Doing Guanella In Reverse
Up on Guanella Pass, again.
I went riding with the RMMRC last week and Bob led us on an interesting ride. What made it particularly interesting for me was that it was almost exactly the ride I set out to lead the group on recently except in reverse.
On both rides we went over Guanella Pass. In the first instance we went out U.S. 285 to Grant and over to Georgetown. This time we went Georgetown to Grant. The first time, when we stopped on top of the pass I said I could lead the group back to Denver with barely a couple miles of interstate. Everyone liked that idea so I took the lead.
Then a funny thing happened at Idaho Springs: everyone else peeled off and went their own way. OK, not what I expected.
So there we were last week at Morrison. Apparently the plan to go over Guanella had been agreed upon and I was unaware of that. I just followed as Bob led us up past Red Rocks and then turned west on U.S. 40. Great, I like that road. We went up to Genesee, where you have to get on I-70, and a few miles later took the exit for Evergreen Parkway.
I had never been on this short stretch of road before.
It was a good road, although it turned to gravel after a few miles. Still, it was extremely good gravel and I was on the Honda CB750 and that’s a go-anywhere bike so that was fine. A few miles further and we went under the interstate and came out onto U.S. 40 again. So now I was wondering–and I still don’t know the answer–if he intended to come this way or if he missed the turn he intended, the one on my route, back at the Evergreen Parkway turnoff that would have put us back on 40 right away.
Doesn’t matter, I was glad to be shown a new road. And looking at the map I see there is another road just a mile farther along that also runs over to 40 from Evergreen Parkway. That’s Jefferson County Road 65 and it looks like it may be paved all the way. Now I want to go ride that and find out.
So we were back on U.S. 40, running alongside I-70 for the most part, and we took that up Floyd Hill and down to where it meets U.S. 6 coming up out of Clear Creek Canyon. We turned left and got onto I-70 just up to Idaho Springs. Now I was figuring again that we were doing Squaw Pass, only coming west to east rather than east to west.
But no, Bob led us back onto U.S. 6 at the west end of town and we followed that road all the way to Georgetown. Except for that jog over Soda Creek Road this was exactly my route in reverse, and we clearly were doing Guanella.
And we did. It was a clear, beautiful day up on top and then it was the same old ride from Grant back to town. My only complaint about living in Denver all these years is that so many of these roads we ride, such as U.S. 285, are roads I have done hundreds and hundreds of times. Fine, I’ll quit complaining. It could be so much worse. And I have not done Guanella hundreds of times. Only a couple dozen.
Did I ever mention I used to know Byron Guanella, the guy this pass is named for? That’s a story for another day, although not a particularly interesting one.
Biker Quote for Today
You know you’re a biker if you encourage your kids to go to the Motorcycle Mechanic’s Institute instead of college.
Tags: Guanella Pass, RMMRC
