Best of the West - Trip Report

[nwguy]

I'm back from 2.5 weeks of driving my van around 4 western states with my 2020 Svartpilen 401 on a hitch-mount motorcycle carrier. My goal was to ride the best sportbike roads in these states. I used https://www.motorcycleroads.com/ to research this, and also rode roads I've been on before. 3 days of the trip was taken up with getting there from my home near Seattle and back. I rode most days and settled into a nice routine of waking up at my campsite, breakfast and coffee while the sun rose enough to warm up the day, and for any rush hour traffic to dissipate. Then ride between 100 and 250 miles, typically on an out and back. Return to the van, load up the bike, snack and beverage, then drive in air conditioned comfort during the hot, mid/late afternoon to the next days ride. Camp, dinner, sleep, repeat. I've come to like out and back rides. The scenery is different each way. You get to scout the roads for gravel, etc. and familiarize yourself with the curves before doing them a second time.

I'd never used a hitch mount carrier. I'd bought a 600 pound rated, "heavy duty" rack made by Black Widow. I was easily able to load and unload the Svart by myself. The rack was surprisingly flimsy, allowing my bike to rock fore/aft in relation to the van to the point where the right handlebar bumped the van's rear door. The plate metal parts connecting the channel the bike sat in to the hitch receiver tube flexed visibly when you moved the bike by hand. I ended up using 2 extra roof-rack straps going from my van's rear door top hinges down to the outer end of the tie-down struts on the rack to reduce the fore/aft sway, and put a tennis ball on the right handlebar to stop it from scratching my van door when it hit. I do not recommend Black Widow hitch mount carriers.

Weather was great the whole time except for getting wet for a part of 2 days. One time was in Poudre canyon just west of Ft. Collins, CO. The other was on the road from Torry, UT to Escalante, UT. Both times the rain was fierce and turned into painful hail.

The Svart was a great bike for this kind of riding. It was all pavement except for a day when I avoided a chip seal project on Grand Mesa in CO, and went up and down the south flank of that mesa on different dirt/gravel roads. There were times when I wished I had a Svart 701, such as when passing cars uphill. The Pirelli semi-knobby tires were surprisingly good when leaned over on twisties. However on long, drawn out horeshoe curves I was reluctant to *really* lean it over. There were times when I was missing my Buell Lightning City-X. Anyway, good times were had.

I bought some new riding gear before this trip. Kevlar and CE rated armor-reinforced riding jeans made by Trilobyte. Also a used, hi-viz yellow textile jacket with armor in the elbows, shoulders and back. They were nice in warmer weather compared to the leathers that I've worn for years.

Van camping is convenient. Nothing to set up except to turn on the propane tank valve and hang the privacy curtain up by the windshield. Never once did someone bother me in bootleg camp situations. I don't carry a firearm so I suppose I'm vulnerable. I've been advised to by others, but so far my trust in people hasn't failed me. I do carry pepper spray and a steel pipe behing my driver's seat, but have been told that others would just use them on me if I were accosted. Dunno.

I use https://freecampsites.net/ as a resource to find bootleg campsites, but shy away from long drives on gravel roads in my van. I have an "Amerioca The Beautiful" lifetime senior discount card which typically halves the cost of many campgrounds. Van camping is a good thing.

Individual road reports are in posts below. Captions for pics are above the pics.

My Svart on the Black Widow rack on my van.

 

[nwguy]

MT & WY - Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Hwy - 165 miles

I camped at Greenough campground, about 12 miles south of Red Lodge, MT, nice place. Rode from there to Cooke City, MT on 211, then back on 212 to 296 (Chief Joseph Hwy). 296 east until the curves petered out as it descends to 120. U-turn, back to 212, back over Bearthooth pass and down to my campsite. I brought an extra gallon of gas for this but found gas stations not shown on Google maps, so didn't need it.

I'd done both of these before, but Beartooth in the cold, foggy rain. Good weather this time. There was a fair amount of traffic on 10,947 foot Beartooth Pass. It has lots of twisties and a crazy, switchback ascent/descent on the northern end. Chief Joseph has heart stoppingly beautiful scenery, plus incredibly well engineered twisties and sweepers around the east end.



