Another Colorado Ride Report--Got Dirt?

Ride Reports are some of my favorite posts to read. I look at some of the other pictures from other reports and see pictures and routes that I took myself, some within a few days of when I was there. So, this report is nothing new. No food pictures, no selfies (why ruin great scenery with my ugly mug), just mostly scenery pictures and a few others. I’ll try to concentrate on a few other aspects just to be a little different from all the other outstanding reports already posted here. With that preface we are off.
The last week of September I was invited to a week long ride around the San Juans. 99% dirt with single track and tougher jeep roads the focus. Our group ranged from a teenager on up to riders in their 50’s. The ride started out at a family cabin built in 1950 out of aspen harvested on site. The property belongs to the ride leader, and is located near the west end of Rio Grande Reservoir east of Silverton. It was a five day ride (M-F) with Saturday being the ride back. We stayed at a different place each evening until we made it to Rico where we stayed for two riding days.
The cabin is the real deal. Propane lights, water drawn from a creek coming out of the mountain behind the cabin. Amazing. I set up camp in the forest the first night but after that it was all first class lodging. Well, I will talk about Rico later.


Monday morning I woke up to this view.



The cabin sits on the west end of the lake, an 8 mile impoundment of the Rio Grande not far from the continental Divide and the headwaters of the river itself. It is beautiful.


A note about the foliage. We hit the absolute peak by the end of the week. Now I know why we ran into busloads of 80 year olds later on in Ouray.


I think there were nine of us (I will count later when I post the group pic). Everyone was on a KTM (mostly 300 two strokes), there was one Husky (a new blue KTM), and then me on my Husaberg—the last real Husaberg that KTM produced before killing the brand (not bitter, ha). All had license plates of some fashion. My bike worked out perfect. We logged just short of 500 miles and I did nothing to the bike except add coolant a couple of times (more on that later). We had a full chase truck and trailer with enough spares to open a shop. Also more on that later.
My ride for this trip



Next installment: Day One. Singletrack and jeep roads from our starting point to Inn of the Arrowhead. Single track teaser picture from day one.

Great start! Beautiful pix.

_RG_ said:

Great start! Beautiful pix.

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My phone is an old iphone 4 and I knew that was not going to cut it picture-wise. I bought a little Samsung refurbished point and shoot at the last minute and that little camera worked perfect. It rode around either in my pack bag or my pants pocket through some punishing terrain and worked like a champ.

I will try and get day one written and posted up tonight. These dang reports are hard work, but I have enjoyed so many others that I thought it was time to do a real one myself. Stay tuned--I have some good stories (imagine that).

Day One: Rio Grande Reservoir to Cimarron
So Monday we geared up and hit the trail around 9 AM. We wouldn’t be back to the cabin until Saturday. The chase truck and trailer with driver Trent left out and headed over the roads to our final destination for the day, Inn of the Arrowhead near Gunnison. Right from the cabin we hit Lost Creek Trail, a single track heading up to Cataract Lake.
Even though we had a large group, it was a good one, and we made decent time considering the variables a large group introduces. At some point I will delve into the other protagonists that I shared the trail with. As we rode I noticed huge stands of pines dead. I was told it was a combination of drought and pine beetles.

Here is an example of the dead trees. Has to be a major fire issue at some point.


The trail was fun and easy except for a wet uphill that caught a few guys on the first try and we made good time. The trail crossed some creeks, and climbed mostly up, but no switchbacks. Soon we were at Cataract Lake. It was a pretty site, and sight—the first of more than I can even remember.

Cataract Lake located in the NW corner of the Rio Grande National Forest.


We took a turn onto another single track trail heading back to the main dirt road towards Silverton, via Stony Pass. Just like that the single track was done for the first day but we were just getting started. A note about our navigation and planning. We used Lat 40 topo/trail maps. No GPS. Steve, our ride leader also knows his way pretty darn good. Latitude 40 maps are the best I think, and a great way to see “the big picture” which is not possible with a GPS.

So, Stony Pass is due east of Silverton and on the Continental Divide. The small streams around it all feed into what is the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Like many of us, I also love Big Bend and it was really cool to see where the Rio Grande begins. On the other side of the Continental Divide, very near Stony Pass runs the Animas River. You may recall that the Animas recently turned yellow from the water inside the Gold King mine when the EPA breached that mine.

This is an unremarkable picture I guess, but somewhere down there the streams that drain the east side of the Continental Divide merge and become the Rio Grande.


