Colorado Hidden Roads - Day 3 - Naturita - Blanding

I always get melancholy when John and I head our separate ways at the end of a ride, and today's that day. John made the comment that to him it always feels like he's in a rush because he has such a long ride ahead of him and I'm always relaxed because I have such a short ride. It told him it's because I live somewhere nice to ride, and Arizona just isn't.

Actually I think it's more because John gets "get home fever", and I try real hard not to. John texted at the end of the day to say he only had high heat the last 50 miles of the ride, and actually has some cooling rain for a couple of hours.

My ride began about 7:00. I had no idea where I was going to go, and it was too early to be calling people asking if I could come hang out for a night, so I just picked a general direction and headed West back toward Naturita and Utah. The 20 miles to Naturita was very chilly. Probably 60 degrees, but it felt wonderful. As I approached the town I saw a sign for the "Nucla Loop". Nucla is another town just a couple of miles from Naturita, but it's not on a highway, so it's always felt like a poor 2nd cousin. The Nucla Loop also had a sign saying Highway 90 to Montrose.

I was tricked years ago by Highway 90 and Google. If you ask for the directions between Montrose and Naturita, Google will send you down highway 90. But it's all unpaved and very rough. I didn't take the road, but I used the length given as part of my trip planning, and when I went down the actual road, I was over an hour late to my destination.

Anyway, I decided to take the Nucla loop and see where it went. It led past a power plant, past some homes and farms, then led me to the main road into Nucla. I turned right up to the main part of Nucla which is about a block and a half long.

I remember coming to Nucla as a child with my Grand Father. It hasn't changed all that much in general appearance, but all of the stores have switched around. My favorite used to be a candy store run by a guy named Blind Pete. My brothers tell me they used to try to snitch candy but Blind Pete always caught them. All I remember is my Grandpa buying a bag of candy and giving me one, then eating most of the rest. I've tried to maintain that tradition with my own children and grand children. I love orange wedges enough that my grand kids will say "Can we have some popop candy?"

Anyway, Blind Pete's candy shop is gone and I was too young to remember much else. But there was a restaurant open for breakfast called the 5th Street Cafe and I went in. Breakfast was pretty good and I talked with several of the patrons about motorcycles and the various roads in the area.

One of the things that really struck me was a big picture on the wall of a Girl in a Marine uniform with a sign over the top that read "Home of the Free Because of the Brave".

After breakfast i rode back to the Nucla Loop and continued West. I knew where the Western end of the loop came out because I've ridden it many times and know it comes out near my first home. It descends through a really nice little canyon down to the Delores river. I rode through the farms and down the canyon, then turned right on highway 141 for about a mile. There just off the road to the right is the little farm house where I lived the first years of my life.

The house is in pretty rough shape. The fields around the house are green and filled with hay, but the house is abandoned. I walked around a while and took a few pictures. In front of the house were the remains of the front door. It was a paneled door but all of the panels were gone, and most of the frame was broken apart. I picked up the part of the frame with the lock and nobs. They still turned and functioned, so I strapped it to my bike. I'll see what I can do with it when I get home.

Once I left the house, I turned West onto highway 90 towards Bedrock, Paradox and La Salle. It's a really nice 2 lane road that was recently re-paved. It felt really smooth to ride on, sun was shining, the sky was blue, and I felt great. What a glorious cool morning to be out and about enjoying the majesty of nature.

After 30 minutes of easy riding I approached Bedrock. I'd been here 5 years ago with John and his wife. There was a small general store and we stopped back then for a soda and munchies. Its been closed for a few years now which was kind of sad to see.

Once past Bedrock the road turns left and climbs a big ridge up towards La Salle. Off to my right and ahead was the small town of Paradox. My dad used to mention Paradox occasionally but I don't remember ever being there so I figured I'd just go take a look. I exited the highway to the right down a narrow road that lead to a small group of houses. Looking through the town took about a minute. It once had a small store but that's closed. The houses were all nice, but no one could be seen, so I looped around and headed back to the highway.

