Rocky Mountain High

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky
 I know he'd be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly
 Rocky Mountain high, the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky.



The Piasa or Piasa Bird is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs (cliffsides) above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in Madison County, Illinois at present-day Alton, Illinois. The original Piasa illustration no longer exists; a newer 20th-century version, based partly on 19th-century sketches and lithographs, has been placed on a bluff in Alton, Illinois.















Rocky Mountain National Park is a United States national park located approximately 76 miles northwest of Denver International Airport in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and Grand Lake to the west. The eastern and westerns slopes of the Continental Divide run directly through the center of the park with the headwaters of the Colorado River located in the park's northwestern region. The main features of the park include mountains, alpine lakes and a wide variety of wildlife within various climates and environments, from wooded forests to mountain tundra.



It was 29 degrees and spittin' snow the day we went to the top .
The Mount Evans Scenic Byway consists of State Highway 103 from Idaho Springs, Colorado on I-70 about 13 miles to Echo Lake, and Colorado 5 from Echo Lake 15 miles , ending at a parking area and turnaround just below the summit. The latter has long been the highest paved road in North America (5th highest in the world) and is only open in the summer. Colorado 103 continues east from Echo Lake to Squaw Pass, from which it connects, via Clear Creek County Road 103 and Jefferson County Road 66, to Bergen Park from which Colorado 74 leads to Evergreen Colorado.






The Mount Evans Crest House is a building, now in ruins, located at the summit of Mount Evans in Colorado. It is notable for both its significant architectural design, and its unusual location. Built at the terminus of the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, it was the highest business structure in the United States.Constructed between 1940 and 1941, it served as a restaurant, gift shop, and tourist attraction until it was partially destroyed by a fire in 1979.



Misfit planned a awesome route keeping us on the rim side so you could look straight down . We did the " Million Dollar Highway " also and again he planned the route to keep us on the side that allowed straight down views of the awesome mountains. HELLOFA ride one I'll remember to the end of my days.




Ride turned into a unexpected Fall Color Ride with the reds and yellows popping . Beautiful place to ride if you've never been to The Rocky Mountains on a motorcycle its a MUST do bucket list.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is in western Colorado. It surrounds part of a deep, steep-walled gorge carved through Precambrian rock by the Gunnison River. Roads and trails along the north and south rims have views of the Black Canyon's dramatic drops and the striated Painted Wall cliff.

Best I can do for a " Money Shot " with all the luggage in tow.... Special thanks to Bruce ( DDT ) for the invite and riding with us out of The Great State Of Tennessee and Misfit for planning a awesome ride through his beautiful state. We had one bike down broke arm , roadrash and bruise's he is home back in Kentucky . Trashed his beautiful Interstate doubt it will ever see the road again. My bike ran like a new one at 19 years old... Long Live The Dragon.

[Serk]

I know he'd be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly

Luckily when I did see an Eagle Fly, I had my Eagle Fly Swatter!

Thanks for the ride report... One of my favorite places in the USA geographically... Been a little over a year since I've inhaled the thin air, and I'm hankering for another fix soon...

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very nice  I'm sorry to hear about the rider going down. 

[J.Mencalice]

Of course you are aware that the lyrics of Johnny Deutchendorf Jr.'s song refers to reefer madness; the Rocky Mountain Marmot did inhale indeed.

Very nice ride, wonderful that you were able to see our part of the country.

[f6john]

Well if you ever do end up in a rocking chair on the front porch, you will have plenty of stories and pictures to share with grandkids, great grandkids and friends.

[Oss]

No doubt that was a ride you will be speakin of while rockin in the chair in the VRCC senior citizens home 40 yrs from now

thanks for taking the time to post the report and pics

[Valkorado]

  Great write up Joe! Glad you got to enjoy the best of the "other" Gods Country!

[John Schmidt]

Some great scenery shots Joe, I'd love to make that trip again which the wife and I have made a couple times. Mt. Evans....does that Crest House ever bring back some memories. I was stationed at Lowery AFB in Denver back in '57 and a handful of us would often make the trek to the summit. I remember one time about dusk we're headed down and hit some major fog/cloud cover, couldn't see more than 10' in front. I volunteered to walk ahead with the flashlight since we couldn't go any faster anyway, when suddenly I spotted something huge lumbering along in the fog ahead. I jumped back into the car, not taking chances until we got closer....it was a big old cow, apparently lost. I got back out, led the car and cow another mile or so until we broke through, whereupon bossie meandered off and we headed back to the base.

