Passes & Canyons Blog

With a near-record high temperature and forecasts for snow–finally–in just a couple days I wanted to get into the hills for perhaps the last time this year. And gosh, I never have to decide what bike to ride anymore, it’s always the V-Strom.

The quickest, most direct route is to get on Hampden (also known as US 285) just a couple blocks north of home and heat straight west. But I’ve been that route a thousand times so I often look for something else. I didn’t really know just where I was headed so I went south on Yosemite to Arapahoe and then west. Yeah, I’ve been that route plenty, too, but not as much as Hampden. Then Arapahoe ends at Broadway so I turned south on Broadway.

My thought was to get onto C-470 and go west but when I got to Mineral I realized that if I have ever been on that particular stretch of Mineral it was only once and I have forgotten it. So great! A new road to ride. And no, it did not look at all familiar. With a metropolitan area as large as Denver’s, you can be surprised to find how many roads you’ve never been on. You get to explore in town.

I got past Santa Fe and crossed the Platte and it was all undeveloped and really pretty. I guess this must be floodplain and will never get built on. We can hope. By the time I reached Kipling I was back on a portion of Mineral I have been on. I pushed on west all the way over to C-470 as it comes north now and expected to have to take it north or south but found that Mineral feeds directly into the mouth of a small canyon. Great, I’ll keep going.

Then I recognized it. This is part of Ken Caryl Ranch and we have family living out here. I took the road going south a little past C-470–South Valley Road–and realized I had accidentally done a great job of navigating. As I had been cruising along Mineral I had figured out a tentative route and that included going up Deer Creek Canyon Road. Well, South Valley Road goes south through a beautiful valley with lots of gorgeous rock formations and open space and meets up with Deer Creek Canyon Road. Couldn’t have done better if I’d planned it that way.

I turned up Deer Creek Canyon Road and a lot of other bikers had chosen this same road. No matter whether they were going the same direction I was or the other direction, they all blasted past me. I was just not in a hurry. I was interested in savoring this gorgeous day. Unlike when I’d been up this way last week, this time I did not take the turn onto South Deer Creek Road but kept going on Deer Creek Canyon Road up and over the top and down to South Turkey Creek Road. I went east a short distance till I made the turn onto North Turkey Creek Road, headed toward Evergreen.

Then again, unlike my other ride last week, I did not turn up High Drive but stayed on the Turkey Creek road, all the way up to CR 73, which runs between Conifer and Evergreen. At this point in the day, deep in the canyon there were a lot of places with bright sunshine followed by deep shade. You can’t see a thing in the shaded area so as you approach it you hope there is no sharp turn as soon as you get into what you cannot now see. On top of that, on the right-handers there is a lot of gravel thrown up onto the road by cars that cut the corner a bit too tight. So the real nightmare is plunging into the shadows and finding yourself faced with a sharp right turn and a lot of gravel on the road.

Fortunately that was not the case usually but in at least one spot that was exactly what I encountered, and this particular spot had more gravel than any other place I saw. It’s times like that when you really ought to be taking it easy. I was, but boy did I see a lot of guys–on sportbikes mostly–who were riding pretty aggressively. Not for me, thanks.

So I made it on up to Evergreen and turned down Bear Creek Canyon to Morrison. Then I cut over to US 285 and turned east for home. Wow, did I have a nice ride! And now the weather is already turning colder and we’ll see if this snow arrives as predicted.

Biker Quote for Today

Bikers don’t follow the crowd; they make their own path.

With temps in the 70s there was no question of riding or not, it was just: Where to?

There comes a time each year when you can simply no longer go into the hills but at the moment Denver is a few days away from setting a new record for the latest first snow of the season. I figured I’d take advantage of it.

That only narrowed the question somewhat. But I guess I’m a bit stubborn. When I took off on my fateful ride on June 29 it was my intention to go over the route I intended to lead the RMMRC on soon after. On my first ride after the crash, but before surgery, I rode to the place on that planned route where the crash occurred. Now, on only my third ride since the crash I wanted to do what I set out to do that day. Who knows, if the weather holds I might yet lead that ride in the next week or two.

The day was warm, skies were blue, and I headed out. Great day to be on the bike. I went down to Belleview and turned west. When I came to Santa Fe, where the crash had occurred, I could have gone south on Santa Fe as I intended that day, but the thought of getting into that left turn lane and just sitting there again somehow did not appeal to me so I continued west on Belleview. At Lowell I turned south.