As I climbed up the canyon wall I could look down at Paradox and the whole valley. It was very pretty, but the all pervasive smoke haze made the photos more bland. Once I was up the wall the road follows some canyons through small homesteads until you reach the Utah border. I stopped for a picture of the Utah sign. I've always been headed down this road rather than up, so I've always gotten a "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign in the past.

Picture taken, I headed back West and up onto the plateau around the La Salle mountain and the town of La Salle. Highway 90 eventually leads to highway 191 that runs North/South through Moab. But I turned South, away from Moab and towards Blanding where I have an Aunt and her family. I thought about going into Canyonlands for a quick tour, but I don't have enough gas for the 36 miles in and back out, so I kept going South through Monticello and into Blanding.

Just past Monticello I saw flashing signs along the highway warning that it's a deer migration area. Soon after I saw several dead deer along the road. I also saw a small herd of about 8 does and fawns just down off the road nervously pacing like they wanted to cross. I throttled way back and became a bobble head looking left and right for any signs of the hopping menaces, but other than the first few, I never saw any more.

I started to recognize allot of landmarks like the turnoff to long canyon where my grandfather used to run cows, the dood ranch where my mom still has propery, and Devil's canyon where we've cooked many a batch of dutch oven potatos. Finally I descended to Recapture Reservoir, then up and over radio hill into Blanding.

I'd timed it perfect. It was just after noon and the Patio Drive in was open and calling my name. I pulled into the packed place and scanned the menu. Last night the waitress had screwed up our order and brought super hot wings rather than the (cough) mild ones we'd ordered (hey, I'm getting old, don't judge me).

I ordered a basked of wings and onion rings, then looked for a table in the crowd. A small 2 seater opened just in time and I snatched it up with my helmet taking the other seat. The table across the way was a 4 seater, but filled with 8 people who were all speaking something scandinavian. The table behind was a group of rock climbers who were discussing a quick trip to monument valley and trying to be back by sundown, and all the other tables were filled with happy munching groups deep into their own conversations.

I pulled out my phone and called my aunt's house to be sure I'd have a place to sleep tonight. My cousin answered and once he assured me I could stay the night, I told him "Good, I'm at the Patio and will be over in an hour or so"

My wings came soon after. I sat munching wings, sipping my soda and trying not to look like I was listening in on the conversations around me, except that when the table behind me asked "Why is this town called Blanding", I had chime in with the quick version of the man who wanted a town named after his wife and promised a library to any town that would change it's name. Once the name was changed, the man delivered 2 boxes of old books to the town. Several other tables chimed in with comments and anecdotes as well. Then we all went back to pretending we weren't listening in one each other.

By the time I'd liked my fingers clean for the last time, the lunch rush was nearly over and it was down to me and the table of Scandinavians. The mom left for a few minutes, then came back in with a big nice camera and started taking some pictures of the kids posed about to eat french fries and burgers. I offered to take a picture of all of them together (it's amazing how universal that gesture is). They nodded and said a very broken "yes ples", so I had them all sit at the table with the "Blanding" sign behind it and took several pictures. The mom was ecstatic and kept saying "tank yu".

I suited up and went out to take my own staged photo. While I was getting on the bike, the mom came out again and walked over to a massive motorhome with rental signs all over it. They sure looked like they were having a great vacation together with kids, parents and grand parents.

I turned the bike back up the way I'd come and rode back to the big Blanding sign that welcomes you to town. I've never gotten a posed shot by this sign, so now was the time. Blanding's motto is "Basecamp for Adventure". My kids would disagree that Blanding is much of an adventure, but I've always had great memories there. My oldest does think it's the greatest place to spend the 4th of July though, and she's brought her kids here several times.

After the Blanding Sign, I rode to the local cemetery where much of my family history is buried, including my father, his brother, and their parents. I walked around the grave stones where an Aunt, and a brother were buried as babies, and a young cousin as a small girl.

My father's stone was miss-carved when first laid, but has now been fixed. That was new to me. My father's funeral took place in Arizona, but he is buried here. A brother brought the casket and body up in a truck but they couldn't close the tail gate because it was so long, so they had to tie it in. I remember the joking about putting a sign on "If found, please forward to Blanding" in case it fell out. My family has quite the history of joking our way through the hard times. My grandpa wanted a good dinner and a rousing game of volleyball at his funeral. My dad said that if his funeral was over 1 hour long, he'd come back and haunt someone.

