Passes & Canyons Blog

Everybody’s familiar with what some people call the Minnesota Good-Bye, right? That’s where you spend half an hour talking as your guests get up to leave, then maybe you see them to the door and talk some more, and then you go out with them to their car and talk some more before they finally drive away.

Yeah, that’s fine if you’re the chatty type but if you really just want to get going and someone in your group won’t shut up it can be pretty annoying.

On a motorcycle ride there can be something similar. Let’s say you and your buddies have been out on a week-long ride, like the OFMC does each year, and it’s the last day and you’re headed home. You’re sticking together but it’s starting to take on a horses-headed-for-the-stable feel to it. But then you stop one last time to get gas, stretch your legs, or whatever, and say your good-byes.

Then you get back on the bikes and head out but you’re still riding together. And even as you get closer to town and get into heavier traffic, which can make sticking together harder, you still more or less try to stick together. Until finally someone peels off in their home direction but still everyone else tries to stick together. Until either you totally break up in different directions or traffic just makes it impossible. The long good-bye.

I was really kind of relieved a few weeks ago when the OFMC was coming back to town. We left Walden, got gas in Kremmling, and made one last stop for ice cream–and good-byes–in Empire. Great ride guys, good to see you all . . . all that.

And then we got on the bikes and Dennis took off like a bat out of hell. In just a minute or two he was totally out of sight. Not really feeling a need to stick with Bill, I stuck with him anyway but before we made it to Idaho Springs we were in heavy traffic and definitely separated. So I didn’t even try. We’ve been together a week, we said our good-byes. What point would there be?

And that was nice. It was quick. It was clean. And it just totally uncomplicated things. I’m heading for the stable, I’m not concerned with the other horses. Every horse for himself. I approve of the short good-bye.

Biker Quote for Today

Sons of Arthritis: Ibuprofen Chapter

There’s probably no one in the RMMRC who knows these roads better than Tim, so when Tim planned a ride to Guffey for lunch you knew it was going to be a good one.

A good-sized group assembled at the Phillips 66 out in Morrison and we headed out US 285 through Conifer, over Kenosha Pass, and down into Jefferson. We turned south on Park County Road 77 (Tarryall Road) past Tarryall Reservoir–thus the name–and picked up US 24 at Lake George. I hadn’t been along that road recently and I was surprised anew at how pretty it was, first of all, and also at how green South Park still is this late in the season.

From Lake George we headed east just to Florissant and then turned south on Teller County Road 1. If you stay on it all the way, this road will take you into Cripple Creek via the back way, and it’s a terrific motorcycle road. But we turned right off at Teller County Road 11 and then turned right off that onto Teller County Road 112. Crossing into Park County the road becomes Park County Road 102 and after some twisting and turning you come to Guffey. Just a few miles past Guffey the road ends at CO 9, coming down from Hartsel and up from Parkdale, near the Royal Gorge.

It had been years since I had been through Guffey, and I’ve never stopped there. This is quite the little town. Coming in from the east the main road is lined with really, really old cars, tractors and a lot of other stuff. Talk about character! And then the road does a quick right-left and in that bend is the Freshwater Saloon, home of The Corona’s at Freshwater.

On a pre-ride scouting visit a week earlier this place had not been busy so we weren’t expecting it to be this day, but that didn’t anticipate the big biker crowd the restaurant had been alerted was coming. We barely got seated before this thundering horde of Harleys roared in and took up the entire area set aside for them. We were glad we got our lunch orders in first.

After lunch we headed back the way we came in, out 102/112, 11, and 1, up a point where, instead of going all the way to Florissant, we turned east on Teller County Road 42, a road I had never been on before. This turned out to be a cut-off that takes you much more directly to US 24 just outside of Divide. Nice to know this road is there.

