The circus came to town, so we left! [Archive]

View Full Version : The circus came to town, so we left!

Bonnie Abbzug

05-20-2008, 11:25 PM

We live right across the street from the high school and middle school where they hold the Shriner's circus every year and they showed up today, so we took off and went for a ride. We didn't really have an agenda, but had some idea's about the direction we wanted to head in. First we headed down the canyon, we were gonna take the river road all the way to Coaldale, but it's started warming up here (finally) and that means that runoff has begun and the river is running pretty high right now, making the road impassible at this point in time. So we took Hwy 50 instead all the way to Howard and then took the back roads from there to Coaldale.

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When we got to Coaldale Duke suggested we run up a different road a ways and see if we could find a friends cabin and maybe check out Hayden pass.

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I had never been over Hayden pass, but I remembered Duke talking about going over it in the Trooper about 10 yrs ago and how rough and steep it was. I figured maybe we'd go up to the trailhead and I'd see it was ugly and we'd turn around. Well, the very first part didn't really look all that bad, so off I went with Duke following behind. God, I am a sucker for punishment :rofl:. After about 50 yards it got ugly, I mean really ugly! It was a steep uphill climb with lots of loose large rocks strewn about. There wasn't really any "good" line, it was mostly just picking the least dangerous looking line. I have no idea exactly how far we went, probably not that far really - although it felt like 20 miles :D:- when I finally came to a spot that had a few 8 inch tall ledges going straight up the side of the mountain, I came to a complete and total stop and said "NO MORE".

I was shaking like a leaf and Duke was just amazed that I had gone as far as I had. He said he kept thinking, Oh she's definately gonna stop here, she surely wouldn't go any further than this, maybe this is where she's going to stop... But no I had to just keep on going, thinking it's gonna get better, there's gonna be a good place around this corner and up over that rise where I can stop and turn around :lol:. Well, Duke helped me get my bike turned around and then I had to stand there and try to psyche myself up to go back DOWN :omg:. Duke was very patient and gave me some advice. He was pretty adamant that I stand up on the pegs so I would have good control of the rear brake, that I keep it in first and take my time and stay in control. I think one of the hardest things in the world to do is to look down a very steep hill covered in large loose rocks and make yourself GO, let alone go and stand up! I took a very long deep breath, kicked it into first gear and literally made myself pop up onto the pegs.

IT WAS AWESOME!!! I rode all the way down, completely in control and actually kind of enjoyed the challenge of it. When we got to the bottom Duke realised he hadn't taken any pictures of the whole thing - he said he was too worried about me, but suggested maybe I should ride back up and do it again :rofl:.

Well, after that little jaunt, we thought we'd go check out the Rainbow Trail, which is a pretty well known single track trail that runs from the NW of Poncha Pass all the way to Medano Pass, about 120 miles. I haven't ridden any of it yet, considering it's single track, and well, I'm not all that keen on single track yet, but Duke thought this section was two track and that maybe it wouldn't be all that bad, so off we went.

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I was feeling pretty proud of myself, I was riding well and not having any problems at all on this trail, and couldn't wait to get back and tell everyone that I had ridden a section of the Rainbow Trail. Then we came around a corner and there's a parking area and sign for the trailhead of the Rainbow :mgbanghead:. All this time I thought I was riding the trail when really I was just riding the trail to the trail :cry1:. Well, the trail at that point really was single track and didn't look like something I was up for, so I stopped and took a break while Duke road up it a ways.

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After about a half a mile he turned around and came back saying it just kept getting steeper and narrower - I wouldn't have liked it :D:.

You had to cross this cute little bridge to get on the trail.

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Duke was having a good time :ecstasy:

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Bonnie Abbzug

05-20-2008, 11:39 PM

After that we took off back down the trail (that was not the Rainbow trail :(:)

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and thought we'd try to see if we could find a route over Waugh Mtn. Duke and a couple of his friends had tried to get over it a couple of days ago but got stopped by a gate. Duke hadn't checked to see if the gate was locked or not, he just saw that it said "private property" and turned around. So he thought maybe we'd get over it if we came from the other side, he'd heard that other people had gotten over it, so there must be a way...

On the way to the road to Waugh Mtn. we got a little side tracked by another road that we thought might loop around to the "power line road" . This was a fun and fast gravel road. It dead ended at some private property and didn't go where we thought it should, but had fun riding it anyway.

