Colorado - Utah - Wyoming on Day 2 of our trip

We made a last minute decision to ride through Colorado National Monument this morning as we headed out of Grand Junction - and what an incredible experience! 23 mile long Rimrock Drive winds, twists, goes through 3 tunnels and offers breathtaking views of the canyons and the top of the mesa.

We were lucky enough to spot 2 Desert Bighorn sheep calmly watching us from a rock outcropping.

We didn't see any other motorcycles and very few cars, but there were quite a few bicyclists enjoying the newly paved road.

We then headed north on CO 139, riding first past ranches and farms and then steadily climbing into the Bookcliff Mountains, topping off at 8,205' on Douglas Pass. 

The BMW's odometer turned over to 46,000 miles and it was fun to reminisce about those miles over the past 6 years that we've had the bike.

We were on US 64 west for a few miles, then US 40 west crossing into Utah, and finally US 191 north for the rest of today's ride. The landscape kept changing from twisting through stunning rock formations to riding along the grassy, windswept mesas at over 8,000' elevation (the cooler temperatures very much appreciated!).

We crossed the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River and caught glimpses of the 91 mile long reservoir that lies in both Wyoming and Utah.

We rode 264 miles today through three states with amazing landscapes on very lightly traveled roads - a dream day on the BMW. Tomorrow we continue northwest into Idaho with more twisty hairpin turns and long sweeping curves to keep us happy.

3 states: Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

 We started off our day in Grand Junction, Colorado, riding west on CO 340 into Fruita along the Colorado National Monument's towering red rocks.

Once in Fruita we headed west on US 50 for just a few miles until turning north on CO 139 toward Rangely. This 134 mile stretch of road from Fruita to Dinosaur is the Dinosaur Diamond scenic byway, home to several dinosaur and fossil museums. We started riding through irrigated green farmland toward the Book Cliffs. We were at about 5500' in the north desert shrub zone, and as we steadily climbed we rode through stands of aspens and firs as we crested Douglas Pass at 8205'.

It was a gorgeous day for a motorcycle ride as we zoomed along straight sections of the 2-lane highway, then wound around long sweepers, and twisted our way up and down the pass. 

15 miles of CO 139 goes through the Canyon Pintado National Historic District, named by Spanish Fathers Dominguez and Escalante as they traveled through this area in 1776. People have lived in this area for over 11,000 years, and there are numerous places to stop and learn more, plus view pictographs. We stopped at the White Birds Interpretive site and hiked up the steep, short trail to view pictographs of birds and corn.

Back on the road we turned onto CO 64 in Rangely to Dinosaur (originally it was named Artesia and changed its name when Dinosaur National Monument came into existence). In Dinosaur we turned west onto US 40 and soon crossed into Utah.

Heading north on US 191 we enjoyed more twisting roads that climbed up and down, through large stands of aspens, and with views of snowy mountains. We also surprised a few deer who bounded across the road in front of us.

Turning west onto UT 44 we rode through some of the most stunning scenery of the day along the Green River and the Flaming Gorge. John Wesley Powell and his intrepid crew started their exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers here in 1869. They named the area Flaming Gorge when they saw the sun setting on the red rocks of the canyon.

There was almost no traffic, so we were able to pull over and stop at the side of the road a few times to take in more of the amazing scenery.

We stopped in Manila, UT at Browning's for lunch with thick and delicious chocolate marshmallow malts along with our sandwiches. 

Heading west on CO 43, which became WY 414, the landscape changed again to a high plateau with distant views of mountains - and also several dark and threatening storm clouds.

Our luck held out and made it to Kemmerer, WY without getting soaked. We had 298 miles of motorcycle fun through three western states as we continue to head toward Montana.

Riding home from Zion

We left La Verkin, Utah about 8:30am local time, heading home after a weekend that included a ride through Zion National Park and a 13.5 mile trail race yesterday.

Riding through the vast southwestern part of the country, where the road stretches before us to the horizon and we can look out over a valley to the mountain ranges 100 miles distant, makes us appreciate the small details. A few cattle grazing in the dry scrub brush, birds lazily swooping on the updrafts, a couple of trees next to an abandoned homestead, the feel of the wind  as we zoom down the almost empty 2-lane paved road.