We took US 24 to Woodland Park and then turned north on CO 67, up to Deckers, and then CO 126 to Buffalo Creek. I had been thinking at this point about Sunday afternoon traffic coming down out of the mountains on US 285, and not looking forward to it, but apparently so had Tim. So at Buffalo Creek we turned off onto the West Platte River Road, which runs along the South Platte River. Just past Foxton we turned onto Foxton Road, again headed north to US 285.

But again, Tim was not planning on riding 285. We turned right onto Running Deer Road, which connects to Broken Arrow Drive, which then connects to Pleasant Park Road, which becomes High Grade Road winds around and takes you down into the Little Bear Creek, now being called Deer Creek Road. This finally runs into Deer Creek Canyon and the Deer Creek Canyon Road, which comes out of the hills at Wadsworth, just south of C-470. So there we were–all the way down without any Sunday afternoon traffic. Good job Tim!

At this point the group scattered and I made my way home. It had not only been a really nice ride, it was a great day for riding. Glad I got to take advantage of it.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when someone says you have an “iron butt” and it’s a compliment.

I had never heard of Exit Tours until Mike Brown contacted me. When he told me he was in the motorcycle tour business I was eager to talk, and before that I hurried to look at his sites. Far from enlightening me, the sites left me puzzled. There are several references to “the club.” Now I really wanted to talk.

In brief, Exit Tours is a club for people who want to ride off-road with others of a similar inclination. To go on a club ride the fee is $199. Membership is $399 per year, with your first club ride at no charge, so really, $200 per year assuming you go on at least one ride.

The ride fee gets you GPS tracks, meals, a t-shirt, camping fees covered, and the camaraderie. Plus, sometimes, portaging your gear from one night’s stop to the next one, although most rides are loops that end back at the same spot. None of that stuff comes free, except the camaraderie, so thus you have the fee. And I assume the club pays Mike for his efforts in arranging all this. Thus you have the club as a business model. Or, as Mike said, “It makes it so I don’t have to pay to ride.”

I have known other tour operators whose main purpose is really to get their own travel either free or at a discount. This appears to be a functional business model. It also keeps down the red tape. If a business is going to operate on public land there are required permits. For a club to just ride through there is no such requirement.

And it does seem to actually function like a club. Mike said that since 2012 he has had about 800 people on these rides but there are a core of about 30 who come repeatedly and who pitch in on the work.

This is not a company offering training or that sort of thing. You are expected to bring your own bike and know how to use it. The rides are either dual-sport, adventure rides, or trail rides. Different loops are mapped out so you can choose whichever is right for your skill level.

Rides are primarily within Colorado but some dip into New Mexico and some are in California.

Summing it up, Mike described the club as being “for guys who know how to ride, but not where to ride, and want to ride with others and make new friends.” That sounds like something I could be very interested in but Mike tells me my V-Strom would not usually cut it on their routes–not enough ground clearance. He did say, however, that there is one ride they do where the V-Strom would work. I’m interested.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you stare longer at the pictures of the bikes in Easyriders than the naked women.

The blazing hot weather finally broke overnight while the OFMC were in Torrington. We came out in the morning and the whole place was enveloped in fog. Really? Where did this come from. More importantly, the weather was a lot cooler than the 100-plus we had had for most of a week.

We headed out in the fog, going south on US 85, which later turns southwest toward Cheyenne. This was some of the flatest, straightest road we had been on.

We got out of the fog but it stayed cooler and then there was an amazing thing: the sky was clear and blue. All week long, everywhere we had been, there had been a haze from the smoke from all the forest fires all over the west. All of a sudden the sky was actually blue!

US 85 hits I-25 a little north of Cheyenne and we got on it but then off again just a few exits later. The plan was to take WY 210 west to Laramie. Things got a little odd here.

The exit sign said this was the turn-off for WY 210 but there was an “Exit Closed” barricade across half the exit. The car in front of us ignored the sign and turned off and we did the same. At the bottom of the ramp there was no way to go anywhere except to the right, toward the closed entrance to Warren Air Force Base. We had to make a left-hand loop around the median to head south and then make a quick right to get onto WY 210. What a strange intersection.

