Got back last friday from my 8 day Colorado ride. Three buds and I went to visit my daughter in Boulder. Overall was one of my best rides due to the company and scenery but it was HOT!

Day One rode from San Diego to Quartzite. Was so hot towards Blythe that I got the beginning of heat exhaustion. Cured by an ice pack to head and neck for an hour.

Day two rode to Flagstaff through Sedona. Decided to stop for the night instead of heading to Tuba City, Right call. We had one of the best steak dinners at Black Barts. Was scared because the place is in a mobile home park but the musical show and the atmosphere made up for it. Highly recommend it.

Day three went to Four Corners and ended up in Montrose.

Day four was the best ride. Took the Million Dollar Highway and it was fantastic. Durango,Ouray, Silverton and the Continental Divide were worth all the misery of the heat the days before. Ended up in Boulder.

Day five took a ride to Estes Park with daughter on the back of bike.

Day six was a treat. We started towards Vegas and were going to take two days to get there. We had such a good time riding the 70 in Colorado that we got a ton of energy. We knew it was going to be a slab all the way home so we ended up riding 806 miles to Vegas in 15 hours! We were only going to be in Vegas for 12 hours but 36 hours in Vegas is better.

Day 8 back to San Diego.

I would like to thank all of you who gave me ride suggestions. I am not a camera guy so there are no pics but the ride really happened. Lots of great food, cold beer and great friends.

Next year will be a Pacific Northwest trip all the way up to Canada.

 

I ride back and forth (CA and CO) and all it's good except that hot desert trip sandwiched between the coast and the mountains! Sounds like you had a great trip! SJ Ron

 

Nice ride...I don't think I could walk for a week if I pulled an 18-hour day though! Was the fire on Wolf Creek Pass burning when you came through? Wolf Creek Pass is closed now because its grown so large.

 

Fires started the day we were in Estes Park. Got out before they closed anything. Bad news up there.

 

I rode through Creede, South Fork, Wolf Creek & Pagosa the day before they closed 160 and the smoke plume was amazing. They have since also closed 149 and evacuated South Fork. SJ Ron

 

I rode from Cortez to Canon City today and had to detour at Pagosa Springs due to 160 being closed at Wolf Creek Pass. I could see the smoke billowing above the mountains from Alamosa and rode through the smoke for about 30 miles. It blocked the sun in some areas. There are 10 wildfires burning in CO right now.