Colorado trip ideas

[Justin]

Joseph... You know the answer.  

Steve up for a ride?? Never!

We need to hook up again for a ride now that the weather is getting nicer as well.. the last ride was fun, but a bit too sandy (except the sweepers over looking long scraggy ).

[BillL]

One last question for those with knowledge of Fort Collins.

We are going to launch from and return to the neighborhood of CO392/CR-32 and I-25.  Is US287 an ok alternative for traversing Fort Collins from north to south?  We are headed out via Estes Park and returning a week later via CO14/Poudre Canyon.

Saturday morning we are headed for Fort Collins with bikes on the trailer.

[BillL]

I read over in Ride Reports that bikerfish reports Trail Ridge Road open with perhaps some reservations voiced by the Park Service folks.  I plan on heading that way from Fort Collins and continuing on through Grand Lake and Winter Park, headed for Dillon the first day.  Is the road in good enough shape to pass through for a couple of us not really up to ADV biking?

[bikerfish1100]

Trail Ridge is under some construction on the east side. if you don't mind the bikes getting dirty, the road is eminently passable.
287 is an alternative for N/S travel, but unless i'm looking for shopping along it, it's not the route i would generally take. there's construction at Harmony Rd/College Ave (287) intersection- worth avoiding if possible.
to get to EstesPark, from 392, just head east onto 287. Right at end, left at next light onto Trilby, follow until end. Right onto South Taft Hill, left at JJ's gas onto Harmony Rd. This will take you up around Horsetooth Reservoir. Follow along, then left at the Nostalgic Leather in Masonville (CO27?) to US34 outside of Loveland. Follow 34 into Drake. Scenic/better road is take a Right after Drake to Glen Haven over Devil's Gulch Rd. At end of road take a right to go into RMNP, or a left to head back into EP past the Stanley Hotel (the conceptual model for Stephen King's Overlook Hotel in The Shining).
Coming back down the Poudre i would either take a right after the Narrows onto Stove Prairie Rd/Buckhorn Canyon (signed to Masonville & LaPorte), or continue to end of 14 and back into FtFun via 287. If you do that, jump off 287 at Overland Trail, head south. Overland merges onto Drake, then go south onto Taft Hill or Shields back to Trilby. Retrace your exit route from there.
FYI- the Greeley Blues Fest is this Saturday- $30 tix day of show for Shemeka Copeland, Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the killer slide guitar of Sonny Landreth.

[BillL]

Thanks for the tips.  Dirty bikes shouldn't be a problem.  I added the Devils Gulch alternate to the Zumo.  Buckhorn below Rist Canyon shows as perhaps unpaved on the Garmin maps.

[bikerfish1100]

don't tell anyone, but Buckhorn/Stove Prairie is one of the best "short roads" (27 miles total) in all of CO. beautiful pavement, start to finish. that last stretch from Rist to CO14 was paved about 5 or 6 years ago.

[BillL]

Thanks, again.  Just when I think I'm done putting stuff in the Garmin, another idea pops up.

[Bill@ButlerMaps]

taking ginko will accelerate acclimation.

Good point.  I'd forgotten about acclimation.



We'll look into that.  Thanks

[bikerfish1100]

taking ginko will accelerate acclimation.

drink more water than you normally do.
the altitude demands it, and given the dry air, you will rarely feel yourself sweating it out, so dehydration can creep up on you.

[Yankee Dog]

tagged for future reference.

yankee Dog