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Next:

The road to Waugh Mountain...

ridingAK

05-20-2008, 11:45 PM

Looks great! I'm glad you guys out and did some exploring! :thumbup:

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 12:48 AM

Duke and I have done our fair share of traveling around this state and other's, and we've seen some pretty amazing places, but nothing we've seen so far comes even close to what we saw today. The pictures you are about to see will not come close to doing justice to the beauty we encountered today trying to find a route over Waugh Mtn. It was breathtaking and mesmerizing in it's shear pristine beauty. Grassy meadows with Pronghorn Sheep napping in the sun, deer speckled throughout the trees of the forest, and elk grazing on the grassy hillsides were just the icing on the cake. I simply don't have the words or skill to properly describe what we saw today and for that I am sorry!

On the way to Waugh Mtn. Road

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Pronghorn sitting by the side of the road

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This was such a fun road. It was a little bit rutted in spots and full of marble sized loose gravel, but I seem to be getting more used to riding the loose stuff and found myself completely relaxed and having a great time!

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When we first got on this road (that according to our map is a county road) there was a big sign that said "Private Property" and then in smaller letters "on both sides of the road". It was a bit deceptive and made you think you were trespassing at first, but then we read the fine print and saw that the road was indeed a county road, so we kept going.

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I can't wait to go back once the aspens have leaves!!

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The whole time we were riding, we were concerened that maybe we were trespassing, but we stayed on the road and finally came to a cattle guard with a sign on the other side that said
"National Forest" :ecstasy: . So after riding through a little bit of snow we stopped and had a bite to eat on the side of the road in land we paid taxes to eat in :D:.

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After lunch we went on down the road

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We came to another cattle guard with an open gate and on this gate was another big sign that said "Private Property" only this time we couldn't find any fine print. We looked at the sign for a while pondering what we should do. There wasn't any sign saying we were no longer on the county road, in fact according to our maps we were most definately still on the county road. So surely they just forgot to put the fine print on the sign, right?! :D: We decided to continue on until we found concrete proof that we were trespassing.

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The road started out okay, but just kept getting worse and worse. There were lots of downed trees with smaller limbs still across the trail that I had to figure out how to either get around or get over. I managed to actually ride over most of them and one left a narrow enough track to the side that I got around it. The surface of the road also turned to dry cake flour. It was soft and squishy and full of rocks and tree limbs and kept getting narrower and narrower. The whole time I just kept thinking, please let this go through, please, please, I do not want to have to ride back up all of this :rofl:. No such luck! We got down to the valley and we could see a huge ranch house up on a hill over looking the so-called road we were on, so we shut off our engines and coasted down to the gate we could see ( we didn't want to attract any attention). Duke got off his bike and started walking towards the gate, he told me to get ready to start my engine and ride like the wind until we got to the other side of the house and onto the main road. I was pumped up and ready to get the hell out of there my adrenline flowing strong with fear that some crazy assed rancher was gonna come chase us down and shoot us for trespassing on his land.

THE. GATE. WAS. LOCKED. :gaah: We looked at eachother, Duke jumped on his bike, I quick got my bike turned around, and Duke says "hurry before anyone comes after us!!" Holy Mother of God, what the heck have we gotten ourselves into, and all I can think is, I don't want to go back up that God awful crappy assed road at a slow pace, how am I gonna survive trying to ride it scared half to death of the road and the other half scared of the rancher. I honestly don't know how I did it, but I did. I was gripped and panting (literally panting) the entire time. I felt the back end slide out a couple of times and just gunned it in the hopes that I would pull it off somehow and I did by golly! We made it back to the National Forest and stopped for a breather (I needed it bad!). Once I was back under control we continued on, realising that maybe we had overreacted a bit and even if someone did try to come after us, if they were in a truck or on an ATV they could never have caught us. So instead of just heading back towards home, we thought maybe we could find another way over the mountain.

So we headed off on another track. The views from up there were spectacular!

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This road just kept getting steeper and rockier and well, I had had just about enough excitement for one day, so we turned around started back towards home.

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It was a fantastic day of riding, chocked full of adventure, and I can't wait to do it again!!

