Trip to the 2005 Colorado State HOG Rally
by Greg S. chapter photographer
Jennie,
Trystan and I left Thornton Tuesday night at 7:15 pm, June
7th, for Durango and the Colorado State HOG Rally. The temperature was
in the upper 70’s and a little cloudy. We headed east to E-470.
I was on the bike, while my wife drove. We needed to drop off our son
at his grandparents in Colorado Springs.
We took E-470 to I-25 and headed south. We stopped in
Castle Rock for a late dinner before proceeding on to Colorado Springs.
Traffic at this time of the night was good. When we reached Colorado
Springs, we turned west on Fillmore towards Manitou Springs and the
Garden of the Gods. We reached my parents house which is west of the
Garden of the Gods around 9:30 pm.
We wanted to avoid rush hour traffic in Colorado Springs and Pueblo,
plus any afternoon storms over La Veta and Wolf Creek Passes. So, my
wife and I got up at 4 am the next morning and were on our way by 5:15
am. We topped off with gas in Manitou Springs and headed down Hwy 24
to I-25. We were glad we dressed for the 42 degree weather that morning!
We saw the sunrise on our left as we rode to Pueblo. Traffic was light
and we rode through Pueblo around 6 am. As we left the south side of
Pueblo, I noticed there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! It was an absolutely
beautiful morning and the prairies were green from all the rain the
last few weeks.
20 miles before Walsenburg, we made our first stop for the HOG ABCs
at Huerfano
County line. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains made a beautiful back
drop in the picture. We reached Walsenburg around 7 am and stopped for
gas and breakfast before heading east on Hwy 160. As we headed east,
it was not very long before we ran into road construction before the
La Veta Pass summit. The construction sign said we could end up waiting
45 minutes before being able to continue on. Fortunately, we only had
to wait 10 minutes. As we climbed the pass, I could tell I had reached
the engine’s power with 2 riders and 40 lbs of gear on the bike.
I had the throttle wide open and we still slowed down a little as we
reached the summit at 9,413ft. This part of the state received something
like 160% it’s normal snow fall for the year. Even the road was
dry; there was still several feet of snow up there. On the way down
the other side of the pass, I was enjoying the ride so much I rode right
past the town of Russell for my letter “R”. Bummer! As we
rode past Mt Blanca, I was thinking about the extreme 4-wheeling that
is there.
We stopped in Alamosa for a stretch and gas. 10 miles east of Alamosa
was our next stop for the HOG ABCs,
the Rio Grande County sign. We headed up Wolf Creek Pass to 10,850
ft and ran into more road construction. We saw a brand new oval shaped
tunnel and shortly after there is a concrete cover over the road for
avalanches. Wolf Creek Pass also had quite a bit of snow at the summit
and was quite cold. We hurried down the other side so we could warm
up. We topped off with gas at Pagosa Springs before heading out on our
last stretch to Durango. Again we ran into road construction around
the town of Grandview.
As we rode into Durango around 2 pm, I was surprised by how many riders
were already there. Of course, one clue was all the motorcycles parked
at the local H/D store. We continued on to the north side of Durango
and checked into our hotel. The rest of the day was lunch, exploring
the town and dinner.
Thursday morning, we rode to the Silverton train station. It was sunny
but a cool 40 degrees. We had first class tickets, which included Mimosa
(Champaign and OJ) French pastries in the morning. The train left at
9:15 am for our 9 hr round trip.
By the time the train reached Silverton, the weather was cloudy with
a light mist in the air and in the low 40’s. We had lunch there
and looked around most of the shops before returning to the train.
On the way back to Durango, we were offered wine or beer with a cheese
and fruit tray. The temperature warmed up to the low 60’s and
the sun peeked through the clouds as we approached Durango around 6:30
pm. Just in time for the Colorado
State HOG Rally Meet and Greet. We first had to register at the
Rally location, pick up our packets and I get my next point for the
HOG ABCs in front of the Colorado State HOG Rally banner.
We arrived at the local Harley Davidson Dealership for the Meet &
Greet. The parking lot was packed! We ate a couple of hamburgers and
met a few High Country HOG members there. After the Meet & Greet,
we went back to the hotel to figure out what ride we were going to do
Friday and Saturday. There was only a poker run on Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s was headed east. The one on Saturday was headed only
a few miles north. There were NO rides to the 4-corners, Mesa Verde,
Silverton, or Ouray. I’m sorry, but I didn’t ride 429 miles
to go to bars and not be able to see what this area is famous for. There
should have been this option at least.
Friday morning was the start of a downturn for the weather. The morning
temp was 38 degrees; the sky was overcast with dark clouds. We rode
to the rally location to meet up with Tim Petras and his girlfriend,
Chris. We decided to go to 4-corners then Mesa Verde. Chris had never
been to either place.
