Devil's Spine - 2012, last call, room for 1 more. Leaves Friday 4/27/12

[Clovis]

I'm leading a trip to the Devil's Spine in New Mexico / Arizona, leaving tomorrow (Friday 4/27/12) from Buena Vista, CO.

The riders are from Denver and Colorado Springs so we'll be meeting in Buena Vista for breakfast at 8:30am and leaving after breakfast for Montrose, CO and then down south to Gallup, NM.

I have 5 riders total and room for 1 more if anyone is interested in this last minute trip. It's 1600 miles over 3 days (Fri/Sat/Sun).

PM me.

Original thread is here.

Total mileage: - 1,600 give or take.



Complete route:

http://mapq.st/yPCDGJ

Day 1: - Colorado Springs > Montrose > Gallup
http://mapq.st/xaCNos

Day 2: Gallup > Alpine > Clifton > Reserve > Grants
http://mapq.st/xh4J3n
Breakfast in Gallup, Lunch in Alpine (we'll hit Alpine for a second time after completing the spine) - then ride to Grants, NM for the night and dinner.

Day 3: Grants > Durango > Montrose > Colorado Springs
http://mapq.st/xcKPM1

Lunch in Durango or Silverton or Ouray. It's 260 miles from Grants to Ouray and 237 from Grants to Silverton. Durango is 190 miles from Grants.

Sunrise @ 6:09am
Sunset @ 7:48pm



Day 1: Buena Vista > Montrose > Cortez > Gallup, NM - 500 miles.

7:00 AM meet at Jan's Restaurant in Buena Vista for breakfast and a pre-ride briefing. Buena Vista is roughly 100 miles (2 hours) from both Denver and Colorado Springs.
Departure at 8:00 AM.

Jan's Restaurant

304 US Highway 24 S Buena Vista, CO 81211

(719) 395-6940



As always I'll provide detailed maps, emergency contact info and words of encouragement.

As we get closer to Gallup we'll be going to the Navajo Nation. If you've never seen their mountains, well... they're a little different then what we have in Colorado. Definitely cool. You'll see this by the end of day 1.





Day 2. Ride The Spine!

Gallup, NM> Alpine, AZ > Clifton, AZ > Alpine, AZ > Grants, NM

The Spine is basically 95 miles of this.



Bring your A game! We'll grab breakfast and then it's 150 miles to the Alpine, AZ and the start of real fun. The route begins and ends in Alpine, AZ. Route goes clock-wise.


Immediately following the Spine we'll stop somewhere for lunch and collectively decide where to go. The two primary options are Grants, NM or Socorro, NM.

What's the difference you ask? Grants is north and puts us through Durango, The Million Dollar Highway, Hwy 50's triple digit sweepers and if time allows, The Black Canyon and Independence Pass.

Socorro takes us through Las Alamos, Taos, The Enchanted Circle and Hwy 12 to La Veta, CO. This route also involved significant portions on I-25 so it's overall quicker. Both routes are within a few miles of total distance.

We'll play it by ear after the Spine.

Day 3.  Approximately 500 miles

Home via Durango, million dollar highway and highway 50 east.

Estimated Cost - $250-300

1700 miles / 45mpg = 37.8/gal of fuel @ $4.00/gal = $151 in fuel cost
Lodging - 2 per room @ $30-35 each per night, 2 nights = $60-70
Food - $25/day x 3 days = $75

[blakebird]

That's not the Devil's Spine.... that section of Hwy 191 got it's name Devil's Highway from it's previous designation of Hwy 666.
Been on it many times.

Espinazo Diablo (Devil's Spine) is a section of road in mainland Mexico (hwy 40) between Mazatlan and Durango.

There's also Devil's Backbone, a spur off of Utah 12 along the Escalante Staircase.

[Justin]

That's not the Devil's Spine.... that section of Hwy 191 got it's name Devil's Highway from it's previous designation of Hwy 666.
Been on it many times.

Espinazo Diablo (Devil's Spine) is a section of road in mainland Mexico (hwy 40) between Mazatlan and Durango.

There's also Devil's Backbone, a spur off of Utah 12 along the Escalante Staircase.

You just couldn't resist, could you?  


