Yet another Colorado ride report...

[anaconda]

...seems like Colorado is the flavor of the month for TWTers, doesn't it?

I don't have much of a ride report yet, I didn't bring a computer and I'm on a borrowed laptotp. I'm still in Durango, heading to Gunnison tomorrow morning.
I just wanted to post a couple of teasers.....

 

[anaconda]

Hmm...for some reason the pics are not showing, only the links... let me try again:

 

[invision]

dang! one of my friends is living in durango right now and he called me out of the blue last night. wish i could be there.

 

[Quick-Silver]

Anna, This is beautiful. You are sure to have a great time.

I will be up your way soon. Leaving Canyon Lake at daylight Friday on our way to Glacier National Park & over to the Oregon coast line. We should be in the Denver area sometime Saturday. We plan to bypass Denver proper and make a bee line North for Wyoming.

There will be two of us. Maybe we could meet up with your group for a meal & talk trip stuff.

I'll try to stay current with your report via laptop.

You post lots of pictures.

 

[SparkyBlue]

The last pic looks like something near Independence Pass.

 

[ceddec]

Is that snow I see. I'd love to see some snow. Its really hot here now that the rain stopped. Ya'll have fun.

 

[Snoopster]

Ana,

Colorado is so scenic. Definitely makes me want to go back. Keep the pics coming. We'll be waiting patiently for your trip report. Be safe.

 

[The Bruce]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see more. I'm heading to Durango next week, very eager to get going.

 

[JadeRider]

Ana

This is a great area to be visiting. Already nice pictures up. Very Cool!

 

[sherob]

Nice pics! I'll be there Tuesday... flying in though Hope you are enjoying the rides in the mountains and passes

 

[K75Swim]

Ana - Great shots and beautiful background. Where were the two shots taken? My wife and I are heading up to Paonia starting Wednesday and very much looking forward to it!

 

[anaconda]

I'm home! very tired though... more later!

 

[anaconda]

Anna, This is beautiful. You are sure to have a great time.

I will be up your way soon. Leaving Canyon Lake at daylight Friday on our way to Glacier National Park & over to the Oregon coast line. We should be in the Denver area sometime Saturday. We plan to bypass Denver proper and make a bee line North for Wyoming.

There will be two of us. Maybe we could meet up with your group for a meal & talk trip stuff.

I'll try to stay current with your report via laptop.

You post lots of pictures.

Jerry,
I'm sorry our paths didn't cross. I got home saturday evening. I hope your trip goes smoothly and enjoy the ride!

 

[anaconda]

The last pic looks like something near Independence Pass.

That pic was on Hwy 550, just coming down from Silverton to Durango.

 

[anaconda]

Ana - Great shots and beautiful background. Where were the two shots taken? My wife and I are heading up to Paonia starting Wednesday and very much looking forward to it!

The first shot was on the way from Telluride. The second was on 550, between Silverton and Durango. I'm writing up a ride report, hopefully it will answer more questions for you.

 

[anaconda]

Ok folks, I'm starting the ride report!

LEAVING HOUSTON

We rode from the Houston area to DFW friday afternoon. The rains that have been falling non-stop in Texas for weeks made sure for a wet send off. I got caught on a torrential downpour on my way to the Woodlands, where I would meet Jan and Mike on the way to Dallas.

DAY 1. DFW TO TUCUMCARI, NM

We were up and early on saturday morning. Fortunately we we're greeted by beautiful skies and great riding weather. We left Sandy's place and hit the road to officially start the Colorado adventure.

Just west of Amarillo, we stopped by the "Cadillac ranch" on I-40 for a photo op.

We picked up a used can of spray paint and made our contribution to the local pop-art...our way of saying "JAKS was here"....(JAKS= Jan, Ana, Karen, Sandy.....)

The Cadillacs are easilly seen from the freeway. There is plenty of parking space along the feeder road.

Once back on the freeway I got really bored with the bland landscape, so I started brushing up my skillls on shooting pics from the bike:

Not a whole lot to see on I-40....

We arrived a Tucumcari, New Mexico, where we stopped for the day. Total miles from DFW: 438 miles.

 

[anaconda]

DAY 2 TUCUMCARI, NM TO DURANGO, CO

Tucumcari is right on I-40, along the historic Route 66.

They even built a small monument, right in front of Tucumcari's convention center:

Eventually we left I-40, and got on to SH 285, via Santa Fe. Not much to see for the first 50 miles or so...

