Day Three

Click on the photos to enlarge.

This day is supposed to be the real beginning of the trip because I am now in Colorado. When I got up and looked out the window I groaned; it was a sightseer’s disaster. There was a pretty thick fog hanging in the area so that cancelled an early departure especially since the first 70 miles was to be on a two-lane country road.

I had trouble the previous evening hooking into the free wireless at the hotel and this morning was proving no better so I took my computer downstairs to the lobby and the clerk let me fiddle with the wireless access point. After a couple of minutes I was connected and looking up weather and stuff. The clerk was a really nice woman who let me use a bucket from the laundry room and some rags to clean off the windshield; I really did not want to spend the day with a reminder of the bird strikes displayed in front of me all day long. I checked the oil and I had to add half a quart. That worries me because all I had was half a quart so now I am out of my oil reserve. I will have to find a motorcycle dealer on Monday and pick up some oil. I looked up BMW dealers in the area and there is one in Colorado Springs but they are not open on Sunday.

The fog had lifted enough for a safe ride by about 7:30 so I loaded up the bike and was gassed up and on the road by 8:00. The first few miles were pretty cool with rolling hillocks. It is rather neat here because the grass is really short, it is a light greenish to tan color and there are literally no trees for miles. In a few minutes the fog got thick enough that my visibility was about 100 yards so I brought my speed down to 50 and chugged along hoping that it would not be this way for my arrival into Colorado Springs. The fog only lasted about 10 miles and then it cleared up pretty well for a great ride into Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs is located at the edge of the plains and at the foot of Pike’s Peak, elevation 14,110 ft. What a sight to behold. As you approach the town the mountain looms larger and larger and is really pretty impressive. The world around cannot see but inside that helmet I am smiling because this is what I came to see. I had to pull over and just take in the view. I took a photo of the mountain but on looking at it there is no way you can get the feel of over 14,000 feet of towering rock from the photo.

Pike's Peak at my u-turn point after missing my turn because I was so taken in by the mountain

I was so engrossed by the mountain that I missed the turn into the city and realized I was headed the wrong way when the road I was on turned east. I did a u-turn and got an even better view of the mountain so I took my second photo. Back on route I was soon on the freeway headed south enjoying the 75 MPH speed limit.

The next town was Pueblo and it is a lot larger than I imagined. I motored through and the speed limit went back up from 55 through town to 75 so I was soon cooking again! My exit off the freeway was a little town called Walsenburg. It is wonderful how fast the miles tick away when you are blasting along at close to 90!! The trip down from Colorado Springs to Walsenburg is really cool. To the east, or, my left there are rolling plains and to the right you can see the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain range. I am getting excited because I know that I will soon be up in there.

Now, up is a relative term here because this road is up at around 6,000 ft elevation. As I approached Walsenburg I caught up to and passed a Harley and when I got off the freeway and gassed up he pulled into the same gas station. We started chatting as we stretched our legs and he sucked on a cigarette. He is from Albuquerque and was on his way home from Colorado Springs where he was checking out a business he wants to buy. As we were chatting a number of bikes stopped in for gas and we talked to a few of them. A couple had come in over the pass in the direction I was going and they said the weather was great and clear up there so the guy I just met changed his route and said he would ride with me if he could keep up. I laughed and told him that he would soon leave me behind because I would be stopping to take pictures at every scenic opportunity.

We talked about my route and I showed him my intended path across New Mexico in a couple of days and he told me that I had picked a beautiful road to travel, pointing out the really scenic parts. We headed out and, I have to say, this really is motorcycle country down here. Half the vehicles in the gas station were bikes and once on route 160 there were so many bikes I should have gotten tired of waving but I didn’t. Probably a good third of the bikes were various models by BMW so my bike felt quite at home. Some were fully dressed cruisers and others were mud splattered multi-terrain bikes but all of them were heavily laden with travel and camping gear. I felt at home!!

The ride west out of Walsenburg took us through the North La Veta pass elevation 9,413 ft. Before we got there, however I had to stop to take photos of Culbera Peak elevation 14,069 ft. It was not snow capped but there was snow in some areas of the peak. The speed limit on the two lane roads out here is 65 so I was back on the road whipping along at 75 smiling as I leaned into the corners as the road became increasingly serpentine. I had to stop to put my full finger gloves back on because as the elevation increased the temperature fell pretty quickly. What had been a little above 70 at the gas station in Walsenburg turned into a rather cold 55 up here.

