You’re killing’ me. Used to live in Golden. The Buena Vista area is smack dab in the middle of the COBDR. Tons of riding opportunities plus a cool town to base out of. La Veta is cool too, with lots of gravel roads on the area……sigh.
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May I Ride in the Mountains
- Thread starter KsTeveM
- Start date
I saw that gas station had fuel you can use 24 hours. I hate that fuel that only works during the day!
P.S. Steve, like we don't know you have photoshop!
P.S. Steve, like we don't know you have photoshop!
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- Steve
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Good morning y’all. What am I thinking? No, besides heated grips. Where to? I did the New Mexico BDR ride several years ago, mostly anyway. I skipped the beginning Cloudcroft stuff as I had done that before. And skipped some of the last section as I needed to make a loop out of it. I thought it would be cool to do that last bit so my eyes could see what I might have missed. So off I go, hoping it is not too cold or too high in elevation. First up though, just needed to head south in this desert basin and meander towards the border. Glorious morning!! My kind of desert highway.
I could have bee lined south easy enough….but if you know me, that’s not going to cut it. I went out of my way a bit to kind of follow the Rio south.
I was liking what I did to myself. Really peaceful, hard not to homestead.
I drifted close to it and was able to ride right along next to it for a good bit, and snuck in some two track. Me likey. Way better than pavement.
Alright, I need to cross this dude. Was happy when I got a glimpse of this.
Drifting my way closer to Antonito. Shed a layer and put the dirt paws on.
And back out, I didn’t even get off my bike, gased up and rolled. This is as close to transition lenses that I can do…..terrain changing for sure.
Oh hello New Mexico. This looks like big/tall country in this zone. Might be trouble at elevation. I have to try right?
I noticed this area was pretty rutted up. I went down a pretty good hill. I kind of chuckled thinking about a guy on a loaded baluga winding down the BDR and then hitting that
I’m in the Carson NF now. Not too shabby and I was thinking that I was doing pretty good on the conditions regarding snow and mud, I worried for nothing?
Scooby Doo track. Is this scenic deal still used? @TNC, assignment given.
I was enjoying the scenery and riding next to this river. He seems swollen as well.
Oh boy. This is what you call an attention getter.
I studied it a bit, walked a little ways out. Weighed my options. Worst case, I drop the bike and drown it. The way the river was moving, it wouldn’t have taken me or the bike. Ok, hug the left and creep through.
Little nerve racking but I cleaned it. Cool.
Dang it, another one.
Almost dropped it in this one, I felt a baby head roll under my back tire, I caught it, regrouped and rode it out.
It’s not hard riding but I’m still getting hot. Stopped to shed another layer. Been noticing lots of good camping spots in this zone.
Onward, dadgumit another one. This one is worrying me more than the others, short but deep looking. And I’m worried about having to backtrack all of them. I did a clurplunk test and the audio was decent. It’s a short crossing, worse thing is I drown it, again no chance of current doing something bad to us. What compels me to do this? Who knows.
All is well. We made it. But I’m worried about crossing this mutha at some point. Come on forest service, I’m counting on you.
Ahhh, I can relax. Thank you!!
Got up in some high country, pretty views and good riding. I was thinking this is probably one of the better BDR sections. Would be beautiful in the fall with all these aspens. More to come. Got to keep moving!
I could have bee lined south easy enough….but if you know me, that’s not going to cut it. I went out of my way a bit to kind of follow the Rio south.
I was liking what I did to myself. Really peaceful, hard not to homestead.
I drifted close to it and was able to ride right along next to it for a good bit, and snuck in some two track. Me likey. Way better than pavement.
Alright, I need to cross this dude. Was happy when I got a glimpse of this.
Drifting my way closer to Antonito. Shed a layer and put the dirt paws on.
And back out, I didn’t even get off my bike, gased up and rolled. This is as close to transition lenses that I can do…..terrain changing for sure.
Oh hello New Mexico. This looks like big/tall country in this zone. Might be trouble at elevation. I have to try right?
I noticed this area was pretty rutted up. I went down a pretty good hill. I kind of chuckled thinking about a guy on a loaded baluga winding down the BDR and then hitting that
I’m in the Carson NF now. Not too shabby and I was thinking that I was doing pretty good on the conditions regarding snow and mud, I worried for nothing?
