2026 Day Rides and Pikes Peak with Mylo

 

Atop Pikes Peak with Colorado Springs in the background

I have been trying all summer to go on overnight motorcycle rides with my older grandkids.  But it has been busy all summer.  Either I am needed to help with something or the grandkids have "hangouts", band, drama club, or other fun things to occupy their time.

Mylo has been one of the busiest with starting high school and being in the band.  Finally, the week before school starts, there were 2 days in a row without band or something in the way.  After we talked over possible destinations, we decided to ride up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The only problem was that I couldn't find a decent hotel for under $300.  I really love my grand kids, but even Mylo agreed that was just too much.

So we scaled it back and decided to just do 2 days of long rides to interesting places.

Ready to Ride

We started about 7:00, and the first priority was some breakfast.  We've been to Green Mountain Falls and The Pantry before, and that's was where Mylo wanted to start.  We rode through Garden of the Gods because that's my standard practice when I'm heading out on Highway 24. There are very few cars and it was very cool and beautiful. We have so many pictures of us in this park that neither one of us wanted to stop and take yet more, so we didn't. 

It was a pretty nice ride up to Green Mountain Falls. I'm not sure why but we had almost no traffic, which is very unusual for this road.  We arrived at The Pantry and found good parking and no line to get into the restaurant.  We sat in the front garden.  Mylo ordered their famous cinnamon roll french toast and I got a couple eggs and sausage.  As usual, it was good food.  We took our time because we really weren't in a big hurry today. 

Breakfast at the Pantry

Mylo told me about all of the band practices and just how hot it was some days. Usually everyone had a massive jug of water with them.  Mylo kept forgetting it.  They also stopped every hour or so to cool off and to reapply sunscreen. Band practice lasted for two weeks, with the average high temperature being in the mid-90s. 

We talked a little bit about possible routes, including going all the way to Taylor Park over Cottonwood Pass. We could also try to do a loop out on Highway 285 or up Highway 9 or many other places. I mentioned that just a few weeks ago I had been on top of Pikes Peak when my brother and his wife came out to visit us. Mylo's eyes lit up and I asked "do you want to go up Pikes Peak?"  and got a shouted "YES" in reply.

So I pulled out my phone and started trying to get us reservations for Pikes Peak. The City of Colorado Springs runs the park and they have been requiring reservations during the summers for several years now. The last few times I've been, it hasn't been that busy but it's only $2. We had really bad cell phone service so it took me about 20 minutes to get the reservation. But we were on for 9:00. 

We finished our breakfast and loaded back up on the bike and headed towards Pikes Peak. Just like the last time I went up, there were no cars in the queue. We pulled up and the lady asked me for my reservation. I probably could have gotten a reservation right then but I had one so I showed it to her. I forget the exact cost but it was probably $35 for both of us. The reservation just gets you the ability to get in; you still have to pay the entry fee. 

We started up the road and enjoyed the cooling temperatures. It wasn't very hot yet but you could tell it was going to be a warm day. I had my 360 camera mounted on the bike so I could take pictures all the way up and down. We stopped at a few overlooks, got pictures. A couple of times we didn't even get off the bike. 

Lower part of the road up Pikes Peak

First scenic overlook looking over Cascade

One of the running gags on the mountain is Big Foot.  There are several "Big Foot Crossing" signs along the way.  I don't know if there have been any "Sightings" on the mountain, but they sure play it up.  So when we got to Crystal Creek Reservoir, we stopped to get a picture by the Big Foot statue.  It's about a 9 foot wood carving.  I have pictures by this statue with many people over the years.
We didn't go into the gift shop, but we did use the latrines.  Luckily it was still a cool day so the aromantic ambiance wasn't too strong.  We loaded back on the bike and continued our ride up.

Crystal Creek Reservoir - really low on water

Posing by Big Foot

The ride between the first and second gift shops is beautiful winding forest roads, but nothing very steep or scary.  The forests all around the Front Range region have had a lot of bark beetle kill off.  But Pikes Peak itself seemed to be pretty healthy. When I'm riding around Colorado there are some areas that just break your heart with all the dead trees, but this ride didn't have that feeling. 

Riding through the forest between the gift shops

Once we passed the second gift shop, the climb really began.   The trees quickly faded away, the road steepened, and the shoulders of the road got thinner.  In many places there was only about 2 feet of shoulder on the road before you'd drop off several hundred feet.

I title this as "Guardrails are for wimps"

Mylo seemed to have no problems with the heights,  even on those sections of the road with no guard rails and steep drop-offs.  We were in no hurry, so we rode the last part well below the speed limit.  A few times almost creeping along, not because we were scared, but so we could admire the views.  I took a lot of pictures, well over 50, but they get redundant very fast with so much scenery around.