We continued through Stony Pass and now down towards Silverton, turning off generally north headed to Animas Forks. We were now on the Alpine Loop. It is all very pretty but the traffic is bad. I can’t imagine what it is like on a summer weekend. Animas Forks is an old mining ghost town site that now has restored buldings you can walk up to.
Here is one view of the old town of Animas Forks


From Animas there are a few options and the group split up for a while. We would do this occasionally depending on what everyone wanted to do. What I wanted to do was to get out of the way of all the hillbilly chariots (UTVs). A few of us decided to go up California Pass and then down Poughkeepsie Gulch. We would meet the others on top of Engineer. I can’t remember the jeep road that got us from Poughkeepsie to Engineer but it was fun. A word on Poughkeepsie Gulch—we saw no one. It is a steep nasty downhill ridden in the direction we did (south to north) and a total hoot. My favorite “jeep trail” of the trip, although you wouldn’t catch me in ANY four wheel vehicle on that route.
Soon, we were at the top of Engineer with 50 other tourists in their UTVs. The good thing is that nothing can spoil it because, hey, you are in the mountains.

The view from Engineer is spectacular as many of you all know.


We were on the downhill (literally) part of the travel for the day as the next stop was Lake City for gas, via the Alpine Loop from Engineer to Lake City. From Lake City it was 11 miles of highway and then 18 more miles of dirt road to our destination for the night. A few of us are not blessed with a lot of sense and our pace on the last dirt road was quicker than the preceding highway. I had a new Pirelli MT 43 mounted up at low pressure and it heated up pretty good on the highway and the dirt road. It ended up slinging the top part of the middle knobs off but nothing fatal and I used the tire without incident the whole trip. It worked really good.
I have no pictures, but the Inn at Arrowhead is a cool small Inn with a bar and restaurant in the middle of freaking nowhere. I believe it caters mostly to hunters. It has maybe 14 rooms or so.
I rode up to the chase truck, got handed a cold Shiner, and was no more good for the day. This scenario would repeat itself every afternoon. I am glad the old Husaberg is so tough because it got no love during the trip. I’d park it, fill it up with gas, and start it the next morning. Never added oil, never changed the air filter, never did nuttin’. I am one of those stupid guys that have emotional attachments to bikes and the Berg is one of my favorites.
We ate supper and went to bed. We covered about 120 miles the first day and that doubled the dirt miles I have ridden all year, so I was tired.

Next up: Day Two. Riding the Alpine Trail. Don’t confuse the Alpine Trail with the Alpine Loop. It would be really clear in a hurry if you did. Expert single track with 100+ switchbacks. Stay tuned.

Johnf3 said:

Here is an example of the dead trees. Has to be a major fire issue at some point.

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We were up there a few weeks ago and I was talking with someone about the trees. They are cutting them back away from the roads to make fire breaks. Then, once the snow starts to fall good, the plan is to light sections of the forests on fire and let them burn... I guess the thinking is that somewhat controlled burns will be better than random forest fires.

A few of us decided to go up California Pass and then down Poughkeepsie Gulch. We would meet the others on top of Engineer. I can’t remember the jeep road that got us from Poughkeepsie to Engineer but it was fun. A word on Poughkeepsie Gulch—we saw no one. It is a steep nasty downhill ridden in the direction we did (south to north) and a total hoot. My favorite “jeep trail” of the trip, although you wouldn’t catch me in ANY four wheel vehicle on that route.

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While up there, we rented a jeep. I had to sign a paper promising that I would NOT take the jeep on Poughkeepsie or the section from the top of Poughkeepsie down to US 550 near Ouray. Apparently, both sections are really hard on the jeeps. This could be why you didn't see any. The road from Poughkeepsie up to Engineer is actually part of Engineer but somewhere before you reach Poughkeepsie, my maps show it become CR 18. I've ridden it from Lake city all the way to US 550 and it was a fantastic ride, even on a KLR, but it was pretty rough in sections.

The change in the Aspens between our trip during the third week of September to yours is amazing. There were sections of them that were really awesome, but not whole mountainsides! The last two nights we were there, the temps dropped into the low 30s, which is what really makes them start changing. I just would not have expected them to change so fast!

Great pics! More please

more please.......


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Tourmeister said:

We were up there a few weeks ago and I was talking with someone about the trees. They are cutting them back away from the roads to make fire breaks. Then, once the snow starts to fall good, the plan is to light sections of the forests on fire and let them burn... I guess the thinking is that somewhat controlled burns will be better than random forest fires.



