Independence Ride Day 3 - Part 3-4

July 4, 2009
Fort Collins, CO

Part 3
The ride to Creede and Lake City

The whole point (well, sort of) of riding in this part Colorado was to travel a road or two we haven't been down before... or roads we haven't been down in a very long time or roads we haven't ridden on the motorcycle yet. We moved to Colorado in 1998 and spent most of our spare time driving from one end of the state to another. Getting a Harley has created in us little demons that must revisit all of those old, favorite roads and made us hungry to explore others. I cannot tell you how many mornings we've spent with our coffee pouring over the Harley Touring Handbook wondering why we have not traveled this or that road.

This morning we revisited the road from Cortez through Durango, to Pagosa Springs, over Wolf Creek Pass - Woo-Hoo! and down to South Fork. As we entered South Fork we saw more signs of a huge Independence Day celebration. Vehicles and buildings were all decked out in the colors of the day. Red. White. Blue. High altitude will affect your appetite. Add the exhilaration of riding in high altitude then you have to know we rode down into South Fork ravenously hungry. Before long we spotted a sign that said CATFISH. Oh yeah - we brake for catfish. The locals were having a catfish fry and from the looks of it, all of the locals and a good many tourists were present for it. This building was about half the size of a Walmart and the line went clear around the building and strung out through the parking lot. Much as we would have loved to have some catfish, we passed on the wait.

Instead, we found lunch at a BBQ place called The Shaft. We could have made a meal on the beer-battered Onion Rings alone... Yum! But, we managed to consume those big ol' BBQ brisket sandwiches, fries and beer-battered zucchini. The Shaft is neat and clean, the decor was galvanized with some folk art mining murals, and the wait staff energetic and friendly (they were busy). The prices were reasonable and everything was served up in plentiful portions.



We didn't backtrack to visit South Fork's downtown area as yet another pesky cloud loomed dark over the mountains.

We picked up light rain just outside of town as we pointed The Ride north on Hwy 149 toward Creede, a 21 mile awesome canyon ride from South Fork. Wow! All I can say is when can we do that again? This road is known as The Silver Thread. I couldn't have been more pleased with Creede itself. The outskirts of Creede was dotted with old, buildings, mine shafts and vintage vehicles just as you would expect of a historic mining town. Creede (elevation 8852) is nestled at the base of a canyon with the walls of that canyon towering over the town. These walls, volcanic cliffs rising nearly a thousand feet are aptly named the Pillars of Hercules. The main street of town is lined with turn of the century architecture and mountain rusticity. It was fun to slowly negotiate main street and take in the sights and sounds of a small town bustling with the celebration of Independence Day.

After taking in (all too briefly) the town of Creede we moved on toward Lake City. Here again, the ride was simply gorgeous... every mile seemed to reveal something new. The Headwaters of the Rio Grande begin at over 13,000 feet in the heart of the San Juan Mountains. We had no idea... but there we were, standing in the middle of the 499,771 acre Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado's largest wilderness area and feeling awestruck.

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain... ~~ Wilderness Act 1964

Another amazing stop along the way (and we almost missed it) was North Clear Creek Falls, Spring Creek Pass (elevation 10,898), Continental Divide. This falls drops at least 100 feet. Riding by the cutoff for the falls, the landscape which looks like and is used as grazing land simply does not indicate that it holds secret such an awesome spectacle of nature. Like I said, we rode past it and turned around and went back. Are we glad we did! I shot some stills and video clips. Enjoy!

North Clear Creek Falls - July 4, 2009

From the falls, we traveled over scenic Slumgullion Pass (elevation 11,530) and past Mount Baldy Cinco (elevation 13,383). The pass is not really a pass but the location of a huge earthflow or mudslide that began over 700 years ago. The word slumgullion picked at my curiosity - apparently the yellowish soil reminded early settlers and miners of slumgullion stew, a concoction of meat, onions, cheese, tomatoes, macaroni or rice and whatever else would go in the pot. It sounds like something I've thrown together more than once.

Lake City (elevation 8671) was also bustling with Independence Day activities. We watched an egg toss in the park, roamed the tiny Main Street, and settled on a restaurant for apple pie and ice cream. I'm saying this was the best apple pie I've ever had, baked from scratch, says our waitress in the local Lake City bakery. We lounged on the front porch of Biker Friendly Southern Vittles with our pie and ice cream and had a great cup of coffee or two. We noticed they also offer catfish, but our recent hefty lunch left no room for more than pie. We will remember catfish can be had along this route. Lake City is a lovely town and we vow to return for a longer stay.

Part 4
The ride to Gunnison and celebrating the 4th

Continuing along Hwy 149, we rode out of Lake City down into Gunnison, CO where we hoped to spend the night. This part of the Silver Thread ride was as unexpectedly grand as the rest of the ride had been. I have to say - this road quickly climbed to near the top of our oh-my-god road list. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we were having! We rode through a rugged canyon with towering cliffs beside a river for a good part of the way. Then the road topped out onto high rolling hills, wildflower meadows, mesas and impressive rock formations. The view - you literally could see forever was astounding! And, we finally had sun!

We rolled around part of Blue Mesa Reservoir and into Gunnison (elelvation 7703) well after time we should have looked for a hotel/motel. The rule of thumb for travel in Colorado is: if you plan to stay the night, stop and get your lodging no later than 3 pm. Otherwise, you'll likely get some variation of the honeymoon suite routine... and charged out the wazoo... So, since it was after 7 pm, we knew how it would go. We rolled into a Super 8, got the last room as they just had a cancellation, but it was an Executive suite. Ouch! We didn't complain too much because we discovered that the park where the fireworks would be was across the street and there was a balloon launch scheduled for in the morning! What luck! The room was comfortable. Plus, there was free computer access in the lobby, so we finally got to log on and see the pics of Dad's beautiful new Road King.

We kicked back for a little while with a beer and a Mike's and waited for dark. Our ride today was just shy of 295 miles... can you believe what we packed into that mileage?

Of course, there's a Fireworks post... stay tuned...
The Silver Thread - Hwy 149 - 120 Miles of OMG Road
Creede, Colorado
Lake City, Colorado
Slumgullion Pass Earthflow
North Clear Creek Falls