As we headed south on the 71 we could see the big mountains to the south. I was eager to leave the dry sage and be amongst trees again.
After our 14th CD crossing and approximately 40 miles in, we hit a problem. The road was closed. We drove thru the barricade to see what we would find. When we approached the construction, the foreman cursed us. In no uncertain terms he was not going to let us pass. The workers were more sympathetic to our plight. I found a possible line off to the right and showed it to Doug. He nailed it with the lighter 350. Now it was my turn. My 990 is over 450 lbs and not nearly as easy to maneuver. My adrenalin was pumping. The tricky part was getting it over the lip on the opposite side of the creek. I got the front wheel up and gave it some gas. The rear wheel spinned and drenched Doug. But we made it thru! The alternative was a 70 mile detour. Now the rest of the road was ours alone.
Right before we left Wyoming and entered Colorado we hit some beautiful aspen forests and then a narrow section of the road lined tightly by tall aspen trees called Aspen Alley. It was if it was the long driveway leading to a country mansion. Only at the if the leafy canopy there was no mansion. I've got photos I will include later.
We left the 70 at the Slater post office and started the climb to the watershed divide in the Routt National Forest.
About halfway up we came to a place called Brush Mountain Lodge. We almost went right on by, but turned around in hopes of lunch. Good thing. Kirsten greeted us and soon we had soft drinks and a burger. We sat under the shade, listened to nice music and chatted about the more notorious riders of the divide trail. Billy, who hails from Texas, stopped here on the YO-YO, a south to north and the north to south riding of the great divide route. When Billy stopped here, he had come all the way from Pinedale in one shot, almost 300 miles!
It was a beautiful spot and a lovely visit, except for one thing: they freaked me out about the technical aspects of the trail near the top.
I approached the trail with heaps of anxiety, but when I hit the section, it wasn't so bad. Yes, the trail was steep and rocky, but the lines weren't too difficult to find.
The descent was rocky, slow, and long, but we finalky made it down to the 129 at Clark abd followed it 20 miles into Steamboat.
Our bikes were need of their first service and we set up an appointment with Steamboat Powersports yesterday. Travis was super accommodating despite a fully booked service schedule. They did an excellent job working over our bikes. Travis and Chase were super knowledgeable and we left with a better understanding of our bikes and confident the bikes were in good shape. Thanks Travis. Excellent shop!
It's nice to be in Steamboat. Hotel is nice and food was excellent.
Tomorrow we head for Silverthorne/Frisco where we plan to meet up with my AZ neighbor Harry Matthews. I relied on Harry to guide me thru the KTM motorbike purchase. He is very knowledgeable and just bought a 990 Baja too. I am looking forward to see him.
No comments:
Post a Comment