Passes & Canyons Blog

Running this website I get frequent emails from riders planning trips to Colorado asking about routes. I’m always happy to help them plot out something that fits their interests and schedule.

Most recently I got this email:

We are going to be taking a 2 weeks vacation on the bike through Colorada,to Yellowstone National Park, then to Boise Idaho, and head back maybe on a different route. One think we’ve been interested in is the train ride from Durango to Silverton. We plan to leave Oklahoma City, come up through Chama, New Mexico, and head north through Colorado, maybe travel Wolf Creek Pass. We don’t care to do the Royal Gorge, Colorado Springs, or any of that area. Probably more central/western Colorado. We figure about 3 days in Boise, a couple in Yellowstone, etc… It’s difficult to decide on roads and any advice would be most appreciated.

Here’s my reply.

If you come in through Chama it is very nice to come over Cumbres and La Manga Pass to Antonito. Then you could go north to Alamosa and pick up US 160, go west to South Fork and over Wolf Creek Pass and on to Durango.

From Durango you will definitely want to ride Red Mountain Pass to Ouray. Ouray is one of my favorite towns in Colorado so I definitely recommend staying there. Stay on US 550 out of Ouray to Ridgway and then turn west on CO 62 to Placerville, pick up CO 145 to Naturita, and take CO 141 to Gateway. This is the Unaweep road and it’s great.

That will bring you out a bit south of Grand Junction where you have several good options.

1. You can go on to Junction and go to the Colorado National Monument and ride that road. Definitely spectacular. Then you might want to just jump on I-70 through Debeque Canyon and on to Glenwood Springs. Head toward Carbondale and Aspen and go over Independence Pass. Go to Leadville and down Tennessee Pass to Minturn and that will bring you back to I-70. Go back a little west on I-70 to Wolcott and take CO 131 up through Toponas to Steamboat Springs.

2. Head south away from Junction to Delta and go east on CO 133 to Hotchkiss and over McClure Pass down to Carbondale and then take the road over Independence Pass. Then same as No. 1.

3. Head through Delta on to Montrose and go east on US 50. Stop at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and ride the rim and the East Portal Road. Terrific. Continue east through Gunnison over Monarch Pass and go north at Poncha Springs to Twin Lakes, just a little south of Leadville, and go the other direction on Independence Pass to Aspen and on to Glenwood Springs. Ride east on I-70 to Wolcott and do as in No. 1. This has the benefit of taking you through Glenwood Canyon on I-70, and that’s fabulous. I don’t normally recommend interstate but there’s no other way to see Glenwood Canyon and it is worth it.

Once you get to Steamboat Springs, go west on US 40 into Utah to Vernal and take the road north, US 191, up past the Flaming Gorge and into Wyoming. The road to the west of the gorge, through Manila, is the nicer route. You’ll come out at Green River. The nicest road toward Yellowstone is the one that goes through Kemmerer, up to Cokeville, and through the Star Valley, US 30 and US 89, then US 26 and US 189. The early part of that stretch is prairie but you’re going to run though a lot of that at this point no matter which route you take. This will bring you up to Jackson and the south end of Grand Teton and then to Yellowstone.

So those are some thoughts. Hope that helps. Have a great trip. I’ll be happy to answer any other questions you might have.

Every writer has different things they want to do or places they want to go. Every time I sit and look at the map and figure out an entirely different route. It’s kind of fun.

Biker Quote for Today

I rode a motorcycle to Reno, just to eat some pie.

I eagerly unfolded my copy of the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route map, from Butler Maps. What roads would it take, which ones have I been on, and which ones might I realistically consider riding at some point?

To refresh your memory, the Backcountry Discovery Route series is sponsored by Touratech, makers of adventure motorcycling gear. What these guys do is go out and develop a route that crosses an entire state, generally north to south, and then they make the GPS logs available for free. Butler Maps has partnered with Touratech on this, producing maps of the routes.

And what do you know, I actually have ridden parts of this route.

Of course part of it was easy. The route starts at Four Corners and comes up through Cortez and up to Dolores on paved roads. I’ve done all that. Then it gets off on the more gnarly stuff. The route parallels CO 145 along over Lizard Head Pass, taking the west side of the San Miguel Mountains and the lizard head, up to where CO 145 has now passed Telluride. Dropping back south of Telluride almost to Lizard Head Pass, it leaves the paved road again through Ophir and over Ophir Pass to connect to US 550 a little north of Silverton. Jogging north, it then crosses Cinnamon Pass over to Lake City (ridden that one) and then heads up Slumgullion Pass before getting off on the dirt again all the way to Cochetopa Pass, south of Gunnison, and on to meet up with US 50 east of Gunnison at Doyleville.

I’m not going to describe the entire route. In brief it goes something like this: Tin Cup, Taylor Reservoir, Cottonwood Pass (ridden that), Buena Vista, Weston Pass (been there), Leadville, Hagerman Pass, Crooked Creek Pass (been there), Gypsum, Colorado River Road (ridden that), State Bridge, the Trough Road (ridden that one), Lynx Pass, Steamboat Springs, Columbine (been there on the bike), and on to the Wyoming state line at Battle Creek.

The route is broken up into sections and gas stops are indicated on the map. That’s pretty handy when you’re going off the pavement and don’t run into a lot of stations, I’m sure. Alternate routes are pointed out that are a little easier (or possibly simply passable when things get wet), and nice sidetrips to places such as hot springs are pointed out. Lodging is pointed out.

Altogether this route covers 675 miles. As the map states, “It is intended for intermediate to advanced riders and can be ridden on most street legal dual-sport and adventure motorcycles.”