We left at 8:30 am and headed east on hwy 160 to Cortez. We were drizzled
on for only a minute, and I was hoping we could get to 4-corners without
any major rain. We stopped at a rest stop for a few minutes to warm
up before proceeding the next 20 miles to Cortez. The sun was trying
to break out of the clouds, but never did on the way to the 4-corners.
When we reached Cortez, we turned south staying on hwy 160.
After we traveled south for about 10 miles, I could see a very heavy
rain fall right in front of us. I just knew we were going to get soaked,
but about a mile before we reached it, we had to turn right (SW) continuing
on hwy 160. That was close! I could see about 7 miles to the front of
me and a few miles south was another heavy rain fall on a large hill.
I kept an eye on that storm. We passed the storm without incident. When
we reached hwy 41 which is 5 miles before 4-corners, I turned north
west on it to the Utah border for a photo. Tim and Chris continued on
to 4-corners.
Hwy 41 was definitely a workout for my shocks. It had a lot of dips
in the road. We traveled 10 miles to the Utah
state line for my next photo. Then we hurried to 4-corners. There
were quite a few bikes there. We took some of the typical photos there.
Tim's girlfriend had seen all the shops, so we left there for a couple
more photos. As we left 4-corners there was the New
Mexico State sign, and then about a ½ mile south was the Arizona
State line. After taking photos of both state lines, we hurried
to Mesa Verde. It was already 11 am. I could still see the storm to
the south of us pouring rain on the large hill. It's been over an hour
and the storm hadn't moved. Good! It can stay there. We could see bike
after bike ride by on their way to 4-corners. When we reached Cortez,
we stopped for gas and lunch.
Clouds were getting darker, but were also breaking up. When the sun
popped out, it got warm quick, but then would cool off just as fast
when it disappeared. We stopped at the Mesa
Verde sign for some photos and for my 6th ABC point of the trip.
We traveled to the visitor center just in time for it to start raining
on us. We bought tickets to the Cliff Palace for a ranger led tour that
started in 45 min and it will take us 30 min to get there. As we headed
south on to the Cliff Palace, the rain turned to hail. We rushed through
it in about a mile. By the time we reached the parking lot for the ranger
guided tour, the sun was out and it was getting a little hot in all
our gear. We managed most of the 1 ½ hour tour with only a slight
rain for 10 minutes, but we were in the Cliff Palace pretty much out
of the rain.
After our tour we decided to head back to Durango for dinner. It was
4:30 pm. We made it as far as the visitor center again before we had
a small hail storm. We needed to stop and get some souvenirs. As we
were getting ready to head down the long winding down hill road to the
entrance, we ran into road construction. I swear! I will be late to
my own funeral because of road construction. We were stuck there for
about 15 min. Just long enough for the storm behind us to catch us.
I could see it was raining all the way to the bottom of the plateau.
As we just started to head down the rain soaked road with mud on the
corners, it would have to start hailing for the third time. It hailed
all the way to the bottom. Once we were on hwy 160 we were far enough
ahead of the storm that it was only raining on us. We got out of there
as quickly as possible.
A few miles down the road it stopped raining. We made it the rest of
the way to Durango, cold, a little wet, and definitely tired and hungry.
All 4 of us went to the hotel to cleanup before riding out again for
dinner. My wife had reached her limit on the bike for the day. Saturday
hopefully would be better.
We got up Saturday and we didn’t feel like eating another “Continental
Breakfast”. So sick of it! Next thing you know, you will only
get a bag of peanuts and a soda! Since Saturday’s poker run was
not anywhere we were headed, we loaded the bike up for our trip home.
We decided to have a real breakfast in Ouray. We had to get back to
Thornton by Saturday night since my son had to leave at 6 am for football
camp at Kearney, Nebraska.
We went to the Rally point to say by to people before heading out. We
left at 8 am and headed up hwy 550. It’s only 70 miles to Ouray.
The morning was in the low 40’s but no clouds! The road to Silverton
was in need of repair. There were pot holes, lots of cracks in the road
that had been filled tar. I definitely had to keep my eyes on the road.
What moments I had to look around, the views were absolutely spectacular!
Everything was green below timberline and lots of snow above it. The
higher we climbed; we could definitely feel the temperature drop. It
was in the teens by the time reached the summit of Molas Pass at 10,
910 ft. We dropped down into Silverton and I saw the sign for Silverton
but couldn’t remember if I needed it. I decided to continue on
to Ouray only to realize later that I did need the letter “S”.
The temperature was in the 30s in Silverton and went down hill from
there as we climbed the million-dollar highway to Ouray. There were
very few guardrails on the road, and very long drop offs. Again, the
views were breathtaking, either from looking around or looking down!
