go there first.

Well, boy, were we surprised when we crossed the creek and made the turn and found ourselves almost instantly right in the heart of St. Elmo. We could have walked there.

So we walked around checking out St. Elmo. There was a sign right there for the turn-off to Tincup Pass. That would definitely be a road you would need a dual-sport bike on. But then we heard this familiar roar and what should come cruising into St. Elmo (on the main road) but two fully dressed Harleys.

All of this is just to say, if you don’t mind a little gravel, places like St. Elmo are accessible even on your street bike. My friend Dennis is pretty short but rides a big Harley and he won’t touch gravel–except the quarter mile he has to ride every time he goes to or from his own home. But with feet that barely reach the ground as it is, he will not ride gravel because he’s afraid of not being able to keep the bike up when he stops. One little pebble that rolls under your foot and it’s all over–that’s his thinking.

I’ll give it to Dennis that there’s some truth in what he says. I don’t accept it as a reason not to ever ride gravel, though. And if you’re not the sort to avoid all gravel at any cost, then I’m here telling you that you can do the road to St. Elmo. And it is a pretty cool little town, although I’m not sure why it’s called a ghost town when there are people living there. But it’s a lot of remarkably well-preserved really old buildings. Cruise on up and check it out sometime.

Biker Quote for Today

Ruts are like side-panel screws: just when you think you’re in the right groove, you get cross-threaded.

I don’t know how it happened but the decision has finally been made to finish paving Guanella Pass all the way from Georgetown to Grant. From what I understand, Clear Creek County, on the Georgetown side was all for it and of course paved their side years ago. Park County, on the Grant side, however, just would not budge and so for all these years the road has started paved on the Georgetown side and turned to gravel further south. Park County has finally changed its tune.

This is already a wonderful motorcycle road if you don’t mind doing some gravel, and there are plenty of people who have ridden it. Once this paving project is completed it should be a real magnet for anyone who has not wanted to do it because of the gravel. Because it’s a really sweet ride.

So when will the job be completed? Apparently not until October 2015. And what that translates into is that I’d advise avoiding this road until then. The U.S. Forest Service has put up information about the construction and it’s going to be ugly.

First off, the road is completely closed twice a day Monday through Friday. That’s 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Even during other periods you are likely to encounter delays up to 30 minutes.

If you like to camp, the campgrounds along the construction area are now closed, which includes the one we went to recently when we decided to try two-up camping on the V-Strom. The campgrounds up near the top of the pass are still open.

I’m curious what effect this work will have on the wildlife in the area. We have seen bighorn sheep right alongside the road up through there. They’ll probably skedaddle for now but we hope they’ll return once it gets quiet again.

Once this job is done I’m going to have some work to do on this website. I don’t have a separate page for Guanella Pass as I do for so many other roads because I have focused pretty much on paved roads. So far I’ve only had a short bit about it on the Dirt Roads and Side Trips page. Once this one is paved it will absolutely rate its own page. That’s why this website will never be finished: things keep changing. That’s OK, I enjoy the work. And especially the research. Of course I’ll have to go ride it as soon as it reopens. Dirty job and all that, you know.

Biker Quote for Today

Regular maintenance is the key to reliability; irregular maintenance is the key to great exercise.

We were in the mountains over the weekend and on Friday I had the chance to ride with Jungle and Willie, friends who live in Eagle. They have a spare Concours they invited me to ride so this was the ultimate in no-brainers.

What was not such a no-brainer was where to go. Of course they live up there, so they’ve been on all the roads in their area, but so have I. You can do the Minturn to Leadville to Aspen to Glenwood and home loop, or you can go Wolcott to Toponas to Kremmling to Steamboat and back. Or, a third option Willie suggested, was Wolcott to Toponas to Kremmling and then to Grand Lake and back via Winter Park and I-70 to Eagle again.

That third route is adding up to some real miles and I guess there are some other long-mile routes you could do but essentially, from Eagle your options are rather limited.

Here’s where Jungle got creative. We would to the to Steamboat and back ride that we’ve done before with some alternative roads mixed in. We headed up CO 131 from Wolcott, where we had met up with some other riders, and headed north. Just a little shy of Oak Creek we turned off onto the road that goes by Stagecoach State Park, Hudspeth Lane, and made it on to Steamboat via that route. I’ve been on that road a few times but it was a nice alternative to just taking 131 all the way.

In Steamboat we had lunch and I just have to comment on the lunch I had. Donna, one of the other riders, commented that it was silly how all of a sudden pork belly is the thing. Isn’t bacon just pork belly? Isn’t it just being snooty to refer to a bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwich as pork belly when it’s just bacon? Sort of like calling green beans haricots vert?