While up there, we rented a jeep. I had to sign a paper promising that I would NOT take the jeep on Poughkeepsie or the section from the top of Poughkeepsie down to US 550 near Ouray. Apparently, both sections are really hard on the jeeps. This could be why you didn't see any. The road from Poughkeepsie up to Engineer is actually part of Engineer but somewhere before you reach Poughkeepsie, my maps show it become CR 18. I've ridden it from Lake city all the way to US 550 and it was a fantastic ride, even on a KLR, but it was pretty rough in sections.

The change in the Aspens between our trip during the third week of September to yours is amazing. There were sections of them that were really awesome, but not whole mountainsides! The last two nights we were there, the temps dropped into the low 30s, which is what really makes them start changing. I just would not have expected them to change so fast!

Great pics! More please

Click to expand...

Couple of things:
The night before the first ride day I made camp out in the National Forest and woke up to a solid freeze, so i would guess the temps were in the high 20's. The difference between the aspen colors at the first of the week and the last of the week was dramatic.

Honestly most of the pass roads I would have preferred my 950. Poughkeepsie I could have done on the 950, but it would have been pointless, well, except to prove a point.

I appreciate the nice comments. As I can, I will update the thread with each day's ride. I still have four whole days to post plus the ride back.

come on lets here some more jhon you got is drawn in no rush just hurry up please sir have a good .by the way you went alot of the same routes i did in july .it was my first time cant wait to go back .just AWSUM place later tony d

Ok where were we? The Alpine trail, the direction we rode it, (generally east to west) begins in the Uncompahgre National Forest near Big Blue Campground. From the Inn, we rode about 16 miles of dirt county road to the trailhead. Now, the first thing to know that this trail is famous for its swichbacks--over 100 they say. The trail traverses a couple of mountains with high alpine meadow single track in between. It ends up near Silver Jack Reservoir east and a little north of Ridgway, which in turn is north of Ouray. Ouray was our destination for this day.

The Alpine Trail is a mere 20 miles in length. Piece of cake, right? Go ride it and report back. The switchbacks are tight (get off your bike tight at times), they are steep, and any small error is magnified. Going off the trail is not an option unless you like to bounce downhill with significant distance between bounces.
I did a poor job of documenting because you can’t see the whole scene but at this switchback our lead rider didn’t make the turn and instantly fell 30 feet off the trail. He is not in the picture, nor is his bike. The only reason his bike stopped in a somewhat reasonable distance is because it caught a stump and stopped.

Ignore the rider photobombing my attempt at accident documentation (the one relieving himself)


The good thing about a bigger group (down to seven riders this day) is that there is plenty of help and soon we were back on the way with no injuries suffered during the incident.

Soon we came to the top of one of the peaks and stopped for a trail lunch. This view is one of the best I have even seen in Colorado. Absolutely stunning in person, although my attempts to capture through photos are not proof of that. You will have to see for yourself.
Playing with a panorama (darn it I don't know why it pasted so small. The original is really nice)


The aspens added to it.


It began to snow on the far peaks across the valley and we got to watch them slowly turn white in front of our eyes. Humbling beauty.


The last mountain down had the tightest and steepest switchbacks I have even seen. Downhill, many were too tight to ride so we bulldogged around a few. Soon we were at the end. The trail ends at Silver Jack Reservoir. We took county roads through Owl Pass and came out just north of Ridgway. From there it was a straight shot down 550 into Ouray.
Our destination for the night was The Box Canyon Lodge. It is a very nice property with their own hot springs. Alas, two busloads of probably 75 year and up leaf watchers beat us to the tubs. Now, the ladies did invite us in. Man I was sweating already and hadn't even hit the hot water! They were hilarious and we had a good time soaking the sore muscles in the mineral water.
We noticed some flags and lights on the mountain behind us in Ouray. Turns out rock climbers were up there and they had tents tethered to the rock face, spending the night up there. Needless to say, I was happier in my queen bed.

The tents were gone the next morning, but this is the rock face they were tethered to.



What a great day. I won’t forget the Alpine Trail anytime soon. Next up is a routine trip up and over Imogene in to Telluride, on the way to Rico. Maybe I’ll get around to introducing the crew in the next piece.

thanks for sharing so awsum riding one of the guys in our group is 64 yr old pilot.we call him dora the explorer he nows how to navigate .i would have been lost without him .thanks again for sharing jhon .