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Luna Tique

05-21-2008, 05:43 AM

KCDakar

05-21-2008, 08:15 AM

:ecstasy::ecstasy::ecstasy::ecstasy::worthy:
Thank You for spending the time to let us know a bit more about you and your rides in Co.
I wish I could get out there yesterday to see it all!:lol:

Lucky_Devil

05-21-2008, 10:25 AM

Great pics and report!!! :popcorn1:

Thanks for taking the time to post it up and share it with us :thumbup:

Your reports always make me want to go buy a dirt bike :chin:

Charla

05-21-2008, 10:36 AM

Great report Tami! That sounds like a fantastic ride. I love the pic of the elk looking at you, she looks like she's saying "Who are you and what are you doing in MY forest?!"

Ya think maybe she's the one who put up all those "No Trespassing" signs? :lol:

I can't wait for next week to do some exploring. :riding:

Astir

05-21-2008, 11:02 AM

Kath

05-21-2008, 11:24 AM

Holy WOW! I love where you live!!!! I'm moving tomorrow LOL Thanks for sharing the pics!

ridingAK

05-21-2008, 12:16 PM

:smiley:Great report! Fantastic ride! Beautiful pictures! You know your limits but are willing to push them each time, that is great! Thanks for sharing!

I want a dirt bike, this 650 is too big for me to do that fun stuff.

Yep! I'm with you on that one. I love my 650, but it just isn't made for the real off-road stuff. I need another bike. :D:

Squeaky

05-21-2008, 01:08 PM

Awesome report. I can't stop laughing at you wearing the same "red-assed monkey" pants as I have and Duke riding my bike. :thumbsup:

KansasKawboy

05-21-2008, 01:33 PM

That's cooler than the other side of the pillow.:thumbsup:

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 03:49 PM

Wow Sounds like quite the adventure. Great report Bonniehttp://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/spezial/Fool/appl.gifPictures are wonderful as always.:thumbup:
Our Aspens are leafed out. To anyone that has ever heard the rustle of leaves in the wind . That sound is from a Quaking Aspen Tree. I believe they are the only tree that makes that wonderful sound.

We are about a month behind on spring here, so things are just now starting to green up. This summer is gonna be a short one I'm afraid.

That's so true about the sound the Aspens make in the breeze, it's a very calm and soothing earthly sort of music!

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 03:50 PM

:ecstasy::ecstasy::ecstasy::ecstasy::worthy:
Thank You for spending the time to let us know a bit more about you and your rides in Co.
I wish I could get out there yesterday to see it all!:lol:

You could come tomorrow :D:

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 03:53 PM

Yep! I'm with you on that one. I love my 650, but it just isn't made for the real off-road stuff. I need another bike. :D:

And I wish I had a 650, not for offroad though. I think it would be way too much bike for a lot of the stuff we ride, heck sometimes I wish I had an even smaller bike (but with more power) on some of the more technical trails we do - I might not get as freaked out as I do!

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 03:55 PM

Awesome report. I can't stop laughing at you wearing the same "red-assed monkey" pants as I have and Duke riding my bike. :thumbsup:

I guess I didn't get to see you in your baboon butted pants at SLAP :lol: It's nice to know I'm not the only one out there looking like that!

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 03:56 PM

ridingAK

05-21-2008, 04:41 PM

You guys ride safe and remember the :rules: and give us plenty of pics!

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 07:31 PM

You guys ride safe and remember the :rules: and give us plenty of pics!

Don't you worry, I'm sure there will be plenty of picture taking going on! And we will be sure to be safe and have a good time!

ridingAK

05-21-2008, 07:35 PM

:thumbsup:

Squeaky

05-21-2008, 07:35 PM

I guess I didn't get to see you in your baboon butted pants at SLAP :lol: It's nice to know I'm not the only one out there looking like that!

Nah, I was in my plain 'ol boring street gear. I'll find a pic of the pants-n-bike combo for ya. :lol:

ridingAK

05-21-2008, 07:36 PM

:popcorn1: :D:

KCDakar

05-21-2008, 10:10 PM

:popcorn1::devilsmile:

Bonnie Abbzug

05-21-2008, 10:40 PM

:popcorn1: :lol:

Charla

05-21-2008, 11:12 PM

You guys ride safe and remember the :rules: and give us plenty of pics!

I'm trying to remember where I put my camera bag. :chin:I need to get my batteries charged up.

We'll be riding from my cabin to here http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2047 through the San Isabel National Forest. It's gonna be soooo fun. :yahoo:

KCDakar

05-21-2008, 11:56 PM

We'll be riding from my cabin to here http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2047 through the San Isabel National Forest. It's gonna be soooo fun. :yahoo:
:drool:

ridingAK

05-22-2008, 12:24 AM

That looks like an awesome place to visit. Way cool!