Wow, wonderful narration and pictures. Love the subtle humour!
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Ride the Divide *pics*
- Thread starter Lightcycle
- Start date
We've moved our base of operations about an hour and a half south of Breckenridge in the town of Buena Vista.
It's been a struggle to wake up these past couple of mornings. We're asleep by 11PM but still groggy and lethargic when the sun turns our tent into an oven at 9AM, and this logy feeling persists well into the afternoon. I really think it's these Altitude Sickness pills.
Today, we're attempting a couple more Continental Divide passes: Tincup and Hancock. Neda really wanted to re-visit Cottonwood Pass, as her Dirty Dozen group rode it back in 2009. But looking at the map, we noticed it was recently paved in 2019, so I think we're going to give this one a "pass".
It's a late start once again, as we drag our a$ses out of the campsite. Instead of taking the main highway between Buena Vista and Nathrop, we take Rodeo Rd, which runs parallel. Much more calmer and more scenic.
At Nathrop, we head west on Chalk Creek Drive and we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a long convoy of SUVs, jeeps and trailers. It's summer vacation/weekend warrior traffic, and everyone is out trying to enjoy the beautiful weather we're having. Traffic thins out once we turn off onto the gravel-covered Hancock Pass.
Last remaining structure of Hancock Ghost Town. This building used to be a saloon
The last of the non-OHVs park at St Elmo and only Jeeps and Razors continue on to Hancock Pass.
St Elmo's is supposed to be another ghost town, but there are so many people here milling around, it seems like an active, bustling town. The only building open here is a General Store selling souvenirs, snacks and drinks.
It's been a struggle to wake up these past couple of mornings. We're asleep by 11PM but still groggy and lethargic when the sun turns our tent into an oven at 9AM, and this logy feeling persists well into the afternoon. I really think it's these Altitude Sickness pills.
Today, we're attempting a couple more Continental Divide passes: Tincup and Hancock. Neda really wanted to re-visit Cottonwood Pass, as her Dirty Dozen group rode it back in 2009. But looking at the map, we noticed it was recently paved in 2019, so I think we're going to give this one a "pass".
It's a late start once again, as we drag our a$ses out of the campsite. Instead of taking the main highway between Buena Vista and Nathrop, we take Rodeo Rd, which runs parallel. Much more calmer and more scenic.
At Nathrop, we head west on Chalk Creek Drive and we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a long convoy of SUVs, jeeps and trailers. It's summer vacation/weekend warrior traffic, and everyone is out trying to enjoy the beautiful weather we're having. Traffic thins out once we turn off onto the gravel-covered Hancock Pass.
Last remaining structure of Hancock Ghost Town. This building used to be a saloon
The last of the non-OHVs park at St Elmo and only Jeeps and Razors continue on to Hancock Pass.
St Elmo's is supposed to be another ghost town, but there are so many people here milling around, it seems like an active, bustling town. The only building open here is a General Store selling souvenirs, snacks and drinks.
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We continue on Hancock Pass with a phalanx of Razors in front of us, behind us and sometimes beside us. SO BUSY! Immediately, we encounter a field of baby-head rocks and our kidneys get a real good shaking and rattling, that even our long-travel enduro suspensions can't quite take the edge off.
Rough riding on Hancock Pass
There's a sharp up-hill right-hander that we have difficulty negotiating and the Razors behind overtake us. More Razors coming down Hancock Pass also squeeze past us as we stop to regain footing and composure. Neda is up ahead and I hear her ask one of the Razor pilots what the trail looks like ahead. I hear the reply over the intercom: "Exactly like this, but steeper, with switchbacks, narrower and a lot of traffic!"
Ugh. We can just about manage baby-head rocks. But throw in hairpin turns, steep ascents and then a stream of side-by-sides, both oncoming and behind us? We're forced to admit that we're in over our heads. With great regret, we turn back and descend - the field of rocks playfully dance and roll around beneath our wheels as if they're mocking us.
Damn.
So - a change of plans. We were originally going to ride a nice loop from Hancock Pass-> Cumberland Pass -> Tincup Pass back to St Elmo, but now we've decided to run Tincup in reverse. I'm not exactly sure where this is going to put us, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...
Tincup Pass is fun! But a lot of traffic
This was totally our cup of... er, tin... It has a little bit of everything: some rocks, uphills/downhills, lots of beautiful scenery. We thread past Jeeps and Razors on the gravel roads, but once the path becomes rocky and steep, they catch up to us and pass us back in return.