The road(?) back then wasn't much to speak of, but doable....if you're sober. A classmate from our tech school wasn't and they found him and his car 100's of feet below on one curve....car was balled up like a rolled up pie crust.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Some great scenery shots Joe, I'd love to make that trip again which the wife and I have made a couple times. Mt. Evans....does that Crest House ever bring back some memories. I was stationed at Lowery AFB in Denver back in '57 and a handful of us would often make the trek to the summit. I remember one time about dusk we're headed down and hit some major fog/cloud cover, couldn't see more than 10' in front. I volunteered to walk ahead with the flashlight since we couldn't go any faster anyway, when suddenly I spotted something huge lumbering along in the fog ahead. I jumped back into the car, not taking chances until we got closer....it was a big old cow, apparently lost. I got back out, led the car and cow another mile or so until we broke through, whereupon bossie meandered off and we headed back to the base.

The road(?) back then wasn't much to speak of, but doable....if you're sober. A classmate from our tech school wasn't and they found him and his car 100's of feet below on one curve....car was balled up like a rolled up pie crust.

Cool reply John    The road is paved to the top but its busted up in places especially when it gets in the higher elevations . The higher elevations took a toll on our leader ( DDT ) and he wasn't feeling well. Guess I lucked out it didn't bother me that much if any.

[Wizzard]

My wife was freaking out on the road as it is now,because there are no guard rails. Yep, literally probably 800-1000 ft down in some places. Great paved road now.

[Mr Whiskey]

Outstanding ride report as always Bro, thanks for the pics!
Glad ya had a great one

[Skinhead]

Some great scenery shots Joe, I'd love to make that trip again which the wife and I have made a couple times. Mt. Evans....does that Crest House ever bring back some memories. I was stationed at Lowery AFB in Denver back in '57 and a handful of us would often make the trek to the summit. I remember one time about dusk we're headed down and hit some major fog/cloud cover, couldn't see more than 10' in front. I volunteered to walk ahead with the flashlight since we couldn't go any faster anyway, when suddenly I spotted something huge lumbering along in the fog ahead. I jumped back into the car, not taking chances until we got closer....it was a big old cow, apparently lost. I got back out, led the car and cow another mile or so until we broke through, whereupon bossie meandered off and we headed back to the base.

The road(?) back then wasn't much to speak of, but doable....if you're sober. A classmate from our tech school wasn't and they found him and his car 100's of feet below on one curve....car was balled up like a rolled up pie crust.

Cool reply John    The road is paved to the top but its busted up in places especially when it gets in the higher elevations . The higher elevations took a toll on our leader ( DDT ) and he wasn't feeling well. Guess I lucked out it didn't bother me that much if any.

We would quite often spend weeks out in that area testing and calibrating vehicles at altitude.  One of my favorite things to do at the top of Mt. Evens was if we had any students or newbies that had never been to altitude before, was to challenge them to a foot race from the vehicles to the restrooms.  If they made it, it took a while for them to catch their breath.

Also, I read on the warning sign up there that, one of the symptoms of altitude sickness was excessive flatulence.  If so I must be dying from altitude sickness, even at sea level.  I hope that wasn't what DDT was afflicted with.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Some great scenery shots Joe, I'd love to make that trip again which the wife and I have made a couple times. Mt. Evans....does that Crest House ever bring back some memories. I was stationed at Lowery AFB in Denver back in '57 and a handful of us would often make the trek to the summit. I remember one time about dusk we're headed down and hit some major fog/cloud cover, couldn't see more than 10' in front. I volunteered to walk ahead with the flashlight since we couldn't go any faster anyway, when suddenly I spotted something huge lumbering along in the fog ahead. I jumped back into the car, not taking chances until we got closer....it was a big old cow, apparently lost. I got back out, led the car and cow another mile or so until we broke through, whereupon bossie meandered off and we headed back to the base.

The road(?) back then wasn't much to speak of, but doable....if you're sober. A classmate from our tech school wasn't and they found him and his car 100's of feet below on one curve....car was balled up like a rolled up pie crust.

Cool reply John    The road is paved to the top but its busted up in places especially when it gets in the higher elevations . The higher elevations took a toll on our leader ( DDT ) and he wasn't feeling well. Guess I lucked out it didn't bother me that much if any.

We would quite often spend weeks out in that area testing and calibrating vehicles at altitude.  One of my favorite things to do at the top of Mt. Evens was if we had any students or newbies that had never been to altitude before, was to challenge them to a foot race from the vehicles to the restrooms.  If they made it, it took a while for them to catch their breath.