View from 212 on the way to Beartooth Pass:


The pass:


Sunlight Bridge on Chief Joseph Hwy:


On the way back to camp:

 

[nwguy]

WY - Big Horns north - 206 miles

After driving to Lovell, WY, I camped in Lovell's super nice city campground that's free, has potable water, a dump station and hot showers! Rode from there on the notoriously steep Alt 14 up and over the Big Horns and down to Dayton for gas. Fantastic twisties and sweepers on the ascents and descents. A lot of straight roads once you get up high, but beautiful and isolated up there. The highlight of this is Rte 14 betwen Burgess junction and down towards the town of Shell. Linked, tight twisties in an amazing canyon as you go by Shell Falls. The falls are pretty spectacular and worth a visit.



Looking down from a plateau in the Big Horns:


Canyon on Rte 14:


Shell Falls:

 

[nwguy]

WY - Big Horns south - 100 miles

From what I read, Rte 16 From Ten Sleep east over the Big Horns to Buffalo is supposed to be good motorcycling. Pretty curvy in some parts, but it seemed more of a cruiser ride to me. Meh. I camped the night before my ride at Leigh Creek Campground. It's a paid campsite beneath a huge rock wall. After my ride I went to Ten Sleep Brewery for a refreshing IPA. Rode back to my van and found a free place to camp up the hill on a gravel road east of the paid campsite. Beautiful views and numerous other van campers up there.

While there I hiked the Salt Lick trail. It's a loop hike up the mountain on the north side of Rte 16 a few miles east of Ten Sleep. Great views. Steep ascent/descent. I rode my Svart from my van to the trailhead with no helmet. It's legal in WY and I normally would never do this. But I didn't want to leave my helmet on my bike while hiking. Refreshing though.



View from Leigh Creek Campground:


View from high up on Rte 16:


Ten Sleep Creek:


At the Salt Lick Trail trailhead:


The steep trail up:


View looking down from the top of the hike:


My free campsite just up the road from Leigh Creek Campground:

 

[nwguy]

WY - Travel day with hot springs and Sinks Canyon

It was roughly a 5 hour drive from Ten Sleep to my next ride south, so I spent the day being a tourist. Drove to Thermopolis and soaked in their beautiful, free public hot springs. No one was in the indoor or outdoor pools when I first got there.

From there, a scenic drive through Wind River Canyon to Shoshoni. A guy I talked to before doing this drive said, "Yeah, you can't tell whether you're going uphill or downhill in that canyon." He was right. I thought the river was flowing one way until I reached the south end of the canyon and could then see from the rapids it was flowing the other. Weird.

Before camping at the free city campground in Lander, WY, I visited nearby Sinks Canyon. The Middle Popo Agie River disappears underground there and surfaces 1/4 mile away down the mountain. Pretty mysterious. Some time in the past no one was sure if that's where the river resurfaces. So they put dye in the water, and 2 hours later it appeared at the pool 1/4 mile away. The mystery is, where's the water going for 2 hours before it reappears? The pool where it did had many, giant trout swimming around in it.

The outdoor pool at Thermopolis hot springs:


Thermopolis hot springs


Thermopolis hot springs:


Where the Middle Popo Agie River disappears underground:


Trout at the Sinks Canyon outflow:

 

[nwguy]

WY - Medicine Bow Mountains

Had a long, boring drive through desolate southern WY after leaving Lander on my way to Saratoga. Like Thermopolis, Saratoga has free public hot springs with indoor and outdoor pools. Not as spic and span as Thermopolis' pools, but they had good character. Both places had water temps of around 104 degrees. A quick soak there, then down to Medicine Bow mountains.

My plan was to ride Rte 70 from Baggs, to Encampment, then Rte 130 up and over the mountains to Centennial and back. Looked like lots of straight roads, so I headed towards Ryan Park on 130, stashed the van, unloaded and rode Rte 130 to Centennial. Massive construction projects and heavy traffic made this road a chore to ride, and it turned out to be another cruiser road. Bad lunch in Centennial, and then back to the van. Time to get out of there.