We stop often to catch our breath, because the scenery keeps stealing it away!
Rough riding on Hancock Pass
There's a sharp up-hill right-hander that we have difficulty negotiating and the Razors behind overtake us. More Razors coming down Hancock Pass also squeeze past us as we stop to regain footing and composure. Neda is up ahead and I hear her ask one of the Razor pilots what the trail looks like ahead. I hear the reply over the intercom: "Exactly like this, but steeper, with switchbacks, narrower and a lot of traffic!"
Ugh. We can just about manage baby-head rocks. But throw in hairpin turns, steep ascents and then a stream of side-by-sides, both oncoming and behind us? We're forced to admit that we're in over our heads. With great regret, we turn back and descend - the field of rocks playfully dance and roll around beneath our wheels as if they're mocking us.
Damn.
So - a change of plans. We were originally going to ride a nice loop from Hancock Pass-> Cumberland Pass -> Tincup Pass back to St Elmo, but now we've decided to run Tincup in reverse. I'm not exactly sure where this is going to put us, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...
Tincup Pass is fun! But a lot of traffic
This was totally our cup of... er, tin... It has a little bit of everything: some rocks, uphills/downhills, lots of beautiful scenery. We thread past Jeeps and Razors on the gravel roads, but once the path becomes rocky and steep, they catch up to us and pass us back in return.
We stop often to catch our breath, because the scenery keeps stealing it away!
Playing tag with the Razors made me realize that the trail rating system for these passes are primarily targeted towards the 4x4 crowd, not the 2x1 dual-sport motorcycle folks. There are a couple of resources on the net that we've used as a reference, like Alltrails and Trailforks, and I've relied on their rating system to assess whether our skill level is up to the difficulty level. Both Hancock and Tincup are rated the same: moderate-difficult, but Tincup is way easier for motorcycles. Well okay then. That was a hard lesson learnt.
Final set of switchbacks before the summit
I can't believe how gorgeous it is up here! My head is on a swivel taking in a panorama of alpine views near the top. We ride past rebel snow patches resisting the final onslaught of the warm Colorado summer sun, aided by 12,000+ feet of elevation and altitude.
Summiting Tincup Pass
Yay! Another CD sign to add to our collection!
We begin our descent, the snow melt up here creating a mini stream, running between the rocks strewn on the trail.
Final set of switchbacks before the summit
I can't believe how gorgeous it is up here! My head is on a swivel taking in a panorama of alpine views near the top. We ride past rebel snow patches resisting the final onslaught of the warm Colorado summer sun, aided by 12,000+ feet of elevation and altitude.
Summiting Tincup Pass
Yay! Another CD sign to add to our collection!
We begin our descent, the snow melt up here creating a mini stream, running between the rocks strewn on the trail.
There are a bunch of Razors all parked by a lake, so we stop and take in the view. From there, we take a short water-crossing only to find more Razors and Jeeps parked up ahead. We slowly make our way to the front and we find out why they're all stopped:
Wow. There's a lake here where the trail's supposed to be!
And then we realize why all the OHVs have stopped on this side:
On the far side of the lake, a Razor has submerged itself, its wheels poking up just above the surface of the water!
Holy sheet!
We watched as the folks on the other side try to figure out their situation. A large crowd has gathered on our side of the lake, and we spend quite some time chatting with a lot of 4x4 folks, all of us giving each aother a play-by-play of the drama unfolding across the lake. They tell us that the water-crossing here is not normally this bad, but due to the copious amount of snow pack this winter, the water levels are unusually high right now.
We have some big questions on our minds.
Are we even able to get across this lake if a side-by-side drowned itself? Do we have to turn back once again? Oh man, that would totally suck, because looking at the GPS, we are *LITERALLY* 6 kms from the town of Tincup. We are practically at the end of the trail!
We watch the rescue operation unfold as another Razor dips its wheels into the lake.
Aha! There's a set of poles set up close to the shore of the lake, presumably denoting where it's shallow enough for high-clearance vehicles to cross. That Razor must not have seen the poles or not understood its significance, because it looked like it just drove straight ahead on the wrong side of the poles!
If we stay close to the shore, it looks like the water is only a couple of feet deep. I watch the rescue Razor drive around, and then estimate how high the water is and how high the spark plugs and air filters are on our bikes. I think we can make it?
Maybe?
We shouldn't ride across for fear of dumping the bike. So we make the decision to walk the bikes across:
We squeezed Neda's bike past the two Razors in the lake and were met by unkind words. Apparently, the crew of the downed Razor wanted us to have waited on the other side till they rescued their vehicle. That made no sense at all: we were *walking* a bike past them, which is literally as wide as a person?
