Lil Tour of Colorado

[CafeRacer99]

Looks like fun!

[eakins]

[RoyQ]

Wow small world! I chatted with you and your son in Silverton, CO back middle of august at the gas station. I was on the white DR650 and I was with a new found riding friend that day on a XR650. We followed y'all down the road from Animas Forks into Silverton. Nice pics of your trip.

Anyways I took a pic of your bike that day and thats what caught my eye reading your report.

[ktmklx]

Heck yea, it is a small world. Sounded like you guys had an awesome ride, Black Bear, Cinnamon, Engineer and Ophir passes all in one day, right? I wish we could of talked longer, but we had a motel room waiting for us in Dove Creek and we we wanted to get there before dark. Just made it too.

Have you posted any photos of your ride on this site? Would love to see them. Thanks for posting the picture of the Ninja!

[ktmklx]

Originally Posted by CafeRacer99

Looks like fun!

It was a blast. Looks like you had a good ride with your son also!

[ktmklx]

After crossing the Continental Divide for the second time in 3 days we descended into the town of Como. Leaving Como and the Pike National Forest behind us, our route turned into gravel ranch roads. Elkhorn Road is posted at 40 MPH and runs between CO 285 and CO 24. I have a feeling this road was never posted until alot of big orange dirt bikes started leaving dust wakes on it. It was very hard to keep the Ninja below 65 here, but we did our best.



An old building in Como




Some where on Elkhorn Road




The wide open gravel is nice change of pace from the winding mountain roads.

[ktmklx]

After Elkhorn Road we passed through the town of Hartsel on CO 24. From there more ranch roads this time they were narrower and turned from gravel to dirt.





Often photographed water crossing.



Mike



The Kid



Notice how the old guys don't make a big splash.

[RoyQ]

Originally Posted by ktmklx

Heck yea, it is a small world. Sounded like you guys had an awesome ride, Black Bear, Cinnamon, Engineer and Ophir passes all in one day, right? I wish we could of talked longer, but we had a motel room waiting for us in Dove Creek and we we wanted to get there before dark. Just made it too.

Have you posted any photos of your ride on this site? Would love to see them. Thanks for posting the picture of the Ninja!

Sadly I did not do a ride report. I just dumped a few pics along the way in the regional gulf states section under "where did you ride in ms today" thread. Yes we rode all those passes that day, black bear being our first one that morning. I had planned on riding by myself that day since I was out there by myself ha. Max approached me at that very gas station that morning and asked if we could ride together for safety reasons. Of course I agreed. Turns out Max was an outstanding rider so we both hit it off instantly. He rode down the steps on black bear standing on the pegs extensive trials background so he told me. Anyway enjoyed our brief chat and it looks like you guys had a super trip. Maybe we will run into each other out on the road again someday.

[RyanR]

Looks like you guys had an awesome ride, and great ride report! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I did a ride in the opposite direction a few weeks ago, CO to WY and stopped at that same gas station in Encampment, I was beginning to think we were SOL until we came around that corner and saw the pumps!

[ktmklx]

Oh yea, not a lot of places to buy fuel in that area, but a great place to ride. The report is only about half done, stick around the good stuff is coming up.

[ktmklx]

Not to far after the water hole we came to an overlook, the town of Salida could be seen below.



We had a quick lunch and fueled up in Salida. When we arrived the sun was shining hot and bright, by the time we were ready to leave storm clouds were moving in. Our route took us right in the direction of the storm clouds, and over Marshall Pass. There are 2 roads that lead up to Marshall pass on the east side, Marshall Pass Road and FR203. FR203 is rocky two track and that is the one we took. It had rained in this area just before we arrived and the baby heads were wet and slick.



Tricky riding

We took a break right after the rockiest section, we were at about 10,000 ft. Mike was struggling with the rocky trail and high elevation. He suggested turning around and going back, I offered to go ahead while he rested and check out the trail. I scouted ahead for a couple miles and returned telling the guys that the most difficult riding was behind us.



Steep, wet and slippery on theses pigs.



Tuckered out we arrived at the pass.

[McRuss]

As a native of Colorado, I'm enjoying your ride a great deal. But the closest I've come to riding the CD is from the top of Monarch Pass to the top of Marshall on single track. It follows the Divide along the ridge and was a blast! Keep up the good report!

[ktmklx]

Originally Posted by McRuss

As a native of Colorado, I'm enjoying your ride a great deal. But the closest I've come to riding the CD is from the top of Monarch Pass to the top of Marshall on single track. It follows the Divide along the ridge and was a blast! Keep up the good report!

That sounds like fun. Do you have any pictures?

[ktmklx]

After Marshall Pass it was an easy gravel drive into the town of Sargent on CR243. After fueling up in Sargent it was onto CO 50 and then CR14PP. We had a UPS truck on our tail running down this stretch of twisty gravel, we were running about 65 mph, he stuck right to us.

From there it was onto FR788. It was late afternoon and the storm clouds were getting thicker and darker and finally the rain came. The rain was coming down pretty hard, luckily the road was more gravel than dirt. We stopped at McDonough Reservoir and considered camping there. We decided it was too early and continued on in the rain.




McDonough Reservoir there was fire ring and outhouse here.

[ktmklx]

We continued on in the rain, there were some amazing views along this road.



Near Los Pinos Pass