Colorado Cruiser: Colorado Fall Colors Ride - Day 1 - Pagosa Springs Ride

Last weekend my wife and I went with friends on a long drive to see some fall colors. We circled Pikes Peak and drove up a road called the "Shelf Road". It got it's name because for much of it's length, it sits on a shelf carved into the side of a canyon. It's not a huge canyon like the Grand Canyon , but 400 foot will still kill ya.

We got some great pictures and I'll include a few of them at the end.

That drive and the beautiful scenery just whetted my appetite though. I was in the mood for a good long ride through the Colorado High country and the golden blankets of the Aspen forests.

My son Kyle recently graduated from Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix . He's come home for a while to stay with us (and save the cost of rent) while he looks for a job. If anyone has some connections to a Harley Dealership, he'd love the help.

My old 1985 Honda Magna that Kyle has ridden in the past was slowly dying so we decided to sell it and use the money to buy a used Harley Sportster. It needed some work, and fortunately we know someone who's recently graduated a school specializing in Harleys. Kyle spent the last week tuning up, tweaking, and I did a bit of welding to get it ready for the trip. I was constantly teasing Kyle about not letting that Harley drip oil on my garage floor. He assured me that Harley Davidson has corrected the issues with the old motors and that the newer Harleys don't drip oil anymore.

As we began planning the trip, it we had planned on 3 days. 1 day to ride down near Durango . 1 Day riding the San Juan Skyway, and 1 day to ride home. But in the middle of that planning I received news that my Mission President had passed away. I served a 2 year mission for the Mormon Church to the South West of England, we called it the England Bristol Mission. Lorenzo Hoopes was the man who volunteered his time to oversee and direct the 300 or so missionaries who were also serving in that area when I was there. He assigned us our companions and locations. He quarterly held interviews to check on us, and he often called, wrote letters, or just drove out to see us and give us advice. It's his advice, love, integrity and driving energy that I always remembered. Next to my parents he's probably one of the largest influences on my life both during my mission and in the 30 years since.

So with his death I changed my plans. Rather than 3 days of riding, we would just do 2 days, and on Monday I'll fly to Utah for his Internment in Brigham City Utah .

By Friday, Kyles sportster was ready. My Honda's always ready, it's a Honda. We had a quick discussion about where we could go on a 1 day ride out, and next day return. We decided on Pagosa Springs. Since Kyle hasn't ridden much lately we didn't want to push it too hard. And I know lots of ways to get to Pagosa and could shorten or lengthen the ride as needed depending on how the bike and rider were holding up.

Kyle has spent the last 18 months (and much of his life) in Arizona , so he's shall we say temperately challenged. He really doesn't like the cold. So we decided to leave the house at 9:00 rather than my normal 6:00 departure time. That let us say goodbye to everyone. My house faces East, so all while we loaded the bikes and got things ready, the sun was shining on us. By the time we were ready I was sweating. I threw on my mesh jacket and convinced Kyle to do the same. We left the house and headed to a nearby gas station. By the time we'd done the 10 miles, Kyle said he was freezing and threw on his heavy jacket. I kept on my mesh jacket and gloves.

We headed South on I-25 until the South end of the city, then hopped of on Hwy 115 which passes behind Fort Carson army base. The traffic was surprisingly light. Normally there are idiots..... er.... special people who are in such a rush they pass you on blind corners at 80mph. But not today. Light traffic and even tempers made the ride very enjoyable. I loved the slight chill in the air and especially how clean the air was. We've had major wild fires all summer long which left the air for all of my previous rides kind of hazy. Not today. The distant mountains are slightly hazy but not the nearby hills.

I checked my mirrors often to make sure Kyle was staying up with me ok and not splattered on the side of the road or anything. He was fine. As we neared the intersection with Hwy 50 (a major East/West road) I pulled over to talk. Kyle said he was doing great and was really loving the bike and the ride. So I decided to throw in a slight extension to the ride. Rather than just turning East on hwy 50, we continued South on Hwy 115 to Florence Colorado ( Florence Colorado is home to many prisons just like Florence Arizona ). At Florence , we turned South again and headed to the town of Westcliff . That took us through a small mountain range and a much less traveled road than hwy 50.

