Churning waters, smoke and snow ride

June 5, 2011
Colorado, USA

What a great ride! By about 10:30 am we were sitting on the patio at Fatso's enjoying our biscuits and gravy and a cup of coffee. We sort of had it in mind to ride the high country. Both of us were thinking maybe ride the Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park. We changed our minds about that when we noticed how many vehicles and especially motorcycles were headed that way. Fatso's sits on Hwy 34 which is the most direct route to Estes Park from this area. Tim looked at me and said, Let's go look at the Poudre, maybe if the smoke isn't too bad we'll ride to Walden and on to Laramie and back. I said, That works for me. The Poudre (pooder) is one of our favorite rides. Although, there was lots of looky-loo traffic and lots of bikes today, riding in groups of 4 or more, it was still lots less traffic than what you see in the high traffic tourist areas. So, if you ever get to northern Colorado... well, you get the idea.

As we rolled out of Fatso's we saw one of Tim's buddies ride by. Dave was out cruising while waiting for his brother to get loose to ride. We chatted at the light and rode on. (Later, we learned Dave and his brother rode to Estes Park but said it was packed with motorcycles and tourists - too many people, too much traffic. They even saw a motorcycle accident and said they wasted no time getting out of there.)

We knew the smoke was going to be an issue today. The haze was heavy. Smoke from the Arizona wildfire has drifted into the high country and is lingering.

The waters of the Poudre River were churning as expected. We saw lots of people enjoying the waters in kayaks and rafts. I say enjoy - it looked like work to me. We also saw a couple of dumb tubers... I say dumb because the waters are really dangerous at this time of year. We lose people to the rivers every year during the run-off, because they don't respect the waters. Record snow pack in the high country will cause considerable snow melt and run off as the weather warms. We expect most of the the rivers will flood in the next few days.



We were riding in the 80s I guess on the way up the canyon and dropped into the 50s by the time we rode over snow-packed Cameron Pass (elevation over 10,000) and beyond to the Nokhu Crags scenic overlook. The roads were clear, but we were surprised at how much snow is still on the ground. We rode by huge snow fields. One of our favorite campgrounds (Chambers Lake) is still closed. Joe Wright Reservoir is still iced over.

We picked up high wind in the mountain valley just before Cameron Pass. The smoke was thick, causing itchy noses and burning eyes. After hanging around at the Crags for a little while we decided to ride back down the canyon.



When we rode out of the canyon, it was just too fine to call it a day (ambient temp on the bike was near 100 degrees), so we rode until we found Chinese food for supper. Then we took the long way home, rolling back into the drive just before 8 pm. Today's ride was 247 miles in short sleeves (even in the snow area) and no leathers.

Slide show of today's ride (132 photos):