Colorado & Utah?

I need a Vacation! Work has been Very stressfull the last couple of months and I want to break my new Trike conversion in with a longish road Trip.

We need to add Colorado and Utah to our Map so that we have all if the states west of Iowa.so, I plan to take a week or so to do those two states.

I can't walk much, so our site seeing is pretty much always from the bike. We have been thru Colorado in a Cage before but not on a bike. What places do you recommend?

I know there are MANY things to see but I am only going to take a week, (7ish days), away from work.

.

There are some beautiful canyons to ride in Utah. From Evanston Wy you can ride Hwy 150 over the top (Mirror Lake Hwy) to the Park City area and on in to Salt Lake....please stop in a say "hi"

There is East Canyon, Hwy 131 from Fairview to Huntington, Joe's Valley, Hwy 12, etc.

There are also National and State Parks. Many can be enjoyed from your seat on the bike. Arches National Park near Moab (fun to ride and many of the arches can be viewed from the vehicle or a very short walk), Canyonlands Natl Park (some great twisties and great views from the road), Dead Horse Point (some short walks to enjoy). Zions Natl Park over near I15 (St. George). During the summer months you can't drive through the entire park but they have a bus service to take you to the different sites and many of the drivers are knowledgeble about the park.

If time allows, we might be able to go along on some of it as personal guides.

You might have to plan another trip so you can enjoy Colorado..

Dave

Mt. Evens west of Denver is the highest paved road in the US. It is over 14,000 feet high. On the way up you pass Lake Echo. A beautiful lake with snow covered mountain tops in the background and a souvenir shop right there at the lake. On the way up you pass through Mount Goliath Natural Area that have the weirdest looking trees. Also a very nice canyon ride that follows the Colorado River in the eastern Utah is highway 128. It goes from I-70 down to Arches which is another sight to see.

AWESOME CRAIG!

sounds like you are gonna be moteling? The reason I ask is I am terrible with planning destination bound itenerarys and prefer to be able to escape the mountains in early afternoons into the foothills of whatever range I am in.. not to conducive to being inone certain location at any particular time.. the mountains of utah and colorado are unreal in their majestic beauty BUT the afternoon weather systems can also be unreal! Take warm clothes and raingear!

you really cannot go wrong with our national park system. If I wete in your shoes I would pick up a park pass and just go park to park till I ran out of time. Staying on the bike is a GREAT plan, just ride your ride snd see the endless sites. The worst parks for traffic IMHO are yellowstone, yosimite, south rim grand canyon, sounds like you wont be in any of them.. I really like the arches, canyonland, great basin, zion, north rim, bryce, moab area and such cause they seem less conjested.

If you get on the other side of the rockies from denver almost into grandledge watch for an area called, the grand mesa. If you have time and dont mind traveling about 12 miles of gravel you would LOVE the grand mesa overlook! Unreal mountain AND desert floor views all hfrom one point!

craig, a person can a LOT of country in 7 days from the seat of a bike, only need to dismount for food, sleep and potty breaks.. no need to go hiking or wondering around tourist traps,,, that bike seat has everything a man needs,,,, an than some!

Have a great, safe trip!

puc

yes, Hotels only for us.

I love all of the replies, keep em coming!

As my wife and I look back at our trips to the other 37 states we have hit so far, we keep finding roads / sites that we missed. Some we are willing to travel to again. So, for these two states, I figured asking others first would be the smart way to go.

Thanks, and keep them coming! I plan to lay out a Map and figure the best route to hit as many suggestions as possible.

craigr

My wife and I recently went to Monument Valley. It's located just north of the AZ border. Going north on 163, you turn east on I believe Monument Valley road. A few miles down you will run into the Navajo museum. There are 1 1/2 hr and 2 1/2 hr tours of the valley on rough dirt roads. I chose to let them escort us on the tour but if you have a truck or suv or maybe a trike, you can check it out yourself at no extra charge. The old movie director John Ford filmed many John Wayne western movies in Monument Valley. My wife was in a hurry to get to Vegas and didn't even want to go to Monument Valley but afterwards, she said that was the best part of the trip.

