Colorado Pics |
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With the Vulcan loaded with everything but the kitchen sink I headed out on a beautiful sunny morning in September. This trip will last 6 days and most of that time I planned on roughing it in roadside campgrounds. I headed out to meet my riding partner, Lyle Miller for what proved to be a very eventful journey. |
After traveling about 200 miles we were at the state line of Colorado. Up to this point the weather was a blistering 90 degrees. I was hoping once we got into Colorado things would cool down a bit. I later came to regret that wish. From the State line we passed through Grand Junction and then headed south down to Montrose. We made about 270 miles the first day. |
This is my buddy Lyle and his '79 Harley shovelhead. It was so modified I couldn't even start to describe the work that had gone into this machine. |
Our first night was spent in a campsite near a rolling stream. We got into camp at dark and set up by flashlight. We're just minutes outside of Ridgeway, Colorado here. It was a cool night and we welcomed the morning sunlight. This was just the start of the colder weather we are to encounter on this trip. We boiled some water for coffee and oatmeal, |
packed up our saddlebags and headed on in to the small farming town of Ridgeway. We fueled up and took a look at the map to see where our next turn was to take us to Telluride. I spied an old storefront in town called the "Ft. Smith Saloon" which had actually been converted into a gift shop. I decided this would make a good pic so I asked Lyle to shoot me in front of the saloon. Well not literally, I meant with my camera. We didn't stay here long. Just long enough to park in a no parking zone and barely escape getting a ticket from the local sherriff. It was neat little town But Telluride was calling. We headed west up into the mountains and started our quest for altitude. |
We made it in to Telluride just before noon. The mountain skies were starting to roll in some nasty looking rain clouds. We parked the bikes and looked for a nice pizza joint to fill up our tanks. We had only been at our table for no more than 10 minutes when a massive rain shower hit the town and dropped an incredible amount water in 30 minutes. It soaked our luggage on our bikes including our sleeping bags which we were planning on sleeping in that night. After a cruise around town to find a laundrymat to dry out our bags we were on our way. From here the darker skies seemed to follow us. The next 250 miles to be exact. 30 minutes out of town and the thunder and lightning started to roll. These are some of the last dry photos. |
Fort Smith Saloon (not Arkansas) |
Main Street, Telluride Colorado |
Lyle, surveying the dark clouds coming over the mountains. |
To make a long story short the next two days of riding were very wet and cold. It was just above freezing when we made it to the Ouray hotel where we stayed for the night. |
We passed by Purgatory ski resort and from the rain and freezing cold we experienced it sure felt like purgatory only in a cold way. From here we rode over many 10,000 ft. passes and only got colder and wetter. |
After three days of miserable riding the weather finally decided to turn in our favor. This shot overlooks a beautiful lake in the bottom of Black Canyon. The switchback roads winding through the quaking aspens here almost made the previous days forgotten. Almost. The trip ended up in Arches Nat'l park in southern Utah before heading north back to our home in Salt Lake City. About 1700 miles total. |
