2006 Summer Solo Ride About – Part 4 of 4

So on to the final leg of the trek.  My primary route of travel, a total of 2159 miles, is shown in the following Google Map.  Not all of my travels are indicated in the route.  There seems to be a limitation on the number of waypoints that will display in a Google embedded map and I didn’t feel like making this a five part diatribe.

  Part 4 Route: La Junta, CO to Renton, WA

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So it’s Monday morning, Labor Day, and I am back on US-50 heading towards Pueblo, CO.  It looks to be a beautiful day and I can see the Rocky Mountains jutting up from the horizon.  My route for today, approximately 244 miles, should get me into some scenic splendor and some spirited riding.  At Pueblo I turned South for a brief stint on I-25 then I turned East on CO-165 at Colorado City, CO.

CO-165 goes right through Colorado City and right past the Hollydot Golf Course.  I think there were more four legged course hazards on the course than two legged golfers.  The elk were all over the place.  The traffic was moving pretty slow because there were elk along and in the street.  I was tempted to stop and take pictures but opted to keep moving.  CO-165 is one leg of the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway.

CO-165 starts climbing right out of Colorado City.  I was thoroughly enjoying the scenery and the road was interesting enough to be fun.  This road follows a number of ridge lines that afforded some very nice views.  I’d been riding it for about 30 minutes when I saw a lot of cars and trucks parked on both sides of the road.  As I was going by I saw a very unusual structure on the left side of the road.  I pulled over an parked at the end of the line of vehicles that were on the right side of the road.  What I had stumbled upon was Bishop’s Castle.  Somehow my research had failed to discover this little piece of Americana.

This is the 40+ year effort of one man, Jim Bishop, to build his own castle with his own hands.  His interactions with local and state government would probably put him at the top of the Libertarian top achievers list.  It is certainly an amazing structure.  He even has enclosed walkways on the exterior of the structure.  He opens it to visitors for free and only asks for donations.  His primary goal is just to finish it before he dies.  I’ve often wished my life goals were so clearly defined. 

  After spending a little time at the castle I headed back towards the highway so I could get back to Rufus and head on down the road.  I took a side path and I came to a spot where I could see that there was some kind of construction going on.   I took a picture and walked around the end of it.  Low and behold there was Jim Bishop doing what he has been doing for so very long.  His building materials were rock, mortar, wrought iron and some occasional rebar.  We shook hands and had a nice little chat.  He actually did most of the talking and I’m sure he would have been happy for me to camp out there all day and just listen.  I can certainly see why the local politicians have their hands full in their efforts to shut him down.  A gallery of the picture I took can be viewed HERE. 

Past Bishop’s Castle there were some interesting sweepers and and a few tight switchbacks that livened things up a little.  At McKenzie Junction CO-165 merges with CO-96.  I headed East on CO-96 and onto another leg of the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway.  This highway follows another ridge line and drops rapidly back to the plain at around Wetmore, CO.  The upper half of this stretch has some very nice sweepers.

At Wetmore CO-96 turns East but I continued North on  CO-67.  This is a fairly strait stretch of highway all the way to Florence, CO.  To bypass most of Florence I turned East on CO-115 and skirted the South side of town.  I then picked up US-50 North on the East side of Florence.

This is also one of the Gold Belt Tour Scenic Byway routes of which there are three.  After about five miles I turned onto CO-9 to follow the Gold Belt Tour route. I turned again in another five miles onto CO-11.  I have studied the various Gold Belt Tour routes and the one I was on probably had the least fun factor as far as twisties were concerned.  I picked this route because I needed to get to the Cripple Creek area and the KOA I had planned to use for the next three nights.