We had been riding non-stop since leaving Torrington so I was on the look-out for a place to pull over. There really wasn’t anywhere to pull off, though, until we went past Curt Gowdy State Park and got into the Medicine Bow National Forest. Yes, we were ready for a break!

WY 210 is a very nice alternate to taking I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie. It meanders through the hills and is lightly traveled. Perfect for just putting along. About 15 miles shy of Laramie, however, it ends and you have to ride I-80 the rest of the way in.

We got off the interstate in the west side of Laramie, at WY 230 and followed 230 into the Snowy Range. I screwed up on this one, though. We cruised along on 230 and I kept expecting to see mountain peaks and alpine lakes but they never showed. Looking at the map later I saw we should have turned off 230 after just a mile or two, onto WY 130, the Snowy Range Road. WY 130 is the scenic route; WY 230 is the direct route, if you’re heading toward Colorado and North Park. Taking 130 would have added about 50 miles to the ride, bringing us out just south of Saratoga onto the road that runs down from Saratoga through Riverside and on down into Colorado. We had plenty of time so an extra 50 miles would have been fine, and it would have been a much nicer ride.

One thing we would have missed, however, was a semi loaded with huge bales of hay pulled off with his load listing heavily to the left side. That was a sight. At least the guy managed to get stopped without losing his load. But it was going to be a lot of work for him get that all reloaded and strapped down properly.

We got into Walden and settled in out motel. While we were at dinner it rained hard and for the first time on this trip the evening got downright cold. Taking walks to call our wives we needed sweatshirts or jackets! None of this 94 degrees at 10 p.m. stuff now.

The next morning we had some issues to figure out.

Bill and Dennis got up earlier than me and walked down to the Mad Moose for breakfast. As I headed down there later I stopped at the next-door gas station/convenience store to see if they had any bananas. I always want a banana in the morning.

No bananas but the lady at the counter told me that CO 125, the direct road down to US 40 at Granby, was closed due to mudslides. Not only that, CO 14 over Cameron Pass and down the Poudre Canyon was also closed due to flash flooding. Yow! How far out of the way are we going to have to go? Normally the last day, riding home, is totally mundane. Not this year.

The good thing was that CO 14 down to US 40 at Muddy Pass was fine and US 40 itself was fine, so it was only a modest detour. We blasted along through Kremmling, Granby, Winter Park, over Berthoud Pass, and made one last stop at the ice cream spot in Empire. We said our good-byes there and very quickly got separated in the heavy I-70 traffic. One more OFMC trip in the books.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 6. We crash. It’ll cost a small fortune to fix the bike, and you’ll have to help us in the bathroom until we get the screws out of our collarbone.

If the OFMC had just headed straight for our next stop after Spearfish it would have been about a 90-mile ride. That meant this was another time to play tourists.

We went north out of Spearfish toward Belle Fourche then turned west on SD 34 back into Wyoming, now on WY 24, to Hulett. That was our first stop of the day, and because we had been in no hurry to get going, time for an early lunch. We then continued west to Devil’s Tower.

We’ve been by Devil’s Tower before and gazed at it off over there, but for the first time we went in, rode up to the base, and then took the walk around it. It’s an easy stroll and well worth it, if you’ve never done it. Parking was tricky but we managed to grab a spot a few other bikers were vacating.

Up on the monument we could see some climbers, very obviously coming down. They must have started for the top around 4 a.m. or something like that, in order to beat the heat, and now as they came down it was another scorching day. Then we headed back down for a stop at the cafe/bar down on the highway. And ice cream! Riding is all about ice cream, isn’t it?

Rolling again, we caught US 14 down to Sundance and headed south from there on WY 585. Then we picked up US 85 at Four Corners a continued to south to Newcastle, our destination this day. Newcastle’s a nice town but there wasn’t much to do other than walk out for dinner and then hang out at the motel. The place we stayed was nice, run by some nice people, but the potted plants they put out to make things more homey were totally withered with all this heat. I plucked what looked like a ripe strawberry off a vine and it was like cardboard–zero moisture beneath the skin.

