The Peak to Peak Scenic Byway is a 50 mile up high road and ride skirting the eastern slopes of the Continental Divide. Historic towns, twisting riding between them, and scenery all around them, are the attractions. Still chilly up high. This ride two days ago was under mostly overcast skies, with temps in the 40's, which made things a bit brisk for my middle ages bones. Hey, cold is when the temperature is below your age!

Anyway, here's the interactive Google map link of the ride and content below...

Central City, CO to CO-72 W - Google Maps

Anchoring the southern end are the historic twin communities of Central City and Blackhawk. This is where the Colorado gold rush started. A rich lode found in a nearby gulch in 1959 had 10,000 people moving to the area in two years, bringing their tents, their wares, their tools, and their hopes for fortunes. Henry Teller, Colorado's first U.S. Senator built a hotel in 1872, and at the time, it was considered the finest hotel west of the Mississippi.

Can see the Teller House in this recent image of Central City. Can also see scattered mines dotting the hills...


In 1936 an artist/painter was hired to freshen the Teller House up a bit. There was some tension and disagreement with the project manager, and the painter was asked to quit or resign. Sneaking in late at night before he departed, he painted the face of a women on the floor of the bar. Supposedly, this woman was of the temperance movement and would have found it quite disagreeable to have her image grace such a place as a bar! If ever in Central City, can still see the image...


Anyway, with the above as background, found this old image of the Teller House...


Today...


Along the way, a pause below the Indian Peaks. Those Aspen trees at this altitude have yet to clothe themselves with fine green and leafy clothes, but come autumn they switch to on-fire garments of gold and this spot is usually jammed with vehicles of camera toting leaf peepers...


So later on near the vicinity of Ward (see map), you know how you're riding along and your peripheral vision catches movement off to the side? Well, there is this bird of prey, with prey in its clutches, dropping off some rocks to the left side, trying to accelerate and swoop before me. Well, either I'm cruising along faster than the bird's brain calculated, or his lunch is weighing more than anticipated, or a combination of both, so he decides to drop his load on the road right in front of me. Good thing it wasn't a feral hog. Perhaps it was a feral squirrel. :laugh

Here's the sequence from the video camera. After the swoop, trying to gain altitude...


Dropping the meal to help gain altitude...


Enough altitude gained...


Here's a short Hi-Def video clip of the encounter (first ten seconds), with a minute of the following road/ride.

Peak to Peak: Bird Drop - YouTube

Later on a stop is made above Peaceful Valley. Always a postcard kind of place to pause, with the peaks just south of Rocky Mountain National Park standing guard below the western sky. That's Sawtooth Peak in the middle of the above timberline terrain...


So as I walk around at the spot above with blissfully dull senses and awareness, waiting for the right moment for the pic, I look across the road. What the...


I think the property owner has this hay out for this purpose. But regardless, not seen everyday. A fine ride.

 

Great pictures, the bird drop is very disturbing while riding, I would think.

 

Steve, Thanks for the great ride pics and description. I have enjoyed reading your book this winter and have marked several rides that I want to take this summer.

 

glide... Good to hear from you. Thanks for the comments. Looks like your bike is at the fine Long Scraggy Lookout on a very nice riding day.

MCHOGG... I've had a bird drop their meal in front of me before, but this time I had to swerve!

 

Steve - enjoyed the vicarious ride... New steed? Or replacement of Road King? Great to see the pic's as always...

 

Tod... About three years ago I sold the Road King and picked up the Street Glide. I miss the former, but really like the latter.

 

Steve, I bought your book and I've got to tell ya, I'm really glad I did. I wish I could ride all the rides in the book. I tried to ride Guanella Pass yesterday but the dirt part was just too gnarly, pot holes, washboard. Do they clean it up from time to time? My Road King did not like it at all. I continued up to Fairplay and cut across to Breckenridge and back to Denver. That was a good ride. I hope to see Guanella Pass next month if they've fixed it. Again, thanks for the great book. I'm recommending it to my friends.

 

Hey Craig, Thanks and enjoy! Well, take a bow for an attempt up the south side of Guanella! This is the side with unpaved sections and broken pavement through Geneva Park. With recent moisture (I've had 9" of snow at my place in Park County the past week), things might have been dicey up high anyway.

A little background on the Guanella Pass status. About ten years ago the Sierra Club threatened lawsuits with all the dust settling in Geneva Creek, a tributary of the South Platte, which is a major source of Denver drinking water. A dude ranch owner Jim Gordon made a big stink about having the dirt road in front of his Tumbling River Ranch paved (The place where you encountered the bumpy dirt/rock road), and has funded legal efforts to prevent the paving). In the meantime, much of the rest of the pass has been paved. The north side, all the way up to the summit from Georgetown is completely re-engineered, paved, and is park like. The south side, the side you tackled, is a combination of dirt/rock, chip/seal, and newly engineered roadway (up high). Unfortunately, don't look for any notable maintenance of the dirt/rock section this summer, but a Park County commissioner friend tells me the south side of the pass will be completed some time the next few years.

 

Steve, I have bought your book. I haven't had time to look at it as I would like, but I have liked what sections I have looked through.