I'll be doggoned if this isn't the same spot where Chad launched his bike last year. What the picture doesn't show is how the "trail" makes a hairpin right with a really interesting drop for anyone who even remotely gets a little wide. We had a jolly good time getting his rig back on the trail.

_RG_ said:

I'll be doggoned if this isn't the same spot where Chad launched his bike last year. What the picture doesn't show is how the "trail" makes a hairpin right with a really interesting drop for anyone who even remotely gets a little wide. We had a jolly good time getting his rig back on the trail.

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I wished I would have taken a picture from the downhill side. When the trails get tough and you are barely hanging on, the number of pictures taken starts going down pretty rapidly.

Right hand switchbacks are a little tougher for me. It is more than just not reaching your brake. The left ones just fit my eye better.


I got snookered into going to an Apple Festival this weekend so although I am in Cloudcroft no riding for me. I will see if I can add another day to this post tomorrow.

Back to it. Day three was an easy day. Ouray up over Imogene, down to Telluride, through Telluride and down to Rico, With the exception of the ride through Telluride, everything was on jeep roads—all dirt. Zero single track on this day but down toward Rico the trail was steep, rough, and rocky. Very fun.

So a bit about the group. We had a large group of riders. Most everyone is a member of Lubbock Trail Riders, with I believe one exception. Most everyone is from the Lubbock area but we had a couple of guys from the Metroplex too. As usual with dirt bikers, it was an eclectic group. We had small business owners, a farmer, a fire chief, a pharmacist and so on. Everyone in the group could handle A level trails. The speed varied between riders but overall it was a great, self-sufficient group of riders who showed up with good equipment and great attitudes. Mostly one person led us the entire time. The age of the group ranged from teenager up to 50’s (me and a couple more). We had no major delays or issues.

Here we are at the top of Imogene.


The ride up Imogene from the Ouray side is fun. It is rocky and steep enough to keep your interest. Three of us decided to drop the hammer and we were up in no time—third gear mostly probably around 30-35 mph. My poor bike was steaming at the top. As we crested the last hill at the top, there was a photographer taking our pictures. His name was Eilon, from Israel working in NYC as a professional photographer. He was taking some time off work, and was to meet someone in Moab that weekend. We asked him to join us and just like that our group of West Texas hillbillies turned international. Eilon would stay with us for most of the remainder of the trip. His ride was a KTM 690, and he was looking to ride some more technical trail (ominous foreshadowing).
The ride down Imogene was uneventful. Near the bottom you can look across and see the switchbacks of Black Bear and Bridal Veil Falls. The aspens really were showing off here.

Looking across at Black Bear.


I don’t know the exact route we took overland to Rico, but I know we went out toward the airport at Telluride, got onto dirt near the sheriff’s complex there, and then headed toward Rico. We came out about two miles south of town on a cool jeep road that had many water crossings and went through a rocky wash.

We would spend the rest of the time (two days) riding single track around Rico. We rented out the entire Mineshaft Inn for three nights and made ourselves comfortable, as you can see here.


Up next is the final installment. Poor Eilon gets his singletrack adventure, we mingle with the locals in the secret hot springs, and ride some of the best single track there is.

That is a fantastic shot of the switchbacks of Black Bear Pass!!

I hope you got the chance to ride them. That pass is unforgettable!

I did both Imogene and Black Bear on my KLR 650 and... wow... that was a trip! I was sure orange with envy at the other guys in the groups on nicer bikes

Tourmeister said:

That is a fantastic shot of the switchbacks of Black Bear Pass!!

I hope you got the chance to ride them. That pass is unforgettable!

I did both Imogene and Black Bear on my KLR 650 and... wow... that was a trip! I was sure orange with envy at the other guys in the groups on nicer bikes

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Not this time, but I have been down before, about five years ago. Was riding my 950 Adventure that time. Thanks for the comment about this particular picture. It turned out to be one of my favorites from this trip.

Defiantly looks like a fun trip with that bunch!

That Alpine trail is no joke. My shoulders were cooked by the top of the section mountain. Down hill right handers are the hardest for me. I always want to put my right foot down, but can't because you need to be on the brakes. When the stars aligned I would leave the bike in gear and use the front brake and the clutch as the rear on my 450. Not sure that would work well on the 300. If there was a wide berm on the down hill I could get the front high as you can. Let the gravity work and back the bike down and turn so that when the bike stops its pointed the right direction and your on the left side and just go to the next one. Rinse and repeat (a lot). Got it down to two moves.

weekend_warrior said:

Defiantly looks like a fun trip with that bunch!