Scooby Doo track. Is this scenic deal still used? @TNC, assignment given.
I was enjoying the scenery and riding next to this river. He seems swollen as well.
Oh boy. This is what you call an attention getter.
I studied it a bit, walked a little ways out. Weighed my options. Worst case, I drop the bike and drown it. The way the river was moving, it wouldn’t have taken me or the bike. Ok, hug the left and creep through.
Little nerve racking but I cleaned it. Cool.
Dang it, another one.
Almost dropped it in this one, I felt a baby head roll under my back tire, I caught it, regrouped and rode it out.
It’s not hard riding but I’m still getting hot. Stopped to shed another layer. Been noticing lots of good camping spots in this zone.
Onward, dadgumit another one. This one is worrying me more than the others, short but deep looking. And I’m worried about having to backtrack all of them. I did a clurplunk test and the audio was decent. It’s a short crossing, worse thing is I drown it, again no chance of current doing something bad to us. What compels me to do this? Who knows.
All is well. We made it. But I’m worried about crossing this mutha at some point. Come on forest service, I’m counting on you.
Ahhh, I can relax. Thank you!!
Got up in some high country, pretty views and good riding. I was thinking this is probably one of the better BDR sections. Would be beautiful in the fall with all these aspens. More to come. Got to keep moving!
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Copy on the kerplunk test!
were the tracks you crossed the C@T tracks ?
That was completely irresponsible - It must have been lots of fun! 
Great Sand Dunes are awesome, and way bigger than they look, especially once you start trying to hike up them. I did a 4am hike to watch the sun rise from up there, but didn't get to do the off road trails as we were in a Honda Accord. We also didn't get to drive to Zapata Falls which you should have done because the SE would have eaten up that short road like it was candy. Good stuff, keep it coming.
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Where was I? Not sure, maybe part of the CDT, maybe part of the BDR. I did notice I was getting colder. Then I noticed snow was showing up again. Then I noticed I was above 10k. You ever shed a layer and 30 minutes later want to put it back on? Yeah, me neither.
You ever been stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere? Yeah me neither. Brain working overtime…
I got the bike pulled back out and decided to walk along the fence, I did not want to backtrack, in a bad way. Pretty quickly found a spot that folks in years past used as a work around. It led to a kind of bypass road. Rough and not traveled much, but it allowed me to keep going.
Till it didn’t. No more bypass. I blasted a couple more deep sections and got away with it. Was really worried there would be one I couldn’t. Then I saw a Super Duty down a side trail. Cool, if he came here then hopefully he knocked the snow drifts down.
That worked out. Till I got here. Not sure how they made it up this. I needed to go down. A bypass wasn’t looking good and I didn’t want to get caught going way off the road messing up this more fragile tundra. I gambled and went for it. It was probably a 100 yards long. At times I floated on top decently, others I sank and the only way to keep forward momentum was to bull dog it flinstone style.
I made it but was worn out. Was really really hoping that was the last of it. If not, we were going to get creative. Luckily that was it. I took a decent break here. This is my Jeremiah Johnson pose.
Back on some good riding again, meandered a bit.
I made it through that zone and now I am back where I deviated off the NMBDR on that past trip several years ago. Tres Piedras area.
I sniffed out some grub here, I mostly wanted a good spot to chill. I’ve been here before, good eats.
The rest of my route plan was to go south and then east. Right towards this.
No can do, it is too cold to deal with a bombing storm like that. And that route involved even higher mountains. I’m not in the mood to get denied passage and have to backtrack around that mountain range. So I dreamed up plan b…..float around the desert for a bit making my way east.
Lot of good fast flowy stuff. Just had to watch getting cross rutted, holes and the rim benders.
Uh oh, what we got here?
This is what we got, winning!!
I was making my way for a river crossing on dirt. Saw this point and had to get a closer look. History lesson for today. Thousands of years ago, think ice age, the Alamosa area was a huge lake. The lake receded after its extreme water pressure broke through volcanic deposits in the southern end of the valley. That is some serious pressure, I wanted to know more about that. Through geological studies and fossils, they can tell the lake had a surface area 65 miles long and 30 miles wide. Ok, I’ll go with the pressure theory with those numbers. The pressurized water drained through the Rio Grande River valley, likely forming this gorge. Pretty cool stuff to ponder.
I found the route down to the bridge. Deterrent or invitation?