There aren't major aspen forests around Westcliff, but there are small stands spread throughout the pine trees and some lining the roads. It made a pretty patchwork of color up the sides of the canyons.

At Westcliff we turned North back towards Hwy 50. Just a few miles out of town though, we came to a traffic jam. Someone had turned over a travel trailer on the road. Fortunately for us, the police and wreckers were already there and well underway cleaning up. I figure the road had been closed for 30 minutes, but there were only 10 cars on our side of the accident and maybe 4 on the other side. I did say this was a less traveled road didn't I?

The traffic cleared and we continued on our way. At highway 50 we turned West. The road winds along the Arkansas river canyon with lots of beautiful views. But usually too many twists and turns for me to take many pictures. Plus it was near noon and the harsh light made what few photos I took look stark and ugly.

We had lunch in Salida at a sports bar. We watched Golf, Michigan vs Ok, and Giants vs someone else. The audio didn't match any of the games we could see. We had some great wings (sorry Koren and Klair) and burgers. No soda.

Just past Salida we turned South towards Poncha Pass and Alamosa. We stopped for pictures on Poncha pass. Most of the trees had already shed their leaves here which made me worry that we'd already missed the color. It was kinda late in September already. The mountains on the East side of the pass were getting a deluge of rain. All while we were there it kept raining and raining in the same place. I guess the moisture was being forced up and the rain was wrung out of the forming clouds. It was very cool to watch the long line of rain showers just following the line of mountains.

As we continued south following the mountains, there was always a rain storm to our left and clear skies to our right. As we entered the valley, the mountains swung away on both sides, the road straightened and flattened, and the boring part of the day got underway. We had about 70 miles of flat straight road before we picked up highway 69 and started towards Wolf Creek Pass.

Now there's a name with lots of memories. I've been over Wolf Creek pass probably more than any other pass in Colorado . Both in cars and on Motorcyles. I never get tired of the views and on a bike, the twists. This time it was a bit more ominous than most. There were storm clouds covering all of the nearby mountains, and far more lightning that like to see.

Just as we started the real ascent we were hit with a sudden splattering of huge rain drops. Not a ton of rain, but huge drops that hit and splatter wide. And since I had the face shield open on my helmet, one big one that smacked my cheek, stung like heck, and splattered the INSIDE of my glasses. We slowed and pulled into a parking lot where I switched my mesh gloves and jacket for my heavy jacket and warm gloves. I didn't pull out the heated jacket and gloves because I'm not a wimp (I should have been a wimp).

Kyle just sat and watched because he'd already been wearing his warm stuff. About half way through the swap it began to sprinkle. I've been spit with rain many times going over Wolf Creek , but for some reason I've never been in a real down pour. The mountains seem to prevent a serious rain storm and it's always rain bands. 30 seconds to 2 minutes and then it clears. As we started again I saw a few other motorcycles come down and they didn't have rain gear on so I hoped it would be the same as usual.

We started up the road and it opened up. Again the big fat drops but this time they continued and the road started getting wet and then the water started to run down the road. About a minute later it slackened to a trickle, then it stopped. Same ol' same ol'. Luckily.

We kept riding up and about 15 minutes later the rain started again. I had once again lifted my visor, and once again got splatted, but this time it really hurt. It wasn't rain, it was hail. We throttled way back to about 30 so we wouldn't get decapitated by the hail stones. This time it only lasted about 2 minutes and then petered out, but 2 minutes of hail on a motorcycle is way more than enough.

By now we were nearing the top. We stopped for the obligatory continental divide photo and Kyle decide to up the ante another notch. He put the liner into his jacket and slipped on some rain proof pants. As the hail began to fall around us again, I decided to put rain pants on as well. It was really getting cold and the hail was picking up, so I figured riding back out of the hail (especially before it accumulated and made the roads slick) would be better than taking the time to put on my heated gear.