The winding road below us and the vistas behind us

More twisting roads and vistas

We started just after 9:00 and finally reached the peak around 10:30.  To my surprise, it was very warm on top.  The temperature was around 55° but the sun was shining and there was no wind blowing so it felt much warmer to me. We talked about it for a few minutes then decided to leave coats on the bike. We could always come back and get them if we needed them. 

Behind us is Colorado Springs and some forest fire smoke

Camera is looking south, maybe Pueblo way out there

We started by walking over to where a train was parked. There were just a few people around. They had all gone into the visitor center. So we decided to get our pictures before either another train arrived or they all came back. We took several pictures and then started walking counter-clockwise around the peak to get a few more pictures out more to the north. 

While we were taking pictures I heard a rumble. It started very low and quickly got louder. Suddenly an F-16 fighter jet came from the south and flew up and over the peak of the mountain. It was ear-shatteringly loud as it passed overhead, just a few hundred feet above us. The lead pilot's wingman didn't come right over the top but just a little bit to the west of the peak. I tried to get a picture but my camera isn't super fast and only managed to get a picture of the wing mate off to the northwest of us as a tiny dot.

F-16 that overflew the top of Pikes Peak

Freaking out as the F-16 flies over

Everyone around us was laughing and talking because it scared the poop out of most of us. A couple of Air Force guys nearby commented that there was no way that was an approved fly over. Oh and did I mention it had the Thunderbird symbol on the bottom of the jet 

It took a few minutes before everybody settled down and got back to what we were doing before the jet flew by. Mylo and I walked over to the train and glanced in just to see what it was like. Then we  walked around to the other side and took a few more pictures. We slowly started walking towards the visitor center, taking yet more pictures. 

I'm using my 360 camera rather than carrying around my tripod to use with my phone.  My phone takes better pictures, but it's slow and setting up the tripod takes a while.  But with the 360 camera and the selfie stick, I just hold the camera out from us 3 feet and push the remote button to take a picture.  Then later I have to load the pictures into my computer or phone and frame the picture.  Since it takes an entire sphere, I can frame a 4x3 or 16x9 or even 9x16 picture anywhere in that 360 sphere.  It's great when it works, except that it's a bit lower quality.  And sometimes you get a bad stich line where the 2 images get stitched together.  Like that jet picture above where one the cameras has the sun blasting it and the other side doesn't.

Anyway, the other annoying this is if you change the camera mode to video and forget, there's no obvious way to tell.  I switched to video and forgot, so the "pictures" I took during the next 30 minutes were all actually short videos and none of them came out well.  Another lesson taught but probably not learned.  I'm sure I'll do that again several more times.

We went into the visitor center and got donuts and a couple sodas.  Their donuts are famous, not because they are so delicious but because they are cooked up here at fourteen thousand feet of elevation.  That high, water boils at only 186°. So it is much harder to get things to bake properly. They use a special recipe so that the donuts cook. I think the best thing about them is that they are warm and they are covered in sugar and cinnamon. The drinks were also kind of unique. Our fountain drinks came in something like a Solo cup but it was aluminum. I let Mylo keep them as souvenirs. 

Mylo was not impressed with the donuts. Then we headed back out the doors to take more pictures. We walked all the way around the edge of the peak taking pictures and going "OO-AH". Then we walked over to the big monolith in the middle that I guess is the highest spot in the area and got our picture with the Pikes Peak sign. My camera was still in video mode but I managed to get a screen capture that looks okay. 

On the top of Pikes Peak

We continued looking for another 20 minutes then figured it was about time to start heading down. Temperature still felt great but the sun beating on us was starting to get a little wearing. We both put on sunscreen when we arrived but it still felt like the sun was blistering our skin. 

Descending and still wonderful views

More beautiful views

The ride down is even a little more nerve-wracking than the ride up. Your bike or your car really wants to get moving down those steep roads. And you can't just ride the brake or you'll burn them out and do pretty bad damage. So you have to keep it in a fairly low gear and then use brakes every 30 or 40 seconds and then let off to let them cool. 

Stopped at a scenic overlook to let the brakes cool

There were still fantastic views off of the mountain. We could probably see hundreds of miles out across the state. There was some smoke down to the southwest of us but everything north and east was beautifully clear.  We stopped a few times for pictures but none of them came out well. I did finally realize that my camera was in video mode and got that corrected but that didn't help when you get the bike turned wrong or the sun is in the wrong place. 

Slowly descending

When we reached the bottom around 12:15,  I talked to Mylo about whether we wanted to go get lunch right now or to wait a little while. We decided to wait just a little while so we headed for the Florissant Petrified Forest National Monument. The clouds had started to gather a little bit and not far past the town of Divide it started to sprinkle on us. Just like a recent ride with Rayden, I didn't want rain to ruin this ride so I pulled over and we put on our rain gear. 

The rain never got very hard but it was pretty consistent for about half an hour. We turned left at Florissant to head up to the national monument and that was about when the rain quit. But not only did the rain quit, the sun came out. Within minutes we were both stifling hot in that rain gear. Just before the National Monument there is a homestead ranch and we decided to pull off there and remove the rain gear. And since we were there we toured the homestead for 10 minutes. 

