Two Flat Landers, Colorado Mountain Passes on an F800GS and 640 Adventure.

[OklaRider]

Originally Posted by EnderTheX

Nice, I bet July was really cool and there was no snow to hinder your ride. I'm still trying to find the perfect time to go where there may be just a bit of snow on the roads. According to the locals this is really hit or miss though...

We came up Stoney from the east and it was an easy ride. I was told the west side was more difficult. Here is a picture looking back to the east from Stoney.

Okay, I guess I technology challenged, I can't get the pic to upload. I'll try again later.

[Red Leader]

Originally Posted by EnderTheX

Hey Cris! Good to hear from you, we should go riding locally soon!






Hey Jeff, I totally agree!!! It is quite an experience. I think camping in the wilderness also adds a lot to the trip because you feel the weather, can stay closer to the passes and you don't have to pay for very expensive hotels. Next time we may try remote camping in the national forest instead of a campground.

Sounds good, look forward to seeing you guys and learning more about your trip. Weather should be getting good real soon.

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by Trl Rdr

Great pictures, I never take enough pictures when I ride. When I went over that pass last year it was raining and some lightning, I did not stop till I was half way to Oury

Too bad about your weather, I bet it was a spectacular lightning show! We met another rider who went over the pass very quickly, he was a crazy local... more about him later.

Originally Posted by OklaRider

We came up Stoney from the east and it was an easy ride. I was told the west side was more difficult. Here is a picture looking back to the east from Stoney.

Okay, I guess I technology challenged, I can't get the pic to upload. I'll try again later.

Hmm... sounds fun to go from the east, we also heard the west part is the tough section. Did you go all the way through or head back east after making the pass?






Continuing on... at the top of the pass there was a cool old building. We couldn't tell what it was but it was positioned directly on top of the pass with no shelter from the elements. I'm guessing it had something to do with the cables that once spanned this pass.







The building did have a cool mailbox!!! Sign me up to be the mailman to deliver up here, especially if you could ride a dirt bike to deliver the mail!





If you look closely you can see an ADV West Fest sticker on the mailbox. We didn't have any stickers on us but ADV is not forgotten!

[EnderTheX]

Just a few hundred feet from the pass there was an overlook that faced east and I got a shot of Chris' triumphant summit of a small pile of rocks in the middle of the overlook.






Looking east... the mountains had wonderful colors. I wish you could see it in person because my pictures don't do it justice..

[EnderTheX]

This picture highlights the extreme mineral and metal content in the mountains. No wonder so many crazy 19th century miners came here to live the American Dream.

[EnderTheX]

We were both snapping away with our cameras, the light was ever changing on the distant mountains and on the bikes making for a photography bonanza!





Time to adjust the gear before the decent!

[jefffrankphotography]

Here is a view from one of the old abandoned mines and one from the top of Black Bear Pass. I just got the top because it was all I could do to stay alive on the way down !!



Thats my brother ahead starting down Black Bear. The rocks are to big to go around and to small to go over. Its like trying to walk on a wood floor covered in marbles. That front wheel was hunting and dancing the whole way. Fantastic! Oh and its really steep as well (thats a bonus) and it has a 1500 foot drop on the left (double bonus) Telluride is off in the distance.

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by jefffrankphotography

Here is a view from one of the old abandoned mines and one from the top of Black Bear Pass. I just got the top because it was all I could do to stay alive on the way down !!

Nice pics Jeff, I remember both of those spots. Your pic of Black Bear really shows the town well in the background!

[EnderTheX]

While we were at the overlook near the top of Imogene pass we noticed a cool snow bank... A trail seemed to run through it and continued in the distance. The trail seemed very old and I swear I have seen it before in other ride reports (not taken but photographed). It was completely blocked by this snow bank and there was no way to get through.








Of course Chris had to go fondle some snow! He wasn't going to go through the summer in the mountains without playing with the white stuff.