That Alpine trail is no joke. My shoulders were cooked by the top of the section mountain. Down hill right handers are the hardest for me. I always want to put my right foot down, but can't because you need to be on the brakes. When the stars aligned I would leave the bike in gear and use the front brake and the clutch as the rear on my 450. Not sure that would work well on the 300. If there was a wide berm on the down hill I could get the front high as you can. Let the gravity work and back the bike down and turn so that when the bike stops its pointed the right direction and your on the left side and just go to the next one. Rinse and repeat (a lot). Got it down to two moves.

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Hey Danny. We missed ya. I am glad I was able to go. Funny thing is all the years I have been in LTR, this was really the first time I rode with most of the guys on this trip. Exception is JP. In the last 20 years, we have been on each others fenders for I don't know how many thousands of miles.

That helps me understand why I hear Black Bear Pass is , hmmm, dangerous! Great photo.

woodsguy said:

That helps me understand why I hear Black Bear Pass is , hmmm, dangerous! Great photo.

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Thanks for the comment.. The funny thing is what you see there is the easy part, at least on a motorcycle. The section (can't see from my picture) at the top is where Black Bear gets its reputation. There is a short section before the switchbacks that drops steeply down a set of rock steps with a drop off on one side. It is really just mind over matter, and nothing difficult, but considering how the whole thing is presented to your eye (and mind, if you think about what could go wrong), it gets your heart beat up a notch or two.

Yes, After being gone from Lubbock for several years I miss the folks, riding, and cool summer sunsets the most. Logged a few miles with most everyone in that group. Riding with that group is always fun and usually a challenge!

Actually that is where the picture in my avatar was taken (black bear pass) with several that were in that group. There was some snow on the ground, but not on the roads.

black bear pass is not super technical its what you see when you dropping off little rock ledges that is really unnerving. When you are coming strait at first obstacle the right hand turn does not even look like its there. All you really see is the cliff edge and the town below it. At that point its wider than a jeep! Cool to do it at least once.

weekend_warrior said:

Yes, After being gone from Lubbock for several years I miss the folks, riding, and cool summer sunsets the most. Logged a few miles with most everyone in that group. Riding with that group is always fun and usually a challenge!

Actually that is where the picture in my avatar was taken (black bear pass) with several that were in that group. There was some snow on the ground, but not on the roads.

black bear pass is not super technical its what you see when you dropping off little rock ledges that is really unnerving. When you are coming strait at first obstacle the right hand turn does not even look like its there. All you really see is the cliff edge and the town below it. At that point its wider than a jeep! Cool to do it at least once.

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I made my first trip to Co this summer(no bike this trip), what I did in my 4X4 was tame I guess to some of these pics, a couple of passes. I just don't like the ledges, don't like heights anyway. But going back next summer with bike and will try to improve my fight with fear! Really enjoy your photos and adventures! I'll probably be exploring by myself unless I bump into someone else at campground. As of now plan is to get a cabin at Taylor Park. Trip will be dual purpose, bike riding and vacation time with the wife!

Johnf3 said:

Thanks for the comment.. The funny thing is what you see there is the easy part, at least on a motorcycle. The section (can't see from my picture) at the top is where Black Bear gets its reputation. There is a short sections before the switchbacks that drops steeply down a set of rock steps with a drop off on one side. It is really just mind over matter, and nothing difficult, but considering how the whole thing is presented to your eye (and mind, if you think about what could go wrong), it gets your heart beat up a notch or two.

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Yes, I've read about the steps! Not for me. That had to be a trip on your 950. If I understand right, Black Bear is one way?? If so are the steps going up or down?

John went this year. I didn't go. Just lived through his photos!

The photos really don't do any of it justice. I rode around there on my street bike. I looked through all the photos when I got back adn realized I was a crappy photographer.

The first time i made the trip I was falling behind the group and stopped to rest at the spot where John took one of his a photos. Steve (the leader of the ride) had come back to look for me as the group was stopped like a 1/4 of a mile up before the last decent. He made me enjoy that view for a few more minutes. It was the top of the Second mountain on the alpine trail. Wow... does it no justice.

Do a little research on the trails around Taylor park. Flag mountain is a must. I think we did a trail called Lilly Pond and stargazer or something similar there that super fun. I've only been in that area once, but can sure say it was great. It rained on us every day, but still an enjoyable ride! I learned what Colorado Axle grease was that trip. Hard to ride in the mud for this dry terrian rider!

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