Whatever.
Wow. There's a lake here where the trail's supposed to be!
And then we realize why all the OHVs have stopped on this side:
On the far side of the lake, a Razor has submerged itself, its wheels poking up just above the surface of the water!
Holy sheet!
We watched as the folks on the other side try to figure out their situation. A large crowd has gathered on our side of the lake, and we spend quite some time chatting with a lot of 4x4 folks, all of us giving each aother a play-by-play of the drama unfolding across the lake. They tell us that the water-crossing here is not normally this bad, but due to the copious amount of snow pack this winter, the water levels are unusually high right now.
We have some big questions on our minds.
Are we even able to get across this lake if a side-by-side drowned itself? Do we have to turn back once again? Oh man, that would totally suck, because looking at the GPS, we are *LITERALLY* 6 kms from the town of Tincup. We are practically at the end of the trail!
We watch the rescue operation unfold as another Razor dips its wheels into the lake.
Aha! There's a set of poles set up close to the shore of the lake, presumably denoting where it's shallow enough for high-clearance vehicles to cross. That Razor must not have seen the poles or not understood its significance, because it looked like it just drove straight ahead on the wrong side of the poles!
If we stay close to the shore, it looks like the water is only a couple of feet deep. I watch the rescue Razor drive around, and then estimate how high the water is and how high the spark plugs and air filters are on our bikes. I think we can make it?
Maybe?
We shouldn't ride across for fear of dumping the bike. So we make the decision to walk the bikes across:
We squeezed Neda's bike past the two Razors in the lake and were met by unkind words. Apparently, the crew of the downed Razor wanted us to have waited on the other side till they rescued their vehicle. That made no sense at all: we were *walking* a bike past them, which is literally as wide as a person?
Whatever.
So my KTM waited till they towed the vehicle out and I helped the downed Razor driver recover some of the items that were floating in the lake.
Finally the roadblock was cleared and all the waiting OHVs were allowed to pass
Pushing the bike drained all our energy, and we waved to all the friends we had made on the other side as they continued on. We sat down to empty all the water from inside of our boots.
We shouldn't have done that because another super-long lake crossing appeared in front of us!
This turned out to be not as deep, but it was twice as long as the last lake crossing
Also, lots of "sharks" - big rocks poking up from beneath the surface of the water. Too gnarly for our skill level to negotiate, not knowing what boulders were lurking underneath. So we pushed our bikes through this crossing as well.
Another wave of 4x4s cross after waiting for us to push our bikes through
We're super-exhausted and our boots and pants are waterlogged with lake water, and our jerseys are soaked with sweat. We take a good long break at the other side of the crossing.
Finally the roadblock was cleared and all the waiting OHVs were allowed to pass
Pushing the bike drained all our energy, and we waved to all the friends we had made on the other side as they continued on. We sat down to empty all the water from inside of our boots.
We shouldn't have done that because another super-long lake crossing appeared in front of us!
This turned out to be not as deep, but it was twice as long as the last lake crossing
Also, lots of "sharks" - big rocks poking up from beneath the surface of the water. Too gnarly for our skill level to negotiate, not knowing what boulders were lurking underneath. So we pushed our bikes through this crossing as well.
Another wave of 4x4s cross after waiting for us to push our bikes through
We're super-exhausted and our boots and pants are waterlogged with lake water, and our jerseys are soaked with sweat. We take a good long break at the other side of the crossing.
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Back on the bikes, and 5kms later:
It's pretty late in the day, and everything's closed at the town of Tincup
We were hoping to grab some dinner here, but instead we scarf down a Cliff's bar and haggardly forge onwards.
Looking at the map, from Tincup, we can ride Cumberland Pass which runs to the south, but that takes us back to the dreaded rocks of Hancock Pass, so it would be in and out for us. It's getting late plus we're tired, so instead, we exit on the lower section of Cumberland Pass north towards Taylor Park. Hardpacked gravel eventually turns to asphalt when it reaches the end of Cottonwood Pass.
Despite not planning on riding this paved section, we're kind of forced into it now. It's about 50 kms back to Buena Vista.
This pass has a bad history for Neda. This is where she got altitude sickness and had to be transported to the hospital. Now that we're on altitude sickness drugs, the elevation is not affecting us at all - except for maybe tingling in our hands and feet, and the inability to wake up in the morning.
So we ride up.
