Where Does This Road Go?
Monday, November 20th, 2017
Where Monarch Boulevard ends–for now.
I turned south on Quebec from Belleview, figuring I’d cruise down toward Daniels Park. It occurred to me I’d never much been south on Quebec south of Arapahoe Road so it would be interesting to take it further. Then I thought, “Where does this road go, anyway? Where does it end?” So I decided to find out.
Turns out Quebec goes a lot further. Past C-470, which I knew, but even on past where University Boulevard has bent east and become Lincoln Avenue. Is this going to take me all the way to Daniels Park?
But then a little further, when it hits McArthur Ranch Road (a road I’m totally unfamiliar with) it changes suddenly and is now Monarch Boulevard. And keeps going. From here we’re no longer going straight, but instead curving all over and the further we go the more it curves, even heading due east for awhile. Are we going all the way to Castle Pines Parkway? That’s the road that runs west from I-25 to Daniels Park.
Yes we hit Castle Pines. And Monarch was still heading south. Holy smokes, where does this road go?
Not much further, as it turned out. Yet.
Monarch curved around a bit through a neighborhood and then ended abruptly at the dead end in the photo above. But a sign nearby announced that soon it will be extended into the new Lagae Ranch area now filled with bulldozers shoving dirt around, which you can see beyond the sign.
So I found the end. I headed back to Castle Pines Parkway and went east to I-25 and then wondered where that road goes as it continues east past the interstate. Well, let’s find out.
I think I’d been on this road before, though. It arcs northeastward first above and then in front of the relatively new Rueter-Hess Reservoir, and the road itself became Hess Road apparently just on the other side of I-25. Hess Road, I knew, comes out on Parker Road a little south of the town of Parker.
But I got there and saw Hess continuing east and wondered, “Where does this road go?” I guess I’ll find out.
Hess itself does not go far at all. It almost immediately intersects with Hilltop Road and I knew where that went. It bends south and then east until it hits a north-south road that runs down to Elizabeth.
I didn’t want to go that far and just have to come back so I took the first turn I found, which led me into The Pinery. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in The Pinery but it is labyrinthine and easy to get lost in. But I knew that Pinery Parkway will take you back to 83 so I just meandered around until I hit that road and took it out of the development.
Now I was back on 83 and there was nothing to do but head north and home.
I call that a good ride. I love exploring and finding out where roads go. I’m one of those riders who doesn’t pick a destination but instead, just picks a directions and goes. And I never seem to run out of roads that make me ask that question: Where does this road go?
Biker Quote for Today
Four wheels may get you there, but two wheels will make the journey memorable.
