Passes & Canyons Blog

Note to the world: Colorado is open for the season.

That’s right, with today’s opening of Independence Pass and CO 5 to the top of Mount Evans opening tomorrow, all the seasonal roads are open. Even Trail Ridge Road is open, although the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reports that it is icy in spots.

One note of interest, however, is that US 6 over Loveland Pass is closed at this time. This is not a seasonal road, but CDOT says it is “closed for emergency road repair until further notice.” Apparently they just closed it yesterday. That’s a good thing for me to know because I was planning to head up over that pass in just a couple days.

Here’s a bit more info from CDOT:

U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass is closed due to a culvert failure, about 1 ½ miles east of the summit. Excess water has washed out the bottom of the culvert. Safety considerations will not allow the road to be open to traffic due to a loss of roadway support over the culvert. All traffic will be detoured though the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70. Loveland Pass will remain closed until further notice. The Colorado Department of Transportation will send out more information when it becomes available.

Recent from Denver Motorcycle Examiner
Run For The Wall nearing its destination

Biker Quote for Today

If you don’t make it the first time, back up and try again, only faster!!

If you’re planning to ride Colorado and want a base of operations from which to take day rides, where should you stay? This is a question I received twice recently so it occurred to me that I ought to post my answer here. In this case, I’ll be responding to this particular question.

We will be trailering our bikes to Colorado from Florida and plan to ride from August 1st through August 8th. We’ve been out west to ride in other states and usually stay in two separate locations. This allows us to ride a different route each day and really see the area. What would you recommend as the two best areas to stay in while doing day rides?

This was my reply.

I would suggest these two spots as your home bases: Ouray and Breckenridge. Here’s my thinking.

Ouray, first of all, is gorgeous. Of all the cool places in Colorado, Ouray stands out. If you end up not staying there you must at least go there. Of course, Ouray is at the northern end of one of the best roads in Colorado, Red Mountain Pass. (By the way, this photo is of Red Mountain Pass approaching Ouray, although it’s not usually so crowded. This traffic resulted from a construction blockage.)

That also positions you to take the loop and do Lizard Head Pass and go to Durango and Mesa Verde. You can also go north to Montrose and then visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and take the Unaweep Canyon road.

And there’s a lot more in the area. You could spend your entire vacation there.

Breckenridge gives you access to a whole other part of the state. Go south over Hoosier Pass into South Park and take any of several roads that converge there. Or, go north of I-70 and loop up through Steamboat Springs over Rabbit Ears Pass or go east over Trail Ridge Road.

Also from Breckenridge you’re very close to Loveland Pass and Mount Evans.

En route from one base to another you might want to make a point to go via some route that takes you over Independence Pass. This is another of the very best.

So there are some ideas to consider. If you have questions I’m happy to address them to the best of my ability. Truth is, though, you really can’t go wrong riding the Colorado mountains, wherever you go.

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t ride so late into the night that you sleep through the sunrise.

If you’re figuring that Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day is set for the third Wednesday in July as always, here’s an alert. It’s not. It has been changed.

In fact, it’s not even being called “Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day.” It is now just “Ride to Work Day,” and it has been moved to the third Monday in June. That’s June 15 this year.

The name change has been made to make the event more inclusive, encouraging scooter riders to join in as well. The date change is intended to take advantage of more moderate weather. The event has also taken on an international scope and in Europe, July is often vacation time for a large number of people.

Additionally, the organizers hope that a Monday event will encourage riders to commute on two wheels all week, rather than just one day. And finally, because Sunday is usually a slow news day, it is hoped that a Monday event will garner more media advance coverage.

In case you’re not familiar with Ride to Work Day, the purpose is to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

So I hope to see you on the road June 15.

Biker Quote for Today

No matter what marque you ride, it’s all the same wind.

I’d been hearing rumors about this but finally confirmed it just a few minutes ago. The Elephant Ride over Guanella Pass from Grant to Georgetown is on for this weekend.