Other than the name issues - that's still a great route. Do you know if there's any issues on 191 still after the fire a few years back?

[Clovis]

You've just got to rain on my parade, don't you?  

I'm not sure when the fires were but I was there 4 years ago in 08 and it was in great shape.

That's not the Devil's Spine.... that section of Hwy 191 got it's name Devil's Highway from it's previous designation of Hwy 666.
Been on it many times.

Espinazo Diablo (Devil's Spine) is a section of road in mainland Mexico (hwy 40) between Mazatlan and Durango.

There's also Devil's Backbone, a spur off of Utah 12 along the Escalante Staircase.

[Justin]

You've just got to rain on my parade, don't you?  

I'm not sure when the fires were but I was there 4 years ago in 08 and it was in great shape.

Last time I was there was the last weekend of Oct, 2010, and it was fine. The fire was after that, 2011 I think.

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,58305.0.html

BTW, NM 152 is much better now than it was when I wrote the report above.

[blakebird]

I rode from TorC, Silver City, Clifton and up, then back via Glenwood - after the fire.
152 has a lot of like-new pavement now - the last time I'd been thru it was a lot rougher.

[Clovis]

That's good to know, thanks for the information!  

I rode from TorC, Silver City, Clifton and up, then back via Glenwood - after the fire.
152 has a lot of like-new pavement now - the last time I'd been thru it was a lot rougher.

[blakebird]

152 around Hillsboro is so relentlessy curvy your forearms will beg for mercy  





Another good way to come down, is via hwy 14 south of Santa Fe (thru Madrid) and stay east of the Sandia side of things, down to Mountain Air.
Lunch at the Shaffer...





ceiling...


You come out of hwy 60 near Soccoro and can head down to TorC from there, which is just north of the 152 turnoff.

[Justin]

And if you're gonna ride 152, might as well do the nm-15, nm-35 loop up to the Gila National Monument. nm-15 may just be the twistiest road I have ever ridden. Last time I rode it was at last years LOE1000, at 1 am, about 1100 miles into the ride - that was not so much fun  

[blakebird]

And if you're gonna ride 152, might as well do the nm-15, nm-35 loop up to the Gila National Monument. nm-15 may just be the twistiest road I have ever ridden. Last time I rode it was at last years LOE1000, at 1 am, about 1100 miles into the ride - that was not so much fun  

I rode that once on my R1100S BCX. Coming down from the cliff dwellings into Silver City, it's a paved goat trail. One lane wide and you honk your horn on blind corners.
I hit a pothole so deep that it jarred my ECU loose (I'd recently chipped the bike with a Laser exhaust, so I had not reseated the ECU firmly enough to click). I rolled to a stop with about 20 minutes of daylight left to solve / fix my problem
No cell coverage either...

I had the bodywork off when it dawned on me what my problem most likely was...and I was back on the road pretty quickly.
That was a memorable trip for many reasons - the hot springs were another.

Justin, during  the 2005 LOE I knew a lot of folks would be doing 152 in the wee hours - I rode to Hatch, Deming, and up averaging about 85 the whole way. I always liked to think I was making better time, but who knows. And someone did go down on that section of hwy 152 that night...off the hwy

[blakebird]

Thursday I got a later start and made my friend's place in El Dorado.
Friday took back roads thru Galisteo, Madrid, MountainAir... and down to the hwy 152 turnoff
West to Silver City and Clifton for the night. Pays to call ahead, the Rode Inn is the only motel, if it's full you've got some ground to cover for a place to stay.

http://g.co/maps/3nhx7

Saturday up Devil's Hwy to Alpine - east to Reserve, NM.....Datil, VLA, Socorro, back to the friend's place in El Dorado - home via 285, San Luis Valley, Salida, US50, 115...

traveling light - at 180/78 aka 'Mule Creek Jct'


Blue Vista lookout


Almost to Clifton


Very Large Array

[Justin]

Good stuff Blake - I love that road  . Any evident major damage from the fires there?

[blakebird]

Good stuff Blake - I love that road  . Any evident major damage from the fires there?

There were spots along the road where fire damage was pretty noticeable, and up near Alpine there was a stretch as you come down off the hill that had some burned trees - but it wasn't anything like riding the Deckers ride and seeing the Hayman burn.