Pulling off our rain gear

Just a few minutes later we reached the visitor center. We started by watching a video about the history of the Florissant area. There used to be so many massive logs and other fossilized material around the area that the train used to stop just to let people hop off and collect some. Unfortunately they pretty well stripped the area clear and what is left are the massive logs too big to remove. But even that didn't stop them. One of the biggest logs was going to be taken to a world's fair for an exhibit but they broke several saw blades trying to cut it off. Luckily for us the log is there and so are the leftover pieces of the saw blades sticking out of them. 

Mylo by the triple petrified tree stump

We didn't walk around for too long because we were both getting hungry.  Back on the bike. We rode the rest of the 30 minutes up to Cripple Creek. The sandwich shop that I usually eat at was closed so we drove around for a little bit looking for a parking space and then went into the Midnight Rose restaurant. I've eaten there many times in the past and it's pretty good but it's a little dark. 

After lunch we decided to go ride the narrow gauge train here in town. It doesn't go very far, just a few miles out of town to an open and working gold mine.  Some mines in the area have cool names like the Mollie Kathleen mine, Vindicator, American Eagles,  or the Stratton mine.  But this massive open pit mine is just called the Cripple Creek & Victor mine.

After paying for our tickets we had about 20 minutes to wait till the train left.  There was a large Latina family already on board and they were actively trying to take pictures of each other.  I offered to take pictures of the group, then spent the next 5 minutes taking every variation they could think of.

The engine was a genuine steam train.  The engineer was loading coal into a small box at the back of the engine and the smoke and smell of burning coal was very strong in the air.  There was also a large water tank beside the engine but I didn't see him refill the tank at all.

When it was time to go, the engineer began making announcements for everyone to board, and the conductor came around asking to see everyone's tickets.  There were about 30 people spread among 3 cars, but each car could have held 30 people so we weren't even half full.

I took a lot of 360 photos through the trip, but most didn't come out because Mylo and I weren't sitting right next to each other, and there was a vertical pole that blocked Mylo in every shot.  Otherwise, the views from the train were great.

I didn't think about that vertical bar at all, it ruined almost every picture

Looking back at Cripple Creek.  Just a touch of forest fire smoke in the air.

At full speed we were going about 10 to 15 miles an hour.  We clanked along while the engineer told us stories about the area and the train.  There used to be several towns up here and a lot more people when the gold mines were running.  One town, Gillett, burned down and many of the remaining buildings were moved to Cripple Creek as historic scenery.  In fact, Cripple Creek burned down twice before the city council passed a law requiring all large buildings to be made of brick.

From the train, you can't really see the gold mine.  It is a massive open pit at the top of the mountain and we could just see the hill sides leading up to it.  But from Google Maps, the mine is massive.  I'm sure the company deliberately runs the mine in a way to prevent it from becoming an eyestore to the surrounding area.  Cripple Creek sits northwest of the mine and Victor sits southeast.  This is the most profitable gold mine in Colorado history.  Hundreds of thousands of ounces of gold have been removed from the mine.

The Cripple Creek and Victor mine

We only went a few miles before we reached the end of the line.  The engineer released a valve which caused a steady whoosh of  steam and the train slowed to a stop.  He fiddled for a bit with the controls then pulled out a couple chunks of coal and threw them in the fire box.  He told us how many gallons of water the engine held but I don't remember.  He said they had to refill the tanks about every 3rd run.

We could see tailings from the mine in the distance.

Then he turned some valves again and we started rolling backward but instead of going back down the tracks we'd come up, we veered off to our right for about 50 yards.  He stopped again, fiddled and we moved forward.  But, again, we switched to a different track headed back North.   He stopped after a bit and told us this was what he called "Echo Valley".   He blew the train whistle for a bit and when he stopped, we could hear a good 4 or 5 seconds of echo coming back to us.

Looking out over Echo Valley

One more time we pulled up to a dead end, then reversed out.  I never saw him change any  switches, so they must just be setup that moving one way puts you on the turnout, then pulling back forward switches you around.  I listened the last time and I think I heard the wheels clink extra loud as we went through the switch.  This left us backing the last part of the tracks back into Cripple Creek so the next batch of riders would pull straight out like we did.

With a last whoosh we slowed and stopped in the station.  The engineer wished us all a good day and said we could come forward and ask any questions we might have.  Several people did ask questions and we listened in.  That's when he told us about the water tanks.  But when it was our turn, I just said we wanted a picture with him.  This time there was no dumb bar ruining the shot.

Cripple Creek Railroad and our Engineer

Our original plan was to go get ice cream after the train ride but neither Mylo nor I were hungry. We'd been snacking on Gardettos and pretzels through the whole ride. So we just got on the bike and started the ride back towards home. I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures coming down off of Cripple Creek because it was a beautiful view. I've done the ride 40 or 50 times and maybe I've just become numb to the scenery. 