Hey, if you’re looking for some adventure riding, this is Colorado, after all. Go ride!

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Biker Quote for Today

It’s not how fast you’re going, its about how fast your fast comes to a stop.

For those of you who favor getting off the pavement, the time has come to put the biggest event of the year on your calendar. Every year Adventure Riders holds regional events and Westfest is the one for this region. Westfest 2013 will be held August 9-11 up outside of Buena Vista, headquartered at the Arrowhead Point campground. This is a private campground so in addition to paying the $45 Westfest registration fee you’ll also pay $45 per person for tent camping at Arrowhead Point, if that’s where you stay. Of course there are other options, but all the non-riding fun will be centered on the campground.

Make no mistake, this is a dirt bike/dual-sport event. They do have some rides planned for street bikes but other than routes like Independence Pass you should still figure on gravel. If that works for you, that’s great. These folks are out there to ride the hills and have a good time back in camp later. And several meals are included in your Westfest registration.

I had hopes of going to this thing a couple years ago, and wrote about it here several times, but circumstances conspired to prevent that happening. I’m not even going to fantasize this time because with the silly thing called a “job” that I have now I know it just isn’t going to happen.

But if you can get away and like that kind of riding you should definitely go. I’ve been to several Adventure Rider events and they’re a fun group of people. And I will get to this one of these years.

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Biker Quote for Today

Rode down black bear pass on fully loaded bikes–we knew better–but did it anyway.

Are you interested in crossing Colorado, border to border, on an adventure motorcycle on unpaved roads and trails? That’s what the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route is all about and the folks who mapped it out will be showing a video of their riding of this route.

The first showing will be this Saturday, Jan. 19, at BMW of Denver, 2910 S. Havana. The show starts at 5 p.m. They ask that you RSVP to save a seat. The second showing will be the following Saturday, Jan. 26, at Performance Cycle of Denver, 1990 S. Broadway. No further info on their showing. There’s no admission fee.

The Colorado Backcountry Route is another in a series of such efforts headed up for the most part by Touratech, a company that specializes in creating and selling tough gear for adventure motorcyclists. The backcountry route thing is great for off-road riders because it helps establish routes (free GPS files are available) and good for Touratech because it helps them sell more gear.

Paul Guillien is general manager of Touratech and I spoke with him at the time that the non-profit group they formed released the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route. I’d link to that article but unfortunately it was published on RumBum.com and RumBum has shut down operations and it’s not available. I’d republish it here except that I sold all rights to the piece to RumBum, so they own it, not me.

Too bad, it was a good piece. I will, however, excerpt the opening two paragraphs. That’s fair use under copyright law.

By the standard of “It’s not an adventure until someone says, ‘WTF are we doing here??’,” Paul Guillien and his riding companion were pretty certain they were having an adventure coming down from Reservation Ridge.

“Two of us were out scouting away from the group and we got stuck on Reservation Ridge. It’s about 9,000 elevation, we were buzzing along, and next thing we know a rain storm opened up on us and within minutes the bikes were falling down.”

Suffice it to say, this Colorado video is likely to be well worth watching. Even if you don’t ride in the dirt.

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Biker Quote for Today

We have always taken “very dangerous” and “not recommended” as indicators of where some good riding was to be had.

I seem to be really bad about this. I had every intention of going to the Last Brass Monkey Run. The fact it was cold was a plus because that meant I’d get to really test out my new electric gloves. But just as has happened in the past, my plans did not work out.

The problem is the weather. We had snow quite awhile ago now but it has been cold and colder and our street is still a sheet of snow and ice. There was no way in the world I was going to ride my bike down that street. Heck, I slip and slide on it in my car. And I don’t know about you but the idea of going to a motorcycle run in a car just doesn’t cut it.

So once again, my plans fell through.

Now it’s going to get interesting, though. Tomorrow is January 1 and that means I have 31 days to at least get in one ride on each bike. I never miss a month ever and you would think this would not be a problem. But hey, if it doesn’t at least warm up enough to melt that snow and ice on the street, it could be a problem.

It’s way too early to be getting worried, but you better believe the first chance I get to get out I’ll jump on it. At this time of year you’d better not snooze or the chances are very good you will lose.

So Friday is supposed to be 40 degrees, the only day this week higher than the 30s. Maybe Saturday will be the day. (I’ll be at work on Friday so that won’t be a day to ride.) Time to start keeping fingers crossed.

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Biker Quote for Today

Don’t stop riding until you get to the crash , you might save it!

Yeah, it’s cold and gonna get colder the next couple days, but then we’re supposed to get a little warmer. Just in time for this year’s final organized motorcycle ride, the Last Brass Monkey Run.

The Last Brass Monkey Run is put on each year by ABATE of Colorado and it starts out at a couple spots, The Frontier Club in Aurora and Susie’s in Golden, and comes together at the Grizzly Rose.

Registration at the starting points begins at 9 a.m. and the party at the Grizzly Rose begins at noon. Registration is $10 for ABATE members and $15 for non-members. Plus, if you’re an ABATE member and you renew your membership at the event it only costs you $5 to get in.

Goings-on include food and live music, a chili cook-off, cash prizes, door prizes, 50-50, and of course the chance to catch up with friends and get in your last ride of the year.

Of course, if the weather turns nasty or you just can’t motivate yourself to get on the bike, you can come in your car. What the heck.

So hey! I’ll see you there, right?

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Trailering your bike is a sickness. Call 1-800 2 SCARED TO RIDE