SLC to Silverton, CO route advice?

[1KPerDay]

Anyone see any major problems with this route?

[jwhite518]

Two suggestions, mutually exclusive.

1) When you get to I-70, head east for a few miles and take the 128/Cisco exit. That puts you on River Road down towards Moab. A 40 mile detour, well worth it.



2) Take I-70 all the way to GJ, take 50 south for a bit, then hop on 141 south. A longer detour, more slab, but 141 through Gateway is not to be missed.

[Leanintree]

Dunno... want an icy cold Colorado beer in Grand Junction, or are you looking for good roads?  

I'm assuming good roads, so I'll second the motion to head down to Cisco. That stretch from Green River to Moab sucks nuts (unless you feel like getting banzi on a long straight 2 lane road). The back way down by the river is gorgeous, totally making up for the extra slab miles.

And in all reality, 141 is one of the group destinations, so you're likely to see it anyway.

Leanintree

[Willie G]

1K - the route you chose is the one I'd have chosen.  HOWEVER, there's nothing wrong with either of the suggested alternatives, either - they're well worthy of consideration.

If we're talking round trip, I'd probably go down your way and return up the CO side to Grand Junction, up the scenic route to Dinosaur, over to Vernal, up either sid of Flaming River Gorge to Green River, and then slab it back to SLC.


But that's just me.    

[1KPerDay]

Thanks for the advice.

[MikeInSLC]

Optimized for time or for fun?

I'd do (in fact I did the reverse on Monday from Durango):
Wolf Creek to Duchesne
40 to Dinosaur, CO (sucks, of course)
64 to Rangley, CO
139 to Loma, CO (pretty nice ride)
Quick hop on 70 to GJ
South on 50 to Montrose (bleh)
550 South to Silverton.
-or-
pick up on jwhite's route of 141 at Whitewater through Naturita

[2tsnon]

Anyone see any major problems with this route?

Yeah it goes down HWY 6

I'd agree with the others that say go south out of Rangely, a real unknown gem. Then the route from Grand Junction to Naturita, beautiful canyon that follows I believe the Delores River. A place called Blondie's in Naturita is supposed to have a great burger although you'ld neer beliee it by looking and I haven't stopped to confirm. You know the drill to Vernal. Take your favorite route out there. To me a little of 40 is far better than a lot of 6.

BTW thanks for the props on the ad for my FJR, but don't push too hard. I think I have the Mrs. talked into letting me sell the Venture

[1KPerDay]

I was actually planning on jumping off of 6 at schofield and riding huntington then down to 70. It was easier to map it as above. it's the CO portion I wanted advice on.

[bikerfish1100]

CAUTION ---- Thread Detour Ahead.......

Dunno... want an icy cold Colorado beer in Grand Junction, or are you looking for good roads?  
Leanintree

umm, Colorado beer should NOT be consumed "icy cold". The micorbrews taste to good to destroy like that. about 45-55 degs is ideal. unless you're drinking Coors, which barely qualifies as beer, and is truly not representative of the breed. Coors, Bud and others of their ilk DO need to be consumed icy cold, just to kill their naturally pitiful taste.

we now return you to your previously scheduled road thread.

[JimWilliamson]

I'd go with the second route with a short up-n-back from Naturita to Gateway.

What you'll see on CO-141 on UT-128 are shown here (below the arches photos):
www.jimwilliamson.net/motorcycle/2003-08-co-trip/d5-wed/

[1KPerDay]

Cool pics. thakns

[Leanintree]

CAUTION ---- Thread Detour Ahead.......



umm, Colorado beer should NOT be consumed "icy cold". The micorbrews taste to good to destroy like that. about 45-55 degs is ideal. unless you're drinking Coors, which barely qualifies as beer, and is truly not representative of the breed. Coors, Bud and others of their ilk DO need to be consumed icy cold, just to kill their naturally pitiful taste.

we now return you to your previously scheduled road thread.

RESUME CAUTION FLAG>>>

Remember, I'm talkin' to a man from 3.2-tah, having endured 110 miles of blasted desert between Green River and Grand Disfunction CO... 45deg IS icy cold...

Leanintree

[bikerfish1100]

conditions noted, and condolences (vis a vis the 3.2) extended.

[Clair]

1K ... be forewarned that the road into Moab, inside Moab, and out of moab has construction on it.  As in single lane traffic.  We got stuck in it south of Moab twice, once for 20 minutes once for 15.  I think both occur before the road you want to head east on, but can't remember.  Mike can correct me on this.  Moab itself has 1-lane traffic for some repaving, so you may or may not run into that.  There is construction north of town, but wasn't 1-lane when we went through it.

[1KPerDay]

Thanks for the tip. Any news on when the construction will be completed?

[Clair]

By 2010 I think they told us! lol  Basically they will eventually widen the road to 3 or 4 lanes all the way, from I-70 south through Monticello.  The sections we went through will be single lane for a while.  They are digging the rocks, widening the hillsides.  It'll be at least another year I would guess before those sections are paved and widened.  Then they'll move down the road and do it all over again.

You're gonna hit it for your trip no matter what, so just plan on it.

[1KPerDay]

Thanks. I'll try to avoid that area.

[1KPerDay]

BTW on the maps above it looks like you've routed through telluride... last I rode there (many years ago) you had to go up around through ouray... is there a road between telluride and silverton now?

[JimWilliamson]

Good catch.

While I've not taken or been to Telluride - IIRC the (asphalt) road connects nearer to Ridgeway a few miles N of Ouray.

[1KPerDay]

Yeah, that's what I thought and what appears on my first route map.

According to the maps I've checked, telluride is still a dead end.

[jwhite518]

Yeah, that's what I thought and what appears on my first route map.

According to the maps I've checked, telluride is still a dead end.

Those maps are out of date. They built a tunnel.

[1KPerDay]

Ummmm.....

[bikerfish1100]

Yes, to the best of my knowledge the tunnel works just like the San Fran to Marin tunnel.

[Leanintree]

And don't forget the one from Green River to Grand Junction...

Everybody got tired of heatstroke in the summer and ground blizzards in the winter. They built a climate controlled 4 lane with tanning lights and murals for 100 miles (if you slow down to 69mph at mile marker 69 and flash your brights over and over, the murals make a REALLY naughty semi pornographic picture show on the ceiling... easiest way is a headlight modulator. But DON'T do that around mile marker 43... the guy who painted that section had a twisted turn of mind and a thing for sheep. Kinda freaky...  Oh wait... maybe you'll want to at that... forget I said anything.)

Leanintree

[1KPerDay]

[1KPerDay]

You guys really want me to get into Telluride and ask some local where the tunnel is, don't you.

[1KPerDay]

Well, I looked and looked for the tunnel but finally gave up and went to bed.