The temperature was in the low 70s when we left Cripple Creek but by the time we pulled into Woodland Park it was into the mid 80s. Now we were ready for ice cream. I don't know of a really good ice cream shop in Woodland Park but they do have a McDonald's and a Sonic. Mylo voted for the Sonic. 

A big raven at the Sonic

Not at all afraid of us

I parked the bike and we got off. We were just going to sit at the picnic tables. As we walked over we saw a great big black bird on top of one of the garbage cans. It was sitting so still I wondered if it wasn't some sort of a statue but then it fluttered just a little bit.  We weren't sure at the time what it was. Either a Raven or a Crow but I took pictures and it appears to be a Raven because the throat feathers are shaggy. 

It didn't move at all as we walked past and around to order our food. Mylo got a blizzard and I got a small strawberry shake. It wasn't until they brought our food out to us that the raven finally flew away. 

On our ride home the temperature continued to increase until it was about 95°. We still rode through Garden of the Gods but I took no pictures.   We were both sweating by the time we got to Mylo's house. It had been a great day but I was exhausted and so was Mylo. 

Day 2

We did do a second day's ride but I took very few pictures. Sometimes all the picture taking gets in the way of just hanging out together and enjoying the time. We started with breakfast at McDonald's then meandered our way up through Glen Eagle, Monument, and Palmer Lake.  We stopped to gas up the motorcycle and grab sodas and a snack. We also decided to go to the Safeway and grab sushi rather than go to a restaurant for lunch. 

McDonalds breakfast doesn't disappoint

We took Highway 105 out to Perry Park.  If you've never been to Perry Park it is a small community about 30 or 40 miles outside of Colorado Springs nestled up against the Front Range. It doesn't look like much but when you get to the back side it's almost another Garden of the Gods. Vertical red rocks sticking up out of the ground to 100 feet.  They have a beautiful golf course and a nice lake. 

We rode around Perry Park admiring the views. Eventually I spotted an actual park. It had playground equipment and covered picnic tables, which seemed perfect. I rode down off the main hill into the park. We weren't quite ready for lunch so we just took sodas and snacks with us. It was a nice little break and we just sat talking for 45 minutes. 

We took one picture by the lake in Perry Park

We got back on the bike and rode out of Perry Park and continued north up Highway 105.  After 15 miles we turned right, which took us up and over a small hill and down into Castle Rock. I stopped and checked for a park in the area. There seemed to be a little park at the center of a bunch of baseball fields so we drove over there. 

There was already a group of yard maintenance workers sitting at the tables eating lunch so we grabbed a table near them and ate our own lunch. It was just starting to get up into the mid-80s. Mylo had band practice at 3:00 so he needed to be home closer to 2:00. We came out the backside of Castle Rock on Lake Gulch Road to Highway 83. We went a little bit west to Russellville Road and turned north. 

About ten miles up Russellville Road, we turned right into Deerfield.  This took us over to Highway 86 and eventually to Elizabeth. We turned south and took a few back roads and eventually wound up in Elbert.  Another 20 miles of twist and turn brought us back on Burgess road and home.  This wasn't nearly as long a ride as yesterday but I figured Mylo really didn't need to be exhausted before band. 

I absolutely love taking grandkids on rides like this. Especially with the helmet intercoms allowing us to chat, joke, share stories, point out interesting things and get to know each other 

2026 Aug Ride to Silverthorne with Rayden

Riding to Silverthorne with my granddaughter Rayden

DAY 1

I have tried all summer to get my granddaughter, Rayden, out for an overnight motorcycle ride. So when her mom Klair had to leave for a few days, that gave me my opportunity. It also helped that it looked like we'd have a couple of cooler days in the middle of this hot streak of weather.  Riding around in 75° is a whole lot better than 95°. 

So on Monday, August 3rd, I drove Klair to the airport and she flew off to Milwaukee for a work conference. Then on Tuesday I drove to the house and picked up Rayden. It had been a good while since I'd done a long ride so it took me longer to get ready than I expected. We didn't get away from her house till almost 8:30. 

Ready to ride

Our first stop was McDonald's for a couple of breakfast sandwiches and drinks. I kept asking Rayden if she didn't want to go play in the play land but she assured me she was far too old and mature for silly things like that. She's 11 after all. Two weeks ago she was all over the playland with her cousins but then she had the excuse of playing with a precocious four-year-old. Climbing around by herself probably felt embarrassing. 

After we finished eating we double-checked all our gear and that we weren't forgetting anything.  I asked Rayden if she wanted to listen to a book or if she wanted to listen to her own music on her phone. 