My wife and I have been watching the replies and appreciate all.

After watching the food channel this evening, we got to talking about our upcoming trip. She said that we should try to hit some 'non-traditional' or 'non-franchise' restaurants. We would really like to try some different kinds of foods.

So, if any of you folks can think of any along the ways, please speak up.

craigr

Hey Craig, just a little north of Kolob Canyons which is the northern part of Zion Nation Park is a small diner called "Top Spot".. Ya gotta try their burgers and fries!! We are talking shaved ham on top of hamburger and very special home made fries - place has amazing food and not a bank buster!!

Sounds like you folks are planning a really fun trip,, please take lots of pics for us!!

Ride safe and have fun!

Puc

Craig,

Here ya go:

Take I-80/76 from Omaha to Denver, or any other way you wanna get there.

Then, Take I-25 south to Colorado Springs. You might wanna go west a short spell and run up Pikes Peak and take a gander at it. From Colorado Springs take State Route 115 southwest down to Hwy 50. Then ride Hwy 50 all the way across the state to Montrose, Co. On Hwy 50 you're gonna experience some really cool stuff like a large part of it from just past Cañon City to Salida the Arkansas River rolls right beside the highway and it is beautiful. When you get to Salida, go down town and check it out. It's a great old town that sits right on the Arkansas with cool shops and restaurants. After Salida going west on Hwy 50 you will go up over Monarch Pass and the Continental Divide. Then down to the wonderful town of Gunnison, then you'll ride along and over the beautiful 20 mile Blue Mesa Reservoir. Just before you get to Montrose, DO NOT miss going to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. AWESOME!

After Montrose, go south to Durango on the famous Million Dollar Highway (Hwy 550). You'll go over three 10,000 plus high passes on this true bikers dream highway, and you will get to experience 2 very cool old west towns, Ouray, and Silverton. Durango is another very cool western town with great places to eat in the downtown section.

After Durango go west on Hwy 160 until you come to the 4 corners monument. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but it's kinda neat to see. At this monument you will be able to stand on 4 states and take your pic doing so. Also, surrounding the monument are several booths with native Americans selling their wares. You might like something enough to buy it. After 4 Corners, keep going west on Hwy 160 until you get to Kayenta, Arizona. Here you will be able to grab gas and food if needed. Also, from here you will go north on Hwy 163 to Monument Valley. The Monument Valley Navaho Park is just after you cross the border into Utah. It is on the right hand side of the highway and you have to drive a mile or so or maybe a little less to get to it. THIS IS A MUST SEE.

After Monument Valley Navaho Park, keep heading northeast on Hwy 163 into Utah until you come to Hwy 191. Go north on Hwy 191 to Moab. Around Moab you're gonna want to see two places, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park. A few miles north of Moab, take Hwy 313 to the left to Canyonlands National Park. It's a number of miles down to the park, but believe me, IT IS A MUST SEE. I was just there two weeks ago, and in its own way, it is as beautiful as the Grand Canyon. Just north of Moab is Arches National Park on the right side of Hwy 191. You should go see this park too. To see the really good arches it requires quite a bit of walking, but don't worry about doing that. Just ride the bike for 8-10 miles into the park and check out what you can see from the bike. It is a park with some crazy formations that makes you go, huh? This next part is a MUST. From Moab, ride Hwy 128 northwest to I-70!! This highway is a stunning ride through a narrow tall canyon for 50-60 miles and the mighty Colorado River rolls right beside you for most of the way. IT IS AWESOME! After you get to I-70, go east toward Denver. Between here and Denver there is some serious beauty for an interstate highway! Between Glenwood Springs and Gypsom on I-70 you will go through Glenwood Canyon. This section is rated the most beautiful section of interstate highway in America. The Canyon gets so narrow they stack the interstate lanes on top of each other. It's crazy cool! Then you will go through the Eisenhower Tunnel. Really neat to go through on a bike.

