Colorado Rocky Mountains

 We're back in Colorado, starting in Craig and ending the day in Gunnison. This means high elevations over mountain passes and crossing the Continental Divide while enjoying curving, sweeping roads.

We started riding east on US 40 from Craig, riding into the sun through fields and rolling hills. We turned south onto Routt County 27 which is such a fun motorcycle road - hardly any straight sections and all twists and curves.

We turned onto Colorado 131S, another winding and curving road.

We rode along the Colorado River and crossed the river at one point, watching brightly colored boats filled with people enjoying a beautiful day on the water.

Colorado 131 came to an end and we had two options: take I-70 east for 12 miles, or follow US 6 east. We chose US 6 and enjoyed riding through the heavily populated Eagle/Vail and Avon area without battling semi trucks and traffic on the interstate.

US6 ends at US 24 just west of Minturn, and we started climbing up Tennessee Pass toward Leadville. 

A railroad was built here in 1881 to support the mining operations, and mining continues to be important today. This is also the part of the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway, passing the training area for the 10th Mountain Division during WWII as they prepared for warfare in the Alps. The 2-lane paved road twists and turns with brief interludes of fairly straight roads with amazing high alpine vistas.

We encountered more traffic than any other day during this trip, slowing to a crawl up the mountain behind a long line of cars and trucks hauling oversized loads over the 10,424' Tennessee Pass and then on through Leadville, at 10,119' the highest incorporated town in the United States. We continued on US 24 descending from Leadville toward Buena Vista.

This is part of the Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway,  57 mile paved route that parallels the Continental Divide at the foot of the Sawatch Mountain Range, the highest concentration of 14,000' or higher peaks in the country.

We hoped to stop for lunch in Buena Vista, but it was packed with tourists so we continued on US 285S alongside the Arkansas River to Poncha Springs. 

We stopped for lunch at the Hunger Shack in Poncha Springs before continuing on US 50 west over Monarch Pass, at 11,312' on the Continental Divide.

Spruce beetles have killed huge numbers of mature trees in the Rockies in Colorado, and we rode past areas where the Watershed Health Project is removing dead trees to reduce the fuel load for wildfires.

We continued winding down Monarch Pass on US 50, riding through the irrigated valley to Gunnison, our stop for the night. We're looking forward to pizza and locally brewed beer to celebrate a gorgeous ride through the heart of the Rockies in Colorado.

A windy day through Wyoming into Colorado

 We left Casper, Wyoming early this morning, hoping to beat any late afternoon thunderstorms. 

After a few short miles on I-25, we turned west onto Wyoming 220, riding along the North Platte River. We enjoyed seeing water, green hills, and even mountains after yesterday's flat trip through the grasslands.

There are 7 dams along the North Platte River which which starts in Colorado, flows through Wyoming, and ends up in Nebraska where it joins the South Platte to form the Platte River. We rode past several of the reservoirs formed by the dams, designed to promote agriculture in this semi-arid region of the West.

We rode for miles along the Pathfinder Ranch, originally established in 1964 and today part of a group of professionally managed historic ranches. This is wide open countryside bordered by mountains on both sides.

We turned south on US 287 in Muddy Gap Junction, crossing the Continental Divide the first of four times during today's trip. In Rawlins we turned west on I-80 for a few miles to Creston Junction where we picked up Wyoming 789 South through the Red River Desert Basin. 

We saw the first glimpses of the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains as we sped south.

Just south of Baggs, WY we crossed into Colorado and the road is now CO 13. Every day we are stopped by road construction and today we rode approximately 5 miles on a hard-packed dirt section of the highway that was being repaired. Our route took us through Craig, CO home to three large coal-powered power plants.

The beginning of today's ride was along straight roads, and finally we were making wide, sweeping turns through the mountains. The wind was even stronger with more gusts as we rode south through Meeker, and then turned east on I-70 in Rifle where we rode along the Colorado River into Glenwood Springs.

We rode 357 miles today on ruler-straight roads through dry grasslands and then on curving, twisting roads into the Rocky Mountains. Tomorrow we continue south through Colorado, and we're looking forward to high mountain passes and twisting roads.

345 miles today from home in Arizona to La Verkin, Utah

 We started a 4-day trip this morning, leaving our home in Prescott, Arizona and heading north first to Flagstaff, and then continuing north on US 89 through the high desert of the Navajo Reservation.

This landscape looks almost other-worldly, and even though we've ridden this way several times, we never get tired of looking out over the sand and rocks.

We've been looking for a shiny tanker truck so we could take a photo of us on the BMW as we ride by, and today we finally find one:

Soon after this photo, the BMW's odometer turned over to 26,000 miles and we did a little happy dance on the bike for all the fun we've had over the past 2.5 years.