The only pic I took on this day was of a sticker I saw in Centennial. It shows the Colorado state flag symbol above the buffalo.

The route I planned to do:


The route I ended up doing:


That sticker:

 

[nwguy]

Poudre Canyon, Rte 27 and Estes Park area - 280 miles

I've ridden the Peak to Peak highway between Estes Park and Black Hawk west of Boulder twice before. It's a good sportbike road. I wanted to do it again, but was also intrigued with Rte 27 between Rte 14 and the town of Masonville to the south. I left my van at the Sleeping Elephant Campground on Rte 14 and headed east. I wish I would have spent more time on Rte 14. It's VERY curvy, but traffic was not light there. Anyway, Rte 27 turned out to be the best road of my trip. So fun. So curvy. So 3d. So little traffic. So beautiful. Such good pavement. It's about 20 miles long and I rode it 4 times that day. Saw numerous sportbike riders on it including one in all black gear on a Ducati that I caught up with. I tailgated him for a mile or so and finally sat upright and made an exasperated gesture. He must have seen me because he moved right and let me pass. When I turned around at the north end of Rte 27 for a do-over he caught up with me and gave me big thumbs up.

After my first run down Rte 27 I headed up Rte 34 to Estes Park and then south on Rte 7. Rode that down to Lyons and back up to join Rte 72 intending to go to Black Hawk. I got caught in a gully-washer there and bailed on going to Black Hawk. Took about a half an hour to mostly dry out. Went back through Estes Park and Masonville to ride Rte 27 3 more times before hitting Rte 14 through Poudre Canyon back to my campsite. I hit more hard rain there that turned into a vicious hail storm. The hail was so painful and visibility so bad that I just pulled over and hunkered down. Several other vehicles were pulled over too including a truck and trailer. A lady rolled down the passenger window and asked if I wanted to shelter inside their trailer. I gestured no thanks, and the hail/rain stopped soon thereafter. Wild.

Visited my son in Boulder for day. Did a nice hike up to the Flat Irons.



My campsite on Rte 14 near Poudre Canyon:


My son pointing to the Flat Irons in Boulder, CO:

 

[nwguy]

Guanella Pass and Deckers - 135 miles

I wanted to ride up Mount Evans on the highest paved road in the US. Unfortunately, like certain other roads in Colorado, you have to make a reservation to do this during a certain time slot. You can only do it online too. I learned this the evening before I planned to do it, and the earliest slot was for early afternoon the next day. I've been thwaRted before by this same thing a few years ago, wanting to drive through Rocky Mountain National Park on Rte 34. "A reservation? Whaaat?". I digress here, but how the $*&@ do you know what roads require a reservation in advance? Why should I have to enter my personal and payment information on a website to ride on a road??? Shame on you Colorado. What's the future like if this proliferates? Will I need to make a reservation to drive up Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics in my own home state? To drive across the North Cascades Highway?

So I bailed on Mount Evans and drove on to the reputedly beautiful Guanella Pass. Indeed, Rte 381 wound up the mountain from cute little Georgetown through a series of sharp, steep switch backs. Up into the aspen groves to Clear Lake Campground. Pretty high up there, so temps were in the low 40s when I woke up the next day. Guanella Pass didn't disappoint though. Challenging twisty, up and down road over an 11,669 foot pass. Seriously beautiful and great sportbike riding. I saw numerous other riders in full sportbike leathers riding in a spirited manner. Went on down the other, south side, then rode east on Rte 285 to a road that went to the town of Deckers. I'd read on some forum that "Deckers" was a good sportbike road. Yes it is. It's Pine Valley Rd. at the north end, and Deckers Rd. at the south end. Very curvy, moderate traffic when I was there. Beautiful of course. Do it if you're in the area.