So that was what I ordered but you know what? That was not bacon on my sandwich. It may have been the exact same cut of meat but it was not cured like bacon and these thick, fatty slices of meat were definitely not bacon. And they were quite fatty so frankly, I didn’t really care for it all that much. I will say, though, that the heirloom tomatos on the sandwich were pretty darn good. Oh, the fancy foods they serve in tourist towns.

Following lunch in Steamboat, the ride really got interesting. Out at the west end of Steamboat Jungle turned south off US 40 onto Elk River Road, which connected with Shield Drive, which crossed the river and picked up Routt County Road 33 going west. I’m convinced I have been on this road once before but that was going the other direction. The country this road goes through is gorgeous. It’s ranching land and even in mid July it was still just as green as could be and the road twists and climbs and drops and is wonderful. At this point in the afternoon we were wary of rain, with much of the sky looking pretty purple, but we only got a few drops on our visors at a couple points. We were keeping our fingers crossed.

After about 17 miles of sweet riding we intersected the Twenty Mile Road. I’ve been on this road plenty of times as it runs from Hayden down to Oak Creek. There is a point as this road comes down southeasterly from Hayden that it reaches a coal mine and the road either continues straight or you have to take a sharp turn to the right. That right turn keeps you on Twenty Mile Road and on to Oak Creek. If you go straight it puts you on the road to Steamboat that we were coming down on. We were definitely not headed to Hayden so we took the (for us) left turn.

This is really the pretty part of the Twenty Mile Road anyway. North of there it’s OK, with nice country, but it’s nothing like the southern portion. The southern portion sweeps up canyons, over canyon rims, and back down into other canyons. This is a great road.

We came over one canyon rim and found the pavement still wet from a rainstorm that preceded us but again we did not get wet. We reconnected with CO 131 and headed south on the road we had come up and the weather was holding for us. Approaching State Bridge the sky ahead was getting black so we hurried on. Descending into Wolcott there were drops on our visors again, but as soon as we turned west on old U.S. 6 the sky got blue, the temperature rose about five degrees and we were totally in the clear. Back to Eagle then and the ride was over.

What a great thing to be out riding like this on a Friday instead of sitting at some desk in some office. I then drove back to Vail, where my wife was attending a conference, and she and a bunch of these other real estate lawyers could only wish they had been out all day doing what I had been doing rather than sitting in meetings all day.

I’m fully aware–and fully appreciative–of my good fortune.

Biker Quote for Today

We hang around people who think these activities are normal.

This is the kind of thing I’m more and more interested in but once again it’s something I will miss.

Seems a bunch of interested parties–Bonnier Motorcycle Group brands, Cycle World, Motorcyclist, and Dirt Rider magazines–put together something last year called the Adventure Rally. The idea, they say, is “The Adventure Rally Series is for passionate adventure riders to explore epic roads and become better riders while making new friends.”

And now this year they are having two, one of which–the Rockies edition–will be operating out of Gunnison July 24-27. Of course, those days conflict with our annual OFMC bike trip, so count me out–darn! Not that I would necessarily do it, though. I’m still new enough to this off-road riding thing that I’m not sure I’d be particularly welcome. I could easily be the guy who better riders have to watch out for rather than getting out and doing the serious riding they want to do. I swear I will get more competent at this. At least right now I can say that I am really comfortable and familiar with riding the V-Strom. I’ve been out on it three times this week alone and I’m loving it.

But maybe your schedule doesn’t conflict and you’re more experienced than I am. This Adventure Series thing could be just your ticket. Here’s a bit more of what they have to say about it:

This year’s Adventure Rally-Rockies Edition will be based at The Inn at Tomichi Village on the edge of town, smack in the middle of Colorado’s best adventure riding. Competitors will be treated to both paved and dirt road options, which include twisty mountain passes, flowing two track and difficult off-road sections. There is limitless potential for exploration in this area for riders of all skill levels.

In addition to the navigational element, which will send each team on their own unique adventure, this year’s Adventure Rally – Rockies Edition will feature special tests hosted at The Inn at Tomichi Village. Judges and instructors will be on hand to challenge competitor’s adventure bike skills and teach new ones.

At the end of the day, this unique event format, combined with the stunning backdrop of The Inn at Tomichi Village and the Colorado Rockies, provides an atmosphere that is designed to be both competitive and casual—putting as much emphasis on the campfire camaraderie as the desire to win the coveted Adventure Cup.

And as for what it costs, there is this:

What do we mean when we say all-inclusive?