Tonight my aunt told me about the day my grandmother died. She was ill and seemed to know that the end was near, so they sat around all day chatting and reminiscing. Every so often my grandma would look up and stare. Finally my aunt asked "Mom, what do you see when you look off like that?", my grandma said "Nothing, what do you think I'm doing, looking into heaven?". They all wanted their lives celebrated, not whined about.

I stood there and felt sorry for myself for a bit, then reminded myself how lucky I was to have 2 of the men I respected most in the world for a father and a grandfather, and a grandmother and mother who have always loved me dearly and could never seem to see the faults in me that seem so plain to myself. I walked around a bit more, then hopped on the bike and began celebrating life again.

I took a quick ride around the town looking at old haunts from the many times I'd visited, but mostly from the summer I spent there with my grandparents. It was a fantastic summer when my grandpa taught me what a nap was all about. He'd built a real Navajo Hogan that was 1/2 sunk into the ground and stayed cool even during the hottest part of the day. We'd move pipe, plow, weed, bail, fix fence, or whatever till noon. Eat lunch, then head over to the hogan for a nap. Man oh man can you sleep good after a hard morning's work.

After the tour, I rode over to my aunt's home. The heat was on by then and I was glad to be done riding. I unloaded the bike and we sat around much of the afternoon catching up on family gossip and solving the world's problems. If only the world leaders would do what we said, it would all . . . probably fail, but we'd feel better.

After that I worked a bit on uploading photos and writing this report and they all worked on Saturday chores. At 6:00 we piled in her car and headed 20 miles South to the town of Bluff and the Twins trading post/restaurant. I got a Navajo Taco.

A Navajo Taco starts with a piece of good fry bread. It's a leavened dough that stretched out like a pizza, then fried in oil till it's got a good cripy exterior. It's then covered with (in this case) a good meat and bean chili, lettuce, tomato, black olives, and cheese. Sour cream if you like it. You can try to pick it up and eat it, but I find it easier to cut with a knife and fork. This taco was so good because the dough wasn't super oily, and it stayed firm and crispy through the meal. Sometimes they come soggy, or they're thin and tough. This one was awsome.

I got a few pictures of the twins and the sunset, then we headed back to their place. I worked on this report. I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow. Aint it great.

Looking down Main street of Nucla. I didn't even think to turn around and get a picture of the diner


The canyon leading down to the Delores river and my first house


More


Looking North up the Delores river valley towards my first home. Hwy 141 that we rode yesterday


The ranch house where my parents lived when I was born


The fireplace wasn't original to the house.


The chimney. My aunt says she stood on a ladder perched in a front end loader to hand bricks and mortar up to her brother


A side view


Posed in front with the bike


Posed in the doorway


The road through Bedrock looking over at Paradox


Looking back at the road after starting the climb


Winding canyon roads leading towards La Salle


Utah


Wilson Arch along highway 191


The patio drive-in


Posed at the Pato


Blanding sign


Grandparent's headstone on the left, Frather's (and someday Mother's) on the right


Dinner in Bluff - Navajo Tacos - Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


Sunset


More Sunset

Colorado Hidden Roads - Day 2 - Hwy 92 - Grand Mesa - Hwy 141

The morning was very cool. For my Arizona friends, it was cold. Probably mid to high 40s. John grabbed his chaps and leather jacket. I have some heated gear with me (I bought it after my freezing cold Texas ride last April). But I decided it wasn't that cold, and I knew it would rapidly be warming up.

After a belgian waffle at the hotel, we gassed the bikes and headed East out of Gunnison. It was a little chilly and my fingers stung a bit, but I didn't mind.

We rode past Blue Mesa Reservoir which was very low. My friend last night told us the reservoir was full to overflowing last year, but the really bad snowfall over the winter left it very low. Usually you can see allot of camping and boating going on all around the lake. I didn't see much this time.

Both John and I have ridden this stretch of Hwy 50 so many time that we didn't bother with pictures or scenic turnoffs.

Once we reached the Western end of the reservoir, we turned North on Highway 92, my 2nd unridden road.

