Colorado BDR

24. July 2024

Initially I had planned just o ride to the starting point and stay at a campground. The one I found was not very inviting and so I rode on. That caused me to go much further than I wanted..

The next campground at the Steamboat Lake State Park was only to camp with reservation. And it was very expensive. The host was off duty and a park ranger I met was under the impression that everyone must have internet all the time to do a booking. But he gave me a tip where I could find another campground which has first come first serve.

Disappointed, I rode on and into a side valley from Clark.

As soon I reached the first campground I stopped and pitched my tent for 14$ a night.

While I was typing this a fox walked calmly through the camp. (You can see him next to the red tent)

Other campers told me that he is a regular visitor, but later freaked out when the fox was sniffing around their tent. Hilarious!

25. July 2024

I have again a slow morning. My camping neighbors left soon and now the campground is empty and quiet. I make sure that my tent is dry before I leave.

Soon I’m back on the route which runs somewhere in the backyard of Steamboat Springs.

All is nice and you can see that there are many rich people. This continues all the way south of the town. There, the road becomes suddenly gravel again.

As I ride by a lake, I pass also through a State Park. There are picnic areas and a campground, of course only if you pay. For a long time, I ride along villas and ranches. Most of the license plates I see are from Texas. Maybe that’s where all this money comes from.

There are also many bicycle riders which do the CDT race. Since yesterday I ride mostly the CDT trail.

This is true all the way to Radium where another campground only allows a stay with reservation. How disappointing.

So, I continue along the Colorado River until reach one of the Boat exiting locations at the Colorado River Campground. Because there are more and more rainclouds forming, I decide to stay here for the night.

After setting up my tent it sprinkles a little and just up the valley a few lightning strikes were to be seen. It looks like I was lucky this time.

26. July 2024

The morning was overcast but dry. I’m right away on dirt and follow the river for some time. Then the route turns into the mountains through a small canyon.

As I reached the top it started to drizzle. Not much but enough that I’m getting worried, because the road looked like clay.

Luckily, I made it all the way into Gypsum before the rain really set in. At the gas station I had a roof above me and a table/bench combo. A good setup to wait for the rain to pass. Some time later the rain stopped and the clouds were replaced with blue sky. Time to roll.

I go slow to make sure not to catch up with the rain and it worked.

I made it to Sylvan Lake, another State Park. This is a pretty setting and would made a great stop for a night.

My plan was to reach Leadville. In between is the Hagerman Pass. I didn’t know very much about it and I’m disappointed as the road leading towards it is paved. But I judged too early. Soon the pavement was replaced by gravel and later a rough road turns off this one.

First, I can’t believe that this nice gravel road is not the one to Hagerman Pass, but a no through road sign and the way pointer assures me that the rough trail is the correct direction.

I says ‘high clearance 4WD only’ and right away I see why.

The climb to the pass is covered with big rocks but overall, not too difficult.

A picture of the associate sign with the Continental Divide info before heading down towards the Turquoise Lake.

About half way down the road improves and now I made fast progress. Unfortunately, the Sky didn’t look good in the direction where I’m heading to.

That’s why I looked for a campground for the night before heading into town for supplies. A nice Steak from the grill always tastes best!

Later in the evening big rain drops forced me into the tent. Soon the rain changed into hail and the ground got covered.

27. July 2024

It rained all night. In the morning the sky was blue but all was wet and cold. As the campground was in the woods I had not to wait for the sun to dry anything and I packed up quickly and left.

First fast gravel road followed by good dirt road lead up to Weston Pass.

On my map was a short cut shown, but in reality it was a private road and I had to follow the track. It soon changed into an ADV/Jeep trail including the crazy driver who once again almost took me out. But the scenery was great and I used the warm sunshine to dry my tent.

On top of the Cottonwood Pass I saw 2 KTM rider looking worried onto their bikes. It turned out that the 690 had a leaking clutch slave cylinder and lost all its oil. I had a spare O-Ring but there was an alternative part installed and that had a different seal. We teamed up and headed to Taylor Park for hydraulic fluid. After filling and bleeding the system, all was good for now and we continued towards Cumberland Pass.

Later I found out that by deviating to Taylor Park, we missed a steep muddy descent and very deep water crossing.

A short stop in Tin Cup and a few hiccups with some of the luggage mounting at the bike of my new travel partners, we made it up to the summit of the Cumberland Pass.

Well, I made it while the other 690 had again a problem. My plan was to wait there but dark cloud came fast and it started to rain. I told a Jeep rider to let the 2 guys know that I’m going to wait in Pitkin for them.