So I continued on CO-11 then turned toward Cripple Creek on  CO-1.  CO-1 was actually some of the most interesting road I had been on that day and it is still part of the Gold Belt Tour.  I created a waypoint for this KOA literally months earlier when planning my trip.  It was out of the way and I had to go by the crummy map on the KOA site because the address didn’t work on any of the mapping tools I use.  So I get to the waypoint, then pass it, but I don’t see a house let alone a KOA campground.  I drove back and forth over about a five mile stretch looking for signs.  Nothing, zip, nada.  I gave up after convincing myself it wasn’t where I thought it was.  I couldn’t get any cell connection either so I went with plan B.

Plan B was the KOA in Colorado Springs.  In hindsight I should have stopped in Cripple Creek and asked for directions but I am getting ahead of myself.  So I took CO-67 out of Cripple Creek and ran into a few nice stretches of road on my way to US-24.   I rode US-24 into Colorado Springs and then I-25 to the Colorado Springs KOA that is South of the city.  I think it is actually in Fountain, CO.  I sprung for one of their deluxe camp site seeing as how I was going to spend three nights there.  The accommodations were nice and the location was convenient but the noise at this location was a problem for me.  It had it all including trains, planes and automobiles.  You could even hear the artillery practice from an Army firing range.  There was a stream 100 feet from my campsite and I couldn’t hear it over the freeway noise.  The planes were bad but the worst thing was the railroad tracks on the other side of the stream.  The trains were passing about every 30 minutes 24 hours a day.  There were two road crossing just across from the campground area so they were blasting their horns at the crossings.  Like I already said I should have ask for directions in Cripple Creek .

There are a lot of tourist activities in the Colorado Springs area and I had to pick relatively few of them for the time I allotted to be there.  The next day I chose to do some area riding and to take the train to the top of Pikes Peak.  On the last day I visited Cripple Creek, rode the Cripple Creek Railroad, visited the Royal Gorge area and eventually went to Buckskin Joe’s to ride yet another train.   At Buckskin Joe’s I was the only passenger on the small train ride that takes you out to a spectacular view of the Royal Gorge.  Well if you don’t count the dog I was the only passenger .  I got to chat with the "engineer" who is a long time local of the area.  He shared some of his gold panning stories in the gorge with me.  I have a gallery of my Pikes Peak pictures HERE and other pictures in the Colorado Springs area HERE.

I had actually planned to spend one more night in this area but the weather reports were turning ugly for the Rockies and I wasn’t getting a good nights rest at the KOA with the noise issues.  So Thursday morning I was packed up and heading North on I-25.  I turned West on US-24 and headed back into the mountains.  US-24 turns Northward at Buena Vista.  At Balltown US-24 also become part of the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway.  At Leadville I turned onto CO-91 to follow that leg of the scenic byway.  When I got to I-70 I heading East towards Denver. 

Just past Idaho Springs I turned North on CO-119.  At Nederland I continued North on CO-72 and at Raymond I again continued North on CO-7.  At Estes Park I headed NW to get onto US-34 and through the East entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park.

So far the day had been overcast with temperatures in the mid 50′s.  The riding had been excellent but I was a little concerned with the darkening skies and intermittent rain I was encountering as I neared the Park.  I had originally planned to spend the night in Estes Park so I could spend some time in the Park the next day.  The weather report was predicting even worse weather for tomorrow so I decided it would be better to push on and get through the Park before things turned any worse.  It was a good decision because when I went through the park the temperature dropped to near freezing and I encountered sleet on a number of occasions.

On the other side of the Park US-34 becomes US-40 at Granby.  The weather actually improved a little after I got out of the park.  I headed West on US-40 and eventually stopped for the night at Steamboat Springs, CO.  The mileage for the day was 412 miles.  As I pulled into the parking lot there was a hot air balloon passing right overhead.  I took a couple pictures and exchanged a couple of waves as they floated on their way.

The next morning I was on the road early because I want to spend some time at the Dinosaur National Monument which was just a couple hours West on US-40.  There was a heavy overcast and the temperature was in the low 40′s.  I went into the South Entrance of the Monument because I was hoping to get up into the canyon to get some pictures.  I stopped at the small visitors center there.  I looked around and then talked with a Park Ranger.  That was when I learned the main visitors center was closed.  Not only closed but condemned because of earthquake damage.  That was where all the major exhibits were and my next stop after my planned photography side trip.  Bummer ! 