Blue Mesa Reservoir feeds into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's a fairly deep and wide canyon that's been eroded into the Gunnison Plateau. Highway 50 follows the Southern edge of the canyon and leads to the city of Montrose. Also on the Southern rim of the canyon is a national park with a driving trail leading to many scenic points and even a road leading to the bottom of the canyon. Highway 50 is heavily traveled and has been improved over the years to smooth out all those nasty twists, turns, ups, and downs.

Highway 92 on the other hand hasn't been overly improved over the years. It follows the rim of the canyon and in fact is often cut right into the rim with nearly shear vertical walls up from one side of the road and a shear vertical drop down on the other. It undulate and swings all over the place, which makes it a great road for a motorcycle to ride. It also has great views of the Canyon along much of its length. Sometimes the road has to veer out into the forests of Pines, Aspen, and Oak which adds variety to the ride.

Just as we turned off of Highway 50, I pulled over to get a picture by the highway sign. John saw me turn, but didn't see me pull over so he kept going. I hopped off the bike to take a few pics of the bike, then a panoramic view of the lake, and finally setup the tripod for a self portrait. I knew I was taking a long time and would be worrying John, so in my self portrait with the bike and the sign, I stood in front of the sign. DOH.

I was just getting back on the bike when I heard John coming back looking for me.

The road dropped a bit off of Highway 50, then crossed the dam that holds the waters of the reservoir. Just to the other side we pulled into a scenic overlook. If I haven't mentioned it before. There are wildfires all across Southern Colorado right now, so there is this pervasive white haze everywhere. Physically looking over the canyon was beautiful, but all the camera seems to see is the smoke.

Across the canyon we could see a trail head with allot of cars, and a trail with stairs leading to the bottom of the canyon. Several people were hiking down to the river and the trail that bordered the river. We could see fishermen along the river as well. We could hear a waterfall, but couldn't really see it very well.

After a tranquil few minutes we hopped back on the bikes and began the ride I'd come all this way to do.

Highway 92 didn't disappoint. We swerved this way and that with almost no traffic around us in either direction. It was still a bit chilly but had warmed up allot. I couldn't take many pictures because it wound around so much and there were no shoulders to pull off on. I grabbed a few, but they don't do the road justice. We stopped at a few scenic turnouts trying to get good pictures of the canyon, but they were mostly haze. During one swoop out into the forest, John slowed because he saw a deer to the side of the road. We stopped and looked at the deer, and it looked back. We took out cameras and took pictures and it looked back. We sat there a few minutes and it didn't move more than a few feet. Finally we started up and rode on. As far as I know, it's still standing there looking for us.

When the road finally veered away from the canyon it was like a big exhale. The spell was broken and the temperatures really started to rise. We stopped for gas in Hotchkiss, then turned West towards the town of Delta. Just before we reached Delta we turned North onto Highway 64.

Highway 64 is my third unridden road. It leads up and over The Grand Mesa.

Every time I drive I-70 to or from Utah, just outside of Grand Junction, I see these signs for "The Grand Mesa". Years ago I was just a little curios about what The Grand Mesa was, but in recent years I've heard various stories of forests, lakes, winding roads, and scenic vistas. I've known about Highway 64 for several years and had it as a target, but again, it just never fit my schedule so I'd skip it. But not this time.

We turned up Highway 64 (I didn't stop for a picture this time because the road was pretty busy). It starts out through some pretty bleak landscape. But after 10 miles and a town or two, it really begins to climb. There were some nice twists and switchbacks, then a really steep climb up onto the first shoulder. The temperature quickly dropped from the 80s back down into the 60. It was nice and cool up on top.

We saw signs along the road saying "watch for cattle on the road" and sure enough, we spotted about 10 cows strewn from one side of the road to the other. The cows were descending a ridge from our right, crossing the road, and then moving on parallel to the road.

As I arrived I was looking at the cows on the road, but hadn't noticed the 3 or 4 still up on the ridge trying to get their nerve up to hop down onto the road. I started to reach for my camera while watching the cows on the road, then decided i should just pay attention to my driving and came to a complete stop. Just then the other few cows plopped down only 5 foot in front of me. If I'd tried to take an on the fly photo I would probably have been under one of those cows.