We climbed on the bike and started to head north.  I'm testing a new mapping software called Kurviger.  It's specifically for motorcycles and allows you to set out a specific route rather than Google Maps constantly recalculating your route and trying to get you on the highways and freeways. Most of the time I want to avoid highways and freeways on the motorcycle and I want narrow curvy roads that are interesting and fun to ride. 

In Kurviger I can actually tell it to avoid highways. It planned me a route north out of Colorado Springs, sticking to the side roads. We made our way up to Monument and then over to Palmer Lake and headed north towards Denver on Highway 105. That's one of my favorite roads that meanders out through farm country near the foothills of the Front Range. 

At the north end of 105 we came out in Sedalia. This is where Google Maps always gets a little confused. It wants to take me up to the freeway and then over to Highway 285. Convincing Google Maps to take me through the neighborhoods and then up Deer Creek Canyon Road is almost impossible. Kurviger planned the route with almost no effort. So far my biggest complaint is that it doesn't show me my current speed nor the posted speed limit on the roads I'm on. I missed that from Google Maps. 

We stopped at a gas station in Sterling Ranch to take a short break and go to the bathroom. We threw away the McDonald's sodas that had gotten watery and each got a bottle of soda in case we got thirsty on the ride. From here we took the ride over towards Chatfield Reservoir. Then just before we reached the freeway, we turned left onto Deer Creek Canyon Road. For me this is where we really start the more fun part of the ride. Deer Creek Canyon Road is a small two-lane road that bicyclists love to ride up and down so we have to be careful and share the road. But it's tree-lined, has lots of little curves, and because it's so shady it's always a cooler temperature than the surrounding flats. 

First Gas Stop

Deer Creek Canyon Road

I was thoroughly enjoying the ride while weaving up the road through the trees. In my rear view mirror I could see Rayden with her hands out, sometimes flapping like a bird, enjoying the ride herself. I've been up this road at least 30 times over the years and it never gets old. As I was writing I remembered that we pass a little business called Tiny Town. It's a small-scale railroad that they built little homes, businesses, and animals around. You ride the little train as you tour around their town. I have never stopped there so I pulled over and looked up some information on it. 

It only costs about $5 to get in plus about $4 for a train ride.  I asked Rayden if she would like to stop there and she gave an enthusiastic yes. I went into Kurviger and added a new way point and it adjusted our route correctly to take us over to Tiny Town. 

It was a little after 10:00 by the time we arrived. We parked the bike, left all our gear, and headed across the street to the ticket booth. I don't remember what the total cost was but it was somewhere around $24. We paid and walked in. Our first stop was the gift shop but there really wasn't a whole lot to see. It was just common toys, maybe a few t-shirts, and that was about it. We didn't spend long. 

Riding the train in Tiny Town

We decided to take the train ride first rather than walking through town first. The train was just about to leave and it was pretty packed so we decided to wait for the next train, which took about ten minutes. We took some pictures and sat in the shade while we waited. When the train got back we were about the third group to board. Rayden didn't want to sit in the front and didn't want to sit in the way back so we picked a spot right in the middle and sat side by side on the tiny little benches. 

The train took off at about a slow walking pace and we headed through their little village. The houses were maybe a foot tall and two feet square but of course that's just a generality. Some were two-story, some were much wider or longer. There was a city hall that was quite a bit bigger and a pretty good variety of houses and businesses. I think it would be a lot more exciting for a four- or five-year-old than it was for an 11-year-old but we had a good time. Rayden's favorite part was when we got around the back side of the town and there was a huge area just filled with dinosaurs. There were also horses. There were cattle and several other kinds of themed areas. We enjoyed them all. 

When we first boarded the conductor told us we'd be going through a tunnel and that we had to raise our hands and yell as we went through the tunnel because there was a troll that we needed to scare away or something. The tunnel was just an old shed with a few signs painted on it but we raised our hands and yelled anyway. 

The "tunnel"

They even have the Air Force Academy Chapel

Rayden's favorite - Dinosaurs

Once we were back we went and walked down to the town. Many of the houses had glass roof windows that you could peer into. Most had little figurines and furniture. A few of the houses or stores were donated and elaborately decorated, but most had been sitting out in the weather for years. A couple were absolutely filled with spider webs. Rayden's favorite was a very colorful house with the big smiley face on it. 

Rayden's favorite

Crossing the bridge over a mighty river

All together we spent a little over an hour in Tiny Town. It was getting close to noon and we were both hungry so we loaded back up on the bike and headed down the road to find somewhere to eat. 

This was the first time I overrode what Kurviger was recommending. It wanted us to take the road straight past Tiny Town and then turn left onto Highway 285. You're trying to turn left across four lanes of high-speed highway traffic with a semi-blind turn to your right. I've done it before and hated it. But I knew that if I backtracked just a half a mile, there was an underpass under 285 that would take you to a nice simple on-ramp heading in the direction we wanted to go. That's what we did. 

