The very finest of COLORADO

Did the homework on Black Bear, sounds like hairy switchbacks & rock ledges with 1,000 foot drop offs??? Maybe a little to much for a heavy bike like mine??? but on the other hand a 1,000 feet should be plenty for a parachute to open
Won't be entering Colorado from the East but from the North after the Dalton HWY. This will be a 6 to 8 month trip starting in March. Taking the Southern route to San Diego to visit my old ship (USS Midway 1973-1975, http://www.midway.org/ ) , PCH North..got any suggestions for CA, big state & I don't want to miss a thing!!! Planning on hitting Alaska June/July time-frame & Colorado August/September, but hard to figure where/when we'll be until we actually get out therebut figure we can spend at least a month in Co alone!!! Just added Ophir Pass & the Last Dollar Road to my list. Looking forward to more of your ADV PICS/ROADS & loving them.....I'm busting to get out there

Subscribed. I did Black Bear Pass last summer on a KTM 450xc. If you did Engineer Pass on that rig you'll be fine, but "the steps" section on Black Bear will be different. You'll know them when you see them. I walked it down 2/3 of that section, puss that I am. Looking fwd to hearing your experience.

Love Colorado, I don't have many adventure experiences, however I have been to CO a few times (not on a bike). Once in July and once in January for snowboarding and absolutely loved it both times.

Send some ride reports in 5 months

Edmond Dantès:Not sure about that one, anyone else know anything?

Britome: I need to check that out, I loved their trail choices in UT. I need to check out CO. I'll be curious to see who they did w corkscrew, parts of that trail were a pain in the ass.

SuperT: Sounds like Black Bear is a horrible idea.. As seen below, if anyone has to walk a KTM down anything, think twice about it. I'm going to hit it with my jeep in a couple weeks and scout it. The views are supposed to be worth the near certain death.

BayRocket: Good friggin input.. I've ridden KTMs, if you had to walk that thing down anything, I'd probably be doing cartwheels on the GS, it ain't that kind of beast.

805Gregg: I'm all over it, I'll be doing a big push to cover as much ground as I can once the Aspens turn.

07:00
I wake up on a couch that I don't remember laying down on. My eyes are sprained and I my teeth feel a little soft. Wait, I remember this feeling.... This is why I don't mix alcohol... Last thing I remember I was shoveling cold spaghetti in my face like my own survival depended on it and drinking with these jerks...


On further inventory, my right arm is sore from arm wrestling, the right side of my body is bruised from falling out of a golf cart and it tastes like a cat shit in my mouth from cigars.. What a night.

A few of the guys rode and pointed me in the direction of Telluride as a place worth seeing. They rattled off Black Bear pass and Ophir pass as must do's so after sleeping in till 11:00, I finally stumble out the door.

Telluride






Obligatory traffic jam to pull over and take pictures of the Elk herd.


Still feeling like a sad sack I stop off and grab lunch at Telluride Bistro. The food server gal starts asking me questions about what I'm up to and where I'm headed. She mentions she had a dirtbike as well and said there's a bunch of trails close by worth seeing. She mentions Ophir Pass which I already knew about and also mentions her personal favorite scenic route, Last Dollar road out of Sawpit. Last Dollar it is.













Drove through yet another patch of dense Aspens into a clearing, God I love this state..








The view from being out on this little point with a drop on all sides but behind you was pretty spectacular, difficult to truly capture with a camera(or iphone). I spent an hour here sending picture messages to everyone I know. Love this road.




Continuing on.. As I gain in elevation, I see more and more primitive camp sites between the trees. Talk about a stellar place to camp.










At this point I had to make a decision. The sun was getting low, I could either camp here in what would be up there on my list of epic camp sites, or push on and try to scramble over Ophir pass to catch a sunset and roll the dice on where to camp.. Can't help it. On the Ophir.



Cool trail. The trail starts off of Hwy 145 going south out of town, County Road 630 climbs though the little town of Ophir on the way to Ophir pass. Odd little town, obscene beauty on all sides, all the roads are dirt, it feels very remote yet there's quite a community of houses. Children at play signs everywhere and from a windshield survey I'd say the people in town are reasonably young. I'm guessing this is where the regular folk live that work in Telluride that can't afford the celebrity prices of living in town. Cool place, although I don't think they like two wheeled tourists, I got the stink eye from the only people I saw walking around.