I looked for more cows, then proceeded on past carefully.

When we got on top of the Mesa we stopped at the visitor center. There were several lakes right there, and we'd already seen a few on the way up. I don't know how many lakes there are, but they seemed to be everywhere. And there were allot of people around each lake trying to fish. I chatted with one resident who asked whether I'd seen any cows. When I told him my story he said that was typical. There are cows everywhere on the mesa. He said the ranchers let them feed down in the lowlands where they eat tons of weeds, then they load them in trailer and haul them to the top where they poop it all out. They have a massive infestation of lowland weeds all around the lakes this year.

He also said they're allowed to go anywhere they want and the locals can't fence them out, so he has cow poop all over his yard and drive way.

We continued riding North with more sweeping turns. The cool air was really nice, but we were both starting to get hungry. So we quit pulling over and just headed down the highway. Until we started the descent off the North side. There were some really nice views off the mesa, so I stopped for a few pictures, then stopped again at the national forest sign. By the time I caught up with John he was again almost ready to come looking for me.

He'd stopped in the town of Mesa Colorado at a little hotel/restaurant called the Wagon Wheel. I had a good cheese steak sandwich and John got a turkey wrap. Both were great.

Having descended the mesa and now it was well past noon, the temperatures were in the high 80s. Hwy 64 continued on North toward I-70 along the bottom of a river channel. We had high walls all along the highway and wide sweeping turns. If it wasn't so warm I'd have enjoyed the ride allot more.

We reached I-70 and headed West. We took a cutoff through Palisade to avoid going deep into Grand Junction. It put us out on Highway 50 (the same Highway 50 from this morning). We only stayed on it for a mile or two, then Turned West onto Highway 141.

Highway 141 is my fourth unridden road.

I was born . . . allot of years ago in Southern Colorado, and my first home was on Highway 141 down near a town called Naturita. I've ridden the Southern end of 141 between Naturita and Dove Creek many times. Its hot straight and boring. In fact it passes through an area called Disappointment. And for a motorcycle rider, it is a disappointment.

But the Northern end of 141 follows the Delores river for over 100 miles of twists and turns and some stunning scenery. It's another section of road that I get close to, but just never have had the time to ride.

We turned West onto Highway 141 and crossed a cattle guard. First let me back up and say that we gassed up in Palisade and loaded my ice chest with gatorade and ice. Have you noticed the red ice chest I have on the seat behind me in the pictures? Remember it.

So once again, we turned West onto Highway 141 and bounced across a cattle guard at 40 miles an hour. Suddenly I had a massive amount of ice down my back and stuck between me and my backrest. All that ice and gatorade has gone up, but when the bike came down, all that weight hit the lid of the ice chest and kept on going.

I was riding down the road with several cars behind me trying to scoot forward enough that I could reach around and brush some of it out. It was well into the 90s by now and in some ways the ice felt good, but in most ways it just felt cold. I kept wondering if I could tough it out until the ice melted a bit and would just feel really nice. I managed to get most of it out and what was left did indeed feel pretty good.

141 almost instantly dropped into the river canyon an began twisting. It was hot, but the river and greenery around us started to cool off just a bit and made it more bearable. All of the cars around us turned to the homes along this first portion of the road, and soon we were cruising alone.

10 miles down the road we felt the first few drops of rain. We ignored it and soon it stopped. But a few miles later there was more, and the temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees in just a mile or two. I couldn't see any serious thunder storms around us and the roads weren't soaking wet. We slowed down a bit every time the rain started because roads that are newly wet can be very slippery, then whenever it would dry out, we'd speed up again.

Finally we broke out into some clear sunshine AND rain. I always find it strange when that happens, and it happens here in Colorado allot. You just couldn't tell where the rain was falling from. At one point it really started to look like we were in for a drenching, but it only lasted a minute or two and was more refreshing than anything.

By the time we reached the small town of Gateway the rain had completely stopped. I was very surprised to see a very swank looking resort out in the middle of nowhere. Green lawns, nice adobe bungalos, fountains. It was nice looking. There's supposed to be a nice museum in Gateway, but it looked like it was in the resort, and neither of us felt like going searching for it.