I was enjoying the road and the corners so much that when I saw signs for the pass I thought they were letting me know it was coming up and all of a sudden the road started to go down and I knew I had crossed the pass. Hmm, pay attention there, buddy!! No worries, it was cold and cloudy up at the pass and the skies cleared as I dropped down to what I guess was around 6,000 or so feet. You can tell this is pretty high up because the bike is not as lively as it is back home with the air up here being pretty thin.

This road really is something. The mountain gives way to dry plains with more mountains to the south. Pretty soon I am in Fort Garland which sits to the south of the stunning Blanca Peak, elevation 14,345 feet. As I am motoring along I see a veterans memorial on a dirt road but I have to go into Fort Garland to access the road which I do to get a photo.

Blanca Peak with Fort Garland in the foreground

It is more riding in the plains through Alamosa where I cross the Rio Grande. I wonder why the call it Grande because it is smaller than the Cuyahoga! It must get bigger as it approaches the border with Mexico. There are mountains all around in the distance and it looks like there is rain where I am headed. Motor cycles and more motorcycles in both directions.

When I get to South Fork I decide to gas up because it looks like rain up in Wolf Creek Pass and I do not want to have to deal with filling up in the rain. I chat to a local biker – on a BMW – and he tells me that the rain normally is only up in the pass so it should not last too long but it will be cold. A couple of riders who have come down from the pass stop to shed some rain gear and they say that there is only rain at the very top and it is just a light drizzle. With that, I leave South Fork headed up to Wolf Creek Pass.

The ride in is unbelievable!! The road winds along the bottom of a gorge with a bubbling brook to the left and sheer cliffs of rock rising vertically on either side. This gives way to wider valleys as the climb to the top begins. It is really fun here because it is a winding road that is still enjoyable even though there is more traffic than I would have cared for.

They promised cold and cold it got!! My temperature gage was hovering in the mid 50’s as the drizzle started. Up and up we climbed, the views becoming better and better even thought it was overcast. The road passed through a tunnel and a show shed and there were a number of places where you could see large snow barriers made of rock and cement. Things must get serious here in the winter!!

One of the photos from Lobo Point showing snow on a distant peak

On reaching the pass I stopped to take a photo of the Continental Divide marker, placing my bike on it so that half was on the west and half on the east. Just before the pass I had noticed a small sign pointing to a road that led to a scenic overlook. I doubled back only to learn that it was a dirt road. No worries, take the road less traveled and go see what awaits. A little way up the sign indicated that it was three miles to Lobo point. Hmm, three miles on a muddy road with rain threatening? Oh hell with it, I pressed on. It was bumpy with a couple of switchbacks and it got colder. I think I climbed an additional couple thousand feet and when I got to the top the gage read 41 degrees!!!

The views were stunning. On a couple of the peaks there was some snow on the ground and at that temperature I wondered if it would snow on me. I took some photos and headed back down.

A View on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass

Back on the main road I started the decent towards Durango and the views were even better on this side. The road was wide and twisty but because it was wet I pretty much kept to the speed limit. There were places I wanted to stop and take photos but I was worried about the occasional semi-trailer possibly loosing it. All the way down you could smell the brakes of the large trucks that had passed before and there were a couple of emergency run-offs incase of brake failure. I decided to wait for the promised scenic view point. Good call!!! My oh my was it something. I snapped away with the camera and even though the photos are beautiful, they do not even tell half the story.

My bike split by the Continental Divide

Once I was done with the photos and back on the road it started to rain pretty heavily so my attention was focused on the road and all that means is I have to come back to see what I missed!!

The drive to Durango was pretty cool. After leaving the alpine forest in the mountain, the terrain gave way to scraggly dry fauna that reminded me of areas of the Rift Valley back home. Again this road amazed me having traveled from prairies to alpine peaks with snow, across high plains and now this semi-tropical-looking terrain.

Durango is nestled in a valley surrounded very closely by sheer cliffs. I did not get to see much of the town. I only had a couple of pastries for breakfast and had subsisted on trail mix through the day so I was tired and famished. I checked in and went to a Mexican restaurant that a passenger on a Honda Gold Wing recommended. I have eaten at a lot of Mexican restaurants but I can tell you that I have not eaten an enchilada as tasty as the one I ate at this place!! And the guacamole and the dip for the nacho chips had an interesting kick to it. You could just tell that this was no chain restaurant goop glopped out of can that arrived by truck from some processing plant half way across the country. Hooray for local restaurants!!

I really wanted to have a beer after settling down but I did not want to sit in a bar so I went looking for a place to procure but learned that there are no alcohol sales in Durango on Sunday.

Well, tomorrow is another day. It will start in the mountains and then I should be in Moab, Utah for lunch before taking in rock formations and such.