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.***
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| Bertha's ready to head to the mountains! (Nice photo bomb Chris! LOL!) |
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| "This is awesome!" |
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| My Captain Morgan pose.. |
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| Rocky Mountain High! |
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| Cinnamon Pass |
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| The Two intrepid adventurers!! |
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| Animas Forks, lots of cool old buildings here! |
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| "Where the hell are we again?" |
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| Chris; "Hey Will, take just one more step back......." |
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| Lake Como |
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| Kind of gives an idea of the rocks and steepness of the grade. |
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| Rest stop after conquering "Orifice Pass" |
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| Loved this sign! Great food too! |
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| YUMMY Burrito Colorado!! |
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| Posted in the Dinner Bell's restroom, LOL! |
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| An Oasis after a long day of Passes! |
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| Campground hosts, Henry and Ruby Davidson |
Love the Theta Cam pics! I remember our family vacations to the Silverton/Ouray area & you never forget how beautiful the Colorado mountains are...you guys saw it all while riding the bikes, the only way to fly! Glad you made it safely thru the orifice pass lol! Remember going river rafting on the Animas River when we were in high school? We thought we were so funny calling it the Anus River.😅
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