Author Topic: Colorado 2014 trip  (Read 302 times)

bigbikejohn

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Colorado 2014 trip
« on: August 18, 2014, 01:21:17 am »
Hey guys,

I'm finally somewhat re-settled at my house, and decided it is high time I get going on my ride report. My family usually takes an annual trip to Colorado, and this year was a little different for me. This is the first trip I've ever had a street legal motorcycle to ride, and I had the perfect bike for Colorado. My new KTM 690. I couldn't think of a better bike for the Rockies. Fun on the paved mountain passes, fun on the jeep trail passes, and surprisingly capable on the single track. How cool!

Some of you may have seen my 1 minute wander video in the picture forums, for those of you who haven't, here is a little teaser to my trip.



Now, on to the report.

I took Friday evening off work (night shift worker, makes leaving on weekends a real bugger) so that I could prepare everything and be packed to leave before my SO returned from her job. It seems no matter how much you try to prepare the week before, you're always in a panic and running late the night you're leaving, haha. Needless to say, it was somewhere around 6 or 7 PM that Friday night before we got around to leaving OKC. As such, I haven't a single picture from Friday. I suppose that's alright though, it was a long night through the most boring part of the trip, anyhow. We drove from OKC to the Texas panhandle, making a stop for my dad, and fueling up my F-250 while it was still cheap for diesel. From there we drove on to Raton, NM arriving around 3 AM and stayed the night there at a Microtel. I have to say, very nice accommodations for the money, and the front desk guys were very cool.

We woke up and got going around 9AM, and as our motel was right next to the first DQ of the trip, the obligatory ice cream cone picture ensued.


Now that this was out of the way, we took off over Raton pass into cool, colorful, Colorado. We drove through Walsenburg, and headed west until we got to the Great Sand Dunes NP. My SO had never seen dunes before, nonetheless surrounded by beautiful mountainside, so we had no reason to not stop off.



Of course I had to show her the "quick sand effect" that occurs when you stand in the river and have the sand washed downstream from under you.



Then we hiked about the dunes a bit until the sky started looking too menacing for our t-shirts and jeans attire we were wearing that day, haha.





From the dunes, we headed on into Alamosa, stopping to grab our groceries for the first few days, diesel for the F-250, and some drinks and snacks for the road. From there, we were off to South Fork, then on to Creede where we stopped for more snackage and to show my SO around, as she had never been there either. Here is the 250 hanging out at the end of town with the 690 and my brother's KLX450R hanging out in back.



By this time, it was somewhere around 6PM, and my family was up above Rio Grande Reservoir fishing, so we high tailed it out of Creede so we could meet up with them before they left for Lake City to eat dinner and bunk down for the night. We made it in time to hang out and catch some nice pictures as the sun set.



On the way into town, we noticed the sunset was getting to be quite amazing behind Lake City, and we managed to barely squeak in a photo from the overlook before the sun gave up.



We barely made it back in time to eat a good dinner at Southern Vittles, and get back to our cabin we rented for bed.



At this point, I'm going to take a break for bed as well. Coming up next, some family sight seeing for a short while Sunday, then some family offroad riding plus some road riding Monday. I'll leave you with a bike photo to intrigue you for Sunday and Monday.





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bigbikejohn

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Re: Colorado 2014 trip
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2014, 02:19:14 am »
Scratch the bed time, actually, I've decided to go a bit further into the trip before bed. Warning, this post will have a ton of photos in it.

Sunday we had a high chance of rain, and the family wanted to goof off a bit. So we headed to Gunnison for some shopping and a trip to Marrio's for the best pizza I've ever eaten. We've been eating there for years, and it never gets old.

We stopped for some photos of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River:





Here is the obligatory food pic of our Chicago style pizza at Mario's:



Then after a spell in Gunni, we headed back to Lake City. We decided to continue driving around and went up above San Cristobal for some more photo's and to also check for potential fishing spots.














After a lot of hiking around and taking photos, we headed back into town to make dinner at the cabin and have some s'mores over the fire.

bigbikejohn

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Re: Colorado 2014 trip
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2014, 02:52:18 am »
So, now it's Monday and the 690 actually got unloaded. It's time for riding!

My SO and I hopped on the 690 in Lake City and rode over Slumgullion pass before stopping at North Clear Creek Falls.






We went of from there to above the Rio Grande Reservoir again, to meet up with the family and go fishing a little before we set out on the trails. Here is a photo my aunt took of us gearing up to do some fishing.



Got the girlfriend fishing:



My dad and little brother caught some nice ones:



After a while of fishing, it was time to swap our apparel of choice to the dirt bike oriented type, and hit the trails!





We started up from our parking area above the Reservoir, and headed up Stoney Pass until we got to Kite Lake. Here is a photo from a stop on the way:



And a group shot:


From left to right: My younger brother, my dad, me, my g/f, my uncle, and my aunt is the one taking the shot.

Not too long after these photos was the river crossing in my video. My aunt and uncle weren't feeling up to possibly taking a cold bath, so dad, younger brother, and I (with g/f riding pillion) headed on up to kite lake. Here are the photos from that portion of the ride:












From there, we headed back down to the parking area, and back to Lake City. We were trying to beat the darkness in getting off of the jeep trails, at least, so no more photos were taken. With that, I actually am going to head to bed now. No worries though! I have much more coming. Cinnamon pass, Engineer, Animas Forks, Piedra falls, etc. Stay tuned!

« Last Edit: August 18, 2014, 02:55:43 am by bigbikejohn »

Rusty Shovel

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Re: Colorado 2014 trip
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2014, 09:58:37 am »
Good Lord John!

You're leading my fantasy life.  What a great trip.  Awesome photos!  Colorado is so amazing.  Maybe I'll go there next summer.
D==[#)
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truck11

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Re: Colorado 2014 trip
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2014, 03:13:44 pm »
I want to go.....  :-)
2015?   anyone?
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Crowy

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Re: Colorado 2014 trip
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2014, 12:00:34 am »
.


AWSOME country
never been to the US