After you get to Denver, head home.

I'll let you decide how to break this trip up as far as when to stop and spend the night. But, as you probably know, 7 days flies by.

I'm heading down to Cannon City, CO the last week of August.

Going to do the canyons and vistas there.

Just outside of Canon City is a road called Skyline Dr. It is one way heading West to East (kind of). Once you get on top, you will be glad it is one way. It is paved.

Here we are in Silverthorne, CO, on our way home - kinda. We want to hit Rocky Mountain Park also. So, we ARE heading home, just the long way.

So far, our 07Venture / NEW Hannigan conversion has performed well, (other than the reverse, which the dealer still can't get to work right). Otherwise, I think that three wheels has some Perc's over two wheels after all. Though it was quite a workout on a lot of roads through the mountains. This is where the two wheels has it made. It looks like I will have more of a workout to go back over the mountains. The stability and comfort has it tops in my book!

Oh, and also, I LOVE the attention it draws. We had stopped for gas at one station and I struck up a conversation with an older man that happened to be from France. In his broken English, he explained that he and his family are on a tour. He then, again in broken English, said something about his Grandchildren and pictures. Well I thought he wanted me to use his camera and get a family picture of them. Wrong. Pretty soon 6 or more people got out their vehicle with cameras - taking pics of our Trike! Once we figured out what was going on, my wife and I went to move from the Trike and the Grandfather said 'NO! You stay by the motorcycle' - They wanted US in the pics. Then a couple of the teen boys walked closer to check out trike. I let them climb on for pics. THIS thrilled them, which thrilled my wife and I. After doing the Pic thing with them, they did the usual thank yous and they took pics and movies of my wife and I heading down the road. This REALLY made our day! It was great to see this much enthusiasm.

Well, this story isn't over! The next day, while sitting in a restaurant, in Moab, two of these boys approached our table and, in broken English, say 'you remember us.' They thank us again, etc.. I then ask if they would email me a couple of their pics once they get home. He said he would of course, so I gave him my email address. - I am really looking forward to these. Anyway, as we were leaving, we walked by their table on our way out. Four of them followed us out to take more pics! So, I had to do it........ I offered rides. Wow did they go for this! While giving one a ride, the others were taking pics. I even gave their Grandmother, who spoke nor understands English, a ride. With each of these, when I left the parking lot and a couple of other places, I really cranked her up. I never got over 50ish, but in a short distance..... The only one that really commented was the Grandmother who, while I was getting on it, said 'Wee Wee!!' (This means Yes, Yes). I was impressed that this Grandmother was very comfortable and loved the acceleration! While I was giving rides, one of the Frenchmen that stayed at the restaurant explained to my wife that they do have m/c's in France but not Trikes. I didn't know this. We really enjoyed all of the attention and look forward to the pics!

My wife used quite a few suggestions from this post as well as those from TrikeTalk. - Again, we appreciate those suggestions.

We spent THREE days in Moab, UT. It started as a 'Day of Rest' to recuperate from a few LOOONG days of riding. We then found a couple of places to tour that were close to Moab, so we stayed another night. We stayed at Comfort Suites, other than the higher price, we were very happy with it. It is a VERY new Hotel and right on the main drag of Moab. I enjoyed Moab enough that I could've stayed there another night or two.

The scenery in that area was really gorgeous! It was definitely NOT what I was imagining. The temperature was cooler than I expected. But, did you know that it rains in the desert? And it can rain HARD!!! While going across Monument Valley, we could see it raining miles ahead of us. I ask my wife if she wanted to put our rain gear on..... 'nah, we will be alright, just ride thru it'. Wow was this a mistake!! We hadn't wore our helmets and were dressed in T-Shirts. We were wearing goggles though. At one point it rained so hard that I lost sight of the car 30' ahead of me. I slowly pulled to the side of the road. The white line on the side of the road was all I could see. There was a large Pickup behind us and even though I had stopped, he stayed behind us. My wife and I believe that he did this to protect us from other vehicles hitting us as we were stopped. We made it through okay, other than being soaked. When we came to a town, we stopped at a gas station, changed clothes and put our rain gear on.