A couple came in and I heard them say that they had just come down from the canyon area.  I asked them how it was and they said it was solid fog as soon as you get 1/4 mile into the park.  They said they couldn’t see anything.   With that news I guess it was time to just get back on the road.  I regretted not having more time in Colorado.  I just barely scratched the surface of what there is to see there.  I have already been thinking about a trek to the SW with a good deal of time in Colorado thrown in for good measure.

After getting back on US-40 I crossed almost immediately into Utah.  When I reached Vernal I turned North on US-191 heading for Flaming Gorge.  By the time I got to Flaming Gorge the weather had still not improved.  The few views I had of the Gorge were nothing worth photographing.  I had originally thought I would be camping in the Flaming Gorge area for the night but with most of my sightseeing plans getting short circuited I decided to put some miles on before I stopped for the night.

At the Flaming Gorge I turned West on UT-44 and crossing through the West side of the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.  At Manila, UT I turned West on UT-43 which crosses into Wyoming a short distance later and becomes WY-414.  This took me to I-80 where I again turned West.  I was about another 30 minutes to Evanston, WY where I stayed for the night.  The mileage for the day was 317 miles.

The next morning I headed North out of Evanston on WY-89.  This crosses back into Utah after about 10 miles and becomes UT-16.  At Woodruff, UT I turned west on UT-39. This is the high road route to Ogden, UT and there was some good riding on this highway.  UT-39 eventually crosses the North side of Ogden and connects with I-84.  I turned North on I-84 and rode the slab all the way to Jerome, ID where I spent the night.  This was a relatively short riding day of 270 miles. 

The next morning I headed North on US-93.  I planned on taking another high road but this time it was to Boise. I wanted to ride both the Sawtooth Scenic Byway and the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway.  At Shoshone, ID US-93 turns into ID-75 and the start of the Sawtooth Scenic Byway.  This is a beautiful highway but there is only one interesting section of motorcycle road about half way between Sun Valley and Stanley.  

At Stanley I headed NW on ID-21.  ID-21 is also the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway.  This is another beautiful highway and it had a lot more fun factor then the trip up into the mountains.  The highway comes out just South of Boise and intersects with I-84.  I went North on I-84  and stopped at Caldwell, ID to spend the night.  The mileage for the day was 355 miles.

The next morning I was back on I-84 heading North.  I crossed into Oregon and turned NE on Vandecar Rd. at Durkee, OR.  This is a fun little road that twists it’s way past Sheep Mountain and is one of the back ways into Hell’s Canyon.  I turned East on OR-86 and entered Hell’s Canyon.  Unfortunately there were a lot of forest fires in the general vicinity and the smoke was pretty heavy everywhere.  A gallery of some of the pictures I took in Hell’s Canyon can be viewed HERE.

To make a long story short I finished up the hot and smoky day in Pendleton, OR after riding a 313 mile day.  I had originally planned to spend at least another night in Oregon but I made the command decision to make the 330 mile sprint for home the next day. 

In the morning I rode the freeways all the way to Yakima, WA.  I like riding through Ranier National Park whenever there is an opportunity so I  headed West on WA-12 from there.  I turned North at WA-123 towards and into the Park.  I continued North on WA-410 which is part of the Chinook Scenic Byway.  The weather was cooperating and I had a few picture opportunities which can be viewed HERE.  I rode WA-410 to Auburn, WA and then WA-167 to Renton. 

I made it home in the early afternoon.  The total mileage including side trips was 9453 miles.  Here are the major statistics from my trip, but they do not include some of the side trips where I was staying multiple days at a location:

Of course a few blog pages are totally inadequate to describe a month long motorcycle trek.  You will probably need to do one of your own to get a real feeling of what a trip like this is like.

Th-th-th-that’s all folks!