Half-way through, we reach the summit. I take a picture of the CD sign for our collection, but it feels a little bit like cheating because it's a paved road.
I shouldn't poo-poo Cottonwood Pass too much. It is a beautiful road if you're on a street-bike. In fact, when we left Nathrop, a constant conveyor belt carrying Harleys were transporting them all up this road. It twists and turns up and down the Sawatch Range of mountains, and it's actually the highest paved pass on the Continental Divide. Impressive stats!
It's cold up at the summit. Feels like the temps are probably in the mid teens. But it doesn't last long, because we descend just as quickly as we came up.
Terrific views on the way down
I remarked to Neda that this would be a great sport-bike road. I'd love to take my Hypermotard on this road if we ever came back!
We arrive back at Buena Vista very late in the evening. The only saving grace is that sunset is at 8:30PM, so we've still got about 30 minutes of daylight left. This was a long freakin' day, and instead of shopping for groceries and cooking back at camp:
We treat ourselves to Mexican food! YAY!
Another action-packed day. Once again, I thought it would be easier... but still a fun route!
Much more to come!
It's pretty late in the day, and everything's closed at the town of Tincup
We were hoping to grab some dinner here, but instead we scarf down a Cliff's bar and haggardly forge onwards.
Looking at the map, from Tincup, we can ride Cumberland Pass which runs to the south, but that takes us back to the dreaded rocks of Hancock Pass, so it would be in and out for us. It's getting late plus we're tired, so instead, we exit on the lower section of Cumberland Pass north towards Taylor Park. Hardpacked gravel eventually turns to asphalt when it reaches the end of Cottonwood Pass.
Despite not planning on riding this paved section, we're kind of forced into it now. It's about 50 kms back to Buena Vista.
This pass has a bad history for Neda. This is where she got altitude sickness and had to be transported to the hospital. Now that we're on altitude sickness drugs, the elevation is not affecting us at all - except for maybe tingling in our hands and feet, and the inability to wake up in the morning.
So we ride up.
Half-way through, we reach the summit. I take a picture of the CD sign for our collection, but it feels a little bit like cheating because it's a paved road.
I shouldn't poo-poo Cottonwood Pass too much. It is a beautiful road if you're on a street-bike. In fact, when we left Nathrop, a constant conveyor belt carrying Harleys were transporting them all up this road. It twists and turns up and down the Sawatch Range of mountains, and it's actually the highest paved pass on the Continental Divide. Impressive stats!
It's cold up at the summit. Feels like the temps are probably in the mid teens. But it doesn't last long, because we descend just as quickly as we came up.
Terrific views on the way down
I remarked to Neda that this would be a great sport-bike road. I'd love to take my Hypermotard on this road if we ever came back!
We arrive back at Buena Vista very late in the evening. The only saving grace is that sunset is at 8:30PM, so we've still got about 30 minutes of daylight left. This was a long freakin' day, and instead of shopping for groceries and cooking back at camp:
We treat ourselves to Mexican food! YAY!
Another action-packed day. Once again, I thought it would be easier... but still a fun route!
Much more to come!
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Short video of our first couple of riding days in CO:
Sochi
Well-known member
Just realized you only have 312 subs on YT
Your late Husky's height review got 1.6K views, might need to do more bikes review and comparisons (your have plenty
) and general gear reviews, i'd guess when ppl get to know you - they will watch everything P.S. and GTM community let's help - all go watch, like and subscribe!
Sochi
Well-known member
LOL, I forgot about ads - I pay for YT Premium and it replaced my cable TV for everything..
@Lightcycle I've been watching your videos - I think you should fix your external mic - get rid of noise = put some dead cat on it AND add the in-helmet one to give us some commentaries - like where is the road, what bike, what did you ate for breakfast and other wise thoughts you might want to share
Haha, thanks guys!
I don't really advertise the YT channel, it's mainly a repository for videos that I embed on our blog. I don't like that they run ads on there, plus most of my videos used licensed music, so pretty much all of the views revenue goes to Neil Peart's estate... (as it should be, RIP)
The Expedition video was for another forum for people who had questions about the seat height. Common enough question that I just shot a quick video for it.
I don't really advertise the YT channel, it's mainly a repository for videos that I embed on our blog. I don't like that they run ads on there, plus most of my videos used licensed music, so pretty much all of the views revenue goes to Neil Peart's estate... (as it should be, RIP)
The Expedition video was for another forum for people who had questions about the seat height. Common enough question that I just shot a quick video for it.