We hit rain again today as we were traveling I-70 east. Hopefully we can avoid rain the rest of the trip, but I doubt it.

more to come......

craigr

Sounds like you're have an awesome trip.

Great being one of the tourist attractions as well as an amusement park ride!!

Good on ya!!

Be safe and we'd love to see some of your pics. Love Moab, Arches, Canyonlands etc.

Dave

Hey Craig - GREAT READ!! Thanks for including us in your adventure!! LOVE THE PART ABOUT GIVING THE OLD LADY A RIDE AND THE WEEEEEE:rotf:!! You da man brother!

Puc

I enjoyed reading your update.

Craig You did fantastic on your updates. If you ever get back that way, then do the northern route. On I70, just west of the Eisenhower tunnel, there is a turn off to highway 9, along Dillon Reservoir, this takes you along some excellent twisties on Highway 40 through Kremmling and Steamboat Springs. Before you get back into Utah, you can either take a road (318) north at Maybell that goes up to Flaming Gorge Reservoir, or continue straight on 40 to Dinosaur National Monument. You can turn right in Vernal up to Flaming Gorge and do the Mirror Lake Highway or Interstate 80 into Park City and Salt Lake from there. Or stay to the north and do Grand Teton/Jackson/Yellowstone. It is a completely different trip/view than Southern Utah/Colorado, but absolutely beautiful. Now I wished I had more time off to do it myself.

Awesome post Craig and sure happy you're enjoying your trip. What a wonderful story you guys had with the French tourists too.

Larry

Two places you really should see in Colorado are pretty close together but on the other side of the state from Omaha. Colorado National monument is fantastic and Mesa Verde is even better. The Million Dollar Highway is part of the connecting road and you go right near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison when getting from one to the other.

. Well, we made it home safely. We stayed our last night in a Comfort Inn in Silverton, CO. This is the WORST Hotel I have EVER stayed at in my many years of traveling. - My wife awoke in the night to find a bug crawling on her. Then, when she went into the bathroom, there were more crawling across the floor, and we were on the third floor!! The next morning I complained to the owner and he apologized, Gave us our money back and explained that they are trying to get rid of them. I asked another couple if they had seen bugs and they said the wife had seen many crawling across the floor. I guess it wouldn't have bothered me as much if we had chosen one of those $29.99 Hotels, but not at one of the higher priced. I did notify Corporate. I know that ANYWHERE can get a bug or two, but this place clearly has issues.

Other than the Hotel incident, I rate this vacation as one of our best. We both thoroughly enjoyed our Trike conversion though we miss the leaning and the gas mileage. We got as bad as 18 and as good as 26mpg. I told my wife and others that we will be repeating our trip to CO & UT and, we have friends that say they will join us!

craigr

Be sure to use Trip Advisor and post a review on that motel. Many people use this and it will get the word out and may force the chain to address the issues.

. Well, we made it home safely. We stayed our last night in a Comfort Inn in Silverton, CO. This is the WORST Hotel I have EVER stayed at in my many years of traveling. - My wife awoke in the night to find a bug crawling on her. Then, when she went into the bathroom, there were more crawling across the floor, and we were on the third floor!! The next morning I complained to the owner and he apologized, Gave us our money back and explained that they are trying to get rid of them. I asked another couple if they had seen bugs and they said the wife had seen many crawling across the floor. I guess it wouldn't have bothered me as much if we had chosen one of those $29.99 Hotels, but not at one of the higher priced. I did notify Corporate. I know that ANYWHERE can get a bug or two, but this place clearly has issues.

 

Craig,

Check your luggage for bugs before you take it in the house..(ops too late)

 

Add that motel here if it is not already on the list..

http://www.bedbugreports.com/

Here we are in Silverthorne, CO, on our way home - kinda. We want to hit Rocky Mountain Park also. So, we ARE heading home, just the long way.