Google would have just rerouted once it saw me going backwards on our route but Kurviger kept insisting that we should go back the other way. That's actually what I like about Kurviger: it tries to take me the route I planned. Once we were back on to the actual route, Kurviger quit complaining and just continued on with the route and again that's what I want to happen. 

I knew of a good restaurant, The Crossroads Grill, on 285 that wasn't far away. It's at Pine Junction. I often drive that route as part of a four-hour loop.  Normally I turn left and head South, but this time we just stopped for lunch then instead of turning,  we're going to continue West down Highway 285. 

Rayden got a bacon cheeseburger with no vegetables on it and onion rings. I got a Reuben sandwich with fries. Both were excellent and neither of us was able to finish all of our lunch. 

Just as we finished and were about to get back on the motorcycles, we heard some thunder nearby and felt the first drops of rain hitting us. Normally I would just hop on the bike and go, hoping either to ride it out or that it wouldn't rain so hard that I needed to put on gear. I really didn't want this to be a bad experience for Rayden so I pulled out the rain gear and we suited up. 

The wind really started to kick up around us when we pulled out onto the road and we could see sheets of rain coming out of the clouds around us. It sprinkled for about five minutes and then it just started to clear up and go away. We could still hear thunder behind us but we managed to outrun the storm. Not much further and the sun broke through and the heat started to build. 

Rayden - full rain gear and ready for the storm

Took the rain gear back off when we outran the storm

We stopped and took all our rain gear back off and I looked on a weather map to see just what was going on. It looked like there were heavy storms in the mountains but since we were nearly out onto the flat plains we were going to be just fine. 

My original plan was for us to ride over Guanella Pass to the town of Lake George but that would have led us right into the heart of the storms. So instead I changed and decided to take tomorrow's route and go up over Hoosier Pass into Breckenridge instead. There were no rain storms over in that direction so we should be fine. 

We reached the town of Fair Play and stopped to gas up and to take a little breather. By now it was almost 3:00 and the temperatures had really risen up into the mid-80s. We still had our sodas and neither of us needed the bathroom so after gassing up we turned up towards Hoosier Pass and Breckenridge. 

Hoosier Pass has always felt like a little bit of a cheat to me. There's a ton of houses and it doesn't actually get very high. When you compare it to things like Guanella Pass or Cottonwood Pass or even Berthud Pass, it doesn't really feel like a high mountain pass.  There was a constant stream of cars going in each direction, which also detracted from the ambiance. But at least the temperatures dropped as we rode up to the top of the pass. 

Hoosier Pass, kind of anti climatic isn't it

Once we crossed over, however, the temperature really poured on. By the time we reached Breckenridge it was over 90 degrees. It's actually been five or six years since I've been to Breckenridge and it has really built up. It's always been a very popular town because of the ski resort but the sidewalks were packed with people and the streets were lined with cars. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm sure it would be okay to come with friends and to wander the streets shopping, but riding the motorcycle through was terrible. We were going 5 mph and it felt stifling. 

Breckenridge

More of Breckenridge

We finally made it out the other side but the traffic really didn't let up. There is a constant stream of traffic both directions all the way to Frisco. Kurviger routed us around town rather than through town, which was very nice. It also took us onto the Dillon Dam road instead of the freeway.  Dillon Dam is an earthen dam about 200 ft high. It makes some people very nervous to drive across the top. One side drops right down into the heart of Silverthorne and the other side, of course, is Dillon Reservoir. Dillon Reservoir was way down, had to be 50 ft or more below the high water mark. 

We drove across the dam then headed into Silverthorne to the Hampton Inn, where we would stay for the night. We checked in, then carried all our gear up to the fourth floor. Turned the AC way down and collapsed on the beds to recover from our heat ordeal. 

Crossing Dillon Dam

After twenty minutes we put on swimming suits and headed down to the pool and the hot tub. I sat in the pool for a little while to get cool then headed over to the hot tub. I'm not sure why I find the hot tub relaxing after all that heat through Frisco but I do. It had really good jets that felt very good on my arms, legs, and lower back.  Rayden put on her swimming mask, got a couple of rings that dropped to the bottom of the pool, and proceeded to swim like a fish, dropping and picking up the rings. Every twenty minutes or so she'd come get in the hot tub. She didn't stay long and she'd go right back to swimming. 

Rayden loved the swimming pool

I loved the hot tub and the jets on my lower back

I got out after a half hour and just relaxed on a chair, listening to a book. I'm listening to The Civil War by Shelby Foote. It's three books, each of which is about 30 hours long and I'm in the middle of book two. This is about the fourth time I've listened to the series and I really enjoy it. Books seem to occupy the portion of my brain that gets bored while I drive without reducing my driving skills at all. 

Eventually Rayden decided it was time to stop. She was hungry so we started looking to see what was around. It turns out that we have a sushi restaurant just across the street and Rayden loves California rolls. 

