Well, our 'short & easy' inaugural putt yesterday on the GSA's turned out to be 9 hours and 270 miles. Just kinda got caught up in the ride and found ourselves in Estes Park, then RMNP, then Grand Lake for a forgettable lunch and a brief downpour, then we slabbed home via 40/70 'cuz it was getting late in the day. Road were pretty crowded it being a Saturday; our next ride will prolly be on a weekday instead.
SWEET! Nice pix too!
(note: please don't take the below as any sort of lecture. I simply am not a fan of a "pleasure ride" on a freeway around Denver and I enjoy thinking of this stuff / routing / more enjoyable options)
Everything sounded good until the "slabbed home on 70" (and probably I-25 North) (ugh, sorry).
So, next time, you'll think - what are my options?
Not too many roads cross the Continental Divide in our area (heck - I can't think of a single motorized single-track / two-track trail that crosses it). I-70, US-34 through RMNP (when it's open), CO-14 (rarely closes), and via Laramie WY. The easy answer would be to backtrack through the park. Darned scenic and hopefully not choked with traffic. You also could have taken 70 east to the Peak To Peak and headed north and dropped down any canyon and taken US-36 or 287 home.
The "other" way would be to stay north and stay rural!
Via north, you'd continue from Grand Lake south to 40 and jog west a couple miles and then turn north up CO-125 to Walden (fine twisty riding the first 1/2 of that segment on 125!). From Walden you'd have a decision - the scenic CO-14 eastward over Cameron Pass but on a weekend it could have RV traffic with few passing spots - OR - if you're looking for "easy" continue up to Laramie WY. Heading up to Laramie vs. taking I-70 might seem crazy, but once you turn up CO-125, the roads are free flowing with scant traffic (CO-14 the wild card).
If considering an CO-125 to CO-14 route via Walden, if you have thicker dual-sport tires (some lose, sharp rocks in the "gravel"), there is County road 27 at Rand that cuts over to CO-14 just north of Gould. It's slower than the asphalt route via Walden but does shave some miles (Walden has two gas stations, likely 24 hour fuel). County road 27 is easy to follow as it's the "big road" through the area. There is one nice vista point / look out (westerly) that is a decent stop if you take 27. Time, maybe about the same time as going up to Walden and back down to Gould.
Google says - Grand Lake to Loveland is...
via RMNP: 74m / 2h (toll for most, free for you!)
via I-70: 151m / 3h
via CO-14: 171m / 4h
via Laramie WY: 210m / 4h
Ah, well, rant over. Enjoy getting to know the area!
