Wednesday 10/12/2016
Durango CO to Limon CO
~  415 miles

It was a chilly 40 degree morning when we woke in Durango. The weather forecast was looking good for the rest of our trip, but I knew the temperatures would be dropping as we gained elevation in the mountains. Not being familiar with the area, and having read many stories of riders unexpectedly finding snow-covered roads in the high passes, I’d reviewed weather sites and any web cams of the passes we were routing over and everything looked to be clear and open with no real signs of snow or ice.

We dined on another free hotel breakfast and got an early start, pulling onto the quiet roads around 0700.

I’d been looking forward to the brilliant yellow aspens of US-550 since we’d decided on this route, and we didn’t have to wait long to start seeing some color.
Before long we drove past a large steaming mound (heh) by the side of the road and I caught the words “hot spring” on a sign. We pulled a U-ey and went back to take a look at Pinkerton Hot Springs, a multi-colored rock pyramid formed by the mineral rich hot water trickling out of the of top.

Apparently, there were once hot bath houses available here for the weary traveler, but alas there were no facilities in sight so we pushed on.

We zoomed north on 550, still in the cold shadows of the mountains. It became clear that we’d missed peak foliage by a week or so at this elevation, though the bare pale aspen trunks were still graceful by their sheer number.

There was still plenty of color to be seen, however as the sunlight came down from the peaks to hit the mountainsides.

We began ascending into the real mountains, up to Coal Bank Pass, via long sweeping switchbacks. At over 10,000 ft, this would be one of the highest points of our trip, and the 33 degree temp showed it. There was a large turnout with only a car or two at this hour, with a rustic bathroom building and a short walking trail with cheery signs about being in avalanche country.


We saw our first snow-capped peak of the day – but it wouldn’t be the last.

We descended from the pass on nice 30 mph sweeping curves following the terrain between the higher ridges and peaks. As it was hovering around freezing, I was keeping an eye on the thermometer readout and on the pavement for signs of ice.

Sure enough – we began seeing iced-over water and frosty grass by the sides of the road. Chilling, but makes for a nice foreground.

Charlotte was developing a fixation on the temp readout for some reason. Brrrrr!

We were soon looking down on the mountain town of Silverton CO, spread over a valley floor amidst a confluence of rivers and creeks with mountains on all sides.

The town of Silverton looked interesting, but we wanted to keep moving while traffic was light (and I didn’t really want to turn off the heated gear to poke around at the time).

Silverton is one end of the “Million Dollar Highway” portion of US-550, so named due to the initial cost back in the day, to build the original sketchy wagon road between here and Ouray, over the steepest terrain, where roads shouldn’t really be. I was licking my chops in anticipation as we passed the unofficial start sign – 23 miles of curves!

Now a word from our back-seat meteorologist: 29 degrees.

US-550 provided us with a few miles of straight-ish roadway leaving Silverton, with some fast sweepers and nice views of Mineral Creek. However, we were close to 11,000 ft, and I began to noticed a slight sheen on the pavement left from from car tires and started cutting down the speed to be ready for any ice patches we might encounter.

We hit the long west-east hairpin near Mill Creek and soon arrived at the twistiest portion of this magnificent road. I’d love to be able to claim that we carved it up legit, but in truth we probably puttered through the entire section at less than the posted 15-20 mph speed limits due to concerns about ice. With steep drop-offs of hundreds of feet, no guardrails, hundreds of miles to home, and my honey on the back, I was taking no chances this morning.

Perhaps I was over-thinking it and I certainly could have planned the timing better, now that I’ve considered the frost factor – 2 hours later and the pavement would have probably been warmer and dry. Anyhow, the slower speeds allowed us to soak in the killer views, and for Char to get a lot of nice photos without having to pull over.

Aha! There it is, snow right next to the roadway, melting out onto the pavement. I felt a bit more validated in my caution when we came across it.

The scenery continued to impress and I think Char got a bit tired of my repetitive exclamations about the beauty around us.

After the twisties we hit a long wide valley, still following Red Mountain Creek before 550 dives back into the closer rock-walled canyon where the creek eventually runs into the Uncompahgre River. This was a gorgeous and exciting ride with the roadway cut into the side of the canyon and long-ranging views alternating with blind curves around the rock. Even a little snow that looked like powered sugar sprinkled atop this tasty road just for us.

There weren’t many places to pull over to take proper photos of the beauty around us, but coming around a bend we finally spotted a wide pullout with a couple cars and people taking pictures. We pulled in and as we dismounted and started taking in the mountains and canyon scene all above and around us, a woman told us to make sure we saw the waterfall directly beneath us as well!

Bear Creek flows down out of an adjoining slot canyon and pours over a cliff into the main canyon right under US-550 and you have to step out onto a fairly recently built platform overhanging the drop-off to look back and see the falls. With the falls and mountain scenery all framed by amazing rock patterns of the canyon walls, this is easily some of the most spectacular roadside scenery I’ve come across.

After soaking it all in for a bit, we proceeded on down the canyon for the final few miles into Ouray.

Ouray (pronounced YOU-ray) has a cool ex-mining frontier town vibe going on, with a wide main street and plenty of historic buildings to give a flavor of times past in this isolated mountain community.

We were on the lookout for a cafe to warm ourselves up from the inside, after the morning’s chilly ride. We’d seen so much already and it was only 0930!

