Excursions pour la Journee avec Gaston

My pleasure. Thank you. Come again.

I did most of the trail parts of this by myself again this weekend on the trials bike. 3 hours of non-stop standing up. I was whipped by the time I got home.

Outstanding ride there Phil and Phil! Thanks for the post!

Piston

So, you just pack up and go to Colorado like it's nothing?

Awesome!

I bet you were whipped when you got home. I almost never stand up. My dad used to yell at me for it.

sweet

A little bit of bicycling. Those donuts left me in a sugar crash coma, so I left my shoes at the house. Missing today's ride is not an option, so I'll just do it in street shoes.




It's easier to push in those shoes anyway.





We huffed and puffed our way up Little French Gulch to the top of Humbug.










We worked our way down into Swan Valley again.

We climbed a road to the Colorado Trail. Fun stuff, that is, after we climbed a bunch.













This fellow knows how close you are to a punctured lung out there.

'


I also learned on this trip about the dredge mining. They were boat/shovels that dug their own bodies of water.




After dinner, it was time for some local reconnaisance.




I got to ride the 525.







In short order we came upon moto singletrack that will have to wait until morning because of the failing light.

Daylight Donuts is great.





We more or less made a beeline for the trailhead that we saw the evening before.





I want to marry a girl who can climb steep singletrack hill with slick, wet root steps. Layla was killing it even though she hasn't been on a motorcycle in months.












The Swan Valley side of Humbug Hill has jumps and bank shots. Fun stuff!





That 525 is ridiculous.






According to Juha's dirt skills video that I recently watched, I should be stepping the rear end out, using the berm at the top to limit the rear wheel drift.





We worked our way up a motorcycle trail toward Georgia Pass.









At Georgia Pass, arapaho had to turn around to get back to work.





Jefferson, CO




My incessant babbling about Webster Pass was enough to convince Layla to go for the big loop.









Totally a bluebird day, right? Let's' have a tea party at the pass.





Uh, maybe not.





We took a pass on Radical Hill and headed down into Montezuma. It was awfully nice of arapaho to let me use his motorcycle, which was very fun, by the way.




After some delicious sandwiches at Prost, we headed to the Frisco bike park. The town/city of Frisco has established a public facility dedicated to bicycles and skateboards.

I'm quite confident that these two will be schooling us in short order.







Another two ride day.

The next day we did a shuttle run of Peaks Trail.






















Back in Frisco.




I could hang out here indefinitely, but we must get going. Onward to Steamboat Springs.




We only made it as far as Wolcott. Fortunately there is a nice little campground right next to the Eagle River. As it got dark we saw lights on the cliff on the other side of the river and heard shouts. They didn't sound like distress shouts, so we didn't call the authorities. It turned out to be some climbers doing their thing after dark.

We ran into Eagle for gasoline.




Wolcott was a good place to spend the night. arapaho had told me about Bocco Mountain. Layla went into Edwards to do some looking around. I headed up CO 131 to check it out. I stopped in at Above and Beyond 4x4 Adventures, where a guide gave me some key beta.

Mystic Seaport is --> that way.





Much different vibe here. It's sagey, deserty kind of terrain.






Very fun trails. The loop is laid out on top of a plateau and occasionally drops over the side of the plateau. The piece of info that I got from the jeep guide was that downhills were a good indicator of what I would have to go back up.









I worked my way southward to the edge of the plateau right over I-70. This is where the dropoff became intimidating. I could also see our laundry hanging in camp below. Remember: we can always turn around.




A little scouting on foot.




I could probably get up this if I really had to, but I'm here to have fun, and I have a meeting time.





So I rode the other side of the loop back around to the same escarpment.








There are billions of these flowers.










Here we are on the east end of the escarpment. Swallows appear to have nests in those rocks up there.




We made it to Steamboat that afternoon. Ahhh, the Safeway parking lot. This is the takeout for the lower section of Fish Creek, which one might dismiss as lame because it runs through a golf course and town.




Let's sling a little mud, girl.

Layla and I have been to a number of hot springs resorts, and this one blows them all away. We first came here in 2005 and have watched the development. It just gets better and better.










We rented one of the rustic cabins.




You can poach a soak in the creek if you come up from Mad Creek. If Hot Springs Creek were much higher, this wouldn't be so pleasant. In fact, this year, the cold cycle in the tubbing process was sort of weak with the low water.





The next morning I got on it early. I took the truck and set it at the Mad Creek parking lot, so Layla could finish a bicycle ride there. I headed up CR 129.

Indicator of clean living number 8, Hahn's Peak in your viewfinder.




Hang a left onto 1156, aka Prospector.




It was pretty wet there, this morning. If fact a few of the hills were really slippery.










Maybe some people get jaded riding through aspens, but I find their entertainment value very high.