We rode east on Utah 59, which becomes Arizona 389 and entered the Arizona Strip, the remote, arid, northernmost part of Arizona that lies north of the Grand Canyon. Indigenous people lived in this area for at least 8,000 years and Spanish explorers first saw the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the 1500's. The first Europeans didn't arrive to this more remote section of present-day Arizona until the late 1700's.

We picked up US 89A in Fredonia and gradually started to climb into the pine forests of the Kaibab Plateau.

We enjoyed the cooler temperatures at this higher elevation as the road curved and climbed to almost 8,000' elevation before we started to wind down into the valley along the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, known for sherbet-colored swirls of slickrock and towering cliffs.

We crossed over the Colorado River and continued south on US 89 through the Navajo Reservation until we started to see the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain range just outside Flagstaff that contains Humphrey's Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona at 12,633'. After a quick stop in Flagstaff for lunch, we continued toward home riding on I-40 west until we turned off on the much less traveled AZ 89.

We love long motorcycle trips where we spend a few weeks on the road exploring new areas, and also relish a weekend trip and the opportunity to revisit familiar roads. With cooler weather coming, we'll change up our travels and head south instead of north, hopefully within the next couple of months.

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!

Sweepers, twisties, hairpin turns and stunning canyons in Colorado

We left Blanding, Utah about 8:30am and headed north on US 191 to Monticello, passing Recapture Reservoir and the Blue Mountains along the way. 

We turned east on US 491 in Monticello, passing farmland and soon crossing into Colorado.

 

The real fun began when we headed north on Colorado 141, a 154 mile scenic route that climbs over Slick Rock Hill and crosses wide, barren valleys. We saw more signs stating 'no snowplowing between 7pm and 5am' than we did cars or trucks, and absolutely no other motorcycles. Having the road to ourselves gave us the wide-open views that we love, and the opportunity to ride through the twisties at whatever speed felt right.

After coming down Slick Rock Hill, we crossed the aptly named Disappointment Valley. Supposedly the valley was named by Mormon settlers who hoped to establish farms in this high, arid desert without success. The 2 lane paved road stretched in front of us as far as we could see.

After we rode through the tiny town of Naturita, a ranching community and past mining supply center, the landscape changed once again as the twisting road followed the San Miguel River through the San Juan Mountains.

Soon the San Miguel ran into the Dolores River, and the road swept through the Dolores River Canyon with red cliffs towering over us to the east.

We stopped at the Hanging Flume overlook, which offers a view of the 12 mile long wooden, open water chute (called a flume) that was built in the 1880's to transport water used in gold mining. The flume is attached to the canyon wall up to 75' above the river, and it's impossible to imagine how it was engineered and built.

The overlook is a perfect spot to stop and take a selfie.

We continued on through the Unaweep/Tabeguache Canyon where the rock walls closed in on both sides of the road as we followed the winding river.

The canyon opened up as we rode through another tiny town, Gateway, giving us wider, longer views of the rock walls that rise like skyscrapers.

We'd been on the road for 3 hours, and with no towns in sight that might have a restaurant open, we stopped at the West Creek day use area for a quick snack.

Colorado 141 ends at US 50, and we turned west through Grand Junction, a city of about 60,000 people on the Western Slope, the part of Colorado that lies west of the Continental Divide. The Western Slope comprises about 1/3 of the state's area, but only about 10% of the total state's population live here. Once through Grand Junction, we turned north onto Colorado 139 through the farming community of Egnar.

139 is part of the Dinosaur Diamond, a 480 mile loop through Colorado and Utah where dinosaur fossils and footprints from 150 million years ago have been found.

The highway twists through hairpin turns up the 8,000' Douglas Pass, and even a quick rain shower wasn't enough to dampen our enthusiasm about today's spectacular ride.

We dropped down on the north side of Douglas Pass and made a quick turn west into Rangely, our stop for the night. Rangely is a town of about 2500 people, and luckily there were three restaurants open for us to choose from. The town is named after Rangely, Maine, the hometown of one of the early businessmen. Mike's now been to both Rangelys, and they couldn't be more different.