We chose the latter, challenge accepted. It was a little tore up but we were getting it done.
Was having fun. Till I rounded the last switch back, hit an almost flat spot that a 66 impala with air bags could have made….and saw a forest floppy sign right in the middle of the road. Looking past it, I could see several cars right at the bridge…and one of them was a Ranger truck. And I thought I saw khaki pants on one of the on lookers, looking up the trail at me taking this pic.
Dadgumit, I’m not in the mood to drop several hundred dollars for a fine on this. Whipped the bike around, snagged a pic of the bridge when I got out of their sight…..and made like a tree. At least I got to ride back up the steep stuff!!
I only lost about 30 minutes and still found enjoyment in the desert travel….with my hundos still in my pocket.
Moving on, to where? My target for the evening is a buddy’s cabin in Angel Fire. I wanted to skip Taos altogether but this dang rain is looking bad. Knowing I was about to get wet for a good spell, in the cold, pulled over and donned the rain gear.
Slugged it out and did pretty well considering.
Headed up the mountain to my buddy’s place, Bad Bob’s.
Another day in the books. Not too shabby. Smell ya later.
You ever been stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere? Yeah me neither. Brain working overtime…
I got the bike pulled back out and decided to walk along the fence, I did not want to backtrack, in a bad way. Pretty quickly found a spot that folks in years past used as a work around. It led to a kind of bypass road. Rough and not traveled much, but it allowed me to keep going.
Till it didn’t. No more bypass. I blasted a couple more deep sections and got away with it. Was really worried there would be one I couldn’t. Then I saw a Super Duty down a side trail. Cool, if he came here then hopefully he knocked the snow drifts down.
That worked out. Till I got here. Not sure how they made it up this. I needed to go down. A bypass wasn’t looking good and I didn’t want to get caught going way off the road messing up this more fragile tundra. I gambled and went for it. It was probably a 100 yards long. At times I floated on top decently, others I sank and the only way to keep forward momentum was to bull dog it flinstone style.
I made it but was worn out. Was really really hoping that was the last of it. If not, we were going to get creative. Luckily that was it. I took a decent break here. This is my Jeremiah Johnson pose.
Back on some good riding again, meandered a bit.
I made it through that zone and now I am back where I deviated off the NMBDR on that past trip several years ago. Tres Piedras area.
I sniffed out some grub here, I mostly wanted a good spot to chill. I’ve been here before, good eats.
The rest of my route plan was to go south and then east. Right towards this.
No can do, it is too cold to deal with a bombing storm like that. And that route involved even higher mountains. I’m not in the mood to get denied passage and have to backtrack around that mountain range. So I dreamed up plan b…..float around the desert for a bit making my way east.
Lot of good fast flowy stuff. Just had to watch getting cross rutted, holes and the rim benders.
Uh oh, what we got here?
This is what we got, winning!!
I was making my way for a river crossing on dirt. Saw this point and had to get a closer look. History lesson for today. Thousands of years ago, think ice age, the Alamosa area was a huge lake. The lake receded after its extreme water pressure broke through volcanic deposits in the southern end of the valley. That is some serious pressure, I wanted to know more about that. Through geological studies and fossils, they can tell the lake had a surface area 65 miles long and 30 miles wide. Ok, I’ll go with the pressure theory with those numbers. The pressurized water drained through the Rio Grande River valley, likely forming this gorge. Pretty cool stuff to ponder.
I found the route down to the bridge. Deterrent or invitation?
We chose the latter, challenge accepted. It was a little tore up but we were getting it done.
Was having fun. Till I rounded the last switch back, hit an almost flat spot that a 66 impala with air bags could have made….and saw a forest floppy sign right in the middle of the road. Looking past it, I could see several cars right at the bridge…and one of them was a Ranger truck. And I thought I saw khaki pants on one of the on lookers, looking up the trail at me taking this pic.
Dadgumit, I’m not in the mood to drop several hundred dollars for a fine on this. Whipped the bike around, snagged a pic of the bridge when I got out of their sight…..and made like a tree. At least I got to ride back up the steep stuff!!
I only lost about 30 minutes and still found enjoyment in the desert travel….with my hundos still in my pocket.
Moving on, to where? My target for the evening is a buddy’s cabin in Angel Fire. I wanted to skip Taos altogether but this dang rain is looking bad. Knowing I was about to get wet for a good spell, in the cold, pulled over and donned the rain gear.