I recognized this one aspen grove that had head high undergrowth the year before. It was there, but it was flattened on the ground. Wow, that must have been some microburst. No, it's a huge flock of sheep.




There's one in every crowd.




Shortly after encountering these guys, my path was crossed by a bounding moose. Every time I see one, I can't believe how big they are.









I owe whoever did this a six pack. After I slipped and crashed my way down a long hill, I encountered this. I didn't look to see if a ride around would have been feasible, but certainly, going back up that hill would have been an act of desperation.







Prospector brings you to Nipple Peak Trail. To the left is quad legal trail that brings you to a trailhead that would be a tremendous place to camp.


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I did that as an out and back.










To the right, Nipple Peak is motorcycle only singletrack and the only trail I know that is as good as Prospector.

This name was carved into several logs. The person with the saw??












The aliens left behind a trail map.

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At the Nipple Peak Trailhead, I picked up the series of 1149s that took me over to FS 550, the main road to Wyoming.




I then took Ellis Trail back to Steamboat Lake. Last year, Ellis was the semi-bumpy runout to a whole day of epic riding. This year, I fell twice on the rocky uphill.

too much fun...

I have to say, you sure know how to live.

I'm with you on the Aspens, too. I think they're really neat.

I put the Versys back together on Wednesday.








Sunday was the first dry day in I don't know how long. We made a rectangle on the map: Morganton, Mountain City, Wytheville, and Wilkesboro.

BTW: the Marathon station in Mountain City sells 90 octane with no ethanol.

Everyone is getting in on the act.





Crossing Nebo Mountain, we picked up a 650 GS mit ein Pillion, who was doggin' us. Well played. They peeled off at Ceres.




We have to come back to this mountain with trail bikes.







Lucky's tire was making a strange sound coming into Jefferson. Now we know how many CO2 cartridges is enough. That would have been better learned in the garage than out on the road, but we had enough.


That is a new Anakee on there.




The reamer and the plug entered the hole much easier than they should have. Bubbles emerged for a second or two after the plug was in place but then stopped.





The repair seemed to hold.








Man, Layla just pulled out of the driveway to go edumacate them younguns. My day will get here soon.

What? :huh When did YOU get all responsible?



Man, looks like ya had a great time!! Those trails are awesome!!


(love the flower pics too well, love all the pics)

An after w, wo, wor, after work ride.




You can maybe see where this is going.

Sideways?

Lower Bear Trail, Steamboat












Soak in tub, sleep, repeat

Next day we shuttled up to Rabbit Ears and rode the Wyoming Trail out to the lakes and Fish Creek. Axel came along.


















Mount Storm







A hard won view of Mount Zirkel and Big Agnes




Sadly, the day to leave Steamboat finally arrived. I rode the DRZ up to Rabbit Ears.









Sigh, until next year.

Nice..thanks for sharing..Looks like I need to go a little further north, the next time I head West.

This summer has been tough on Brown Mountain.

I sort of got on top of school work Friday afternoon and evening. Got some nagging chores done Saturday morning and surfed with Layla for a bit. Gauley next weekend.

I finally found my way through to where I wanted to go without getting lost. Ha! Straight to Dennis Cove.

Aaaa aaaa aaaaa choo!




Black Bear Resort appears to be a cool place. Here comes a fellow who runs up 80+ miles to go get some nails at the hardware store. You know he's up for an evening ride.
















This is the only photo I got from Sunday.




We met GlennR at Bulldog Road for a tour of Stone Mountain. We didn't get to see too much of it as we immediately dropped down this hill that probably would have involved burnt valves to get back up. Props to aplscrambles for making the other hill. Luckily, we got out of there without too much difficulty. I was running out of time and energy for picking my bike up. We parted ways with those guys at the top of Bulldog/Beaverdam divide. I rode through a bunch of rain on the way home. At least the rain on this side was warm. I was an ice cube when I got to Newland.

Jefferson National Forest and autumn.

I got some chores done Saturday morning and headed up. Traffic on 77 was craaaazy, and the trip took an extra 45 mins. Still, I got there in time for a quick loop before sundown.








My fire was a complete failure. Good thing it wasn't too cold.

I was on it the next morning at 7:44. I rode through all of the clouds depicted in the next few photos. The bottoms were cold and foggy.









There used to be a chairlift at the top of Big Walker. I assume it was for the view because I don't see any kind of ski run.

Burke's Garden





Bastian




Through my own laziness, I became heinously mired in mud on Hogback Ridge.


No Business




Nom nom nom nom nom. I found some places that warrant further exploration along this route.




I did the liason section through Sugar Run, Green Valley, Eggleston, Clover Hollow, and Screwplow to get up to Mountain Lake.





Mountain Lake Road has about 5 miles of freshy fresh.






The Butt Mountain Loop is full on enduro special test now.







Until next time.