The next day was also to be a short ride so again, no hurry heading out. We headed south on US 85 through Lusk and on down to US 26 at Lingle, then turned east to Torrington, our destination. We stopped for a lunch in Lusk–easily the worst meal of the trip–and then for another break in Lingle. No hurry, you know.

Bill was leading as we headed for Torrington. You know what that means, don’t you? We had looked at the map and saw that we would come into Torrington and then turn right at the main street, and go a couple blocks to our motel. I don’t have to tell you what happened, do I? Bill blew right on past the main road and we had to pull off and turn around. Never let Bill lead.

Our accommodations in Torrington were the second seemingly abandoned warehouse of the trip. How do you build a motel and make it look like an abandoned warehouse? Somebody seems to be good at it.

But this was home for the night and at least there was a more than decent Mexican restaurant just down the street for dinner.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if its not fun to ride unless someone sees you.

The OFMC pulled out of Custer and headed north. But not too far north. This was another day when a short ride called for a diversion. In this case it was that mandatory OFMC-trip stop, gambling.

We headed north on US 385, through Hill City, past Pactola Reservoir, until we got to SD 44, then turned east. We wanted to connect with Norris Peak Road and run up to Nemo Road that way but they really don’t have these things marked very well. We went past it and stopped to reconnoiter, then headed back and figured this must be the road. It was.

Reaching Nemo Road we didn’t stop to discuss it but I was very much aware that this was where, a few years ago, Dennis nearly met his doom. We had stopped for a break and as we got ready to head out I pulled across the road and sat waiting. Dennis followed me without looking to see if the road was clear. It was not. There was a semi coming along at a good clip. Dennis later said he couldn’t hear anything except the roar of all those Harley engines.

He pulled out in front of that truck and that guy slammed on his brakes. I’m sure he must have been cursing this crazy biker but it was not Dennis’s day to die and the truck managed to stop. This was that place.

We cruised up Nemo Road to where County Road 3, Vanocker Canyon Road, goes off to the right. As the guys noted when we stopped, Vanocker Canyon Road is a beauty with the kind of sweepers you dream about. We rode it all the way up into Sturgis.

This was a couple weeks before the rally so things were gearing up but still quiet in Sturgis. Another reason there wasn’t much going on in Sturgis was that the temperature was well above 100. We got into town, parked, and walked to the Knuckle for lunch. We enjoyed the cool in there as long as we could and then just headed back to the bikes and out of town, on our way to Deadwood. But we barely got out of town when we were stopped on the road by construction. No shade, 106 degrees, just sit and wait. Yow!

Finally we were moving again and we made it on up to Deadwood and, after a hassle finding parking, headed into a casino. Nobody was having much luck that day, however, so we didn’t stay long. Back out at the bikes I pulled a bottle of Gatorade out of my bag and took a sip. I might as well have been drinking coffee, it was that warm. Let’s get moving!

On up to Lead and then down to Cheyenne Crossing where we turned north again down Spearfish Canyon. The canyon was beautiful, as always, and a nice ride but if we thought we were going to get some coolness in the canyon we were deluded. We got to Spearfish and quickly found our motel and settled into our rooms, savoring the cool.

Later that evening I went outside to give my wife a call and sat where I could see a time and temperature clock. Talking to her at 10 p.m. the clock was still telling me it was 94 degrees. I guess I’ll name this year’s trip “The Journey Through Heat.”

There would be no rush in the morning, it was to be another short day’s ride. With more heat.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if your $500 boots aren’t scuffed from riding.

The OFMC spent three nights in Custer, in the Black Hills, and with the Sturgis rally soon to inundate the area, the locals were getting ready.

I don’t know if these are normal room rates or whether they were already elevated for the rally but we paid an absurd amount for a very mediocre motel in Custer. And we were lucky to get it. They were turning people away the whole time we were there.

