Two Days of Biking

We left our RV resort and moved to a National forest campground on Dillon Lake early on Saturday morning.  Once we were settled we got on our bikes and rode east around the lake and then up the hill to Keystone.  Its not a really bad ride but it is mostly up hill although there are a few flat spots and some downhill cruises to give our legs a break.  Unfortunately there is not much going on in Keystone this time of year.  Almost everything is closed for the “mud season”.  Despite the ‘easiness’ of the ride we were pooped when we got back to the RV meaning a nap was necessary.

Today is John’s birthday so to celebrate this momentous occasion, we rode our bike up to Copper Mountain Ski Resort.  And by ‘up’ I mean ‘up’!  6.5 miles up hill plus 4 miles to and from the campground plus cruising around the deserted ski area.  There were NO flat spots or down hill rests, it was all up hill!  I didn’t make it on the bike the whole way but had to walk parts of it.  The weather is changing today with rain threatening so we didn’t hang around Copper but coasted (more or less) back to the RV for lunch and a nap. The ride up took 2 hours and the ride down took 25 minutes.  Both days were about 23 miles each.

To celebrate John’s 64th birthday, we had a really nice dinner at a seafood restaurant in Breckenridge.

Red = Difficult / Red Cone = Very Difficult

The trail today was very scenic as well as fairly difficult but then it got very difficult!  

We started out in Montezuma and drove along the road to Webster Pass which topped out at 12,096 ft.  The assent up Webster Pass was very narrow and, in places, rocky but the scenery was beautiful. Along the way we passed a motorcyclist who had seen two moose along our route.  Unfortunately the only moose we saw were in the picture the motorcyclist showed us.

But that is not what made this route a Red run. Webster Pass circles around Red Cone Mountain.  We traveled on a very narrow road, at times driving over the roots of the many pine and aspens on either side of the trail.  

But that is not what made this route a Red run.  The trail then ascends Red Cone back up to the 13,000 ft mark along the ridge line of the mountain. As we are about to climb past the tree line the road got very rocky.  One boulder presented us with a very big problem.  Three Jeeps traveled over this big boulder, but the fourth Jeep did not get his left wheels on top of the rock and thus slid off, landing with his axle on top of the boulder. 45 minutes later, after assessing the situation, jacking up the Jeep and piling rocks under his wheels, he was able to back up and drive over the rock.  The rest of us found a shortcut around the boulder so we did not have to worry about getting stuck. 

This is what made this route a Red run. The trail from the top was an almost 45° angel downward!  There were two separate descents, the first one was the steepest and the most treacherous due to loose rocks and gravel.  If one were to apply too much brake or any brakes at all, they might start fishtailing and sliding out of control.  So we were instructed to use the engine to slow us down.  I don’t believe anyone got down without tapping their brakes at least a couple of times.  John almost red-lined the RPMs before touching his brakes. Everyone made it down if fine fashion!  The second descent was not as steep and we all traveled down without any problems.  A lot of whooping and hollering greeted each Jeep as they reached the bottom and several drivers displayed shaking hands!

Golden Aspens

Today’s drive took us through some of the most breathtakingly beautiful Aspen groves.  Boreas Pass and Weston Pass were both easy roads that almost anyone could drive.  In the 1860’s Boreas Pass was a wagon road that handled up to 225 wagons or stagecoaches a day between Breckenridge and Como. Weston Pass was a toll road that also handled hundreds of wagons a day between FairPlay and Leadville.  It was reported that over $1.5 million was collected in toll fees in a year.  In the early 1880’s the old Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad built a narrow gauge rail system on these roads to carry all the gold, silver and other ores coming out of these mountains. 

After a fast walk through Leadville we headed back to the RV and still had time to take a quick 10 mile bike ride up to Breckenridge. A short afternoon shower caught us on the way back, but we didn’t get too wet.

Mosquito Pass

By the time we rounded up all the Jeeps and headed out there were 13 in our caravan.  That’s a lot of people to be herding around.  Our leaders today were Dana and Debra but we didn’t hear what the name of their party would be.