Ugh. We just cannot wake up early. 9AM again when the sun evicts us from our tent like clockwork. We stumble around the campsite like zombies for another hour willing ourselves to make breakfast and unpacking all our wet gear from yesterday's ride.
It shouldn't be this hard.
The trails were so busy yesterday, probably because it was a weekend. So we've come up with a plan - we're going to zig when everyone's zagging and hit the trails again tomorrow, which is a Monday. So we've got a rest day ahead of us today. But also, it's going to take more than 24 hours to get all that lake water out of our boots!
The aftermatch of our lake walk. Everything hanging out in the sun to dry!
Hanging out at the campsite this morning, I notice a huge toy-hauler parked across our tentsite. Parked in front of it were a KTM Six Days EXC 450 and a Husqvarna 501S. They're our moto-doppelgangers!
I poked my head in and said hi. Sue greets me and catches me admiring her setup, so she invites me in and gives me the grand tour of her toy-hauler. It's a 27-footer Stryker with a garage in the back, a king size bed, full shower, every kitchen appliance known to man... SO ENVIOUS!!!! Oh man, if we did more truck'n rides, this is exactly what I'd like to do it in.
I also met her partner Siggy, who rides the Husky. They're both from the NC/TN area and they're on a two-week moto-vacation to ride the same kinds of trails that we were doing, so we got to sharing A LOT of stories and tips. And guess what? Siggy has a 790 Adventure and Sue just picked up a Harley Pan-Am. They're also ADV riders. So much in common!
S+S are coming from the west, which is where we're headed in the next few days, so they gave us a heads-up on what routes to do. It turns out they also did Tincup and Hancock the day before we were there! LOL!
They're having relatives over today, but they invited us over for dinner tomorrow night after our ride! Cool!
They also suggested we go into town and visit the local brewery, Eddyline. However, when we get there, there's a huge line-up, so we did this instead:
Found some shade in the local park and just spend the afternoon relaxing
Been talking to a few people at the campsite and I heard something unusual. Apparently, Buena Vista has a different pronunciation than what we expected it to. Locals pronounce it Bee-YOU-Nah Vista... Huh?
YouTube has some answers:
That's not all. Heard another guy say he was going down to Salida (you know, the Spanish word for "exit"?) and he pronounced it Suh-LIE-duh. Whut?
Weird pronunciations abound in the US. Some others places that we have been to with "alternative" pronunciations:
Mobile, Alabama: Mo-BEEL
Dubois, Idaho: Doo-BOYS
Houston street in NYC: HOW-stun
Strange!
I spend the rest of the day researching some of the routes for our ride tomorrow. After referencing trail sites that just weren't appropriate for our vehicles, I've gone back to the best resource for adventure motorcycles: ADVRider! I cross-referenced some routes that fellow ADVers have posted up which look to be less challenging and more of a relaxing scenic ride.
Should be some good riding!
It shouldn't be this hard.
The trails were so busy yesterday, probably because it was a weekend. So we've come up with a plan - we're going to zig when everyone's zagging and hit the trails again tomorrow, which is a Monday. So we've got a rest day ahead of us today. But also, it's going to take more than 24 hours to get all that lake water out of our boots!
The aftermatch of our lake walk. Everything hanging out in the sun to dry!
Hanging out at the campsite this morning, I notice a huge toy-hauler parked across our tentsite. Parked in front of it were a KTM Six Days EXC 450 and a Husqvarna 501S. They're our moto-doppelgangers!
I poked my head in and said hi. Sue greets me and catches me admiring her setup, so she invites me in and gives me the grand tour of her toy-hauler. It's a 27-footer Stryker with a garage in the back, a king size bed, full shower, every kitchen appliance known to man... SO ENVIOUS!!!! Oh man, if we did more truck'n rides, this is exactly what I'd like to do it in.
I also met her partner Siggy, who rides the Husky. They're both from the NC/TN area and they're on a two-week moto-vacation to ride the same kinds of trails that we were doing, so we got to sharing A LOT of stories and tips. And guess what? Siggy has a 790 Adventure and Sue just picked up a Harley Pan-Am. They're also ADV riders. So much in common!
S+S are coming from the west, which is where we're headed in the next few days, so they gave us a heads-up on what routes to do. It turns out they also did Tincup and Hancock the day before we were there! LOL!
They're having relatives over today, but they invited us over for dinner tomorrow night after our ride! Cool!
They also suggested we go into town and visit the local brewery, Eddyline. However, when we get there, there's a huge line-up, so we did this instead:
Found some shade in the local park and just spend the afternoon relaxing
Been talking to a few people at the campsite and I heard something unusual. Apparently, Buena Vista has a different pronunciation than what we expected it to. Locals pronounce it Bee-YOU-Nah Vista... Huh?
