Today we rode one of the better routes in Colorado. Some would say this is the best ride of all. The San Juan loop starts pretty spectacular when you start in Ouray and head south. The first 25 miles between Ouray and Silverton is called the Million Dollar Highway. It's pretty amazing. Here's our route.
Within two miles of leaving Ouray you ride through this tunnel and then there's a pretty amazing waterfall immediately after.
Here's a tribute to the man who built this road for us. I don't know how he knew at the time that was the kind of road we motorcyclists would crave. He did a good job.
Not too much further down the road we rode over Red Mountain Pass which is over 11,000 feet. This is Red Mountain.
There's still an operating mine at Red Mountain. Here you can see some of it.
Here's another view from the pullout at Red Mountain.
Here we are in Silverton at the world's highest Harley Store.
This is probably an indication of the type of winters they have in Silverton. A 4x4 taxi.
This is a shot of downtown Silverton taken from the street near the Harley store.
After Silverton we rode on down to Durango and then west toward Dolorres. It started raining on us and I didn't take any more pictures. It rained most of the way back to Ouray. We didn't stop again in Telluride since we had been there a couple of days before. Anyway, it's not much fun in the rain. The rain wasn't real hard, but it was steady. Rain gear all the way back.
Day 6, 8/12/14, Gateway - Grand Mesa Loop, 309 Miles
Well, today the others didn't want to ride. They wanted a rest day. So Mark and I rode by ourselves. Our thought is that you can rest when you get home. Why ride all the way to Colorado and not take advantage of the roads and scenery all you can. So we rode what I call the Gateway-Grand Mesa Loop. This loop has some very varied terrain. Out toward Gateway, it's high dessert more like southern Utah and the Grand Mesa is very high and lush with greenery. Also it tends to get hot out toward Gateway and by contrast you generally have to wear at least a light jacket when on the Grand Mesa. Here's our route for the day.
We've ridden this loop a couple of times so we didn't stop at the Hanging Flume and I didn't take many photos. Our first stop was at a new general store in Gateway for a bottle of water.
This is looking across the road from the general store.
Before going up the Grand Mesa we stopped for a quick lunch in Grand Junction.
When we started to climb it also started to rain. It rained pretty hard and about two miles before we reached the Visitor's Center it had just come a heavy hail storm. The ground was covered white. I didn't stop to get a picture, I wanted to get to the Visitor's Center in case it started again. It looked like the hail stones were about an inch in diameter and I figured that wouldn't feel too good if we got caught in it.
We reached the Visiotr's Center without any more hail, but it was still raining a little.
This is a crystal clear little lake across from the Visitor's Center.
Another shot from the parking lot. As you can see the vegetation is quite different from what is was over by Gateway.
From this point we dropped back down and intersected Hwy 550 at Delta and then it was just flat riding back to Ouray. My wife has ridden this route a couple of times with me and decided to stay in Ouray for the day so Bill's wife wouldn't be the only woman. So all of them just walked around Ouray, up to Box Canyon Falls and the Ouray Museum. This is a nice ride and I highly recommend it to Colorado first timers or to any regulars who have missed it in the past.
Day 7, 8/13/14, Ouray to Durango via Vallecito Lake, 113 Miles
Today we rode from Ouray to Durango. It's only 75 miles, so I lengthened it with a detour to Vallecito Lake for lunch. Vallecito is at 8,000 feet in elevation compared to Durango at about 6,500. So it's cooler up there and very pretty. There's a bar and grill there named Pura Vida Cafe which is very good. After lunch we rode back down to our motel in Durango. Here's the route for the day.
We stopped again in Silverton because we had plenty of time on this short ride.
Another look at Silverton.
South of Silverton we stopped at Molas Pass, elevation nearly 11,000 feet, to look around.
Here's couple of more from the pass.
At Vallecito Lake we parked below the restaurant. This is really a gorgeous lake.
After lunch we rode back to Durango and checked in our motel. Then we rode the free trolly downtown and had a couple of beers. This is the Balcony Bar & Grill which is a lot of fun. It's upstairs overlooking Main St. and always has live music. Mark and I had been there several times before, but always enjoy going back.
You can see Franciso's Mexican Restaurant in the background of the photo above. We had dinner there the next night.
Thanks for posting your trip. What a wonderful trip. My wife and I did some of this last June and was a trip of a lifetime. Reading your post is bring back some nice memories and just enforces the feeling that I need to come back again!
Went to the very same places you did with my family a month earlier than you did. Of course we were in a car and I was wishing I was on my bike but had a great time with the family. Next year I am going on my bike.
Fantastic pictures and it looks like you had an excellent time.
Day 8, 8/14/14, Durango - Farmington Loop, 103 Miles
Today didn't go as originally planned. We woke up to a steady rain. It was very overcast with the forecast calling for continued thunderstorms throughout the day. We had originally planned a loop over to Mesa Verde NP and then to the Four Corners monument continuing over to Farmington and then back to Durango. That loop is only about 230 but would have taken all day with the tour of Mesa Verde.
About noon Mark and I decided to ride to Farmington anyway because we could see a little blue in the southern sky. I needed a new T-shirt from the Farmington HD dealer (I only have about 50 or so Harley shirts so I really needed one.) No one else wanted to ride because they might get rained on. Out of Durango we took Wildcat Canyon road which was very nice. It was raining, but not very much. I didn't take any photos because it looked more clear to the south and we wanted to get out of the rain. Here's our route.
Not too far south of Durango the terrain turns into high desert and the temps warm up. It also quit raining and by the time we reached Farmington the skies were clear.
We stopped so I could get my new shirt. Here's another shot of the HD dealership. These are the only photos I took for the day. There's not a lot of great scenery in that area, just flat high desert.
We made it back and went downtown for dinner at Francisco's Mexican restaurant. It was our last night in Durango, tomorrow we leave early to begin the ride home.
Started the ride home today. I didn't take many pics because we didn't stop much except for gas. Here's our route.
We did stop in Albuquerque at Thunderbird HD. I needed a new T-shirt.
Another shot at the HD dealer.
We stopped in Tucumcari for gas. It was beginning to get pretty hot. We rested a little while here and had a bottle of water. Only 120 miles to Amarillo for the night.
In Amarillo we had dinner fairly early, a few beers and went to bed. We were planning on leaving before 6:00AM to avoid the heat on the 350 mile ride home.
08-24-2014, 11:35 AM
