MarkyMark's 2022 Summer Excursion

[MarkyMark]

Austin summers suck. So I left.

I hatched a grand scheme to spend the months of July and August 2022 in Colorado. I had never been, I had always tried to plan a trip with friends or family, but nothing ever worked out. So, screw it. I packed everything I could manage on my 2021 Yamaha Tenere 700 and took off for Amarillo.

That's clothes, extra gas, camping gear, photography stuff, work stuff, whatever I could fit

Dropped my stuff at the "Big Texan" hotel, headed off for Palo Duro State Park. I meant to go to the "Lighthouse", but quickly got distracted by all the wild Tarantulas running around....

Woke up the next morning headed for Santa Fe, stopped by Cadillac Ranch of course

Made sure to stop by Meow Wolf, one of my favorite places, almost worth a trip to New Mexico by itself

After staying a night in Santa Fe, I set off for Durango, Colorado. Of course, taking the Scenic route

And at last....

You can see a short video synopsis here:

I settled into Durango after a long day. I had gone on airbnb, looking for a cheap place to stay, with internet, so that I could work remotely on weekdays while having weekend access to all the coolest Colorado areas. I found a cute home a little south of Rico, three labs, a mutt and a couple cats, with an extra room and just enough internet for some video calls. Sounded perfect, I arrived after a cold and wet day of riding, which ultimately ended up with me getting a solid fever. ...whoops

So, after getting settled in, I had a month to work in some evening rides and weekend rides in the Telluride area. Decided to test the waters with Scotch Creek Road - a shorter overall ride and a short distance to civilization. "Underestimate" is a word I'll be typing pretty often - I was in jeans and riding shoes expecting an easy ride.

Not an easy ride, but still very much worth it. And the first in my series of sketches that would come out of these adventures -

Another video compilation:

So, next up? Why not some of the hardest mountain passes in Colorado....
Ophir, Black Bear, and Imogene. I'll let the video do the talking.

This day kicked my ***, and made me reconsider my adventure here. I was, without a doubt, out of my element. And if you know me, you know that my bike and I take punishment in fairly equal measure; fortunately, we only ended up in a couple more pieces than before. Here's the best of the best of what I can show off.

With Black Bear putting me squarely in my place, I decided to give the bike a break and hike up to one of the Alpine Lakes scattered around Colorado. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly which one this was. Once again, I underestimated the effect that altitude had on my body when hiking - I was out of breath every 100 yards.

But, again, it was worth it.

Now, I should mention, there was a bit of strange fortune - as soon as I announced that I was going to Colorado, suddenly a lot of my friends had some free time and wanted to meet me in Colorado! Crazy that they just happened to discover an open schedule when I got there *cough*

And only one person happened to follow through - my Mom

And guess who can't ride a motorcycle We rent a Mazda and head off to whatever we can reach. First up is Mesa Verde National Park, a very cool preservation of a community that once occupied southwest Colorado/northwest New Mexico (and probably more)

And a couple hikes in the Telluride area, with some million dollar highway views...

And with that and a little more, I was done with the Telluride area (spoiler alert - no, I wasn't)

I had once again found an airbnb - in Hotchkiss, a little east of Delta, which is a little north of Montrose. End of July, I said goodbye to Rico and headed north. No one told me this area of Colorado was desert, it was occasionally hotter there than it was in Austin... if a bit more temperamental

My first excursion? Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. One of the most amazing places in the US, seriously, somewhere to put on a bucket list.

With that out of the way, it was time to take on another offroad excursion - Crystal Mill and Schofield Pass. *ominous music*

Crystal Mill was easy enough, and a very fun road. Just watch out for a poor souls that park their car early and hike the rest of the way.

As soon as you get past Crystal Mill however - the road turns very rough. Me and my worn out e07's had no chance. I turned back, going through a town called Marble, where I found an absolutely amazing BBQ place and an ongoing music festival, "Marblefest". Decided to stay for the evening and watch various bands. Even met an Australian guy on a Russian bike...