YouTube has some answers:
That's not all. Heard another guy say he was going down to Salida (you know, the Spanish word for "exit"?) and he pronounced it Suh-LIE-duh. Whut?
Weird pronunciations abound in the US. Some others places that we have been to with "alternative" pronunciations:
Mobile, Alabama: Mo-BEEL
Dubois, Idaho: Doo-BOYS
Houston street in NYC: HOW-stun
Strange!
I spend the rest of the day researching some of the routes for our ride tomorrow. After referencing trail sites that just weren't appropriate for our vehicles, I've gone back to the best resource for adventure motorcycles: ADVRider! I cross-referenced some routes that fellow ADVers have posted up which look to be less challenging and more of a relaxing scenic ride.
Should be some good riding!
The next morning, we experience the same drug-related issues. Groggy from altitude sickness pills, we stumble out into the bright sunshine. Most of the morning has been wasted. This can't continue like this...
We have a route for today's ride:
We're staging at Monarch, which is just over an hour south of Bee-YOU-Nah Vista and this is on the menu for the day
Old Monarch Pass
Nice graded gravel! Finally, we can just relax and take in the scenery without worrying about rocks, ruts and other gnar. Just a little bit of sand here and there, but nothing that was too hairy.
The road climbs and we get an amazing view of the mountains and valley below.
Of course, we stopped to snag a pic for our CD sign collection!
Like most of the CD high-altitude passes, Old Monarch Pass is closed during the winter months, but it's still a popular route for backcountry skiers, snow shoe-ers and snowmobilers.
We have a route for today's ride:
We're staging at Monarch, which is just over an hour south of Bee-YOU-Nah Vista and this is on the menu for the day
Old Monarch Pass
Nice graded gravel! Finally, we can just relax and take in the scenery without worrying about rocks, ruts and other gnar. Just a little bit of sand here and there, but nothing that was too hairy.
The road climbs and we get an amazing view of the mountains and valley below.
Of course, we stopped to snag a pic for our CD sign collection!
Like most of the CD high-altitude passes, Old Monarch Pass is closed during the winter months, but it's still a popular route for backcountry skiers, snow shoe-ers and snowmobilers.
From Old Monarch Pass, we then climbed Black Sage Pass and then over to Wuanita Pass. More Razors on the trails here, which was surprising for a Monday. Most of them gave us room as we passed, but one of them came a bit too wide around a corner and we were forced off the trail. BAD RAZOR!
I thought we were zigging by going out on a weekday, but turns out that others had the same idea...
We stopped in Pitkin for a drink. Supposed, it's a ghost town, the bar seems to be the biggest business around here
Pitkin used to be a silver mining town in the late 1800s until the Panic of 1893, made worse by an oversupply of silver.
Saw a whole bunch of bikes parked out front. Most of the riders were from Texas, we chatted a little bit as they were gearing up to head out.
The road from Pitkin is asphalt as it runs back to Highway 50
The three easy passes have only taken us a couple of hours to do, so we're in search of other routes to run. Siggy and Sue recommended the Marshall Pass, just south of Sargents, which might extend our riding day by quite a bit as the pass exits quite a ways off from Monarch where we staged.
I sent off a txt to our new friends letting them know we might be late for dinner. They're riders, so they'll understand.
Great scenery on Marshall Pass
Another nice, relaxed ride on graded gravel roads. Good recommendation!
And bonus! It's also another CD pass!
The Marshall Pass lets us out at Mears Junction on Highway 285. We've got a short 30 km stretch to get back to Monarch, and then back to our campgrounds in Bee-YOU-Nah Vista.
We're only a few minutes late as we arrive back at camp, and Siggy and Sue have the BBQ started. Steak tacos tonight! OMG, we're being treated so well!
We spend the entire evening with S+S, talking bikes and travel. We have a lot in common, from our love of off-road motorcycling, ADV riding and long-term travel. Found out that Siggy is a Toronto ex-pat as well, he lived out in Etobicoke, which is in the west end of the city, so we were reminiscing a lot about the bad old days...
We hung out with some good food and drinks and lots of chatting till the sun set. Deets were exchanged, plans were made to meet up again in the future somewhere on the road. We're going to head out for the next stage of our Continental Divide ride, so we promise to say goodbye to them before we leave tomorrow morning. So glad we met another motorcycling couple!!!