We did stop outside of town to drink some now iceless gatoraide and take a few pictures. This was the first chance I'd had to really see the ice chest. I'd figured the ice had just bumped the lid up and then dumped on me, but the ice had actually popped the lid loose from the ice chest and was now sitting on the road some 50 miles back. Oh well, it's been a great ice chest for the last 4 years. Now I can go look for something other than this attention grabbing red one.

I took a few panorama photos of the rock formations around Gateway. They're much like the formations in monument valley.

The rest of the ride to Naturita was more beautiful sweeping turns through deep canyons and rock formations with little or no traffic around us.

Even though Naturita is my "home town", John dislikes the place because of bad experiences. A flat tire and a failed alternator have twice left him stranded for hours in the town. You'd think he'd channel the hatred to the Harley, but Nooooooo, he picks on my home town.

We stopped for a quick picture of the Naturita sign and headed 20 miles farther on to the town of Norwood and the Back Country Inn.

There is a major bicycle race come through this whole area starting next week and most of the hotels in the major towns are all booked up. I stumbled on the Inn through a google search and found really good reviews. I booked the hotel, then decided to use google street view to look at it. What I saw was a really run down and slummy hotel which didn't match any of the other pictures I'd found. Some of the reviews mentioned a major renovation. It turned out the reviews were right and google street was just old. This is a fantastic little hotel.

We unloaded the bikes, rested a bit, then went to the Hitching Post for dinner. Our order got screwed up a bit, but it was pretty good.

Once back at the Inn, we went to sit out front in the cooling air, watch the sun set, and work on this ride report. I even took a picture of myself writing the report. I think its the first time I've ever done that. As the sun set I grabbed even a few more shots.

Our bikes outside the hotel in Gunnison


Highway 50 bridge over Blue Mesa Reservoir. You can see how low the water is


Panoramic view of the start of Highway 92 and the reservoir


Me in front of the lake, and the sign


The start of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Hwy 92 running along the right edge


The damn at Blue Mesa


Highway 92


John with a deer over on the left just by the trees


My bike by the rim of the Canyon


Climbing up onto Grand Mesa


Lake on Grand Mesa


Riding on top of Grand Mesa


Descending off of Grand Mesa


Looking off of Grand Mesa


Me by the Grand Mesa sign


Stopped for lunch


Highway 92 on the way to I-70


More of Highway 92


Highway 141 with rain showers


Red rock formations outside of Gateway


More rock formations outside of Gateway


Highway 141 with bluffs along each side of the road


More bluffs along the wide river valley


Winding 141


Naturita


Backcountry Inn


Writing the ride report out in front of the hotel


More of writing the report


Sunset


Me at sunset

Colorado Hidden Roads - Day 1 - Gunnison

I've ridden allot of roads around Colorado in the last 6 years. Most of them I've ridden many times.

But there are a few that I've just never been able to fit into the schedule. They usually take you too far out of the way, or you just don't have the time. But this trip is about 3 of those roads and making the time to ride them. I'll talk about the roads more tomorrow when I actually DO make the time to ride them.

Today was about getting enough done at work so I wouldn't feel guilty and cancel the whole trip, and getting 200 miles South to meet up with my riding buddy John in Gunnison Colorado.

Work was the normal state of affairs, with me trying to get something done, and every 5 minutes, someone popping their head in my cube and saying "have you got a few minutes for a quick question?" But I did get them all answered and got done what I was trying to finish.

I wanted to leave by noon, but I didn't actually get out the door until 1:00. The plan was to get to Canon City or even Sidalia for lunch, but by the time I was out the door, I was starving. I also needed to gas up the motorcycle and buy some gatorades, so the bet place to do all 3 was the gas station and McDonalds near the office. So I began my trip with a 3/4 mile ride and a stop for lunch. How boring is that?

School had just started today, so as I pulled into McD's there were 5 cars full of teenagers also pulling in. I quickly hopped of the bike and ran in ahead of them to get my order before the decision-fobic teenagers could dominate the place. I got my meal quickly, then listened to teeny boppers scream, poke, laugh, and throw food for the next 15 minutes. I wolfed down my meal and got out of there.

