Nother High Country Ride

August 7, 2011
Colorado, USA

The Ride - Sunday morning B&G stop - Fatso's Diner

After a lazy morning drinking coffee on the patio, we decided to ride out and get some breakfast at Fatso's Diner in Loveland, CO. You guessed it - biscuits and gravy and more coffee.

Heading west on I-70

Temps were warming into the 90s. We had the whole day ahead of us so we were thinking perhaps another cool high country ride. Riding Hwy 287 South, we cut across to Hwy 95 and caught I-70 out of Golden. Riding anywhere near I-70 on a Sunday is breaking one of our travel rules. The traffic is just too nasty on the interstate at the end of a weekend. About Idaho Springs we noticed the eastbound traffic was already backed up for miles and moving at a crawl. It was just after noon. We could not get to the exit for Hwy 40 north fast enough.

Hwy 40 is a scenic route which travels over Berthoud Pass (elevation 11,307) and crosses the Continental Divide. It gets a bit chilly on this ride (let's call it brisk), but we toughed it out without stopping for jackets. The road has several fairly harsh switchbacks and travels through Winter Park, Tabernash and Fraser. The resort town of Winter Park sits at an elevation of 12,060 at one point although the village sits at about 9000. The town was gearing up for an afternoon music fest but no bands were on stage yet as we rode through.

We rode on, still sleeveless through the high mountain valley towns of Tabernash and Fraser. Soon we were rolling into Granby which sits at an elevation just under 8000. We noticed lots of new construction along the way and new houses dotting the valley in peculiarly located neighborhoods which just look out of place. We remarked that the little towns were suffering from growing pains.

Near Continental Divide

We stopped for a stretch and a coke at a convenience store on the north end of town. We spoke with a biker who was talking with the store clerk, trying to get directions to Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson that would get him there before closing. Thunder Mountain is the closest dealership to where we live. The biker was from Pennsylvania and had ridden across country swinging south through Arkansas, picking up riding companions in Texas before riding into Colorado on his way to Sturgis. The clerk said the most direct route was through Rocky Mountain National Park. It is, but the biker balked at paying the high park fee. It is $10 per person on a motorcycle. Then a local suggested I-70. At this point Tim interjected and advised the I-70 route was a bad idea on a Sunday afternoon. The man agreed as he had traveled up that way just before us. Tim told the man, the best route was through Walden but it would be damn near impossible to travel that distance in the time required. The biker was in pursuit of a Thunder Mountain t-shirt. I was sorry I wasn't wearing one today or I would have offered it to him - ha! I reminded Tim that since it is Sturgis bike week that the dealership was likely operating under extended hours. Tim pulled a dealer card out of his wallet and the biker called the dealership. A few minutes later the biker and friends were rolling out toward Walden.

From Granby one can travel on Hwy 40 to Steamboat Springs or Hwy 34 through Rocky Mountain National Park or Hwy 125 to Walden. The latter was our choice for a return route today as well. We had not traveled this particular route, until today. Hwy 125 is a long, lonely road. It starts out scenic and travels over Willow Creek Pass (elevation 9621) and Crosses the Continental Divide. Neither one of us wanted to admit it, but we could have used our jackets for part of this ride. After a while the road and the terrain flatten out with the mountains only a jagged shadow on the horizon. The winds were howling. We passed through the tiny community of Rand which has a general store we have heard about. The store was not open so we rode on.

In Walden, we stopped to get gas before heading east on Hwy 14, traveling the familiar 100 miles or so to home. The Pennsylvania biker and friends rode by and turned onto Hwy 14. They were coming from the wrong direction so we suspect they missed the turn. There's not much north of Walden except the tiny community of Cowdrey and the Wyoming border. The wind was a terror until well past Gould.

We passed the Pennsylvania biker and friends pulled over just before The Crags. They were pulling on jackets. They passed us a short while later. We were doing the same thing at one of the scenic pullovers - putting on jackets before traveling over Cameron Pass.

The Ride - Nokhu Crags - Hwy 14, CO

FYI: The road damage just before the scenic pulloff at the Nokhu Crags is horrible. The drop off in the eastbound lane is about six inches and the only safe place to pass through is on the center line. The buckle in the west bound lane is just about as bad. The pull off has a wide crack near the edge. There are signs posted but not very far out and there is no speed reduction advised. It should say slow-slow-slow. Signs say road repairs are coming soon but they better hurry because from the looks of it the road is sliding off the edge of the mountain.

The ride home went well. As soon as we got over Cameron pass, we found a spot to come out of our jackets. We finally got tired of the traffic traveling down the Poudre Canyon and took an alternate route -- Stove Prairie Road through Buckhorn Canyon, to Masonville, around the southern end of Horsetooth Reservoir and home.

We polished off the day with a couple of beers and mikes and burned a dog on the grill.

Today's ride was a lazy 310 miles...

Slide show of today's ride (35 Photos):