Mind you, this is no ordinary ride. First off, Guanella Pass is covered in snow and has not been plowed. Second, most of these guys are going to be camping at Grant the night before. Is that tough enough for you?

And who are these crazies? Why the Adventure Riders. You may recall that I have mentioned this group on a number of occasions. They’re the ones who did a fund-raising ride to support a group the provides medical care to remote areas in Africa.

I doubt I’ll be able to make it up there on Sunday but if any of you guys reads this and wants to send me some photos and a report I’d love to hear from you and pass it all along.

Have a blast you guys.

Biker Quote for Today

I refuse to tiptoe thru life only to arrive safely at death.

Are you planning your summer trip yet? I know for a fact that a lot of people are because with this website in the early months of its fourth year I see the seasonal ups and downs of the traffic. November is traditionally my slowest month and it picks up in December and then climbs like a mountain goat through July.

Of course the OFMC is planning a summer trip, and this year we’ve decided to return to the Beartooth. In case you aren’t familiar with one of the greatest motorcycle roads in the U.S., the Beartooth Pass is traversed by U.S. 212 running from Red Lodge, MT, in the east down into Yellowstone National Park on the west some 65 miles distance. Along the way it rides the ridge above timber line for miles and miles.

We’ve done this ride before, but not since 1992. It’s time to go back!

We went west to east before and we want to go east to west this time. Plus, the OFMC has a bunch of new members who weren’t along on the last trip up there.

We’re also doing something new this year. While we had given serious consideration to hitting Jackpot, NV, again, another favorite stop of ours, it didn’t work into the plans. Instead, we’re going to Lava Hot Springs, ID. This is a place John, our map-meister, ran across and looked up and then proposed. It looks very interesting.

The rest of the trip will be focused around these two destinations. We’ll be either stopping at or passing through a lot of the usual places these trips to the northwest take us through. These include Saratoga and Thermopolis, WY; Vernal, UT; Red Lodge and West Yellowstone, MT; and Craig and Steamboat Springs, CO. I’ll map out the route and post it once we get it all nailed down.

Yeah, July seems like a long way off but that just means you get that much longer to dream about the ride. If you’ve never done a week-long ride then start planning and organizing. This is always my single most favorite week of the entire year. What’s holding you back?

Biker Quote for Today

Ride ’til the horizon is behind ya.

An interesting news report about the Fort Collins Chief of Police. He was up on Stove Prairie Road and went down on his buddy’s Road King. He suffered a broken pelvis but got back on the bike and rode into town to the hospital.

“It was very apparent something was really wrong,” said Chief Dennis Harrison.

Yeah, I guess. Call me a wuss but I think I would have waited for the ambulance. Oh, and no mention about the condition of the bike.

No place is a good place to go down but Chief Harrison did pick a nice place to ride. I’ve been on that road many times and I strongly recommend it. What it is best is a way to avoid going through all the sprawl of Fort Collins when you’re on your way up the Poudre Canyon. The Stove Prairie Road runs over the ridge from the Buckhorn Canyon to the Poudre. Here’s a map showing the area.

What you do is head west out of Loveland on US 34, like you’re going up to Estes Park, except just a bit west of town, as you get past the hogback, you go north on CO 56 to Masonville. At Masonville you go left at the T intersection. Right takes you down by Horsetooth Reservoir and into Fort Collins. Left takes you up the Buckhorn.

You don’t need to worry about finding the Stove Prairie turnoff because that’s the way the pavement goes. Where the Buckhorn road and the Stove Prairie road diverge the Buckhorn road turns to gravel. So stay on the pavement.

The road rises up to the tiny community of Stove Prairie and then heads down into the Poudre. A left takes you up the Poudre on CO 14, over Cameron Pass, and down into North Park. A right takes you very quickly to the Mishiwaka Inn, the best bar in these parts, and then down to hit US 287 just a couple miles outside of LaPorte.

There’s one other good riding option you might want to be aware of, and that is the Rist Canyon road. From up on top, at Stove Prairie, the Rist Canyon road (Larimer County Road 52E) takes you directly down into LaPorte. Once you come over the crest it is a very steep downward run that is reminiscent of coming into Golden on the Lookout Mountain road.

