Mini Road Trip - Passport Run - Day 2

August 8, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, CO -- What a great ride! After spending a restful and rainy night in Delta, CO we hoped the sun would burn off the clouds that lingered overhead while we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the motel's restaurant. We chose biscuits and gravy with hashbrowns and coffee. Our nachos last night were only so-so... actually if it hadn't been for the beer taking the edge off and the fact they we were not all that hungry - we would have called them sorry instead of so-so. Ha! Breakfast was a pleasant surprise. Fluffy biscuits smothered in an excellent gravy with hashbrowns on the side served up hot and in generous portions.

Fortified for the ride, we were pleased to see big patches of blue in the sky. Not only that, we decided it was warm enough to ride out without the leathers. I pulled on my hoody, Tim rolled out in t-shirt sleeves. Before long we were headed northwest on Hwy 50 toward Grand Junction. Hwy 50 between Delta and Grand Junction is a pleasant 40 mile ride bordered by desert canyon lands on the west side and dominated by Grand Mesa (the world's largest flat-top -- MESA -- mountain) on the east side. Storm clouds were building over the mesa this morning and we noticed shafts of rain rushing across the valley that butts up to the Mesa. There's a road up to the Mesa we have yet to ride, but that was not on the agenda for today.


Storm brewing over Grand Mesa

Book Cliffs and Mount Garfield (elev 6600) - Grand Mesa, near Grand Junction, CO

It was no trouble locating the Grand Junction dealership. We had ridden by it before. We arrived just behind another group of bikers who were also getting passports stamped and looked to be heading across country. If I had to guess, I would say they were headed to Sturgis. We didn't linger long, because waiting for the dealership to open at 10 am gave us a late start for the ride home. Yeah, we could have ridden back across on I-70 and up on I-25 the way we had came, but we avoid the interstate east on Sundays. We've been caught in horrific traffic jams (on four wheels, pulling a camper and on two wheels) as most of the world that lives east of the Continental Divide heads back into Denver and the Front Range after a weekend in the mountains. Besides, where's the fun in riding straight home?

We had watched the weather this morning. We looked at the horizon. We agreed it wasn't really a matter of IF we were going to get wet today, but more of a choice as to WHERE we would get wet today. We chose to ride the northern route home. Just west of Grand Junction, State Hwy 139 heads due north out of Loma. We saw a road on the map designated as Hwy 6 which runs parallel with I-70 for a few miles before the junction with Hwy 139. It took a couple of trips around the poorly marked traffic circle in Fruita before we spied the sign for Hwy 6. Ha! That was fun - or funny - depending on which way you look at it.

The first part of Hwy 139 took us through sparsely populated farmlands at a posted speed of 50 mph. The road was fairly rough in spots. After leaving what there was of civilization on this road behind near the cut off for Highline Lake State Park, the road leveled out and we increased our speed and the view before us improved. What had looked to be flatlands on the map was anything but flat and we found ourselves grinning as we approached the Bookcliff Mountains and Douglas Pass (elev 8268). The 72 mile ride on Hwy 139 which is part of the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway is about as scenic and fun to ride as just about any other road in Colorado. The road gently twists and turns with only a couple of 15 mph switchbacks rising up from the Grand Valley revealing spectacular views of mountains and rivers and cliffs.

Hwy 139, Colorado winding its way up to Douglas Pass (elev 8268).

Just outside of Rangeley where we turned to travel east on Hwy 64 to Meeker, we stopped for a short rest and a bottle of water in a cemetery parking area. The Rangely cemetery sign said 1886. Just outside of Rangeley we rode past the Taylor Draw Dam and alongside the Kenney Reservoir. The White River flowed lazily alongside the road through fertile valleys and rolling hills. We stopped at a convenience store in Meeker for an ice cream sandwich and coffee for Tim, a soda for me. Inside the convenience store was a Wall of Honor with photos of veterans from the area.