The ride out of Colorado Springs, down Hwy 115 to Hwy 50, and then West into Canon city was cool and normal. I rode through Canon city without stopping, figuring I'd gas up in Salida. But I did have something new I wanted to try. It's called Skyline Drive. This morning I asked a friend at work about it and he gave the rundown. The entrance isn't in the middle of Canon city as I've always thought, its a one way road that starts about 3 miles West and feeds back into Canon city. No wonder I've never been able to find it.

I road down Hwy 50 and saw the entrance on the right. It climbs quickly up a few hundred feet to the top of a ridge running beside the highway. As I rode along, the ridge got higher and narrower until you're riding right at the top with a drop on each side. It wasn't thousands of feet high, but it was high enough for a beautiful view out each side. I stopped several times for pictures and just to enjoy the view and the cool breeze blowing up and over.

Once I was back in Canon city I wound my way back onto Hwy 50 and started up the canyon. Hwy 50 follows the Arkansas river for about 50 miles to Salida. Not far down the road, I saw a sign saying that there was an accident 46 miles ahead and to look for an alternate route. The detour would add over 100 miles to my ride, and I just didn't want to do that. I decide to ride slow instead. Maybe if I take an hour to cover the distance, the accident would clear before I got there.

The best thing was that the sign did work to detour all the cars and trucks off of Hwy 50 which is normally packed with vehicles. I puttered along the beautiful canyons without any cars behind me, in front of me, or even coming the other way. It was the first time I've ever relaxed on that ride because there's usually someone 3 foot off my rear tire trying to make me go faster.

I stopped for gas near the end of the road and someone said the accident was cleared. I reached the accident scene and barely had to slow down as I went past. Nice.

After Salida begins the climb up Monarch Pass. Looking into the distance I could barely see the mountains. I didn't know if it was smoke from all the wildfires, clouds, or even rain. It turned out to be smoke. I passed a few wet spots on the roads, but the rain kept skirting to the North (where the detour would have led me) so I lucked out even more.

Once at the top of the pass I stopped for the obligatory picture by the sign (I have 20 of them now I think). Then I went into the store and bought some fudge. I love the fudge from Monarch Pass.

Back outside I munched a piece of fudge and enjoyed the brisk cool air. It was probably 40 degrees and dropping. The wind picked up and some light rain began to fall. I figured my time to get drenched had come. I got on the bike and started down and I guess I outran the rain. Because 5 miles later and I was still dry.

The 50 miles to Gunnison were pretty bland behind a slow moving Motorhome and 20 cars.

I found John already checked into the Hotel. We relaxed a bit, then trying to find somewhere to eat. Yelp wasn't much help so we decided just to cruise the town looking for the most crowded restaurant. It turned out to be the Gunnisack. Sandwiches, salads, and burgers.

I also sent a message to a fellow Ford Bronco enthusiast in town and he joined us. He's an interesting character. He moved to Gunnison about 15 years ago to ski the nearby Crested Butte for a year, and just stayed. He's had allot of jobs and owned a few businesses over the years, but he does whatever it takes to stick around.

We chatted about his heli skiing, car building, and work history with a few of our own stories and tall tales as well, then went out to see his classic Bronco. For those who don't know, the Classic Bronco was build from 1966 to 1977. Mine is a 1970.

It was an ok first day. The highlight was Skyline Drive. I'm going to have to add it to my list of standard roads to ride, especially when I do the Guffy Road loop.

Highway 115 South Bound. Look at that sparkling clean windshield. That took me 10 minutes.


Climbing up Skyline Drive


Looking back over my shoulder down Skyline Drive to Highway 50


More climbing up Skyline Drive


Posing at the first plateau


Looking down at Highway 50


Looking the other way at Canon City


Starting up the narrow part of Skyline Drive


Skyline Drive across the top of the ride. Hwy 50 on the Right and Canon city on the left


Starting the descent and switchbacks at the end


Highway 50 beside the Arkansas River


Starting up Monarch Pass. There's mountains behind all that smoke and clouds


The sign at Monarch Pass. Behind the sign you can see the scenic lift to the top of the mountain. Some year I'm going to go up there.


The gift shop at Monarch Pass