Well, for $550 (double occupancy) $650 (single occupancy) you get:

Three nights at the exclusive The Inn at Tomichi Village
Three breakfasts
Three dinners
Two drink tickets per day for post-ride libations
Chance to compete for the Adventure Cup
Custom Adventure Rally road book & keep sake
Custom Adventure Rally Map of Bonuses
Special tests and rider training
Adventure Goodie Bag

So it ain’t cheap, but you get a lot for the ticket price, including food and lodging. You’d have to pay those yourself if you just went out and rode. And Gunnison is a great area. My friend Kevin Smith, who runs Colorado Mountain Moto out of Gunnison, reminded me some years ago that on my own website I say that “If you’re in Gunnison it really doesn’t matter which direction you go, every road is a great motorcycle road.” How true; give that guy a medal. (Oh yeah, that was me.)

So OK, maybe next year for me. Surely by then I’ll feel more competent. And all I have to do is ensure that the OFMC doesn’t schedule its trip at the same time again. That could be the harder thing to do because we set that date in December. So many roads, too little time.

Biker Quote for Today

But I have to lead, because I’m very allergic to dust!

Things didn’t go exactly as planned but by golly, we set out to go camping two-up on the Suzuki V-Strom 650 and by golly we did it. And most importantly, we picked up some pointers for test number two, presumably coming up later this summer.

Our start on Sunday was delayed a bit by light rain and heavy wind, but then things cleared. Still, off in the west it looked very wet.

We made it almost to Conifer before looking wet became getting wet so we pulled off to suit up. That’s when the first complication arose. We were planning on doing some hiking while up in the hills so I just wore my hiking boots. What I didn’t realize is that while I can get my rain pants on over any of my motorcycle boots, they don’t fit over the hiking boots. So there I was sitting alongside the highway in the rain taking my boots off in order to get my rain pants on. Now I know.

Of course, this is Colorado, so by the time we got to Bailey the sky was clear. We rode on to Grant and stopped there to take off our rain gear now that it was dry. We were heading to a campground up along Guanella Pass, so at Grant we turned onto what is on that side Park County Road 62. It’s also known as Guanella Pass Scenic Byway or just simply Guanella Pass Road. I knew the first 3-4 miles is gravel but that’s why we were riding the V-Strom. And we stopped at a roadside stand there in Grant to pick up some food for dinner. No cooking on this trip.

We got to our campground, got set up, and did all the things you do while camping: hiking, hanging out in camp, meeting your neighbors, whatever, and then sleeping.

Come morning I was really feeling the decision not to try to cook on this trip. We were above 9,000 feet and it was cold. We had no way to start a fire and no way to fix coffee. I’m going to have to figure out how to make that happen next time. So we ate our oranges and granola bars and just relaxed while waiting for the rain fly on the tent to dry. Then we packed up to go.

We had been looking at maps of the area and had seen that the road right by the campground runs up to Geneva City, a ghost town up there that probably has something to do with this area being known as Geneva Basin. We figured that since we were on the V-Strom, let’s go check it out.

Well, right off the bat the road was terrible. I’ve been on roads that bad myself on dual-sport bikes but with Judy on with me I just didn’t have the confidence–or foolhardiness–to chance it. This was already the first time I’d ridden off the pavement with a passenger and the last thing in the world I want to do is injure my wife. So forget Geneva City.

We headed back to the main road and headed up the pass. It was still pretty early on Monday morning, about 9:30 or 10 o’clock, so we pretty much had the entire road to ourselves. We took our time, enjoyed the scenery and the ride, and headed on down the other side toward Georgetown.

A few miles out of Georgetown we passed a young fellow with a skateboard (they call these particular ones “long boards”) and it appeared he was planning to coast down the hill. He was wearing a helmet but besides that just a t-shirt and jeans. We kept on going but a little while later, sure enough, he came ripping past us on the board and disappeared around the curves ahead of us. With all the 180-degree hairpin turns and the beauty, we weren’t in any hurry but he had a totally different agenda. How he maneuvered those turns I have no idea. We saw him and some buddies preparing to go back up just outside of town.

In Georgetown we stopped for a proper breakfast–with hot coffee–and enjoyed sitting out on a cafe patio on Monday morning while so many other folks were back at the grind. Then we cruised on home.

So what did we learn this first time? 1) Carry a writing implement so you can fill out the name and license plate stuff on the campground registration. 2) Bring bug repellent. 3) We’ve got to figure out some way to make coffee. 4) Don’t overstuff the bags. Even these Givi bags leaked a little because they were overpacked and bulging. 5) Two people can go camping on one motorcycle.

Next time we’ll try it on the Concours. I can tie the foam pads and tent on the back–I’ve done that kind of thing before–and there is still enough room in the side bags for other stuff once the sleeping bags go in. Maybe even enough room for a one-burner stove that fits inside a cook pot; I still don’t think we’ll be cooking dinner, though. And we’ll just pick a campground that doesn’t require an extended ride on gravel to get to it. The Concours hates gravel.

Hey, we did it!

Biker Quote for Today

“Those KLRs are full of potential. Just takes a rider…” — Jimmy Lewis