We turned left onto US 89A, and stopped at Marble Canyon to walk across the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River. This is considered the beginning of the Grand Canyon, and is where the historic Lee's Ferry was located. For about 55 years the ferry was the only way to cross the Colorado River, until the first bridge was built in 1929. A new bridge designed for larger trucks was completed in 1995, and the old bridge is now reserved for pedestrians.

We continued west on US 89A past the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument near the Arizona/Utah border where the Paria Plateau drops 3,000' to the valley floor.

After passing by Vermillion Cliffs, the highway winds and climbs up the Kaibab Plateau and the landscape changes once again, this time to dense forests of tall pines. We stopped for lunch in Jacob Lake where we couldn't pass by the large, delicious homemade cookies. 89A continues west at this point, winding through the pine forests that unfortunately were decimated by the Magnum Fire in June of this year.

We wound our way down an average 6% grade off the top of the Kaibab Plateau to the high desert floor below us, and when we reached Fredonia we turned west on State 389, riding through part of the Kaibab Paiute Reservation only 50 miles north of the Grand Canyon.

The temperature rose into the mid 90's and we were glad we only had a few miles left until we reached La Verkin, Utah where we're staying for 3 nights. We're looking forward to some gorgeous motorcycle riding!

Sand, hawks, and starry skies in Joshua Tree California

Friday was a gorgeous day in Arizona, with bright blue skies that I call "Arizona blue" and temperatures in the mid 60's as we headed south and then west toward Joshua Tree, California. Fall is a wonderful time of the year for motorcycle riding in the Southwest as the daytime temperatures range from the 50's to mid 80's and there's rarely any threat of rain.

We started our trip down familiar roads through the Weaver Mountains in Yarnell where we enjoyed the winding, twisting curves that are one of our favorite motorcycle rides.

We rode out of the mountains and into the Mojave Desert that covers over 25,000 square miles in Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. U.S 60 took us through tiny, isolated, dusty, sandy former mining communities like Aguila and Salome that oddly enough and due to irrigation are also centers of agriculture. It was a bit of a shock to see the blue Colorado River running through the desert in Parker, AZ and then we were back into the sandy desert.

We have been this way before and knew that it was 109 miles from Parker to the next town, Twentynine Palms so we stopped for gas before heading west on CA Route 62.

Everything looks dusty and grey, and for good reason because the annual rainfall is about 5". There aren't any trees in the Mojave Desert, but there are a wide variety of small, spindly bushes that dot the sandy landscape to the mountains that rim the desert.

Mike had to be extra cautious along the 2-lane paved road because much of the way there is no paved shoulder, and the 'shoulder' is typically deep sand.

A railroad runs along the north side of the road for a few miles, and the sandy bank along the sides of the railway are lined with rock and railroad tie graffiti, such as a heart outlined with white rocks surrounding initials and names spelled out in black rocks or old railroad ties.

I can't imagine the amount of time someone put into painting rocks bright blue, deep red and white and then hauling them out here to make this statement.

We stayed at the High Desert Motel in the town of Joshua Tree, on the edge of the Joshua Tree National Park and where the famous Joshua trees are just about everywhere.

Saturday morning started off just as the sun was rising as we rode 10 minutes down the road to meet with Lorrie Agnew, Master falconer of JT Falconry Adventures to learn about his birds which include three Harris's hawks, two peregrine falcons, and a kestrel, the smallest of the falcons. Lorrie explained falconry and about the birds and we even were able to pet the Harris's hawks soft feathers. It's amazing that these fierce birds of prey with long sharp talons and even sharper beaks sat quietly on Lorrie's gloved arm as we stroked their backs. Lorrie then took us into the desert with the Harris's hawks to watch them hunt.

Lorrie Agnew, hunting dog Sara, and Skippy the Harris's hawk

It was fascinating to learn about the birds and how much time, effort and love for birds falconers put into their hobby.  Here is a short clip of Skippy, Lorrie, and Mike.

We ate a late breakfast at Larry's and Milt Western Cafe in Yucca Valley, saw the new Bohemian Rhapsody movie, and then I ran the Joshua Tree half-marathon that started at sunset. I was the only one of about 3000 runners who arrived on the back of a motorcycle! We started the day at 6 am and ended back at the motel about 10:30 pm and packed a lot into that time.

Sunday morning we retraced our route back home to Prescott, where the BMW's odometer rolled over to 12,000 miles while we were riding through the sandy Mojave Desert.

We traveled 640 miles during our 3-day quick weekend trip into California on little-traveled roads that allowed us to zoom along the mostly straight roads with the sunshine on our backs. We're still smiling.

https://goo.gl/maps/r85v3CApDEK2  for a map of our route