I ran up to the room and showered while Rayden did her last little bit of swimming, then she came in and showered and got ready to go to dinner. Rayden ordered a California Roll, and I ordered sashimi rolls. Rayden also got a mango smoothie with boba in it. She loved the California roll, loved the smoothie, but hated the bobas. They didn't pop and they tasted terrible. I didn't realize my sashimi rolls were battered and deep fried. They were okay but not my favorite. I ordered Rayden a second California roll because the first didn't seem that big. 

While we sat there we could see a large 8-foot-high TV screen that was constantly running ads for various things on the restaurant's menu. One in particular was a lemon ice cream pop and I could see Rayden's eyes light up every time it came on. Sure enough she asked if she could get one and I said yes of course. 

Once we were back in our room, Rayden asked if we could go swim again. I didn't need to swim but I was happy to go down with her. She went to the pool and I went outside the hotel to a big window that looked into the pool. I sat listening to my book and watching Rayden frolic in the water. I don't know just how long we were there but it was probably an hour. It wasn't dark yet but the sun had gone behind the mountains. 

Back in the room Rayden showered and put on her pajamas. I went in to brush my teeth and by the time I came out Rayden was sound asleep. This was an awesome day! 

DAY 2

I woke up at 5:30, just as light started to leak around the curtains.  Rayden woke up just minutes after I did.  We were both dressed and ready for breakfast just after 6:00.  It was a standard hotel breakfast with waffles and scrambled eggs.  The temperature outside was 41 degrees.  I thought that was a bit cold so we took our time eating and packing so that we didn't get on the road till almost 8:00. 

Rayden's whipped cream breakfast, and some waffles under it

We started by driving over Dillon Dam again just to try to get better pictures than yesterday.  It was still shocking how low the water was.  We had talked about trying to fish, but it just didn't look like it would be fun to walk all the way out with that thick mud around the water.

Riding over Dillon Dam and trying to fly

Wide angle of the Dillon Dam

I had just started driving up the road toward Loveland pass when I glanced over and saw this striking statue of an Eagle beside the road.  I was a few hundred yards down the road when it struck me how beautiful the statue and the view was.  I wish I'd stopped for a picture, then it struck me "you can just turn around you know".  So I did.  We flipped a u-turn and headed back to get a picture with the eagle, and I'm glad I did.

Rayden and the eagle

Both of us with the eagle

Yesterday there was a huge amount of smoke in the air from nearby wild fires, but today it looked crystal clear.  We spent 20 minutes getting some good pictures with the Eagle, the lake, and the beautiful mountains in the background.

We got back on the bike and headed up the road..  We passed by Keystone Ski Resort which looked very empty.  I know they have a lot of restaurants and shops at the foot of the ski slopes, but the parking lots held no cars.  Maybe it's too early.

Once we passed Keystone we saw almost no other cars on the road. The temperatures had risen rapidly from 50° up to almost 70°. It made me wish we had left even earlier in the morning and not worried so much about it being cold. 

Quick selfie on the way up Loveland Pass

20 miles past Keystone we came to Arapahoe Basin ski slope, also called A-Basin.  It was even more shut down than Keystone. 

After A-Basin the road started to have hairpins and get even steeper as we climbed towards the pass.  It did get cooler as we climbed but the air was warming faster than we were climbing. I thought about stopping to take a few pictures but the light was just so harsh and we were starting to get smoke in the air again, which made everything fuzzy so I didn't bother. 

We did stop at the very top and take pictures by the sign.  Another couple on a motorcycle decided to flip around and take pictures at the same sign but they didn't bother checking for other cars on the road. They almost got hit when they pulled sideways to the oncoming traffic. We got our pictures with the tripod, then I offered to take a picture for them and they were very grateful. 

Loveland Pass

Once we're over the pass, the road down to the freeway doesn't feel very long at all. Soon we are flying along at 75 mph. I hate riding on the freeway for these sorts of rides but there is just no other way to get from Loveland Pass down to Georgetown. We got back off the freeway as soon as humanly possible. 

We gassed up, snacked up, and peed out in Georgetown at the first gas station we saw. Then we started up towards Guanella Pass. I've always ridden this pass from the south, heading up and over the pass and down into Georgetown. Riding from south to north feels a little scary as you're descending that steep hillside above the town. But riding from town up the pass was no big deal. It felt very comfortable. I had been worried that it might scare Rayden but she didn't seem to care one bit. She just kept talking about how pretty it all was. 

Guanella Pass road by a lake

There was a lot of cleanup going on. We had about five sections where the road was closed to one lane and there were work crews trimming trees or clearing hillsides. None of the stops were very long and soon we had gorgeous views out across the valleys almost all the way back to Denver. 

As we got near the top we came around a corner and suddenly there was a herd of about twenty bighorn sheep on the side of the road. Luckily none of them were in the road. My 360 camera was on and I tried to snap a couple of pictures. I probably just should have stopped but the sheep were in the area I would have had to pull over into and I'm sure I would have scared them off. What I really should have done was just stop in the middle of the road and take some pictures but I didn't. I'm too much of a namby pamby, follow-the-rules kind of guy I guess. 