The road narrows and becomes progressively less maintained, and with progressively better views.






The Pass






Stayed for the sunset and made a run for Hwy 550 on the other side.


By the time I made it back to 550 I was both out of time, out of energy and not feeling the idea of setting up camp in the freezing dark. I pussed out and headed back to Ouray to grab a room, grab a Guiness at O'Brien's Pub and pass the hell out.

Glad to see such great results with a 4S. Looking forward to more.

These places are on my near future to go, see, ride list.

Simply beautiful! I have to get out there this summer. I'd like to move there. Thanks for the pics!

Holy Schnikies. Those are the best photos I have ever seen on ADV. Well done. I bought and watched the COBDR DVD and "corkscrew" was an appropriate name for the pass. That being said, I'm not too freaked out after having seen it. We will see when we are live and in person. I trailer out from Cincinnati exactly one month from today with 4 other dudes.

Subscribed. I have yet to make it to the SW part of the state, but now it is on the list!

You are going to want to come to the RMAR Rendezvous in Silverton in late July.

http://www.rmariders.org/rmar-rendezvous.html

Trust me, you will have a good time and we will explore more of that Ouray/Telluride/Lake City area.

Riding and a rib-eye dinner?!? Done. That sounds Awesome.

Awesome event, you really should attend. My whole family went last year, and could not have had more fun! We are going back, with more bikes than ever!

You are my kind of guy in the backcountry, my kids give me crap about the photos all the time, but I'll do it anyway!

See you in Silverton, if not sooner.

Great pics, some of the best I've seen. That didn't look like Corkscrew, more like the west side of Engineer which is the worst part. :huh

Only you know your limitations but you need to be pretty salty to ride a loaded GS down "the steps" on Black Bear. Stay on the pegs and use the front brake to move very slowly down the steep section and you'll be fine if you're an experienced rider. Keep in mind that by the time you realize you are on "the steps" it will be too late to turn back.

For what it's worth, I did it on my 85 XR350 and had no problems but I probably won't do it again and I certainly wouldn't do it on a loaded GS. In my opinion it's by far the most dangerous obstacle in the entire area. I would suggest Imogene Pass if you're leaving Ouray headed for Telluride.

Yep

Those are some outrageously beautiful photos. I do notice they are all of the western one half of Colorado.
And rightfully so. The western half is an outrageously beautiful state.
Except for Denver, which certainly is trying hard to 'californicate'.
I haven't gone into Denver in 40 years.
Two years ago I had beautiful weather all thru' the state. Just like your photos.
But last year I had nothing but cold rain all thru' Rocky Mtn park, and then snow and ice on Berthoud pass.
Not fun but all part of the adventure.
For me it's a requirement to ride thru' there once a year. And not go into Denver.
dc

+2. I was w my friend on BBP a couple years ago, he on a fully loaded GS. He is a AMA pro road racer, 30 yrs old. BBP made him say that was the first time ever on a bike he wondered what he had gotten into. We made it of course and it was duly checked off the list. I on a 610 had no issues.

Great Ride Report! awesome pics, this gives me some ammo for my next trip.

Just out of curiosity, what was it specifically that was hairy? Is the risk personal injury, damage to the bike or just too damn steep to take a fat pig down a shale trail? I don't mind the drop off on one side, I'm ok with going over obstacles down-hill(within reason), and I'm not afraid to land on my face and dump the bike provided that it's not going to cause catastrophic damage. The warnings I'm hearing have a certain seriousness to them.

It was a combination of the stair step rocks, the steepness, lack of traction because of sand, gravel and pebbles, unknown what was around the corner and the drop off, more or less in that order.

If I recall he was experiencing the GS grounding on the steps as he went down. Then he stopped and I went by foot to scout the corner, to see the right line and I let him know it was OK down there.

He is just 5"9 so the pig was potentially going to tip over if he stopped when his feet were dangling over the next step. I went back and stood on his right to hold the bike until he got set and underway. I subconsciously was pulling the bike in away from the ledge and he yelled at me to stop pulling him over lol.

The actual descent was cautious and uneventful, just the visuals, steps and lack of traction were daunting.

If this is something you have to do, and you are a pretty good to very good rider and confident, then you can do it on a big bike. I would go with a buddy though. Just my 2 cents

PS we would have had go pro footage if he knew the on off switch correctly. As it was we have BBP footage of the start and finish and none of the trail ha