We spotted the Roast & Toast Coffeehouse right along Main St. and pulled a U-ey. There are not many level places to park in this town, as the side street go straight up or down the mountain from the main drag, but we managed to pull in next to the sidewalk and a locked-up dual sport bike.

The coffeehouse was buzzing with morning activity, but mellow, warm and welcoming. We ordered coffee and pastry – I got a nice slice of pumpkin pie to take the edge off. Works from local artists were on display on the walls. The bicycle caught my eye and I admired the Herradura front tube ornament (my favorite tequila).

Pie and coffee makes happy riders.
(π + ☕ = 😎 braap!)

Feeling warmer and refreshed and with the sun higher in the late morning sky, we made our way down the Uncompahgre River valley out of Ouray, enjoying more fall color.

The valley widened and flattened out as we passed through Portland and Ridgway, tightened up again through Ridgway State Park, and then another long flat valley where 550 became arrow-straight for a several miles into the city of Montrose, where we saw this cool life-size statue of a frontiersman and child.
In Montrose, we turned east on US-50, bidding farewell to the Million Dollar Highway for this trip (we’ll be back!). The climb out of the valley was gradual and wide open, with stunning views across the flats to the distant high peaks.

The slopes tightened in around us as we gained altitude and passed through the tiny town of Cimarron, with the Gunnison River close-by but not yet visible due to topography. US-50 skirts south in a large basin area around Fitzpatrick Mesa before re-approaching the river, which would be a major feature of the ride for many miles to come.

The Gunnison is dammed to create the majestic many-mile Blue Mesa Reservoir, which elicited a continuous series of “wow, how beautiful is this” from yours truly as we rode alongside.

We pulled over for a drink and stretch break just before the small dirt-road community of Sapinero. I was interested to learn from a sign that the town had been completely moved up higher onto the mountainside back in the 1960s when the reservoir had been created, flooding the original town site. It reminded me of the lost MA towns flooded by creation of the Quabbin, but this place had somehow held on to its existence.

We crossed over the reservoir and river on a longer causeway and cruised slowly along the northern edge, mesmerized by the views across the water.

At the end of the reservoir, we continued up the river canyon, which was a beautiful section of fast sweepers with the highway built out right onto the canyon walls over the water. We got stuck behind a commercial truck unfortunately, and couldn’t get a passing opportunity due to oncoming traffic in the few straights. We crossed another large basin valley and passed through the town of Gunnison, following Tomichi Creek for many miles until we began climbing into the next range of high mountain peaks, toward Monarch Pass. Very fast curves and sweepers next to long drop-offs, but at least the pavement was dry and there were guardrails this time – what fun!

At 11,000+ feet this was probably the highest marked point we crossed on the trip. We stopped for a break and went into the trading post to seek a sticker for the bike. We chatted with one of the owners, who regaled us with a few tales and photos of dozens of feet of snow covering the entire building during the winter season (when they’re closed). The view from the side parking lot was something special, and Char gathered up a snowball from the edge of the lot, just because she could. Despite me having heated gear all day and her not, she somehow withstood the urge to chuck it at me. (she says she was actually pretty comfortable, but did have to wear more layers)

The ride down from the pass was equally enjoyable, as we passed the big Monarch Mountain ski area and eventually were spit out onto another wide and flat valley floor between ranges. Still plenty of piedmont-esque fall color to enjoy as we made our way to Poncha Springs, where we turned north on US-285.

Just south of Buena Vista in Johnson Village, we turned east again on US-24 to wind our way through the Kaufman Ridge. Nice vistas looking back across the valley.

After getting through that ridgeline, there was one more long straight valley stretch where we passed through the tiny town Hartzel. We were amused to realize were were in the South Park area of Colorado, but saw no badly animated characters anywhere about. We then ascended through the open terrain Pike National Forest and pulled in to the rest stop at Wilkerson Pass (9500 ft).

Nice open views of Pike’s Peak to the southeast, as well as the grassy spread-out landscape of this lower mountain range.

After coming down slightly from Wilkerson, we continued east bound on US-24 for miles and miles, through several smaller towns and wide open countryside, with population and traffic becoming more and more evident. Saw this old covered wagon in Woodland Park along with lots of decorations for Halloween.

As we turned southeast to follow Fountain Creek through the Front Range near Cheyenne Mountain and down to Colorado Springs, we began to see weather ahead of us – the first we’d encountered on the trip so far.

The low clouds gradually moved in around us (or vice versa) as we descended. US-24 is a busy four-lane highway at this point and despite the decreased visibility, we were able to keep the speed up as we sped down to the high plains and left the Rocky Mountains behind us. We lucked out, timing our passage through Colorado Springs around 1600 and beating the rush hour. Rain never materialized and we simply finished out the rest of the day’s run under cloudy skies as we cruised northeast across the plains amidst heavier traffic and more towns than which we had grown accustomed over the past couple days.

We arrived in Limon CO knowing that the best riding of the trip was likely over now, and that we’d be putting in some big mileage over the next few days to make it home by Sunday. It would be hard to beat riding through Colorado ANYWHERE in the country I felt (and still feel). We still had more days of riding and new adventures ahead of us – and while we had to make some time, there was no hurry. Warmer temperatures awaited us on our route home and the weather looked to remain clear. We settled in for the night with an inauspicious dinner of  leftover pizza from Durango and food from Subway.