It’s all good riding. But you’ll enjoy it more if you keep the rubber side down.

Biker Quote for Today

Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly.

I wrote just three days ago about the conditions on Guanella Pass, so with that on my mind, when my wife wanted to head for the high country the next day I knew where I wanted to go.

The last time we were up there was two years ago, and what we saw then was what I described. Well, there is a lot that has changed in two years.

For one thing, the reconstruction work I mentioned has begun, and going up from the Georgetown side the road is horrible. Horrible! It’s one lane in several places, with traffic signals stopping you or letting you pass, but the road surface on most of it is so bad it’s amazing. I can hardly believe the county would let it get this bad, although I wonder if perhaps it is the heavy construction going on that has torn the road up like this. If that’s the case then of course they won’t want to repair the road surface until the heavy work is done. The project won’t be completed for another couple years.

After awhile you get past the mess and then the road is pretty good the rest of the way up. It’s mostly paved, although still rough, and just as you near the top it turns to gravel. It’s definitely passable. We couldn’t really tell what the condition was two years ago because it was all covered with snow at that time.

And it is beautiful up on top! It was beautiful last time, too, but it was an all-covered-with-snow beauty. I had forgotten just how spectacular it is when the snow is gone.

Heading on down the other side it continues as gravel and gets to be a lot of washboard. Then abruptly, about a mile from the top, you hit nice new asphalt. We guessed that this was where we hit the county line. If you look at the picture I included in the last post and you see the poor surface, that’s all been redone. The new asphalt continues for several miles and then you get back to the older surface and intermittent gravel. It’s all very passable, although if it has rained you will face mud.

So bottom line on all this, I still wouldn’t take a Gold Wing on this road but anyone who doesn’t mind doing some dirt would find this a really nice ride. You’ll need to go slow on the part where the surface is so bad but you definitely can do it. Just try not to get caught in a thundershower.

Consequently, I will be adding this road to the Dirt Roads and Side Trips page of the website.

Biker Quote for Today

Patience is the ability to keep your motor idling.

One really nice ride that I don’t have on the website is Guanella Pass, which runs from Georgetown on the north down to U.S. 285 at Grant, west of Bailey, on the south. Here’s a map but the mapping software doesn’t bring in smaller roads unless I zoom in more, and then it won’t all fit on the screen. I don’t have this pass on the site because a significant portion of it is unpaved, particularly up at the top where the going can be quite rough.

Still, if you’ve got the right kind of bike and an adventurous spirit, this is a really nice pass and there’s not a lot of traffic. Plus, it’s close in to Denver so it makes an easy day ride. I would strongly recommend you not try this on your Gold Wing, however.

If you do decide you want to take this ride I would also strongly recommend that you do it in the middle of summer. The last time we went over it, two years ago in late April in a car, there was still snow at the top and even in the car it was treacherous. Not to mention muddy as we got down below the level of the snow.

There has been talk over the years of paving Guanella Pass completely, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. It is already paved for a good bit, although the asphalt is old and in bad shape. That may be changing, however. The most recent push for paving the entire road was fought out between those for and those against, with those against saying it would ruin the beauty and charm of the route. I don’t think there is any doubt it would have a significant effect, because I’m sure it would bring a lot more traffic up there.

The dispute was settled with a decision to improve the road, partially to prevent erosion, but not to pave or widen the whole thing. I’m guessing that means the old, broken-down asphalt will be repaved, some areas particularly prone to erosion may be paved for the first time, and other lesser enhancements made. This photo gives you a bit of an idea about the condition of the asphalt, at least back in April 2006.

If you’re not inclined to take this road on your bike you might want to consider going in your car. It really is beautiful, there are some very nice campgrounds up there, and there is a lot of wildlife. We saw mountain goats and big-horn sheep as well as other animals. Here’s a shot of one of the guys we saw. He was being pretty protective of the females in his group.

Biker Quote for Today

There is no such thing as a bad day when riding a dirtbike.