Exploring Colorado Off the Pavement
The view going the other way.
Off onto some new gravel again this weekend. This time taking Pitkin County Road 265 from where is comes off CO 133 on the southern side of McClure Pass.
I’ve been over McClure many times and on occasion have noticed this road heading west, with the sign saying Collbran. I figured it was time to see what was out there.
Right away the road runs up a wide ranching valley, with what looked like a mix of working ranches and some rich-folk “ranches” that are more retreats than anyone’s way of making a living. The gravel in through here was pretty good, well-maintained. That changed pretty abruptly when the ranches ended; the road got a lot rougher. Still, it’s the sort of thing a dual-sport bike is built for so no reason to hesitate. And it was somewhere along through here where, looking back, we had that great view of that mountain in the photo above.
The road began to climb and at times it was hard to be sure which gravel road to take. They all looked inviting but if you stopped and read the small print on the signs you could tell which was which. We went up through forests and could see a lot of the mountains around us and while none of it was the kind of scenery that leaves you awestruck, it was all pretty darn beautiful. This is backcountry Colorado that you’ll never see if you stick to the pavement.
Passing into Delta County the road becomes 74.4 Road, the funny way they number things out in the western part of the state, and comes down another ranching valley before meeting up with Highway 330E. North from here takes you to Silt or New Castle, depending on which turns you make, while left leads soon to pavement and on to a turn-off–paved–to Vega State Park. That was where we headed, to camp for the night.
No, we’d never heard of Vega State Park before but it’s a very pretty place. The park itself has campgrounds and cabins for rent and there is also a private lodge on the lake that has cabins. I’m definitely going to be pushing for the OFMC to make a night’s stop here on one of our summer rides. If you come from the Collbran side it’s all paved. I’m the only one of the group who likes doing gravel so pavement is important.
So as I say, there was nothing spectacular here but there was sure nothing that was ugly either. This is beautiful country. And I’ll tell you about the road to Silt the next time.
Biker Quote for Today
Why do I ride? Because this is out there and it never ends . . . and about 50 other reasons.
Tags: Vega State Park
July 18th, 2013 at 1:06 pm
[…] « Exploring Colorado Off the Pavement […]
August 5th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
[…] I had described, we had turned off the McClure Pass road (CO 133) to cruise a gravel road that runs over to Collbran, with Vega State Park on the way. After camping overnight at the park we were planning to backtrack […]