Exploring Outside Denver

On Saturday morning, we headed south through Colorado Springs on Dom's two Ural rigs. You can read his post here. The BMW powered rig was not quite through the break in mileage on the transmission so speed was limited. Since Pikes Peak looked pretty socked in, we stopped at the Garden of the Gods just west of Colorado Springs.

It was pretty crowded but probably not as crowded as during the summer tourist season. This is Balanced Rock near the Manitou Springs exit. At this point, Dom checked the Pikes Peak road status and learned that the road was partly open but snow was reported at 12,000'.

This was the end of the road for today. We really couldn't see much as we were in the clouds. By the time we got up there, it felt pretty cold at 31°F (0°C) and damp. Fortunately, the road wasn't slippery. There were a number of cars in a line on the road. I'm told that they were hoping that the rangers would open up the road to the summit. At this point we headed back down the road.

After several switchbacks we stopped along the side of the road for some photos. Not a lot of detail but it does look like we are stopped on the edge of a cliff. This road is steep. We were in first gear all the way down. A couple of switchbacks later, we found a good view of the valley but there were several other cars parked in a very small space. Only a few hundred yards further down the road, Dom spotted a dirt road leading to a nice parking space.

By this time, the temperature had warmed up to about 45°F (+7°C) and we were out of the clouds. It was a little challenging to get back up on the road as it was really steep where the dirt road met the pavement and you couldn't see if there was any traffic until you get there.

This was the view when we almost reached the entrance gate. When we called during lunch, the status of the road  hadn't changed so we headed back north. By the time we arrived at his home, the BMW powered Ural was 1 km past the break-in mileage. No longer limited to 45 mph!