 

So far, our 07Venture / NEW Hannigan conversion has performed well, (other than the reverse, which the dealer still can't get to work right). Otherwise, I think that three wheels has some Perc's over two wheels after all. Though it was quite a workout on a lot of roads through the mountains. This is where the two wheels has it made. It looks like I will have more of a workout to go back over the mountains. The stability and comfort has it tops in my book!

Oh, and also, I LOVE the attention it draws. We had stopped for gas at one station and I struck up a conversation with an older man that happened to be from France. In his broken English, he explained that he and his family are on a tour. He then, again in broken English, said something about his Grandchildren and pictures. Well I thought he wanted me to use his camera and get a family picture of them. Wrong. Pretty soon 6 or more people got out their vehicle with cameras - taking pics of our Trike! Once we figured out what was going on, my wife and I went to move from the Trike and the Grandfather said 'NO! You stay by the motorcycle' - They wanted US in the pics. Then a couple of the teen boys walked closer to check out trike. I let them climb on for pics. THIS thrilled them, which thrilled my wife and I. After doing the Pic thing with them, they did the usual thank yous and they took pics and movies of my wife and I heading down the road. This REALLY made our day! It was great to see this much enthusiasm.

Well, this story isn't over! The next day, while sitting in a restaurant, in Moab, two of these boys approached our table and, in broken English, say 'you remember us.' They thank us again, etc.. I then ask if they would email me a couple of their pics once they get home. He said he would of course, so I gave him my email address. - I am really looking forward to these. Anyway, as we were leaving, we walked by their table on our way out. Four of them followed us out to take more pics! So, I had to do it........ I offered rides. Wow did they go for this! While giving one a ride, the others were taking pics. I even gave their Grandmother, who spoke nor understands English, a ride. With each of these, when I left the parking lot and a couple of other places, I really cranked her up. I never got over 50ish, but in a short distance..... The only one that really commented was the Grandmother who, while I was getting on it, said 'Wee Wee!!' (This means Yes, Yes). I was impressed that this Grandmother was very comfortable and loved the acceleration! While I was giving rides, one of the Frenchmen that stayed at the restaurant explained to my wife that they do have m/c's in France but not Trikes. I didn't know this. We really enjoyed all of the attention and look forward to the pics!

My wife used quite a few suggestions from this post as well as those from TrikeTalk. - Again, we appreciate those suggestions.

We spent THREE days in Moab, UT. It started as a 'Day of Rest' to recuperate from a few LOOONG days of riding. We then found a couple of places to tour that were close to Moab, so we stayed another night. We stayed at Comfort Suites, other than the higher price, we were very happy with it. It is a VERY new Hotel and right on the main drag of Moab. I enjoyed Moab enough that I could've stayed there another night or two.

The scenery in that area was really gorgeous! It was definitely NOT what I was imagining. The temperature was cooler than I expected. But, did you know that it rains in the desert? And it can rain HARD!!! While going across Monument Valley, we could see it raining miles ahead of us. I ask my wife if she wanted to put our rain gear on..... 'nah, we will be alright, just ride thru it'. Wow was this a mistake!! We hadn't wore our helmets and were dressed in T-Shirts. We were wearing goggles though. At one point it rained so hard that I lost sight of the car 30' ahead of me. I slowly pulled to the side of the road. The white line on the side of the road was all I could see. There was a large Pickup behind us and even though I had stopped, he stayed behind us. My wife and I believe that he did this to protect us from other vehicles hitting us as we were stopped. We made it through okay, other than being soaked. When we came to a town, we stopped at a gas station, changed clothes and put our rain gear on.

We hit rain again today as we were traveling I-70 east. Hopefully we can avoid rain the rest of the trip, but I doubt it.

 

more to come......

 

craigr

August is considered Monsoon Season in Southern Utah. We don't get much but what we get comes all at once.