Views on the Guanella Pass road:

 

[nwguy]

The Grand Mesa and De Beque Cutoff Rd. - 125 miles

On my last motorcycle trip through Colorado I wanted to ride Rte 65 over The Grand Mesa. It's supposed to be a good road. Didn't do it then, but I did this time. It was quite a drive from Boulder on I-70, so I wasn't picky about a campsite when I got near Rte 65. Found a nice, flat gravel area up a hill behind a truck stop just off Rte 70 and east of Palisade. Woke up, and after the normal morning ablutions drove a mile or so up 65 to an official parking area. Heading up the winding, curvy road to the top of Grand Mesa afforded amazing, expansive views to the north. Passed a ski area about half way up, then on higher. There's a community of vacation houses at the top, many lakes, and a network of gravel roads that lead around the top and then down to Cedaredge and a gas station on the south side of the mesa. They were chip-sealing Rte 65 on the south side of the mesa and the road had fresh oil sprayed on it. I thought, "Now's a good time to try out the Svart on gravel roads!" I opened the fork valve adjustments by 4 notches and put the Svart in "Supermoto" mode, and headed down what I understood to be a back way down to Cedaredge. Pretty fun! I do dislike washboard road surfaces though. Wound my way down to Cedaredge and got gas. Then remembered an alternate gravel road to the east that leads back up to the top. Took it and made my way back up to the vacation houses. Pretty rough road, but the Svart did fine.

While waiting at a construction delay point at the top of the mesa, I conversed with the flagger guy. He's a motorcyclist too and said "If you really want to drag knees, you should ride De Beque canyon rd". So on my way back to my van I took a right just after the 330 turnoff to the east and headed to De Beque on De Beque Cutoff Rd. You gotta love a road that's called "cutoff". What a road! Perhaps the second best technical sportbikey road of the trip. Very 3d with linked low speed curves on silky smooth pavement through hoodoos and wonderful rock formations. I rode about 10 miles out and back. Wow! Who would've known?

Outbound route:


Return route:


Looking north on the climb up the north side of Grand Mesa:


On one of the gravel roads on the south side of Grand Mesa:


Near the beginning of De Beque Cutoff rd:

 

[nwguy]

Rte 149, CO - 250 miles

I wanted to find a campsite where I could stay for 2 nights so I could ride Rte 149 on one day, then Rte 92 the next. I've ridden 92 before, and the wonderful sweepers on Rte 50 between the Blue Mesa Reservoir, over Cimarron pass on down to Montrose. Driving my van from Montrose I encountered massive road construction with delays of an hour or more. So much for those sweepers. After a half hour or so delay, I drove my van through the serious road replacement project and found a quiet pull-off along side Blue Mesa Reservoir. No traffic at night. Milky Way plainly visible. I knew Rte 149 was going to be an epic experience. It's 120 miles from the north end where it meets Rte 50, down to South Fork where it meets 160. Up and over 11,530 foot Slumgullion Summit with fantastic twisties on each side. Huge vistas everywhere. At that summit, you can look west to see the red peaks near Ouray and the "Million dollar highway" (Rte 550). It's an off-road mecca. Lots of enduro or motocross bikes with soft luggage around. ATV rental places too out of quaint, pretty Lake City. South from Lake city is the town of Creede. Another interesting, historic western town with beautiful, old stone buildings.

It was a relatively long day at about 250 miles. Nice to get back to my van. Took a bath with soap and shampoo in the reservoir. Comfortable water temp. Cocktail hour back at the van. Grilled steak for dinner with fried zucchini with onions and garlic. Slept like a baby.



My free campsite on the Blue Mesa Reservoir:


Wonderful Rte 149:


The town of Creede:


At the pass:


Looking west towards Red Mountain, Ouray and the Million Dollar Highway:


Coming down the north side of Slumgullion pass:

 

[nwguy]

Rte 92, CO and Black Canyon - 135 miles

Woke up on my second morning along side beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir to do Rte 92. The southern end of this road for about 25 miles is a destination sportbike road. So many curves. Pretty good quality pavement, but a technical road. Quite a few 15 or 20 mph corners. The south end terminates at Sapinero by the reservoir, and the good part peters out mid-way to Hotchkiss. I rode north to Crawford, fueled up, then headed back south. On the way I took the side road (5 miles of pavement, 6 miles of dirt) to the Black Canyon. WOW! It's like the Yosemite valley crammed into a few hundred yards wide, deep, scary canyon. They did an excellent job of building overlooks with guardrails that let you look straight down to the roaring river below. I got a bit of vertigo there. It's a know rock climbing site. Nice campground there too. No traffic on the way south. So fun.