We left 285 and turned on to Hwy 68. Now the landscape begins to get a bit more rugged and interesting, as we approach the Orilla Verde area

This time I was leading

The road keeps climbing until you get to the top of the mesa. From there, all of a sudden you see the deep canyon cut by the Rio Grande on the left side of the road

We stoppped for gas near Taos. While I waited for the others to fill up, I noticed a few prairie dogs in the area:

From Taos we took SH 64, which crosses over the Rio Grande Gorge. Quite impressive, and surprising in the middle of a flat-like landscape. We stopped at the look-out to get a glimpse of the depth of the gorge.

Then all of a sudden SH64 really starts getting curvy and hilly. We then go up a mountain pass (GPS showed an elevation of about 9980 ft), and the curves gets really tight, with a couple of hairpins in the mix. That showed me how varied the landscape can get in New Mexico. I managed to get a screen capture on the Zumo, while I was not so busy holding tight to the handlebars...

A few miles later it started raining and we got our rain gear on. I put the camera away, so I didn't get any pictures going through Pagosa Springs and from there to Durango.

Total miles: 443 miles.

 

[anaconda]

DAY THREE -- TELLURIDE AND MESA VERDE

The plan was to spend three nights in Durango, then head to Gunnison for a couple of days and then back to Texas. The first day in Durango we went for a ride to Telluride, with plans to stop at Mesa Verde NP on the way back if time allows. This was supposed to be a "short, easy riding day". But after riding 900 miles in a couple of days, 200 miles in the mountains and with really warm temperatures proved to be a bit of a challenge. Forecast high for Durango was 98F, mid 90's for Telluride.
The ride from Durango to Cortez wasn't quite scenic, except for the Mesa Verde formations. Once we got on Hwy 145 the landscape started getting prettier.

The Dolores river meandered along the road, making for a very pleasant ride.

We rode though Rico, a little cute looking town.

Approaching Telluride, a plane was landing. Unfortunately it was painted a dull shade of gray (probably an Air Force jet?) so it's hard to make it out in the picture.

We arrived in Telluride, a very quaint, touristy town, but which proved to be a bit of a problem to me to get my bike parked in the slanted roads...

Eventually I found a parking spot at street leveled engough to get the sidestand down...

We got to do a bit of dual-sport riding getting in and out of town...they are redoing the main road, which is completely torn and a mixture of dirt and gravel. It wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for the ridiculous speed limit (set all over Telluride) of 15MPH, and a bit of congestion to top it off...

Finally, we get out of Telluride, and back on Hwy 180, backtracking our way back to Durango.

Once back on SH 160 and past Cortez, we went by the Mesa Verde National park, to see the cliff dwellings. It's a 20 mile ride from the park entrance to the nearest dwelling, going up from the valley to the top of the mesas, through very twisty roads. Finally, we stopped at one of the Dwellings. They have guided tours to the dwellings, but with all the heat, the elevation and after riding all day long I was more than happy to see them from the lookout.

The picture makes it look lie a miniature, but they were quite large. Makes you wonder how they got to build all these in such a remote area and on a cliff no less.

From there we rode to the highest point in the park. The view was amazing, even though it was really hazy due to all the fires going on in Utah.

We made it back to Durango at almost 8:00pm. We've been on the bikes since 8:00 am.

Total miles for Day 3: 225 miles. But they felt like 500!!!!

 

[anaconda]

DAY FOUR -- OURAY

On day four, we decided to ride up on SH 550 to Ouray and back, through the Million Dollar Highway. That would get us back to Durango much earlier than the day before, and allow some time to actually visit downtown Durango, shop, eat and get a good rest for next day's ride to Gunnison.

Riding up on SH550, we stopped at one of the mountain passes:

The ride between Silverton and Ouray was quite exhilarating. Lots and lots of back to back "S" hairpins as you climb down the mountain.

Once in Ouray, we visited the shops and enjoyed the scenery, including a small scooter with a sidecar:

We left Ouray, back on the same road to Durango.

The road between Ouray and Silverton goes through a canyon, where the road narrows and there are NO guardrails... not that it would matter on a bike anyways.

We stopped at the Red Mountain mining overlook

From there you can see the abandoned mining towns on the mountain.

We rode up the mountain again, and down to Durango

Total miles day 4: 142 miles.

 

[ekms377]

Keep 'em coming...........

 

[anaconda]

DAY FIVE -- DURANGO TO GUNNISON

On day five we left Durango and rode to Gunnison. More fun roads going through the passes

We stopped for gas at South Fork, the store next door had a giant logger carved out of a fir tree:

The landscape starts changing, and from the tight canyons it opens up to wide valleys and a more arid-looking terrain

At Lake City, we stopped for gas and lunch. I totally recommend this place for lunch, everyone's meal was really tasty, and the coffe was really good too:

We got rained on our way to Lake City. It stopped raing while we ate lunch, but thunder and lightning all around us reminded us not to linger there for long.