Slugged it out and did pretty well considering.
Headed up the mountain to my buddy’s place, Bad Bob’s.
Another day in the books. Not too shabby. Smell ya later.
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Last edited:
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Double posted? Deleted this. Night night.
If that bridge took you out to Arroyo Hondo on 522 I played around that neighborhood several years ago , caught a mudbug in the Rio down there too , too small for lunch so it went back to bugging . I used to camp up in Cabristo canyon from Questa before atvs trashed it .
Pix and writing most excellent. Keep it up! Oh, and thank you.
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WOW!
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Show must go on!
Great story. Doesn’t the Chili Depot also make chili beer, so spicy that you have to keep drinking more to quench the heat??
That's a yucky weather forecast.
StromXTc
0
THIS 
JMZ
0
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Long day. Angel Fire to Snyder. It was eventful. I’ll have to tell y’all about it one day, not today. Ran out of daylight and steam. Night night.
woodsguy
Ride Red
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uh-oh
JMZ
0
woodsguy
Ride Red
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JMZ
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TNC
0
Steve, I have some coat hangers I can heat up and beat you with if you're looking for more excitement. 
I was coming home from Utah yesterday, maybe about the same time you were around Snyder. I'll tell you how big a wimp I am. I was in a toy hauler with the XR nice and comfy tied down in the back. I would have been home Saturday upon leaving camp in the Capitan, NM BLM camping area, but I kept nipping at the backside of a rain storm that had strong wind...not fun pulling the toy hauler. I looked at the weather forecast for my home area near Abilene, and it showed a strong thunderstorm coming through about the time I arrived home.
You know what?...I don't need any drama, and I don't "need" to be home Saturday. I veered south and spent the night at the Monahans state park for a nice, peaceful evening...followed by an uneventful drive home in 3.5 hours on I-20. It's nice to be the king...uh, I mean to be retired and unencumbered by schedules, a job, and other such annoyances.
Steve, I would never contemplate a trip to the arctic hinterlands this time of the year like you did, but I am not the he-man you are. I salute you...and am also sending you some references of a few respected guidance counselors.
And Steve, in response to your constant berating of my lack of pics associated with my trips, I folded like a cheap suit on this trip and actually took a few pictures of my southern Utah outing that I will somehow make a lame attempt at a ride report...which will obviously fail miserably in comparison to your Ansel Adams and "War and Peace" travelogs".
However, I will take a moment to rub it in a bit comparing our recent trips. Over a three week period, I never lost a day of riding due to weather. Temps during the day ranged from sunny high 60's to high 70's. Crowds were non-existent and camping spots were awesome...and I slept nice and comfy in the hauler with cool nights...no trailer parks or hookups for a he-man like me.
I was coming home from Utah yesterday, maybe about the same time you were around Snyder. I'll tell you how big a wimp I am. I was in a toy hauler with the XR nice and comfy tied down in the back. I would have been home Saturday upon leaving camp in the Capitan, NM BLM camping area, but I kept nipping at the backside of a rain storm that had strong wind...not fun pulling the toy hauler. I looked at the weather forecast for my home area near Abilene, and it showed a strong thunderstorm coming through about the time I arrived home.
You know what?...I don't need any drama, and I don't "need" to be home Saturday. I veered south and spent the night at the Monahans state park for a nice, peaceful evening...followed by an uneventful drive home in 3.5 hours on I-20. It's nice to be the king...uh, I mean to be retired and unencumbered by schedules, a job, and other such annoyances.
Steve, I would never contemplate a trip to the arctic hinterlands this time of the year like you did, but I am not the he-man you are. I salute you...and am also sending you some references of a few respected guidance counselors.
And Steve, in response to your constant berating of my lack of pics associated with my trips, I folded like a cheap suit on this trip and actually took a few pictures of my southern Utah outing that I will somehow make a lame attempt at a ride report...which will obviously fail miserably in comparison to your Ansel Adams and "War and Peace" travelogs".
However, I will take a moment to rub it in a bit comparing our recent trips. Over a three week period, I never lost a day of riding due to weather. Temps during the day ranged from sunny high 60's to high 70's. Crowds were non-existent and camping spots were awesome...and I slept nice and comfy in the hauler with cool nights...no trailer parks or hookups for a he-man like me.