On the way down the occasional rain shower changed to heavy rain and then to hail. It was very unpleasant and even hurt through the motorcycle clothes. I watched for a place to hide and saw another KTM rider hiding under a small tree. Spontaneously I joined him and right after, his riding partner on a Tuareg came as well. There we waited for the hail to stop and chatted a bit.

After the storm was over, we rode the last few miles to Pitkin together and sat down in the Stumbling Moose for something to eat and a beer, now in the nicest sunshine. The 2 other KTM riders also came and we decided to stay at the local campground just out of town.

28. July 2024

The morning was again cool and all was wet. But the sun was out and it looked like it will be a great day. We agreed to ride together for a while and after leaving town we were right away in the woods climbing a mountain road. The Waunita Pass was not very noticeable and we made it quickly to the Hot Springs, which were closed for a private event.

The following miles were alternating of fast gravel road and small technical sections. Great riding and a lot of fun. After the Posser Creek technical section, the 2 KTM riders had to leave for home and so we were 3 riders left. As we rode about the same pace we decided to ride together for now.

After a lot of great riding and great scenery we arrived in Lake City where we fueled up and had a late lunch. There, we discussed a plan for the rest of the day. The plan was to ride Cinnamon Pass, Animas Fork, California Pass, Hurricane Pass and Cork Screw Pass before ending the day in Silverton.

First, we rode along the lake and then tackled Cinnamon Pass. It was a lot harder than I remembered but we all made it to the top.

Down to Animas Fork was even more degraded roads and my 2 riding partners (Abe and Matt) decided to take the alternate route to Silverton. I walked a little bit around to see some of the history of this place, before I headed up to California Pass.

The first section was also in very bad condition but it got a lot better. It is all worth for the great views and the weather was perfect as well.

Hurricane Pass is just a short ride from California Pass, but the descend on the south side is steep and has a lot of loose rocks.

Cork Screw Pass was also great and aside of the lower part in good condition.

I thought that I then just ride on the Million Dollar HWY to Silverton, but after two switchbacks, the track leads to the other side of the valley and through some old mining sites. A great alternative to the main route.

I made it into Silverton not much after the other two guys and we celebrated the day in the local brewery, before we went to search for a camping spot. We found one not far out of town and had a good night sleep, although a cold one.

29. July 2024

In the morning the tents were covered in ice. It was cold but again blue sky promising a nice day. We packed slowly and waited that the sun warmed us and dried the tents.

In town we stopped at a coffee shop where we met other riders. Coffee, a small breakfast and a lot of talks later we followed our plans to ride the first mountain Passes separately and meet later for the Ophir Pass.

Mat and Abe rode via the Cement Creek Valley up to the Cork Screw Pass and I wanted to go via Animas Fork and the Engineer Pass. I knew that I had to go up and come back down a little before crossing over to the Million Dollar HWY.

The views never disappoint on Engineer Pass but the traffic and the road condition where a challenge. It was so rough, rocky and had many big steps that I was wondering why so many brand-new Jeeps are pushed through there.

We all made it to our agreed meeting point on the base of Ophir Pass. Rain clouds were forming quickly so we didn’t waste any more time and got going. The east side is a breeze and we stood soon on the summit.

The other side was covered in some section with a lot of big loose rocks and in the beginning Abe and Matt struggled. But in the end, all made it down unharmed. Happy and relieved we pushed on.

The coming miles are about the same as the Trans American Trial. Some of the roads were in very bad condition and slowed us down a lot. Other parts were very fast gravel roads. All of this in beautiful landscape and forests.

We made it to the Groundhog Reservoir just before the shop of the campground closes, but the lady there was very kind and stayed a little longer. The shop offers showers to the guest but only till closing time (which was early). So, we took advantage of this and felt much better afterwards.

The reservoir is a big fishing lake and one of the fisher men there gave us 2 trout which Abe was willing to cook.

A nice dinner later we went to bed early.

30. July 2024

I slept really well and it was not too cold. A small breakfast in the morning sun later we rolled out towards our goal for the day to finish the Colorado BDR.

Most of the road was fast gravel and just a few times where the road was paved the route went into the forest in the search for dirt. Some small rocky sections and be careful if it is wet. Deep ruts were visible from trucks or other machines in some sections.

We made it to Dolores where we fueled up and Abe bought cleaner and oil for his air filter. From there the road is paved HWY all the way to Four Corners. We took our pictures and discussed our next moves.

Abe and Matt rode towards home and I wanted initially ride a little the UTBDR but it was too hot and I decided to head east to the starting point of the New Mexico BDR.