Bighorn Sheep

We kept on riding up and the views kept on getting better. Soon we came out on top and were amazed at how many cars were parked all over the place. This is an incredibly popular hiking area. I pulled into the main parking lot but could see absolutely nowhere to park the bike to try to take some pictures and the roads were covered with no stopping signs. I did stop long enough to take a couple of 360 pictures and they came out pretty good. 

Guanella Pass

Another from the top of Guanella Pass

My original plan was to stop on top and eat the snacks we bought in Georgetown but instead we kept on riding. After 10 miles or so I found a nice shady spot on the side of the road and we pulled over for a break. We got a couple of pictures and then Rayden said she thought she could hear a creek off to the side of us. I told her she could wander down there if she wanted so she did. Soon she called back that the creek wasn't very far off at all so I joined her. 

Stopped for a snack on the way down

Babbling brook in the woods

Rayden

It was a picturesque little creek running through tall pines. You could almost say it was a babbling brook because it made just the most pleasing gurgling sounds as it tumbled over the rocks. 

We stayed for almost twenty minutes eating our snacks and wandering up and down the creek. We had no cell service, which made Rayden sad because she really wanted to video call her mom or dad. Finally it was time to get moving. Temperatures had continued to climb and it was now over 80°. 

We finished the Guanella Pass Road all the way to Highway 285 then turned left towards Denver. Both of us were getting pretty hungry so we stopped after 20 minutes to figure out what was nearby. We rode to a couple of sandwich shops and to a burger place but they were all closed.  Eventually we settled on a Mexican restaurant that had a pretty full parking lot. I usually avoid off-the-wall places with empty parking lots so this was a good sign. 

They didn't have a lunch menu and all of their main entrees were $20 or more so we decided just to order a la carte. We each got two chicken enchiladas. They weren't the best I've ever had but they weren't terrible either. The final bill was only $22 so I really couldn't complain. 

By the time we finished eating and got back on the bike, the temperatures were up near 90°. I really thought long and hard about our return route. I wanted to stay as high and cool as we possibly could but every way I could think of left us with half an hour to an hour of driving out on the plains in the heat. 

Eventually I decided to take us down through Deckers then try to take the road over to Salida, which would leave us about a half an hour of Highway 105, which can get pretty hot. The added benefit is that Deckers has a restaurant that serves ice cream.

We turned south at Pine Junction, right by the restaurant we ate lunch at yesterday. It was still in the high 80s but wasn't too bad. The first 20 miles of the road towards Deckers is filled with small towns and cabins so the speed limit is often 30 mph, which can make for some slow riding. But eventually we got past all of that and the speed limit picked up to fifty-five. 

We also gained just a little bit of elevation and the combination of cooler air and faster riding made it feel a lot more comfortable. As we approached Deckers we descend off the hillsides and the temperature shot up to 92. We pulled into the restaurant and saw not a single car in the parking lot. It wasn't that the restaurant is bad. It just wasn't open, which was very disappointing. There's also a liquor store here but the only thing they serve that I might want is ice so we didn't go in there. 

We turn northwest on Highway 67, planning to go to Sedalia via a little five-mile dirt cutoff. We got about 10 miles up the road just to find out that the road is closed. There was a 20-mile dirt detour we could have taken but I had no desire to ride 20 miles of dirt so we turned around. Back at Decker's we turned south towards Woodland Park. 

The temperature kept climbing and soon it was 94°. I pulled over to a little parking area in the shade and we got out to drink some water and cool off for a bit. Woodland Park isn't my favorite place for restaurants but they do have a McDonald's and McDonald's does serve ice cream so we decided to go there.  As we got close to Woodland the temperature started dropping. Soon it was down to 81°. I have no idea why Deckers was so hot and Woodland Park was so cool but thank heavens it was! 

We pulled into the McDonald's and ordered ice cream then sat in the cool air and enjoyed it for half an hour. 

By now we were both very ready to be home and to get out of the heat. We started down Highway 24 toward Colorado Springs and home.  This is not my favorite road because of just how much traffic it gets. In fact about four years ago while riding with two friends, we got rear-ended on this road because of the traffic and inattentive drivers. I stayed in the right lane and kept a pretty good gap around me. Then we even took the Green Mountain Falls Cut-Off to avoid more of the road. 

Then I took the Manitou Springs exit and we drove through Garden of the Gods. I could ride Garden of the Gods every day of the year and not get tired of it. I always go through here on my way back from Woodland Park and it didn't disappoint. 

We took side roads toward Woodman Road then back to Rayden's house. She was very happy to get off the bike and give her dad a big hug. Her mom was still in Milwaukee on a business trip. After we got her stuff off, I got back on the bike for the five-minute ride to my house. I was also very happy to give my wife a big hug and then to go take a nap.