Bright Sunday - First Fall Color Ride 2010

September 19, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, CO -- Yesterday was a cold, gray, damp and dreary day in our neck of the woods. We spent the day running errands, goofing off in second hand shops looking for Hallowe'en (my favorite holiday) treasures and brought home our first truckload of firewood this year.

Today started out a bit gray and cool early but the sun made an appearance about mid-morning and by the time we rode out about noon the weather was perfect. We packed the leathers, but did not need them. Our biggest decision was which route west and up would we travel. We decided to take the northern route. That means we traveled scenic Hwy 14 up the Poudre Canyon traveling alongside the Cache La Poudre River, over Cameron Pass (elev over 10,000), past the Nokhu Crags and to the Moose Center near Gould, CO. Normally, we would travel on to Walden and take a wide circuitous route home through Laramie, WY. Not today, the winds were high and it was getting late in the day. The trip back we would travel down the canyon the way we had come up, turning off on Stove Prairie Road and riding Buckhorn Canyon on the way home ending up near Masonville, CO.

Fall has come to the high country

Speaking of moose (I did mention the Moose Center) - we had a couple of MOOSE sightings today. In all our travels up and down the Poudre Canyon, we've only seen moose one other time. Today we had two moose on the way up and a single moose on the way down. Get out your magnifying glass. Both sightings were a good ways from the road. I snapped several pics in the hopes of getting a few with some clarity, but the camera I carry on the motorcycle is not geared for that sort of detail. We enjoyed seeing moose in the wild... they are magnificent creatures.

We stopped several times to enjoy the scenery and for photo ops especially near the Crags. The sheer face of the Crags is one of those scenes that changes with the light of day and the play of shadow.

Vik at the Crags - near Gould, CO

The Ride at the Crags - Hwy 14 - CO

Tim at the Crags near Gould, CO

We've had one wildfire after another lately in the high country with considerable damage to property. It's easy to see why - as it is about as dry as we've seen it up there. With humidity in the single digits, it doesn't take more than a spark of static electricity in the wrong place to cause problems. Add to that, the extensive beetle kill in the pines and high winds and well... it is a recipe for disaster. The brown in the photos is dead pine trees. It's a shame but the future forest will look nothing like that which we have known. We did find color, the aspen are changing. We may be about a week early, but the timing for aspen color is delicate -- one freeze and the leaves will drop immediately or a high wind can strip the trees bare in a matter of hours at this time of year.

We found plenty of color in the northern high country on the first Fall Color Ride of 2010

Here is a slide show of the first part of the ride -- from Fort Collins up the Poudre Canyon to the Moose Center near Gould, CO (85 photos):

Here is a slide show for the second part of the ride -- from the Moose Center, down the Poudre Canyon to Stove Prairie Road through Buckhorn Canyon (70 photos):