Hitting the Road Again - Heading to Utah

Friday the co-pilot and I are heading up to Northern Utah on Quicksilver - spending the week at Snowbird and riding out each day from there.

Anybody else gonna be around in Utah during the week of May 17-23? It'd be great to meet up and say howdy if schedules happen to cross. We haven't made any specific plans yet beyond getting there Saturday night and departing the following Saturday morning. We'll probably be covering any interesting side roads we can find within about 400 miles of Salt Lake City all week long. Ride safe!

Goose

Goose, I am headed the other direction, toward the Gap and the Asheville NC area.

If you keep riding and end up over on the east side, holler.

Jim

Goose, one of your first rides should be from Park City heading east. I am not sure if the Road to Midway will be open yet, but if not, you can still take I-80 to kimball junction and go to Heber and Midway that way. It is a quaint little Swiss town that is fun to see. From there, you then take Highway 40 halfway down Provo canyon and turn right to go over the Alpine loop to Cascade Springs. It is a one way road with almost no traffic and climbs up through the quakies. If you were going to be there in June/July I would suggest going over the Mirror Lake Highway from Kamas to Flaming Gorge Reservoir. It is one of the most beautiful rides in the world....but it probably isn't open yet because of snow.

Here's a link to the Uintah ride, also a day trip up highway 40 to Strawberry and Soldier Creek is a great ride, Especially if Wolf Creek Pass out of Woodland is open. About 120-140 miles round trip. Go from Park City North-East to Kimball Junction Turn right to Head for Heber, Just as you pass Jordanelle Reservoir turn left to go to Kamas/Woodland. Take Wolf Creek pass to Tabiona. Turn right on Utah 209 and go to Highway 40 again Turn right and you will go back past 2 more lakes and follow 40 back into Heber and then to Park City. I wished I could be there, My wife is driving up to Utah to be watch my grandkids until June, but I still have to make a living and asking for time off after only working for them for a month might be a little presumptuous. Army Retirement doesn't pay everything when you have as many toys as I do. Good luck and let me know how you enjoy the trip.

http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2007/

Goose, I am headed the other direction, toward the Gap and the Asheville NC area.

 

If you keep riding and end up over on the east side, holler.

 

Jim

When you planning on being in the Asheville area? I live about 30 miles from there so if you wanna meet up give me a call.

Have fun! I used to live in Utah many moons ago.

Be Safe!!! Have Fun!!! Send Pics!!!

What route are you taking, Goose?

What route are you taking, Goose?

Well, I haven't finalized it yet, but probably will be heading up through Okyhoma and Kansass toward the Denver area the first day so that we can cross through Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday on our way to the resort at Snowbird.

Goose

Goose- Depending on the snowpack and which directions you want to go, in addition to Middway (Swiss area) I'd be glad to give you a bunch of the rides in the area you can take. Please give us a call when you get here, I'd love to get together for dinner or something.

Few ride ideas:

Mirror Lake Road - Kamas, Ut to Evanston, Wy - Beautiful drive, lots of lakes and of course, twisties. Had a friend tell me this is as much fun to ride as Tail of the Dragon, but I don't know. (Abt 210 miles) - No opening date available as of today

Bear Lake and back - Go up through Monte Cristo to Woodruff, then to Laketown, Garden City, through Logan Canyon to Logan, down Sardine Canyon to Brigham City and then back home. You can reverse the order also. There are advantages to going both ways. (Abt 360 miles) - Monte Cristo schedule to open May 22

Heber City - Strawberry Reservoir - Huntington - Fairview - Nephi and Back This ride can take you up Provo Canyon (past Sundance), out to Strawberry. Here you can return via Wolf Creek Pass (could be closed still) or you can go on out to Duschesne and over the top of Indian Canyon to Price, out to Huntington (hwy 10), up Huntington Canyon and down Fairview Canyon into Fairview City. Again here you can catch US 89/US6/I15 back to SLC or ride out to Nephi and catch I15 to SLC. (Abt 275 miles) Open Year round

There are other rides out into the west desert that might be fun we can get you linked up on.

Dave

Are you planning on taking Trail Ridge road over the Rockies? Because it's not scheduled to open until May 22nd.

Are you planning on taking Trail Ridge road over the Rockies? Because it's not scheduled to open until May 22nd.