Our first full day in Custer was a golf day. This is an every year thing with the OFMC, although due to a shoulder injury I no longer play, I just tag along and play ball spotter. My eye-sight is better than theirs anyway.

The second day was a day to ride. We headed north out of Custer and picked up the Needles Highway just north of the Crazy Horse monument. We’ve done this ride numerous times but how can you not do one of the best roads around just because you’ve done it before? And this time I had something extra–my GoPro camera sitting on top of my helmet and a remote to shoot pictures with strapped to my left grip.

I’ve taken riding pictures before but it has always been in a very limited fashion. I put my camera strap around my neck, tuck the camera inside my jacket, and then when I want to shoot I pull it out, press the on button, and hold it high and shoot, trusting to auto-focus to give me something good. That has worked fairly well but I could only do this at times when it was OK to let go of the throttle–or put on the throttle lock–and when the road was not so gnarly that I needed to give riding my full attention. As you can guess, this has been fairly limiting.

With the GoPro remote on my grip I could now pay attention to riding but still very easily reach my thumb over and snap a shot. As for what I was shooting, the breadth of the image is so wide that as long as my head was faced generally in the direction of what I want a picture of it was sure to capture it. Of course this means cropping out 90 percent of the total image but with the kind of resolution this camera has you still end up with excellent photos.

So we rode the Needles Highway and stopped at one point for a break. Our intention was to also do the Wildlife Loop through Custer State Park and none of us were certain where we were but I didn’t think we had yet gotten to US 16. Dennis was convinced we had. I said fine, if we’re past US 16 we just need to look for the turn-off where the Wildlife Loop forks to the left. If we had not already reached US 16 we would need to go right and then left. Dennis was in the lead.

We hadn’t reached US 16 yet but as we came to it, Dennis turned left. This is why John said numerous times in the past when he was still riding with the group that the only other one he trusted to know where they were going was me.

No matter, the Wildlife Loop is a loop and going to the left we would still get to it, just at the other end. But we stopped at a visitor center and when I pulled out the map to show where we were Dennis and Bill wanted to backtrack and get on the loop going the way we had intended. So we did that.

We finally got on the Wildlife Loop and for the first time ever for me we saw exactly zero bison. They apparently had better things to do than hang around for tourists to gawk at them. But we did see donkeys. The donkeys do not have better things to do than hang out where tourists can feed them carrots.

So now we figured to continue onto Iron Mountain Road with all its tunnels and pig-tail bridges. I knew when we got to US 16 we would need to go right and I told that to Bill, who was in the lead. Remember one of the rules I’ve stated previously: never let Bill lead. Bill got up to US 16 and went left and I flagged him over. “Follow me.”

We rode Iron Mountain Road but unfortunately the battery in my GoPro had run dead so I didn’t get any shots along there. We reached Keystone and went in for cool air and cold drinks and then the plan was to head to Hill City to have dinner at the Alpine Inn. If you get the chance you should definitely have dinner at the Alpine Inn. They have two things on their menu: steak or Kaes Spaetzle Primavera. You can choose between a six-ounce or nine-ounce filet mignon. The meal includes a potato and a quarter head of iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing, plus Texas toast. Price: $13.95 or $16.95. This place is hugely popular so be sure to get there early. And the food is good.

And that was our day. Ride back to Custer, settle in, and get ready to head out in the morning.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if Sturgis is your dream vacation.

Unless I’m confused, this is the event that used to be held each year at Heritage Square. It has moved around a bit since that place was torn down but now seems to have found a home at the Adams County Historical Society. Anyway, this year’s event was held on Saturday so I rode on up.

It’s not as big as it used to be, and it was blazing hot with no shade in the parking lot where the bikes were on display, so I only stayed long enough to get a few pictures. But there were some nice bikes on display. Here are a few photos.

Biker Quote for Today

When I die everyone at my funeral gets a stun gun. The last person standing gets my motorcycle.