I finally got to try this place in Kittredge when Nick and I stopped there on a Sunday ride.
It was Sunday of Labor Day weekend with Nick and me set to take off on Monday for a four-day ride. Let’s get in one more.
We had already done a ride over Guanella Pass and another over Squaw Pass, and I didn’t want to go out on US 285 because that would be the way we would be heading out the next day. But I pulled up a map and the idea came together.
We headed west across town on Belleview till we came to Santa Fe and as we sat waiting for the turn signal I told Nick this was the exact spot last year on June 29, at about this time on a Sunday morning–like now–that that guy ran head-on into me. Not sure how that made him feel sitting there.
We got onto C-470 briefly, then off at Wadsworth and turned up Deer Creek Canyon Road. We turned south on Deer Creek Road, up that canyon until we climbed out of it. Along the way another rider going the other direction tapped his helmet, which I took to be a warning. I’m accustomed to having someone tap the top of their helmet to indicate cops ahead but this guy tapped the side of his helmet. Nevertheless we slowed down and paid close attention. Sure enough, we came around a bend and there were a whole bunch of folks on those wheeled foot platforms that you use the way you would use cross-country skis on snow. We skirted carefully around them.
We continued to Oehlmann Park Road, which goes steeply up into a mountain community and then steeply down the other side. On the other side we picked up Turkey Creek Road to meet US 285. A short run on that took us into Conifer where we got off and caught Barkley Road to CR 73. Another quick jog and we turned up Shadow Mountain Drive.
This road makes a scenic meander around to the west of Evergreen, coming into Evergreen past some very pricey homes. You pay for all that scenery. In Evergreen I feared we would encounter some street festival blocking our route but I was mistaken. Thankfully. We cruised on through and down to Kittredge.
In Kittredge we stopped for lunch at the place we had stopped recently on an RMMRC ride I led where this was my planned lunch stop. Unlike that ride, this time they were open. Pretty decent food at the Switchback Smokehouse.
Leaving Kittredge we turned up Parmalee Gulch Road over to pick up US 285. And now, after just a short ride, we faced getting home across town on a hot day. But hey! It was Sunday of Labor Day weekend. There was no traffic. It was great. We blasted. It was still hot but hot is not so bad when you’re moving.
Biker Quote for Today
“Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafés. Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me.” — Tim Krabbé
Tags: Deer Creek Canyon Road, Deer Creek Road, Oehlmann Park Road, Shadow Mountain Drive, Switchback Smokehouse