I thought we were zigging by going out on a weekday, but turns out that others had the same idea...
We stopped in Pitkin for a drink. Supposed, it's a ghost town, the bar seems to be the biggest business around here
Pitkin used to be a silver mining town in the late 1800s until the Panic of 1893, made worse by an oversupply of silver.
Saw a whole bunch of bikes parked out front. Most of the riders were from Texas, we chatted a little bit as they were gearing up to head out.
The road from Pitkin is asphalt as it runs back to Highway 50
The three easy passes have only taken us a couple of hours to do, so we're in search of other routes to run. Siggy and Sue recommended the Marshall Pass, just south of Sargents, which might extend our riding day by quite a bit as the pass exits quite a ways off from Monarch where we staged.
I sent off a txt to our new friends letting them know we might be late for dinner. They're riders, so they'll understand.
Great scenery on Marshall Pass
Another nice, relaxed ride on graded gravel roads. Good recommendation!
And bonus! It's also another CD pass!
The Marshall Pass lets us out at Mears Junction on Highway 285. We've got a short 30 km stretch to get back to Monarch, and then back to our campgrounds in Bee-YOU-Nah Vista.
We're only a few minutes late as we arrive back at camp, and Siggy and Sue have the BBQ started. Steak tacos tonight! OMG, we're being treated so well!
We spend the entire evening with S+S, talking bikes and travel. We have a lot in common, from our love of off-road motorcycling, ADV riding and long-term travel. Found out that Siggy is a Toronto ex-pat as well, he lived out in Etobicoke, which is in the west end of the city, so we were reminiscing a lot about the bad old days...
We hung out with some good food and drinks and lots of chatting till the sun set. Deets were exchanged, plans were made to meet up again in the future somewhere on the road. We're going to head out for the next stage of our Continental Divide ride, so we promise to say goodbye to them before we leave tomorrow morning. So glad we met another motorcycling couple!!!
Hello from Gunnison.
So a couple of things:
1) We've quit drugs. Cold turkey. Stopped taking the Diamox last night and felt instantly refreshed this morning. No grogginess at all. We're on the lookout for Altitude Sickness symptoms, but we've been at high elevations for well over a week now, so we should be acclimatized?
2) So we left the Okanagan to escape the heat and the forest fires.
This afternoon, from our campsite, we see this:
How ironic!
A wildfire has started just north-west of Gunnison. The campground has informed everyone at the site that we're on evacuation alert, but as long as the wildfire is contained and the winds don't blow the wrong way, we should be okay.
Yikes.
The state has a wildfire map where we can keep an eye on the development. We talk to a bunch of locals and they all say they have this sick feeling in the pit of their stomach. Coming from the BC interior, this is a very familiar feeling - that danger, damage and loss, so very close. News is that the fire seems have stemmed from natural causes, they're saying lightning strike.
We were planning to ride in the Crested Butte area tomorrow. There are trails just to the south, but I think we're going to have to stay north of CB.
Ugh.
So a couple of things:
1) We've quit drugs. Cold turkey. Stopped taking the Diamox last night and felt instantly refreshed this morning. No grogginess at all. We're on the lookout for Altitude Sickness symptoms, but we've been at high elevations for well over a week now, so we should be acclimatized?
2) So we left the Okanagan to escape the heat and the forest fires.
This afternoon, from our campsite, we see this:
How ironic!
A wildfire has started just north-west of Gunnison. The campground has informed everyone at the site that we're on evacuation alert, but as long as the wildfire is contained and the winds don't blow the wrong way, we should be okay.
Yikes.
The state has a wildfire map where we can keep an eye on the development. We talk to a bunch of locals and they all say they have this sick feeling in the pit of their stomach. Coming from the BC interior, this is a very familiar feeling - that danger, damage and loss, so very close. News is that the fire seems have stemmed from natural causes, they're saying lightning strike.
We were planning to ride in the Crested Butte area tomorrow. There are trails just to the south, but I think we're going to have to stay north of CB.
Ugh.
Second day off the drugs and life is wonderful again. We're waking up around 7:30AM each morning with no ill effects and no altitude sickness. So this might be a situation where the cure is worse than the disease.
The wildfires south of Crested Butte are still burning, but seem contained. So we've decided we're going to hit the trails north of CB today.
Boutiquey storefronts in the very touristy town of Crested Butte
Looks expensive.
Today we're riding the Paradaise Divide. This is going to be a bit of a nostalgia trip for Neda as it's one of the most scenic rides she did with her Dirty Dozen crew back in 2009.