[EnderTheX]

We started to head down Imogene Pass on the north side. The rocks were plentiful and the ledges very steep. Luckily it is much easier to go down than up and we were doing well. We took few pictures because the storms were rapidly approaching and we had a long way to go. It was a miracle that I didn't bottom out on my bash plate several times on the way down, the ledges were tall.


This picture is of an easy area where I waited for Chris.




After the rocky ledges near the top the trail started to even out and had some cool switch backs. This side felt really dark compared to the side near Telluride, maybe it is the angle of the sun...

[EnderTheX]

We were having a blast going down this trail, it had everything you could wish for. Several stream crossing, ledges, loose rocky descents, and even a pair of squirrels fighting a marmot! I'm not kidding lol, we saw them from a distance and scared them away, they were really going at it.

After this creek crossing the trail became much more flat but extremely rocky. These were HUGE embedded rocks and actually easy to ride over. It was wild... almost like what I imagine the slickrock trails in Utah to be except with lots of puddles. Chris can attest to the strange terrain at the bottom of Imogene Pass, wonderful. Sorry no pictures, we were hauling ass to escape the storms, we didn't make it...

If you do Imogene Pass I would highly recommend doing it from Telluride to Ouray and not the other way around. First.. it would be much more scenic to ride this direction and second.. the other direction may be more difficult.

[LittleWan]

Originally Posted by EnderTheX

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip, the colors of the soil and amazing ride gave us a huge high as we approached the pass.

Oh my god. This photo is amazing!
You took this with the Canon D10??

I think I just found my next camera...

[MG2TX]

This thread is great. I am so jelous. I lived in Colorado for 17 years and never went of road riding. Look what I have missed. Now that I am in Texas I can't wait to go back and give see what I missed. although when i do I am pretty sure i will never want to go back to Texas. Amazing pictures. !!!Subscribed!!!

[Desmous]

Very nice RR

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by LittleWan

Oh my god. This photo is amazing!
You took this with the Canon D10??

I think I just found my next camera...

Thanks! I did take all my pictures with the Canon D10, I really love that little camera. It is awesome because I don't have to worry about it... rain, snow, dust, dropping it, all fine.

Chris has a huge SLR camera that he keeps in the Pelican case he mounted on the back of his bike.


Now I must tell you that while the D10 did take all these pictures I also do a small bit of processing before they are finished. Chris and all professional photographers shoot in RAW images (a type of file format) and then spend many hours tweaking the files to bring out the best image. The D10 takes very large images (12.1 megapixel) but it does not shoot in RAW therefore making processing limited. The benefit of shooting such high pixel images is after minor processing and resizing the images are very clear because there is a lot of "data" available per area.

At the end of the ride report I can share my secrets for image processing that anyone can do with any point and shoot camera. The software I use is only $40 instead of $300 or more for the professional stuff.


Oh yeah, I also usually take 3-4 pictures of the same scene and then sift through them for the best one. With my 16 GB flash card in the D10 I can take over 4000 pictures without having to download. The battery on the D10 is awesome and has lasted me for over 500 pictures (without flash) many times (I will bring a spare each day just in case).


I think it took me about 12 hours of work to get all my pictures ready to post but anyone can do it too!

Originally Posted by MG2TX

This thread is great. I am so jelous. I lived in Colorado for 17 years and never went of road riding. Look what I have missed. Now that I am in Texas I can't wait to go back and give see what I missed. although when i do I am pretty sure i will never want to go back to Texas. Amazing pictures. !!!Subscribed!!!

Thanks man, you need to go back and explore your old backyard! It seems like there is an infinite network of dirt trails in Colorado, I love it. Texas is difficult to ride dual sport because everything is private and fenced off. We were riding a small road in the middle of nowhere and stopped to take some pictures of a creek crossing and an old farmer pulled up and started telling us we were on private property. We knew that as long as we stayed on the road we were OK (if you go off the road it is private) but we took off before the situation got hostile... never know what can happen in the middle of no where.

Originally Posted by Desmous

Very nice RR

Thanks Desmous!