I really wanted to stop and take photos, but the only stop I did was
to give my wife my leather vest to put over her leather jacket to help
keep her warm. It was cold up here! Wind chill had to be below zero
at the summit of Red Mountain Pass – 11,008 ft. There was no county
sign for Ouray at the summit, only for San Juan facing the other way.
On the way down the other side, we saw the entrance to “Black
Bear Road” which is an excellent 4x4 road. Just before we reached
the town of
Ouray we pulled over for the letter “O”. We reached
the town of Ouray around 10:30. It took us 2 ½ hours to get to
Ouray!
We ate at a nice restaurant. The service was slow, but we were glad
to be able to have the time to relax and warm up. By the time we were
finished, it was close to 11:30. As I stepped outside of the restaurant,
I look back at the pass we just came over to enjoy the view. Instead,
I received a shock. It was overcast there and snowing! That storm chased
us all the way to Gunnison! We left Ouray and headed to Montrose. I
was keeping my mind on stopping for the County sign of Ouray when I
rode past the town of Ridgeway. We stopped to take a picture for Ouray
County when I realized I missed the “R” again! I wasn’t
going to miss the “U” coming up in 3 miles at the town of
Uncompahgre. I was in the town of Montrose before I realized it and
I never saw the sign for Uncompahgre. I got gas and I turned around
and rode back 15 minutes looking for it. Never found a sign. Only a
group of houses and that storm getting ever closer. I headed back to
Montrose and turned east on hwy 50 for Gunnison.
While we had to head north west for Montrose, the storm was heading
north east getting ahead of us. When we reached Montrose, we turned
east towards Gunnison. As we approached Blue Mesa Reservoir, the sun
disappeared behind the storm. The leading edge was just over our heads.
The clouds were black. When I stopped for my Gunnison County photo,
I could see it was raining heavily behind us a few miles. I had to stop
again 15 miles later at the town of Sapinero
for my letter “S”. As we continued to travel east, we
would occasionally get ahead of the storm, and then it would be over
us again. It didn’t help having to stop for the last two photos.
By the time we reached the town of Gunnison, we were ahead of the storm,
hopefully for good. We topped off with gas before heading out again,
trying to stay ahead of the storm.
Mother Nature played a cruel joke on us. While we were ahead of this
storm, one formed between us and Monarch Pass. We only had to travel
about 15 miles before the winds really kicked up and it started raining.
We had all of our wet gear on, but riding in the rain is still not the
high point for me. I could see a mountain in front of me that the sun
was still shining on its top. Good, Monarch pass will be dry, if I could
only get there before the storm. As I approached the mountain, my spirits
rose…only to find out the road turned left to the mountains to
the north. I was looking at the wrong mountain! It rained on us all
the way up until the last mile to Monarch Pass where it started to snow.
It snowed until we were a couple of miles down the other side. Then
it rained on us for another couple of miles. We stopped in Salida for
a late lunch and to top off with gas. The storm was still heading north
east but was also heading towards us. We rode down the canyon along
the Arkansas River. We stopped at the Fremont
County sign for my 12th point for this trip on our way to Texas
Creek.
When we reached the town of Texas Creek, we headed south for Westcliff
on hwy 69, 30 miles out of our way looking for the town of Querida.
We could see the storm to our west. It was windy when we arrived at
Westcliff. We turned east on hwy96 looking for the road to Querida.
We never found it. I didn’t bother to turn around when I knew
we passed the turn off. My wife hadn’t fully recovered from the
day before and had reached her limit on the bike a couple of hours earlier,
but she was being a good sport about the ride though. We continued east
until we reached hwy67 and turned north and rode past the Supermax Federal
Prison, through Florence where we connected with hwy115 back to Colorado
Springs. When we reached my parents house, the storm was minutes away.
I stayed only 15 minutes. I stayed long enough to unload my wife, gear,
and to say high to my son and parents before I was off again. I stopped
for gas and got onto Filmore St and headed to I-25.
When I reached I-25 I turned north to Denver. The clouds definitely
were dark over the mountains. By the time I got to Denver, the roads
were wet and dirty from the down pour from the storm that had just past
through. I rode all the way up through Denver to my house on 120th where
I looked south to see the storm that had chased me all day start it’s
down pour on Denver around 8:15 pm. Boy was I glad to be home after
492 miles and 12 hrs 15 min.
All in all, it was a great trip. It wasn’t hot, traveled 1230
miles, and accumulated 12 more HOG ABC points, and had my best friend
with me the whole time. No, not the Harley, but my wife.
Webmaster's NOTE: Greg S. is giving the chapter an update of his
ABCs quest here.
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