Day 6: Finally into Colorado, yea!
We slept good in Rawlins. So good it was 0940 before we started rolling. Even then it was still cool and overcast when we left town heading south for the Colorado state line.
After about 20 miles of pavement we were back on gravel/dirt. Well maintained and capable of good speed. And we were getting close to trees after being in the wide open expanse of the basin.
As we started to get into the forest we were greeted by one of the famous stretches of road along the Great Divide MC Route; The Aspen Alley. A quarter mile of straight road with towering aspen trees forming a canopy. I would love to see this in the fall. I could not decide which aspect looked better so I'll post both of them.
And one of us to to prove we were really there.
From the Aspen Alley it's just a few miles until we are back on pavement for a short stretch. Wyoming Hwy 70 would take us through the pine/aspen forest on sweeping curves and past Battle Mountain.
According to the marker, a large group of mountain men met a large party of natives, guns were drawn and several were killed on both sides. Thus the name of the mountain and the creek flowing through the valley below. Why can't we all just get along?
After about 15 miles of lovely highway we turned south onto dirt road at the community of Slater and made our way toward Slater Park.
For those that don't know, in Colorado an area called ....... Park is a vast open meadow between two mountain ranges. Usually named after a close by landmark. Thus you get places like Slater Park, Estes Park, South Park (yes it's a real place), and Taylor Park (one of my favorites
).
A short distance down this road occurred another fantastic wildlife encounter. I came around a bend in the road and a large bird took flight from a fence post. It settle in about 20 feet to my left, level at about 10 o'clock. It was a golden eagle. We made eye contact, I had my shield open going about 25 mph after making the curve. The eagle flew alongside for maybe 10 seconds then broke left and started to climb. Awesome. Perry saw it but wasn't sure what it was until we talked later and I confirmed that it was an eagle. This and racing with the antelope in the basin are the two wildlife encounters that meant the most to me in this trip.
Then we met the road maintainer. He was creating a nice smooth surface for those traveling the dirt road. Unfortunately for us he was heading the wrong direction. We could not benefit from his labors. The road was barely two lanes wide and he was making a pile of loose spoil in our lane.
We couldn't use the other lane due to limited sight and there were a few oncoming trucks from time to time. So that left us to the narrow bit left in our lane for maneuvering. A bit of a inconvenience but tolerable. We continued on as we got further from the main road, around a sharp bend we came upon a herd of sheep in the road. They immediately began to scatter so I stopped, not wanting to stress them too much. I was greeted by the sheep dog, a Great Pyrenees.
Then the shepherd and the rest of the dogs came over the ridge to see what the commotion was all about.
As the shepherd saw that we weren't any threat he went to work settling his flock and the dogs all focused on us. They weren't intimidating at all. They were very friendly and would come right up to me and they all got there ears scratched as a token of my intentions. Five of them in all.
Then the shepherd, having shooed his herd off the road for us came back and we talked a little. He didn't speak much English and we don't speak much Spanish but we got each others names. This is Demilo.
We eventually reached Slater Park.
Through the park the road began to climb some. We met three kids on dirt bikes wearing full MX gear and I figured this road is fixin' to get good. Then a sharp right hand turn onto a forest service road and we began a long steep climb, a few rocky sections but not bad. I stopped on one of the few level spots and waited for Perry. As he pulled up he said, "wouldn't that make a neat video?" I said, "you want to do it again?" So he went back down, I found a good place to stand and get a long view and we got this little video.
And after reaching the summit of the pass we started heading back down the other side.
This brought us into Clark around 1230 and time for a little break at the Clark store.
We waited out a brief rain shower on the front porch and were entertained by several humming birds fighting over the feeders.
Then on to Steamboat.......