At Mineral I turned west again to Wadsworth and then south. Stopped at a red light at Ken Caryl Avenue I saw on the other side, headed north of Wadsworth, a guy on a Honda about as old as my bike. No jacket, no gloves, no helmet. OK, I hope you got home safely and do so again and again.

South of C-470 I made the right turn to go up Deer Creek Canyon. Lots of guys on bikes but many, many people on bicycles. That kind of day. I’m not a go-fast kind of guy so I took my time winding up the canyon on Deer Creek Canyon Road and then made the left onto South Deer Creek Road. This road winds around and climbs, ultimately coming out to US 285 at Conifer, changing names a couple times along the way.

After a short while I spotted three guys on Harleys behind me. I figured I was slowing them down but I had no inclination to speed up because, for one thing, this stretch was newly repaved and there was a good bit of loose gravel on the road, especially on the curves. They’re just going to have to be patient. They were, but the first open stretch we got to they blasted past. And in just another couple minutes two guys on Beemers came blasting past me too. Have fun; I’m just not in a hurry.

I wasn’t headed to Conifer; I turned north at Oehlmann Park Road. This road goes up and over a hill with a lot of homes, with terrific views in some places. Steep road going up and going down on the other side. Great riding. I’d hate to live there in the winter.

It comes out on the other side at South Turkey Creek Road, which runs parallel to US 285 between Tiny Town and just east of Conifer. I turned toward Tiny Town. A bit before Tiny Town there is a place where you can go left onto North Turkey Creek Road. That’s my route for this planned ride but for this day I decided I’d had enough and continued on to Tiny Town, got on US 285, and headed home. It’s supposed to cool off Monday but then be warm again all week. I figure I’ll just come back and do the second half in a few days.

You’ve got to love this weather. And considering that I missed the whole summer you can believe I am.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you try to act like a biker.

There were ten of us on nine bikes heading out on an RMMRC lunch ride Thursday–the first lunch ride in a long time. And we went at least some places I had never been before. That’s amazing.

We met out at Morrison and headed up along Bear Creek to Evergreen. From there we turned west on CO 73 toward Conifer, but stopped for lunch at the Marshdale Store. This place is at the spot where 73 intersects Turkey Creek Road. It’s a convenience store/gas station and they serve food. There are picnic tables out back in the shade where you can be outside and maintain a distance, which we did.

As an aside, I have to say it’s a bit disconcerting being outside Denver lately. In Denver, any place you go into you must wear a mask. But you get outside the city and very few people are wearing masks. At the Marshdale Store the employees had masks and we all did but almost none of the other customers did.

Anyway, we continued to Conifer and caught US 285 west to Pine Junction and headed south on Pine Valley Road, through Pine to Buffalo Creek, where we turned left (east) onto SW Platte Valley Road, which runs along the Platte. If you stay on this road it turns to gravel and continues along the river but we turned north again on Foxton Road. I know this comes out at 285 just a little west of Conifer. But I knew we weren’t doing that, so I was puzzled. Something about a right turn somewhere.

Well, that right turn is there in that Google Maps aerial photo above, bottom left, just beyond the “S Foxton Rd” identifier. The place where you turn in Running Deer Road and you then make a quick left onto Black Bear Lane, which connects you to Broken Arrow Drive, which you stay on the rest of the way.

We wound our way through this area–which was very, very pretty, with some nice views–and came out onto Pleasant Park Road, there in the upper right quadrant. I had no idea this connection existed.

I had been on Pleasant Park Road numerous times, and I knew it ran from near Conifer down to where it ends at Deer Creek Canyon Road, having become Deer Creek Road along the way. But I had no idea you could turn off Pleasant Park and work your way down to the river. This was a nice ride.

On Deer Creek Canyon Road, of course, you come out at Wadsworth on the west side of Chatfield Reservoir. Then it was time to start scattering as everyone peeled off toward their homes. What a nice day for a lunch ride in the hills. How nice to even be able to do a lunch ride again.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you only ride on weekends, when you can.

I’ve been doing a lot of RMMRC rides lately, which of course is the reason I joined the group, to have someone to ride with besides the OFMC guys, who do one big trip a year but little else. Most recently, I met the guys for a semi-regular Wednesday morning impromptu ride.

These impromptu rides are unplanned, it’s just a matter of meet for breakfast and then see what ideas different folks have in mind. Last week Dave was figuring he needed to pre-ride a route planned for Saturday through Walden and Rocky Mountain National Park. That was more than the rest of us were looking for so we bid him farewell and took a different route. I’m not sure whose idea it was but we headed out C-470 and up Deer Creek Canyon for starters.

