I've ridden in Colorado every summer for many years, and spent a couple of years living in Salt Lake City. One rule I have is is to never ride at high elevation without a leather jacket.

I think the thermals and balaclava are a bit of overkill, but I've seen everything mother nature has to offer in the Rockies, snow, sleet, and hail in June, July and August.

You are almost certain to run into wet weather, afternoon thunderstorms are a daily occurence in Colorado.

I'd reccomend plenty of batteries and maybe an extra memory card for your camera. It's dry in the mountains, so a way to keep a bottle of water handy will be a good thing.

Enjoy your trip!

 

well me n you'd never have a prob cause i spent my college days in Ruston at La Tech

 

ok....we'll take the leathers

 

Keep all this info coming guys. I am heading out to S.W. Colorado next week end and I am taking notes. Just got my new rain gear yesterday and by the sounds of it I'll get some use out of it soon.


Jeff

 

Howdy Redhawk, Here's some stuff I posted on another forum.

****************

If you're out there in SW Colorado, you'll want to ride the million dollar highway, Hwy 550 from Durango to Silverton and Ouray. Silverton is my favorite of the little towns in Colorado, the Silverton train makes the turn around there and is something to see. My favorite watering hole in Silverton is the Handlebar Saloon.

Ouray is a neat little town too, Little Switzerland. I don't recall anyplace special to eat there. But just up the road in Ridgeway is the True Grit Cafe, if you're a John Wayne fan at all you'll want to grab a bite in there.

From Ridgeway go west over the mountains then south into Telluride. Tellride is pretty ate up with yuppies, but it's still a beautiful place. Continue on south on Hwy 145 over Lizard Head Pass down to Dolores, CO. You'll be close to Cortez and the Cliff Dwellings, or to 4 Corners if you want to see that, but I don't see much reason to go there.

From Ignacio if you go north to Hwy 160, Durango will be to the west. It has everything you could possibly need, also has way too much traffic. So go east, thru Pagosa Springs and over Wolf Creek Pass. When you get to South Fork take a left on the Silver Thread highway (Hwy 149) which goes thru Creede, Lake City, and Powderhorn before coming out on Hwy 50 west of Gunnison. Hwy 92 from near Sapinero to Crawford runs along the backside of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and has some breathtaking views.

If you decide to venture father north, Hwy 82 between Twin Lakes and Aspen goes up over 12,000 feet and is a MUST DO in my book. There is lots of great riding in that area, and I usually use Salida as my base camp for a Colorado trip.

Keep in mind that eastern Colorado is just as flat and boring as Kansas. But once you get to the mountains, just about anything west of I-25 is good riding. There is one big valley in South Central Colorado that you should try to avoid, Alamosa is right in the middle of it and you can tell by how straight the roads are how flat it is there. Usually HOT there in the summer too, but you can drop 20-30 degrees by heading up to high (10,000+ feet) elevations.

Bring your leather gear and rain gear. You will probably run into cool to cold weather someplace, and you will almostly surely run into wet weather in the mountains, summertime thunderstorms are a daily (afternoon) occurance.

Speaking of elevation ... It will most likely be hot that time of year, but several towns in Colorado are over 10,000 feet, Leadville, Silverton and I believe Ouray are a few. It will be MUCH cooler up there. But even towns like Salida, Gunnison and Pagosa Springs will be cooler at 6-7000 feet.

Mornings are usually pretty brisk up high, frost on the bike's seat is not uncommon if you stay up high overnight.

On your way out there, will probably cross New Mexico. The enchanted circle is a nice ride, look on the map at Taos, Questa, Red River and Eagle Nest, you'll see the circle. We stayed at a real nice place in Eagle Nest last time, has an old Saloon out front and reasonable rates.

Find Chama, NM on the map. That's a cool place too, they have an old steam train that runs up into Colorado there. It parallels Highway 17 which runs north out of Chama over LaManga pass to Conejos, CO. This is one of my favorite roads. Unfortunately the other end is in that big valley just south of Alamosa.

Hwy 84 from

 

Hey Warhawk,

Thanx man I had already planned Gunnison, Ouray,Durango and that area. We will be comming in from the east on I 70 and cut south on24 to avoid Denver. We will be leaving Colby, Ks at about 6 or 7 am and planned on running straight through to Gunnison before we stopped for the night. Is this do able? The trip planner says it is but I don't trust it.

I appreciate all the advice, this is our first long trip on the RKC and she has been (get this) practice packing. I guess if she didn't, I would have to so I aint saying a word to her about it. But it is kind of funny.



Jeff

 

Sounds good Bryan.

Hey, did you hear the one about the coon *** oil field worker that got transferred from Lafayette to Odessa? Seems he didn't want the Texans that he was working with to know he was from Louisiana. First day on the job they all go to a hamburger joint for lunch. Boudreaux orders a cheesburger and the watiress asks him if he wants everything on it. Boudreaux relpies "Hell no. Hold the rice. What do you think I am. Some LSU loving coon ***?"

 

*** WARNING ***

Ya might want to stay Way Clear of DENVER... See Below...

http://www.bikerlawblog.com/index.php/all

 

Colby Kansas huh? I lived in Derby and Douglass Kansas for about 18 years.

I'm an Iron Butt rider, and Colby to Gunnison isn't even 400 miles, I'd be there by lunchtime <G>. But I know that's not how everyone rides, especially not with the better half along.

Are you going to Gunnison, or just stopping there for the night? I really like to stay in the Salida-Poncha Springs area as a base camp and do day rides out from there. I never have stayed in Gunnison, but there is good riding near there too.

I'd reccomend that you try to ride Independence Pass, Hwy 82 between Twin Lakes and Aspen. Another good loop from Salida is up to Fairplay, Alma, and Frisco. Then jump on I-70 to Minturn and turn south thru Leadville and back to Salida. Leadville is probably my second favorite town in Colorado, second to Silverton.

Monarch pass between Salida and Gunnison is fun, but Hwy 50 is a major road and sees quite a bit of traffic.

I wish I could go with you!

 

Our first day will be about 650 miles and from then on whatever we feel like. We have 17 days to go where and do what we want. The first few days will be in Co. and then who knows, we could end up in Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, or Montana. Maybe all of them. Hope to see you on the road.