As it turns out, running a Tenere 700 with Texas plates in Colorado, you make a lot of new friends. I had met plenty of people on the way, and now I met someone from Seattle on a KLR - perfect bike to match my mediocre pace on a T7. I kept in contact and hatched a plan to tackle the Alpine Loop - a bucket list item for any adventure rider. But that would have to wait, past the toughest day of riding I've ever had.

I can't remember where exactly I saw this point called "American Flag Mountain." I might have just seen it on google maps, to be honest. But what I saw was a collection of trails ahead of me that seemed innocuous, mostly through forests. In reality, it was a combination of fantastic dramatic forest trails, gritty enduro(ish) tracks, and eventually a long sketchy hill climb to conquer.

...to be continued

edit1: Adding videos
edit2: More Sketches
edit3: Soctch creek vid

 

[Rydah]

Excellent report, great pics and tallented sketches. Love me some CO!

 

[cdc]

Excellent report, very nice pictures and a great chance to spend time with your mother.

 

[MarkyMark]

So, I set off along Kebler Pass, an easy path towards Crested Butte. While sitting in a pizza place, I continued to map out my route to American Flag Mountain - going through Cement Creek, Reno Pass, Italian Creek, eventually around to Taylor Park reservoir.

Cement creek was amazingly fun - not very difficult, but a collection of winding trails going through valleys and up towards Reno Divide.

Where I met a small family riding dirtbikes. I asked them about the other five roads branching from this point - they pointed towards "Italian Creek Road" and said it was "some crazy ****". Then I mentioned American Flag Mountain and they said "...oh...yeah you gotta go that way. You'll be fine".
I've never been one to listen to good advice and I wasn't about to start. They weren't kidding

....not the place for a 500lb motorcycle. But, eventually, grinded my way out of the forest and into the valley at the base of American Flag Mountain. Right up to a very long, loose hillclimb

And, again, well worth it all

Now, running low on gas, strength and enthusiasm, I was thankful to have a mostly easy road towards Taylor Park.

I made it back to Hotchkiss and passed out. I left out most of the crashes here, you can see a much longer version of the day in this video; there's chapters in the video descriptions.

took a damage check in the morning...yeesh

A few weeks went by with some smaller journeys, but there was one item still on my bucket list, the Alpine Loop. I messaged my new KLR friend, who turned out to be stranded in Telluride...apparently you need tools to fix a flat tire on a KLR? Crazy. I headed over, spoons, tubes and camping gear in hand. He apparently had been camping on Imogen pass above Tomboy ruins, so I joined him. The first night there gave an incredible view

And it looks pretty fake on video

Camping on Imogene, I discovered a new fear...I heard what I assumed was thunder, until it started sounding particularly...rocky. There was a rockslide happening somewhere around me. Nothing I could do in the pitch black night except wait it out. It got easily down into the 30's that night, I tried to stay as warm as I could.

The next morning, we headed towards Ouray. Which meant leaving the tent and immediately hitting one of my least favorite sections of Imogene, up to the peak and down over. We went down million dollar highway and entered near Bear Creek falls. Now, the Alpine loop itself is (mostly) not that difficult, but the Mineral Creek trail that enters into it is pretty nasty.

But, made it into the loop, and was a little too busy to take too many pictures...

And, headed back to Camp via Ophir pass. With that, I was out of food, energy and dry clothes.

This was also my last bit for staying in Hotchkiss. I had a friend that was a cook in Austin for a while, he had decided to open a Ramen truck in Salida, Colorado. I headed down to join him in camping a bit outside of town.

Tried to make it to Denver to go to the Meow Wolf, but I first needed some new sprockets, chains, and eventually the tire gods would have other plans for me. With a bit more hiking and wandering, I was due back in Austin.

In my last night in Colorado, I was met with quite the send-off

Goodbye Colorado. I'll be back soon enough. For now, I'm enjoying the 70 degrees of Austin in January

(And the inspiration)

edit1: Adding sketches

 

[MarkyMark]

Well, pictures got a little wonky but that's the trip wrapped up. I tried to make two months of Colorado as brief as I could

 

[MarkyMark]

oh, and one more

 

[Tigerkf]

Man, I looked at that packing job. I think you forgot something!