Leaving Meeker, we would travel north on Hwy 13 to Craig, CO riding along with the road almost to ourselves. On the way we passed another coal mine and the Trapper Mine (a huge lignite coal mine) and the Yampa Project power plant. Riding through Craig we remarked on how much the little town has grown. A few years ago when we visited, it was still a sleepy little Colorado town. Now it is bustling with restaurants and stores and motels and signs of considerable new house construction.

We rode on through Craig, picking up Hwy 40 east which we would ride into Steamboat Springs, CO. Here, we had an outstanding view of the beautiful Yampa River which winds through lush and fertile Yampa Valley. Some of the terrain approaching Steamboat Springs is rugged as we road beside the river valley on one side with steep cliffs towering on the other side.

Yampa Valley approaching Steamboat Springs

In Steamboat Springs, we stopped for gas and then rode over Rabbit Ears Pass (elev 9426), named for the rock formation that tops Rabbit Ears Peak, turning north on Hwy 14 toward Walden, CO. Walden is a small town situated on a high mountain or glacial plain about 20 miles south of the Wyoming border. It sits at an elevation of about 8100 feet. On the way in, we couldn't help but notice the rain and dark clouds to the east which looked like they were sitting right on top of the road we planned to ride home.

In Walden, we stopped at the Moose Creek Cafe, for a bite to eat as our breakfast and ice cream had worn off. We were also thinking maybe those clouds would move on or dissipate. We've ridden by the cafe several times on our way through Walden, but never stopped. We decided to sit on the patio. I ordered the Moose Creek burger made from pork and beef. Tim ordered some big burger concoction with double meat and all kinds of stuff on it. We chose sweet potato fries as our side and ordered chocolate cake for dessert. While we were waiting on our order, I called the Folks to let them know our ride was going well and that we were about 100 miles from home. I explained that it would take at least a couple of hours to get down the canyon and that we hoped to be down before dark. The burgers were good, but would have been better had they been served on something besides cheap buns. The desserts (chocolate cake and german chocolate cake) were store bought and somewhat stale from sitting in a refrigerator. Our complaints were not strong enough to keep us from getting all of it down. Ha!

As we were working on our desserts, a biker couple from Iowa walked up and seated themselves nearby. We struck up a conversation. They had ridden as far south as Durango and then back up and other than some mechanical trouble on her bike near Durango, seemed to be having a great time. Like many other bikers we saw walk by, they would be staying overnight in Walden, having just ridden up the way we would go down. She said they encountered light rain, having just missed the storm that dumped lots of water on the roadway. She also said it was cold. I grinned and acknowledged that it usually is cold riding over Cameron Pass.

Before riding out of Walden, we pulled on our leathers and held off on the rain gear. It was growing late in the day and we knew the ride over Cameron Pass and down Hwy 14 along the Poudre (pooder) Canyon would be cold and quite possibly wet. As we climbed toward the summit of Cameron Pass (elev 10,276) we passed by the Nokhu Crags. It's the first time we've ridden by them this late in the day. This was the cold stretch of the ride. Shortly after riding past Joe Wright Reservoir the temp warmed to chilly but tolerable on our descent.

The Nokhu (Eagles Nest) Crags near Gould, CO

We stopped once in the Poudre Canyon so Tim could switch out of his sunglasses as dusk settled. We were about halfway down the canyon before dark claimed it. Prior to that, we could see clouds looming on the far end of the canyon when we caught a glimpse of the horizon now and then. I told Tim as we rode through the tunnel with the Poudre River rushing by in the darkness that the canyon was a bit spooky at night. Ha! As we rolled out of the canyon and past Ted's Place on the corner of Hwy 287 and 14, big rain drops splashed on windshield and helmet. Near the city limits of Fort Collins there was a crack of thunder and the clouds dumped. Tim said some of the stuff hitting his face was slushy. The ride across town was slow because of poor visibility but soon we were rolling up to the drive. It was 9:30 pm, twelve hours on the road. The odometer on The Ride rolled over 10,000 miles as we neared the end of the Poudre Canyon.

Today's mileage = 458 miles... Two days, 865 miles total, several stretches of road we had not traveled before and three passport stamps made for a great weekend.

Here is a slide show of today's ride (124 photos):