Continental Divided

Six hundred sixty miles Wednesday and Thursday took me over, you guessed it, more passes and more Continental Divide crossings. Alternating between long haul drudgery, spectacular vistas and stay-on-your-game, narrow roads full of blind corners, this ride offered some of the best - and worst - roads of the trip.

I decided to haul it out of Durango Wednesday morning.  The Best Western wasn't centrally located, and though I would have liked to have visited Mesa Verde, it was a half day trip minimum and motorcycle boots aren't made for hiking.  I didn't really want to drive all the way back to Denver from Durango in a day anyway, and the purpose of this trip was to ride. So I looked at my map and made a plan to ride through Rocky Mountain National Park about 400 miles north.  Bye bye Durango.

I really loved the 80 miles of Highway 550 between Durango and Ouray, called the "Million Dollar Highway" for the millions in silver extracted along the route, when I rode it on Tuesday. The section between Silverton and Ouray that winds through a narrow, red rock canyon along a river was most spectacular.  In fact, I'm calling it my favorite road of the whole trip.  So I took it again, but this time kept going through Montrose, Delta, Paonia, Carbondale, Aspen, and Twin Lakes, finally pooping out in Leadville on the other side of the Rockies.

Not much to take pictures of til I got to the top of Independence Pass and crossed the Continental Divide again.  The road from Aspen to Twin Lakes over the pass is my second favorite road of the trip.  Narrowing in one lane in some places and full of blind corners, I tooted my horn before many turns to warn oncoming cars of my approach.  A lady in a sun hat and a little red MG nearly took me out.

Situated above 10K ft, Leadville is the highest elevation town in Colorado, I stayed at the very historic Delaware Hotel, which I was sure would be haunted by the looks of it. Alas, no sightings.  Leadville is remarkable for the $7.95 filet mignon dinner at the Quincy restaurant, which gives diners only one menu item to choose from each night of the week. 

On to RMNP on Thursday, my final day of the trip.  I went over Loveland Pass almost by mistake after missing my exit in Dillon, but was glad for the pretty diversion.  Finally made it to the visitor center around noon, and was told there was about 20 miles of road construction on the road through the park.  Single lane, many delays.  Eighty five degrees.  No thanks.  My rule is, if it ain't gonna be fun, I'm not doing it.  Headed back the way I came in, only to find the road blocked by the fire department working on a roadside store on fire.  Trapped, I waited it out for an hour in the western-themed (what isn't here?) town of Grand Lake.

Finally on the road again around 2:30 p.m., I headed over Highway 40 and Berthoud Pass, my final pass over the Continental Divide.  An hour later I was back at Clint & Karen's house in Denver. Another year, another trip complete!