We had a pretty leisurely morning, and by the time we took showers and packed camp up, it was 11am. Heading south from Estes Park, we took hwy 7 towards Idaho Springs (more or less). This was a fabulous road, twists and turns, hills, great scenery, small towns� the usual Colorado backroad.
In Idaho Springs, we had lunch at a small burger/burrito place and once again tried the burritos. Same story, Colorado (like Wyoming and Montana) is just not the place to buy Mexican food. That�s the one thing I would really miss if I moved out of the Bay Area� Not bad, just different I suppose. I think if someone were to open a TA's in Steamboat Springs or somewhere it would be a guaranteed success.
Anyway, after lunch we headed up route 103 to Echo Lake and the base of Mt. Evans. Mt Evans stands over 14 thousand feet tall, and has the highest paved road in the country (maybe North America?). I had been up these roads before in 1991 on my GS700, and my memory did not disappoint. 103 is awesome. Once at the lake, we took the road up to the summit. Basically, it's 25 mph for 11 or so miles up to the summit. In this case, we saw tons of wildlife, goats, deer, bighorn sheep etc. and experienced pretty severe weather. Anticipating the cold, we donned the electric clothing and headed up. About a third of the way, and it started raining. By about 12k feet, it turned to hail. By the summit, we were being snowed on! Other than my hands, I think everything kept pretty warm. If the ride was going to last much longer, I'd have put on my electric grip heaters, but since I knew it wouldn�t last long I didn�t bother.
It was COLD at the summit. The wind was blowing the snow/sleet horizontally, and it was tough to even stand outside. After a few minutes of viewing the sights and snapping a few photos, we plugged back in and headed back down. The road is filled with insanely sharp hairpins and huge dropoffs. Combined with the wet road and fogged shields, it was quite an interesting ride back down. Nothing bad, just slow and steady.
Back down at Echo Lake, we did a bit more fishing. It didn�t go too well, all we have are loures and the lake was only about 7 feet deep, and full of snags. Others were having good luck with worms, but we just couldn�t keep from snagging. After a while of improving our tans (the sun was back out by now), we continued on. 103 to the east of Echo Lake is even better than the west portion. If you are ever in the area, this is a MUST DO road. Freshly paved, smooth, good sight lines. The bottom several miles get pretty tight and bumpy, but it�s a blast!
We got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic skirting Denver at 5:30, but eventually got down to hwy 67. We took this for about 50 miles, and it is another absolutely outstanding road. Must be a local favorite, because we saw probably 20 bikes go the other way during our trip down it. Again, fast, smooth, good sight, great pavement. The only problem with it was the ridiculous speed limit of 35 mph most of the way! It was obvious that none of the locals were paying attention to it, so I followed suit. When in Rome, right? Anyway, this road rivals anything we have in the Bay Area, and that�s pretty good!
About 3 miles short of Woodland Park, we found a campground for the night. It was a National Forest one, pit toilets and all� There were only a few sites left, but we found a nice level one for the tent right next to another biker. He and his wife were on a Gold Wing, and had a trailer that opened up into a tent/bed!! Too cool. Not that I'm saying I want to tow a trailer or anything, but this was a pretty sweet setup.
We built yet another great fire, and had a bowl of chili for dinner. Several marshmallows later, we hit the tent for the night. Tomorrow, to the top of Pikes Peak!
later,
david.
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