6 - 8/24/2017 - Monticello to Moab, Utah. 105 Miles

We started out the day by walking over to a little restaurant to get some breakfast. Henry and Ruby were there drinking their morning coffee and invited us to sit with them. It was fun visiting with them and learning about their adventures, they are great people! Both are retired and just travel around the country in their motor home. They host at campgrounds in exchange for a free place to stay, not a bad plan! 
After breakfast, we packed up and got ready to leave. The owner of the campground, a Monticello police officer, was a personal friend of Staff Sgt Butler, a National Guardsman recently killed in Afghanistan. He was brought home to rest today, his 28th birthday. We watched the procession as we were leaving town. The whole town was standing along the road. Some were waiving American flags and signs, some saluting, some with their hands over their hearts, others bowed their heads. Our new friend Henry (retired Marine) rode in the procession. It was nice to see the support and to be able to pay our respects to this brave young man who gave his life protecting our freedom. 
 http://fox13now.com/2017/08/24/body-of-utah-guardsman-returns-home/amp/

Today was a short ride day so we took our time. We stopped at the 3-Step Hideaway which is not too far out of Monticello and was on our must see list. This is a place that caters to dirtbikers. They have a neat setup! Cabins, tee-pees, a full shop, and a Cantina! Unfortunately we missed the owners, Scott and Julie. Scott is one of BigDog's riding buddies, his nickname is "Dingweeds". If you remember back to my 1st post, this is one of the guys I read about so we were looking forward to meeting him! They had run into town for supplies but there was a note on the door to make ourselves comfortable. We went in and got a couple of Gatorade's, stickers and left some money on the bar. No one else was around yet none of the doors were locked! http://www.3stephideaway.com/

The rest of the ride was mostly high-desert and some small mountains. However, the last pass was Glacier Pass at 11,500ft! Very nice riding up there, cool for a change! Once we got to the top, Canyonlands and Moab were revealed to us. Absolutely stunning! We hurried down the moutain and into Moab. It's an off-roaders paradise! We found a nice campground on the west edge of town with reasonable rates. This would be our 1st multi-day stay, 2 days. We set up our tents and went to The Sunset Grill for dinner. It's on the top of a mountain with excellent views and a bacon wrapped fillet! I needed a good steak dinner! While there, we were treated to a nice Monsoon storm and a beautiful sunset. Interesting story http://moabsunsetgrill.com/history/

***NOTE; Clicking on the pictures will open them up in a larger, gallery view.***

On the way up Glacier Pass

Great riding!

Panoramic  view from the top of Glacier Pass. Looking west over Canyonlands & Moab

Me relaxing with a map!

Pano of Moab from The Sunset Grill

Double rainbow!

Beautiful sunset

MEAT and POTATO!!

5 - 8/23/2017 - Lake City, Colorado to Monticello, Utah. 180 Miles

After a great nights sleep, with the heater cranked up in the room, I woke up early excited to get going. We knew today was going to be epic! The next section of the trail crosses the Rockies on what is known as The Alpine Loop. The Alpine Loop National Back Country Byway is located northeast of Silverton, Colorado. The Byway combines crossings of Engineer and Cinnamon Passes with high country scenery that features river meadows, alpine tundra, and ghost towns. The Alpine Loop is generally considered to begin and end at Lake City. From there the route commonly followed is west over Cinnamon Pass to Animas Forks, then south to Silverton before heading north toward Ouray and then returning east over Engineer Pass back to Lake City. However, we would continue west from Animas Forks over several more high mountain passes, (listed in order below), instead of returning to Lake City. We set out towards Cinnamon Pass at about 9:00am. Absolutely incredible riding! I cannot even begin to describe how stunning the scenery was! The trail wound its way through Aspen forests as we climbed higher and higher into the Rockies. It wasn't long before we were above the tree line. Pictures do not do these mountains justice! Around every corner was yet another beautiful scene and photo opportunity. We passed quite a few Jeeps, Quads, and Side by Sides on the way up but over all, traffic was not bad. Was glad we got a relatively early start though, I'm sure it gets worse later in the day! For the most part, these are all pretty well traveled Jeep roads, nothing to difficult. However, the drop offs were HUGE! The kind you don't come back from if you screw up and ride off the road so, it's best to pay attention to where you are going! After crossing several passes, we reached the Million Dollar Highway (CO 550) and rode that down to the start of the last pass we would have to cross, Ophir Pass. The ride up to the top of the pass was not bad, however coming down the back side was interesting to say the least! It was very steep and covered with loose rock/shale. Softball to Bowling ball sized rocks with no clear path through them. Mountain on one side, drop off to eternity on the other side! Muscling Big Bertha down that was very tiring to say the least. Chris and I both had several "Butt Puckering" moments on the way down which prompted us to rename this "Orifice Pass"!! Thank goodness it was a nice day with no rain. That would have been extra slippery if it had been raining! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures, we were too busy trying to not fall off the mountain!! Couldn't find many of that specific section on the internet either but did find one with a car in it that gives an idea of what we had to ride on.
Soon enough, we were leaving the mountains behind and once again were in the high desert and it was getting hot! We stopped in Dove Creek, Colorado and had a great dinner, then pushed the rest of the way to Monticello, Utah! Once there, we located a nice little RV Park with tent spots, this would be our 1st opportunity to camp out! The hosts, Henry and Ruby Davidson, were awesome people! Both were motorcyclists so they took an interest in us right away. They made sure we were taken care of and not in need of anything!

