As far as the general public can go on the road at the bottom of the Black Canyon.
Nick was underwhelmed. His number one objective in coming out from Chicago was to ride this magical “Million-Dollar Highway” that he had heard so much about. I guess he thought the sheer canyon portion of it ran most of the distance between Durango and Ouray. When it turned out that stretch is only about 10 miles he was let down. Oh well. It’s still a terrific ride in my opinion.
We left Durango that morning and I needed gas. Nick had just filled up in South Fork so he was fine. Because he only buys gas from “top tier” stations I rode past a couple I would have stopped at, plus one he would have stopped at that was on the other side of the street. It’s just so much easier if the station is right there on your right.
But there isn’t much gas on the right side of the road on your way north out of Durango. No matter, I knew there was a station ahead before we would get up on Molas Pass. If Nick didn’t want to get gas there that was his choice.
Well, it was a Marathon and he’s OK with Marathon, so we both filled up. I had been leading and expected to continue to lead but we pulled up to get on the highway and he took off, at a point where there was traffic approaching that I would have let get by.
So I took off, too, and as we got into our lane he nailed his throttle. I did the same but my 650 Suzuki does not have the acceleration his 1200 BMW does. Just then I was startled to find a truck hauling a couple cars screaming past me on the right. I’m sure that driver had many choice curse words for me. Why did this idiot pull out in front of him like that when he was moving so fast!!?? You really do need to ride your own ride.
That left us separated, which was fine with me at that point, until Nick stopped at the top of Molas Pass, as I figured he would. We had no desire to stop in Silverton so we just continued past and headed on up Red Mountain Pass. On over the top, down, and through the relatively short section of canyon. Down into Ouray and it was time for a break.
We had been kicking around going up to Montrose and then east by way of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison or up to Delta, then east to Hotchkiss. We decided to go to Montrose. We got to the turn-off for the national park and headed on in. We had ridden up CO 92 along the north rim of the Black Canyon the last time Nick had been out so this time we agreed to ride the south rim. After that we headed for the East Portal Road.
The East Portal Road is a very steep, twisty road that goes from the rim all the way down to the river at the bottom. It’s a favorite with motorcyclists. We went down and road the stretch at the bottom that goes as far upriver as you can. Got off the bikes, shot a few pictures, and headed back up and out. Then back to US 50 and on to Gunnison.
Going past the Blue Mesa Reservoir it was more empty than I have ever seen it. The word is that they are draining most of the upriver reservoirs in order to keep Lake Mead from dropping so low that the hydro plant can no longer produce electricity. We’re in a serious drought.
At Gunnison we checked in at our motel, a place the OFMC has stayed but which more recently had tried to shift to a more upper crust clientele. Apparently that effort did not work out well because we had gotten our room there that night at a very good price.
And that was day three of this four-day trip.
Biker Quote for Today
100 reasons not to date a biker: 23. Can’t find us? We’re in the garage again. We live in the garage.
Tags: Black Canyon of the Gunnison, East Portal Road, Million Dollar Highway