 

[Kiyoti]

oh, and one more

YOU are pretty handy with a plain pencil and a plain piece of paper...!!!
You did offer up several good photos too...!!!
...!!!

 

[LicketySplit]

Thanks for posting this really nice ride report. I love the pictures and the sketches are really amazing. They add a real nice touch to the report!

 

[_RG_]

You and the T7 did well. I'm familiar with the area and your view brings back the best of memories for me. Thanks for taking your time and efforts to put together such an enjoyable report.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Awesome just awesome

thanks for taking the time to post up

 

[humanrace]

500# motorcycle. I can see why you turned back at Schofield. I would not have attempted Black Bear. NICE pictures.

 

[misterk]

Nice report, thanks

 

[Tourmeister]

I really like the sketches. You do a great job with them. I really like the view back toward the Black Bear switchbacks as well. I sat on a rock outcropping there for quite while just soaking in the view.

Scotch Creek Road holds some good memories for me. I think we stopped to enjoy the same view you did. One of the bikes with us started having starter issues so we spent a bit more time pulled over there than we had originally planned! The road was in pretty bad shape when we did it and did not look like it had seen much traffic in a long time. This was in 2005. The last time I did it back in 2018, it was in MUCH better condition! I was also on my KTM 530 EXC instead of a massive 1150 GS! That makes a wee bit of a difference

 

[just Curtis]

Well, pictures got a little wonky but that's the trip wrapped up. I tried to make two months of Colorado as brief as I could

It is rare I read ride reports and even more so I read them start to finish, so glad I didn't skip yours. Well done Mark.

I think you struck a great balance with content and descriptions vs too verbose. JMO

 

[MarkyMark]

It is rare I read ride reports and even more so I read them start to finish, so glad I didn't skip yours. Well done Mark.

Thanks all! I was on the fence of writing up my 2021 summer going to West Virginia - I'll start that one soon. A little less dangerous but an adventure none-the-less

Scotch Creek Road holds some good memories for me

Whoops, I actually messed up linking one of the vids earlier. If you feel like refreshing any memories, you can watch me struggle through a lot of mud

 

[bwdmax]

Very cool report. I like the sketches. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is on of my favorite places. I can just look into those crevices for hours. I am actually more in awe of it than the Grand Canyon for some reason.

 

[Tourmeister]

Very cool report. I like the sketches. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is on of my favorite places. I can just look into those crevices for hours. I am actually more in awe of it than the Grand Canyon for some reason.

The scale is a bit more comprehensible Moab is a much the same way, feels more impressive even though smaller just because you can actually wrap your brain around it a bit better.

 

[_RG_]

That's the wettest I've seen Scotch ck in years. Couple years ago we rode through and actually had to swerve to find water. Congrats on making it through.

 

[Tourmeister]

Thanks all! I was on the fence of writing up my 2021 summer going to West Virginia - I'll start that one soon. A little less dangerous but an adventure none-the-less


Whoops, I actually messed up linking one of the vids earlier. If you feel like refreshing any memories, you can watch me struggle through a lot of mud

It was wet when I did it the first time, but not like that. Also, all those rocks at the bottom had JUST been put there. In fact, we saw some of them being dumped by a highway department truck. They were tailings from construction blasting on other roads. They were not pushed down into the ground yet, so they would rock and roll as you went over them! One of our riders turned around at this point because the bash plate on his V-Strom 1000 was literally torn completely through across one corner and was hanging down. It was a great relief when we started climbing out of the rocks!

You are brave riding up there on your own... or maybe slightly crazy...

 

[gixxerjasen]

Excellent stuff here, thanks for sharing!

 

[MarkyMark]

You are brave riding up there on your own... or maybe slightly crazy...

The only difference between brave and foolish is a broken leg