- Joined
- Feb 28, 2003
- Messages
- 51,660
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Huntsville
- First Name
- Scott
- Last Name
- Friday
PS - A few years ago, my across-the-street neighbor (Suzuki Hayabusa) was on that road with some sport bike buddies, when one of them missed a curve and ended up 50 yards down the mountain. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but it took all day and a boatload of dollars to get the bike towed back to the road and then to Alpine. NOT a place you want to be stranded under ANY circumstances.
Like many roads in the mountains, you better ride with a serious awareness of your situation! Blowing a corner could mean a quick death or spending however long it takes you to die of exposure and dehydration if you are alone and unable to get to the road. Passersby are not going to see you down the side of the mountain. And like Tim said, there typically a not a lot of passersby! Both times I've ridden it, we basically had the entire road to ourselves, with the exception of the deer the second time.
The first time I rode it was on a VFR 800. It was a beautiful clear day at about 80 F. The entire road from just North of the mine almost to Alpine was brand new black top. It didn't even have any dirt on it yet. We saw one truck and one bike the whole way. It was moto heaven!
On our last trip out there, we were all on big dualsport bikes: 1200 GS, KTM 990, KTM 690. We headed East on US 180 out of Alpine a short bit to the start of Blue River Road. We followed this South along the Blue River to Pueblo Park Rd., and then cut East to US 180 again. There was one water crossing that was not bad at the time. Blue River Road was a nice maintained forest road, very scenic and fun. Pueblo Park Road climbed up over the mountains to US 180 and had a few moderately rough sections, but nothing hard for the big bikes. It too was very scenic and fun.
I believe this is near Emory Pass on NM 90 just West of I-25, shortly before it started hailing and raining...
The cabin at Hannegan's Meadow
Apparently my pics of Blue River Road are on my home computer... But it is sweet!
The view at the top of Pueblo Park Rd.
Alpine would make a great base for several days of dual sport adventure!