We headed south out of Breckenridge to Alma and then turned off on Mosquito Pass road. At the town council meeting back in the 1870’s, the councilmen could not decide on a name for their town so they decided to close the ledger and discuss it again the next week.  When they opened the ledger there was a dead mosquito on the line of the ledger where they were going to write the name.  So they chose ‘Musquito’.  

The road took us past both the North and South London Mines and up to just over 13,000’ elevation.  This was the quickest route between Alma and Leadville where silver and gold were being mined.  An itinerant minister used to travel that route to deliver mail, gold and the message, sometimes twice in one day but once it took him three days in deep snow. One story tells how he saved a stage coach full of people stuck in snow on the pass.

It was a fairly easy road except for one spot where a boulder had partially blocked the road.  We squeezed through the gap with no scratches but a few other caravaners were not so lucky.  One guy lost a fender and another poked a hole in the bumper of his rental Jeep. It was a BIG rock!

We lunched at the Leadville Fish Hatchery then headed home past Ski Cooper and Copper Mountain Ski Resorts.

The Lindstrom Lively Leap to Radical Hill

Our fearless leader, Mike, likes to name his trail runs after the leaders of the group.  We drew the Tuesday straw to lead.  Our route took us to Montezuma, a small hippy community then up to Staints John mill and townsite (there were two Johns and they wanted to call them both saints so it is Saints).  From there Sts. John road took us to the Wild Irishman Mine.  This was a fairly difficult run with some really steep hills and large rocks on the road, narrow ridges and some tippy traverses.

 The goal for the day was to run down Radical Hill.  This is a very difficult and technical run that our 4-wheeling manual recommends having skid plates and aggressive stock SUVs.  One couple had to by-pass this run and head back home. Some of the spots were so steep that several people got out and spotted for the rest of us.  One lady walked down as she didn’t like the tilted angles.  One spot was built up with some extra rocks as the drop-off on the down side was really steep.  Almost all of the Jeeps scraped on that rock.  But, oh what fun we had!

Argentine Pass and McClellan Mountain

If you are an avid follower of this blog, you may recognize this destination from three years ago.  We traveled from Breckenridge to Georgetown where we found our way to Guanella Pass before turning off on the rough road that took us to Waldorf.  Waldorf was a  mining community accessed by trains. One half of the 11 Jeeps drove up to Argentine Pass while the other group headed to McClellan Mountain.

We were in the Argentine Pass group.  This is not truly a pass today as the down side of the road was closed off to traffic.  But the views from the top were magnificent!  Just as we were ready to descend it started snowing!  At 13,300 feet it felt more like sleet but as we worked our way down past 12,500 feet it gradually changed to rain and then blew on past.

Our second climb was up to McClellan Mountain.  The railroad that came up to the mine extended its line up the mountain for the sole purpose of tourism.  There used to be an old mining tunnel filled with ice formations and the views from above were spectacular! The trip was call the Stairway to the Stars and at over 13,000 feet it probably felt like they could touch the stars. The tunnel is long gone but the road remains. And the views were awesome as was the high winds!

The ride back down seemed to take forever and we were really tired when we got back to the RV.

Short Vacation in the Rockies

We picked up our newly decorated RV after a delay of about 5 days.  We are happy with our new look - new tile floors, new carpet, all new countertops with under-mounted sinks and new faucets.  I had a week to clean and reload the coach (while John went trout fishing!) and we were off again on a mountain adventure.

We left Sedalia on Saturday, Sept. 20 after helping our granddaughter celebrate her first birthday. A long drive across Kansas with an overnight in one of their interstate rest areas and we arrived in Breckenridge, CO mid-afternoon on Sunday.  This is our annual Jeep Caravan trip with Born Free friends plus some new faces this year.  Our fearless leader, Mike, met 5 different couples at gas stations during his travels and invited them to join us! It will be interesting to see if they can stick with us this week.