Well sir, that was very timely information! Yes, we were planning on going over the top there - with the temps as warm as they have been, I just assumed it would be open! Really dumb of me to make such an assumption on a 12,000 foot high road in May - sure do appreciate you cluing me in!

Guess I'll check on the conditions over Red Mountain, Silverton and Ouray instead.

Goose

Well sir, that was very timely information! Yes, we were planning on going over the top there - with the temps as warm as they have been, I just assumed it would be open! Really dumb of me to make such an assumption on a 12,000 foot high road in May - sure do appreciate you cluing me in!

 

Guess I'll check on the conditions over Red Mountain, Silverton and Ouray instead.

Goose

Not a problem. They got snow in the mountains again this last week too. Not sure how much but it was there.

OK, got the route locked in (until the next wise person points out I've missed another stupid point!). We'll probably spend Friday night near Albuquerque, or maybe a bit further north, then Saturday head on up through Durango and over Red Mountain Pass. My wife has never been through the Rockies north of New Mexico, so I was looking for the best way to introduce her to this great area on the way to Snowbird. The Million Dollar Highway is one of the most stunning rides in Colorado, so if we can't do the Trail Ridge, that looks like the next best option and still do the ride up there in a reasonable two days (about 650 miles each day).

Haven't decided on the day-routes out of Snowbird yet for the rest of the week, but I sure do appreciate all the suggestions - keep 'em coming! According to the long-range forecasts, it looks like next week is gonna be just about perfect weather in the Wasatch Mountains, so we are really looking forward the rides.

Goose

Goose, we take almost the exact same route when we go. If when you get to Durango it is still snowy, you can turn left on 160 to Cortez and go up thru Moab. The trip up to Ouray is beautiful but you don't have to make the decision until you get to Durango. I hope you and UTAdventure can get together. There is some beautiful rides all over the area. I wished I was going myself:crying:

Well, made it here close to sunset yesterday - woulda been in a couple of hours earlier, but dippy GPS unit couldn't find the resort! About 1,300 miles to get here. Did 650 Friday to get into Albuquerque around 1700, then another 680 yesterday. I've included on picture of the sunrise behind the clouds over Sandia Peak as we were leaving Albuquerque in the morning. The ride over Red Mountain pass and down the Million Dollar Highway was almost perfect. The weather and road conditions were fantastic, but they were painting road stripes, and all the loose glass beads (reflector stuff they throw on the wet paint) had me a little spooked. A bike tire can slide off that stuff pretty quick, so I was kinda cautious with the loaded bike! Made it without incident. Temperatures on the passes were around 50 degrees, and 85-90 across the high dessert stretches, so we did a fair amount of stopping to add and remove layers. All in all, a couple of great riding days except for the "twister" that tried to eat is in eastern New Mexico.

Anyone who has spent time in the desserts has seen plenty of dust devils. Most are pretty benign - heck, as a kid we would even try and run into them! But a few can get a bit nasty. There was a lot of construction on stretches of I40 in eastern New Mexico, creating lots of loose dirt and debris. We saw a big dust devil building a ways ahead of us, but it seemed to be off the side of the road. Unfortunately, as we topped a hill it was clear that the monster was churning up everything right in the median, and it jumped out in front of us just as we were about to pass. This was right when I heard a trucker in front of me on the CB throw out a caution about how bad it tossed his truck around! Had to go right through the center of this mess at 70 MPH - complete zero visibility and thought for a sec I was getting thrown clear off the road before it jerked me back the other way. And the rocks! Hurt worst than a hail storm! Mesh riding jacket had them embedded everywhere. The bike and both of us looked like we had been rolling in the dirt, and everything is badly pitted from the sand and rocks. One of the pictures below is of the chrome strip below the windshield. Other than the bug goo, all the spots you see are big rock pits! The windshield and paint is all the same. But it could have been much worse, so I guess I'm not complaining too bad!

Just relaxing this morning with computers, bloody Mausers, and lots of maps to plan out our local rides.

Goose

You really did get tossed by the that dust devil because I70 goes through Kansas, not New Mexico.

You really did get tossed by the that dust devil because I70 goes through Kansas, not New Mexico.

Yup, you got that one right. I70 goes through a whole lot more states than just Kansas, but New Mexico ain't one of them. I guess I had I70 on the brain 'cause I hit that one coming west out of Colorado. That bugger of a dust devil was twisting up on I40 for sure!

Goose

Glad your ok, sounds almost as exciting as your last trip...