About two-thirds of the way up Deer Creek we made a left onto a road I had explored once before, which appears to be called Pleasant Park Road. It’s hard to believe that was already five years ago that I went up that way but that link to my post then shows the date as October 2014.

Pleasant Park Road was better than I remembered it, so this was a good choice by whoever was leading. It’s really twisty, and does a good bit of climbing. The one thing to watch out for if you go this way is that there is a lot of gravel right smack in the middle of some of the tightest curves. The guys in front of me were whipping right along but I chose to slow down.

This road comes out to U.S. 285 a bit west of Conifer and we turned right, headed back toward town. However, at Turkey Creek Road we turned left and headed on up that twisty, winding canyon for more fun riding. When we reached Jefferson County Road 73, which runs from Conifer over to Evergreen, we pulled off for a stop.

“What do you guys want to do now, head back or go somewhere else?” was the question put forth. The consensus was to head back to town but hey, let’s all swing by BMW of Denver. OK.

That’s when one of the guys (whose name, embarrassingly, I still don’t know) exclaimed happily, “This is exactly the kind of group I wanted to find–a bunch of guys who are happy to just go out and ride somewhere and have a good time without having any plans.” (Or words to that effect.)

I couldn’t agree more. In the early days of the OFMC that’s exactly what we used to do. None of this planning a route and making reservations. John and Bill and I would get together and say “which direction do you want to go?” and then we’d make it up along the way. Those days are long gone.

So we headed on back to town but I peeled off before heading to the BMW shop. I don’t have one of those so that was of no interest to me. But I sure enjoyed the ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes the road you travel doesn’t lead to the destination you had hoped for. But if you can look back on the trip and still smile . . . then it was worth it.

Is there anything sweeter as a motorcyclist than getting turned on to a really nice new road? Friggs did me that favor this past weekend.

Friggs has a brand new Harley Road King and he understandably has an urge to get out and ride it. He called and asked if I was interested in a ride and of course I said yes.

I thought the plan was to head up Deer Creek Canyon, on over to Conifer and to Evergreen and somewhere from there. However, we headed up Deer Creek Canyon and about half way up we made a left turn. This was–apparently–Deer Creek Road, although it curves around and later becomes Pleasant Park Road. So call it what you will.

We cruised along up this canyon–or gulch, or whatever you want to call it, a drainage–and it showed once again what someone who flies a plane told me once: There are people living all over up in the hills. It doesn’t matter where you go, there are a lot of houses up there.

As you might expect, at one point we left the canyon floor and started climbing the wall. Switchbacks, of course, steep slopes, and no, nobody living along this stretch of the road. And then we were getting up high and the view was getting pretty nice. What a sweet road.

We finally did get up on top, though I’m not sure what we were on top of. A ridge? A hill? A plateau? All I knew was that now the road straightened out and leveled off.

Not for long, though. We soon started down and the road got curvy again. At this point I was assuming we were going to hit U.S. 285 at some point, but where? I didn’t care, I was just enjoying the ride, but I had to be curious.

On and on we went and then there we were. We came out at the old former Safeway store up in the Conifer area. This was that road you see when you’re going toward Bailey on U.S. 285 that goes left from that little shopping center, and that maybe you’ve thought at times about following. Now I know.

So the rest of the ride was pretty nice, too. I mean, it’s Indian summer in Colorado so the weather was gorgeous. How could it not be a good ride? We headed over to Evergreen, on to Bergen Park, took County Road 65 to hit I-70 just east of Floyd Hill, and then east on the interstate. Not for long, though. We got off at Genesee and ran over to the top of Lookout Mountain.

This is where things sometimes got dicey. Everybody on two wheels was out this day and that means there were a lot of bicyclists. That had been true on Pleasant Park Road, too, but there wasn’t much other traffic. Here there was a lot of everything. On more than one occasion I moved to the center to pass someone on a bicycle only to find that a car coming the other way was straddling the center line to pass a bicyclist going the other way. Time to get a little close to the bicycle.

You just had to pay attention, though, and all was fine. The view coming down Lookout Mountain was typically spectacular and then we were in Golden. Friggs headed north, I headed south, and that was it for a sweet late season ride in the hills.

Biker Quote for Today

Go that way really fast and if something gets in your way, turn.