...which was a shame, that little town looks like some place worth coming back to.

We touted the idea of visiting the black canyon instead of going straight to Gunnison. But once we took the turn off to the Black Canyon we considered against it. Rain clouds were all over and it was hard to tell where they were going. We all don't mind riding in the rain, but doing so on unfamiliar roads through the mountains would take the fun out of the ride. And with the extra 100 miles it would add to the ride, plus stopping at the canyon could make us get to Gunnison in the dark. We stopped at an overlook to the Blue Mesa Reservoir for some pictures, before turning around to Gunnison.

As it turned out, we did get caught in the rain entering Gunnison, but at least it was during daylight, so no big deal. We checked in and then we walked around Gunnison and had a nice dinner at the Gunnisack.

Total miles day 5: 228 miles.

 

[anaconda]

DAY SIX -- CRESTED BUTTE

Since the Crested Butte wild flower festival was happening that same week, the plan was to ride from Gunnison to Crested Butte and just visit the town and walk through the trails to what supposedly is an amazing display of wildflowers. We didn't get much rain except for a few sprinkles, and it all stopped once we got to Crested Butte.
They have all sorts of weird stuff and folk art on the streets, which made for a very colorful visit.

On the way up the trails to the wildflowers, we were warned about mountain lions...

But fortunately we didn't see any, so we really enjoyed the hike up the trails

We only saw a few chipmunks

...so we walked and walked...

...but didn't really see any display of wildflowers worth walking any longer. We turned around and met some locals on the trails, who said that the wildflowers were late because they haven't had enough rain yet this year...I'm sure a lot of texans will see the big irony in this!!
...Anyways, I had to do with taking pictures of what little I saw, like some wild roses....

....and some horsies kind enough to stop munching and turn around to pose for a couple of pictures

The walk back to town was really nice, with quite the view

Again, more of the artsy stuff all over Crested Butte:

We then ate at McGill's, after being recommended by a fellow TWT'er, Sparkyphotog. The food was SO GOOD!!! I had the Ahi tuna salad, and I can't get over how good it was. I had to take a picture of it!

As recommended again by Sparkyphotog, we detoured to the Taylor Reservoir on the way back to Gunnison. It was quite a pleasant ride up to the reservoir, and it was nice seeing so many people enjoying themselves fishing, camping and rafting. We got to the reservoir, but didn't stay there long, it was a tad chilly an threatening to rain

We got back to Gunnison without getting rained, and enjoyed the rest of the evening downtown.

Total miles day six: 97 miles.

 

[anaconda]

DAY SEVEN -- TEXAS-BOUND, GUNNISON, CO TO DUMAS, TX

Our way back to Texas was far more scenic than we thought, even after leaving Colorado. Besides, how often do you get to ride on a volcano? We stopped at the Capulin Mountain National Monument, where you can ride all the way up on the capulin volcano:

You can walk a trail all around the rim, where the view is just fantastic:

Looking down the crater:

Sierra Grande, the largest volcano of the region:

The trail around the rim:

From there, we rode 130 miles to our overnight stop, Dumas, TX. On hindsight, we could have made it all the way to Amarillo. Oh well, next time!!

Total miles day 7: 417 miles.

 

[anaconda]

DAY 8 -- HOME!!!!

This was by far the longest, boring day ever!!! But I should know better, that after riding a week in Colorado, going back to Texas would be one dull ride.

We only had one last impromptu photo-op during a gas stop in Dalhart, TX:

We parted ways just west of DFW, and then rode home, stopping only once in the last 350 miles of the ride home. Got drenched in a rainstorm near Huntsville, but I was so hot I really enjoyed being cooled down by the rain. Hit some more rain near the house, nothing big.

Total miles day 8: 652 miles.

TOTAL TRIP MILES: 2934 MILES.
TOTAL TRIP SMILES: INFINITE!!!

 

[rhrose]

DAY 8 -- HOME!!!!

This was by far the longest, boring day ever!!! But I should know better, that after riding a week in Colorado, going back to Texas would be one dull ride.

We only had one last impromptu photo-op during a gas stop in Dalhart, TX:

We parted ways just west of DFW, and then rode home, stopping only once in the last 350 miles of the ride home. Got drenched in a rainstorm near Huntsville, but I was so hot I really enjoyed being cooled down by the rain. Hit some more rain near the house, nothing big.

Total miles day 8: 652 miles.

Ana- enjoyed the trip so much, and I am sooooo jealous it was you and not me

TOTAL TRIP MILES: 2934 MILES.
TOTAL TRIP SMILES: INFINITE!!!