From Crested Butte, we take 734 which follows Slate River out of town
Slate River Road quickly turns to dirt and the fun starts here
The wildfires south of Crested Butte are still burning, but seem contained. So we've decided we're going to hit the trails north of CB today.
Boutiquey storefronts in the very touristy town of Crested Butte
Looks expensive.
Today we're riding the Paradaise Divide. This is going to be a bit of a nostalgia trip for Neda as it's one of the most scenic rides she did with her Dirty Dozen crew back in 2009.
From Crested Butte, we take 734 which follows Slate River out of town
Slate River Road quickly turns to dirt and the fun starts here
Paradise Divide is a relaxing trail, very groomed. As we were riding, Neda was remarking at every turn, "Oh, I remember this!"
It's interesting seeing what routes the organizers had picked for new dirt riders. This one was a great introductory trail which provided gobs of scenery to gawk at.
One of the most vivid memories of Neda's 2009 ride was stopping on this switchback on the way up to the summit
We reach the same spot and I asked Neda if she wants to stop and recreate the picture.
"NOPE! Let's RIDE!!!
LOL. Ok. Anyway, this was the same spot, but looking at the other direction...
It doesn't take long to reach the summit. I get my obligatory summit snap
Well, it's not a Continental Divide pass, but still the scenery was so worth it!
Elko Lake, at the summit of Paradise Divide
Neda looking down at the way we came from
It's interesting seeing what routes the organizers had picked for new dirt riders. This one was a great introductory trail which provided gobs of scenery to gawk at.
One of the most vivid memories of Neda's 2009 ride was stopping on this switchback on the way up to the summit
We reach the same spot and I asked Neda if she wants to stop and recreate the picture.
"NOPE! Let's RIDE!!!
LOL. Ok. Anyway, this was the same spot, but looking at the other direction...
It doesn't take long to reach the summit. I get my obligatory summit snap
Well, it's not a Continental Divide pass, but still the scenery was so worth it!
Elko Lake, at the summit of Paradise Divide
Neda looking down at the way we came from
From the top, there's a T-intersection at Schofield Pass. Turning north will take us to the infamous Devil's Punchbowl, and south takes us back to Crested Butte. We've done some research and Devil's Punchbowl looks to be a bit above our skill level. I showed Neda a video of a dirtbike riding off the narrow shelf road and plunging almost a hundred feet into a waterfall below. "Nope, we're not doing that!" she replies.
If you're not squeamish, the fall was actually captured on GoPro:
Fast forward to 5:25 for the chilling tumble.
Later on, we find out that there have been 17 fatalities on Devil's Punchbowl. Jeez.
We go south instead and catch the tail end of Schofield Pass which becomes Gothic Road, leading back into town.
The amazing scenery continues downhill!
Further on, this road becomes a little bit rougher than Paradise Divide, and Neda remarks that she doesn't remember taking this way down with the Dirty Dozen. Then we hit more rocks on the trail and she says, "They DEFINITELY did not take us on Schofield Pass". She thinks they may just have turned around at the summit and taken Slate Road back down. It wasn't that difficult, but even the tail end of Schofield Pass might be a bit too much for new dirt riders.
Still remnants of snow and ice up at this elevation
Back in town, we find a nice park to have a little picnic of stuff that we brought to Crested Butte
There's nowhere cheap to eat in these tourist towns, and our Canadian dollar only goes so far. Still, it was a great place to have lunch and talk excitedly about the trails we just did before we headed back!
If you're not squeamish, the fall was actually captured on GoPro:
Fast forward to 5:25 for the chilling tumble.
Later on, we find out that there have been 17 fatalities on Devil's Punchbowl. Jeez.
We go south instead and catch the tail end of Schofield Pass which becomes Gothic Road, leading back into town.
The amazing scenery continues downhill!
Further on, this road becomes a little bit rougher than Paradise Divide, and Neda remarks that she doesn't remember taking this way down with the Dirty Dozen. Then we hit more rocks on the trail and she says, "They DEFINITELY did not take us on Schofield Pass". She thinks they may just have turned around at the summit and taken Slate Road back down. It wasn't that difficult, but even the tail end of Schofield Pass might be a bit too much for new dirt riders.
Still remnants of snow and ice up at this elevation
Back in town, we find a nice park to have a little picnic of stuff that we brought to Crested Butte
There's nowhere cheap to eat in these tourist towns, and our Canadian dollar only goes so far. Still, it was a great place to have lunch and talk excitedly about the trails we just did before we headed back!
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