Rode the 10-ish mile stretch along the reservoir back to my van. Loaded up, lunch and a beverage, then drove the van up over the San Juan Mountains on Rte 62 to my next campsite.



Heading to Crawford on Rte 92:


A scary overlook at the Black Canyon:


Cliffs at the Black Canyon:


Gunnison River on the valley floor in Black Canyon:


Heading back to the van on 92:

 

[nampus]

Looks like an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing!

 

[nwguy]

Travel day to Utah

My final ride before heading home was to be the route from Torrey, UT to Escalante, UT and back. I've driven it in a minivan and then in a camper van years ago with my sons. Southern Utah has freakishly weird geology that's fun to see and ride through. My van drive there from the last Colorado ride could go either through 46 which skirts the south end of the La Sal mountains, or further south across lonely 141, down through Monticello, UT and then up to Hanksville via Rte 95. I'd read about the La Sal Loop, which sounded interesting. But it would've put me through busy, touristy Moab and then on I-70 for a while. I hate interstates and decided to go south. Good choice since Rte 95 to me is the most beautiful road in the US. It flanks Capitol Reef, which is a nearly 100 mile long uplifted formation with colorful layers of stone. Words fail me in it's beauty.

I camped at a pull-off overlooking Fry Canyon, which is a winding, crazy slot canyon that goes on for many miles. Dead quiet there. Not a single car drove by all night long. Milky Way plainly visible. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever van-camped.

Capitol Reef viewed from the southern part of Rte 95:


Where Rte 95 cuts through some serious rock:


View out my van door at my free campsite overlooking Fry Canyon.


My Fry Canyon campsite:


A margarita overlooking Fry Canyon:

 

[nwguy]

Utah - 110 miles

Drove for an hour or so early next morning and found a pull-off in the Capitol Reef Park to unload the Svart. Then headed to Torrey, then up to the 9,600 foot pass leading on towards Escalante. I nice lady from Switzerland took pictures of me at a scenic overlook. Scary, dark clouds were forming over the mountains just to the west with bright flashes of lightning. The map showed the road skirting those mountains, so I forged on, up and down the linked twisties amongst the aspen groves on the mountainsides. Eventually I realized dark clouds with virga (visible streaks of rain) were on 3 sides of me, the only bright skies being the way I came from. I turned around and staRted high tailing it back to the van. Up and over the pass, and on the descent I hit very hard rain that turned into heavy hail. The road became white. I was scared of slick hailstones and pulled off into a camp area. Waited a bit and then checked the road after the hail turned back into rain. There were tire track strips of no hail on the road. So I rode slowly until reaching lower elevations with wet pavement and no ice. Rode about 30 miles in cold rain back to the van. Dried off, warm clothes.

After drying off I heard the sound of Harleys decelerating and pulling into my pull-off. I got out of my van and asked the Harley people nearest me if they're headed up into the mountains. They spoke in a foreign language that sounded a bit like French. I asked "Parlez vous Francais?" in my high school French. "Oui oui!" they said. I told them about the rain and the hail, they called their group leader over, a nice young guy who spoke English. He said that happened to him last summer. He was riding in a lead car (some econo-sedan), and the Harley people all followed him. What a thing, a bunch of French people renting Harleys to ride through the American southwest. But that's what the Europeans do, come to America to see landscapes that don't exist in Europe and to ride big American cruisers.



The nice Swiss gal took this picture of me near the 9,600 foot pass:


Scary dark clouds to the west:


Beautiful aspen groves near the 9,600 foot pass:


During the hail storm:


Close up of the hail:


The French Harley riders I spoke with:


The French Harley group. Note the flag:

 

[BeO]

Wonderful trip, and great pictures!

Very inspiring. Now I want a van...

Thanks for sharing!