Passes crossed today
Cinnamon Pass - 12,640ft
California Pass - 12,960ft
Hurricane Pass - 12,730ft
Corkscrew Pass - 12,257ft
Red Mountain Pass - 11,018ft
Ophir Pass - 11,789ft

Pictures from the day. Again, these do not even come close to capturing the grandeur of these mountains, you have to see them in person! I'll try to get some video together and posted as well!


 ***NOTE; Clicking on the pictures will open them up in a larger, gallery view.***

Bertha's ready to head to the mountains! (Nice photo bomb Chris! LOL!)

"This is awesome!" 

My Captain Morgan pose..

Rocky Mountain High!

Cinnamon Pass

 

The Two intrepid adventurers!!

Animas Forks, lots of cool old buildings here!

"Where the hell are we again?"

Chris; "Hey Will, take just one more step back......."

Lake Como

Kind of gives an idea of the rocks and steepness of the grade.

Rest stop after conquering "Orifice Pass"

Loved this sign! Great food too!

YUMMY Burrito Colorado!!

Posted in the Dinner Bell's restroom, LOL!

An Oasis after a long day of Passes!

Campground hosts, Henry and Ruby Davidson

2 - Video of Day 2 8/22/2017

4 - 8/22/2017 - Cotopaxi to Lake City, Colorado. 170 Miles

Woke up early, got packed up and on the trail by 9:00am. Nice riding through the high desert and foothills again. We were gradually gaining elevation and soon were in the forest. Not far out of town, we caught up to some fellow TAT riders from Missouri. They had stopped for a coffee break. After some small talk and a few jokes, we said goodbye and set out again. Made it Salida by 11 or so and had a late breakfast. Back on the trail again, we were now climbing into the big mountains! At about 2:00, the thunderstorms started building, the rest of the afternoon we were riding in rain. Not real heavy rain until the last 20 miles or so into Lake City. I had hoped to stay the night at Lake San Cristobal where my family vacationed when I was a kid, but again due to the rain we decided to seek out lodging. We arrived in Lake City cold, wet and tired! This is my kind of town, I think there were more dirt bikes on the road here than cars! We found a reasonable, old motel for the night with a 2 bedroom room. Once we were cleaned up and warmed up, we walked over to the Packers Cannibal Grill and had a great dinner! Wasn't sure what the "Cannibal" reference was all about, it's all over here in Lake City. Apparently, Alfred Packer was an American prospector who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874. He and five other men attempted to travel through the high mountains of Colorado during the peak of a harsh winter. When only Alfred reached civilization, he claimed that the others had killed each other for food, and confessed to having lived off the flesh of his companions during his snowbound state and to having used it to survive his trek out of the mountains two months later. After his story was called into question, he hid from justice for nine years before being tried, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death. Packer won a retrial and was eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison for manslaughter.

Anyways, we had a great ride today, beautiful scenery, mountains and forests! Some more challenging riding up in the mountains today as well! We crossed Marshall Pass (10,842ft), Black Sage Pass (9,735ft), and Slumgullion Pass (11,530ft).
After a good dinner we watched a little T.V. and went to sleep early. Tomorrow is going to be a big day, crossing the Rockies!!

 ***NOTE; Clicking on the pictures will open them up in a larger, gallery view.***

I see BIG mountains to the West!

What a view!

Late breakfast in Salida!

Uh oh, sky is getting dark again!

"Borrowed" these photos from internet. It was pouring when we were here and the mountains were in the clouds!

YEE HAW!!

"I need a drink or 10!"

Pretty old school but clean enough and warm & dry!!