We slapped everything on and started descending the Western side of the pass slowly. There were clear car tracks in the slush of the hail, so we kept our speed down to about 25. I tested my back brakes a bit and still had plenty of traction so we kept going. After only a couple miles, the temperature rose and the road cleared. By the time we'd reached my favorite scenic overlook, it was a down right balmy 60 degrees, so we pulled off and took some pictures. It was just around sunset so the golden colors coupled with the golden aspen trees and quakey oaks made the whole valley shine. I don't think I did the view justice with my camera. We were a bit hurried in case the storm followed us down.

Finally we started down again. The views left and right were beautiful but the light was fading and we didn't want to ride in the dark. the temperature also started to dip again so we didn't stop any more, but I tried to grab a few shots as we went.

Once we reached Pagosa Springs we headed to the Quality Inn on the West end of town. We offloaded the bikes and relaxed a bit. Then a simple burger and McD's (I was still stuffed from lunch). And we headed off to the real destination for this trip. The mineral hot springs in downtown Pagosa.

The hot springs have been here for a very long time. I guess John Wayne loved them while shooting Cowboys, and Oprah made them even more famous a few years ago on her show.

It's about $30 each with towel, locker, and the 5 adult only pools addon.

We got to the springs about 6:30 and didn't leave until nearly 10:00. There are many pool with different temperatures, some with jets, many with beautiful views. I think that during the summer, kids can be a real nuisance, thus the adult only pools. But tonight we didn't really need them as a refuge. We tried nearly every pool in the place. Kyle tended to like the 110, 111, and 113 degree pool, while I preferred around 105.

It's a true natural hot spring with the typical rotten egg smell. It's not overwhelming, but it is pervasive. One of the pools had high sides and was very quiet with only a few people in it. My eyes began to water, I think because the fumes were collecting in one spot. Other than that, I didn't notice the smell all that much.

I tried the 113 "Lobster Pot" with Kyle for a bit. 2 minutes was about all I could handle.

I purchased a new camera recently. It's "ruggedized" meaning it's waterproof and shock proof. I took a few pictures with it. But I didn't use the flash much so I wouldn't disturb the other guests. Nan and I are going to Hawaii in mid October, so this was a good chance to check it out. As far as I can tell, it did great. Not a bit of water got in.

When we first got to the springs we were still chilled from the ride over wolf creek, so we hopped into the nearest pool. We sat there a few minutes, then headed on to the next, kind of walking gingerly because of the cold air. By the 3rd pool, my core temp had risen enough that I no longer felt the cold air much. In fact by the 10th pool I had to get out for long stretches of time to cool back down before I could go in another one.

It was a great night. No wind, fairly quite chit chat around the pools. We avoided the 2 or 3 pools that were obviously home to the loud drunks. We'd sit in a pool and chat with the people that felt like chatting, or just sit quietly and look at the harvest moon rising. I sure wish my wife was there with me, it would have been perfect.

We finally decided to leave before closing time and the big rush for the showers. On the way home we stopped and grabbed some fruit to re-hydrate.

This was a great day, a great ride, beautiful colors, and a fantastic hot springs . But the best of all was the "With my Son Kyle" part of the title. It was great to have Kyle back and hang out with him.

Stopped at the intersection of Hwy 115 and Hwy 50

A little color on the road into Florence

Federal Prison in Florence Colorado . Some where in there is the Unibomber

Headed towards the mounts near Westcliff

Fall colors outside Westcliff

More color by Westcliff

Out of the mountains and across the valley headed towards Westcliff

A quick drink and potty break in Westcliff

A major road stoppage on a Colorado back road. Maybe 15 cars in 30 minutes

A pretty hillside with no road (for my mother)

Hwy 50 and the Arkansas river

Poncha Pass

Rain storms lining the East side of the highway

Mirror view of Kyle and the rain storms on Poncha Pass behind us

Climbing Wolf Creek Pass and the beautiful GOLDEN aspen trees

Splattered with rain

Beautiful hillsides. Couldn't stop because it was Hailing.

Monarch Pass

Looking down from a scenic overlook on Monarch Pass

This is a massive panorama of the overlook. It needs some color adjustment. I'm just going to give you a link
and you can try it if you want.
Panorama

Trees lining the road