Also, I read on the warning sign up there that, one of the symptoms of altitude sickness was excessive flatulence.  If so I must be dying from altitude sickness, even at sea level.  I hope that wasn't what DDT was afflicted with.

We saw several cars all wrapped up so you couldn't see the make on the road to Mt Evans.

[msb]

Nice to see another of your ride reports... great photos. Sucks to hear about a rider going down, hope all works out for him.
Thanks for posting 

[baldo]

Great report, and fantastic pictures. A good read, you could moonlight as a travel guide writer....

[Gavin_Sons]

Always enjoy your reports Joe 

[Farside]

  Nice report and pictures to match. Learned about an area I'd like to get to one of these days on my Valk. Really nice to hear your experience with that area John. I'd like to get to that front porch rocker when you guys find the spot. 

[Thunderbolt]

Thanks Joe for posting.  We did that park in 2006 when Inzane was there in Frisco Co.  Stayed in Buena Vista, Kremmling nearest the park then on to Breckenridge.  Neat how they had those stakes so you could see the road when the snow was deep.  I remember riding on 70 there and this crazy guy from Kansas named Raymond came flying by us doing about 90.  Later told me that  he had passed a bunch of Harley riders a ways back and never let up.
Iris was affected by the altitude out there on the 14'ers, didn't seem to affect me too much.  Beautiful scenery.

[bassman]

Great report and pix....thanks for posting....

[_Sheffjs_]

What one was the money shot? Never mind they all were, Colorado is amazing.  Glad you all had a great time. 

[fudgie]

thx for posting Joe. 

[rocketray]

where is the "go fund me page" for a trailer for Joe?

[fudgie]

where is the "go fund me page" for a trailer for Joe?

I bought his trailer 10 yrs ago. 

[Jess from VA]

Thanks. 

[Popeye]

Great pics and  report Joe.

Colorado is a great state to ride in.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

where is the "go fund me page" for a trailer for Joe?

I bought his trailer 10 yrs ago. 

You still have it ?

[Pappy!]

Amazing!
Lesa and I really need to get out there before the years slip away.
Pretty sure if we go we will trailer the bikes most of the way and then ride that whole area.

[cookiedough]

where is the "go fund me page" for a trailer for Joe?

I bought his trailer 10 yrs ago. 

You still have it ?

You might want to buy that trailer back for I am pretty sure you were over the 20lb. limit on the top chrome luggage rack in back, especially with helmet included...

Nice pics and report,  will be on my bucket list whether it be car, truck, or cycle.

[LTD]

hellacious ride Joe thanks for posting.

[hubcapsc]

What's up with this place?



-Mike

[..]

What's up with this place?



-Mike

Limestone quarry?

Wine cellar?

Root veggie cellar?

Spacious cool abode?

[Bigwolf]

Great ride report Joe.  Thanks for posting.  The photos are great too.  I am gonna have to go see some of that for myself.

[mark81]

That looks like it was an amazing ride. Wish I was there.

[fudgie]

where is the "go fund me page" for a trailer for Joe?

I bought his trailer 10 yrs ago. 

You still have it ?

Still got it! Havent pulled it in 4-5 yrs. I only pull it locally.

[Alpha Dog]

Awesome area, awesome pics.  I have never rode this area ( I have some CA mountains ) and have to in the future, some way.  I fell in love with Colorado back in the early 80s when I would ski Vail and Beaver Creek for a few winters in February with my California sister and her UCLA Medical Center lady friends.   This sure brings back memories.

I had never heard of this Piasa bird.  However a little research made me think this may be the same type of bird that the residents of Point Pleasant, WV in the 60s called the mothman.  Over in NJ in the Pine Barrens these residents have noted a similar creature they call the Jersey devil for at least 200 plus years.   It could also be the same as what other Native tribes called the Thunderbird that cruised the Mississippi and is also reported down along the Rio Grande in Texas currently.

I liked John's adventure with that cow coming out of the fog.  I wonder what he may have thought it could be when it was in the heavy fog and ran to the vehicle.

Do have a blast and safe journeys to you and your group the rest of the trip.

[henry 008]

  great RR Joe!

[sheets]

We rode through RMNP on the Tenere` back in 2013. Altitude sickness had wifeunit bedridden for two days at my kids house - upstairs. Morning of day three called an ambulance, assisted with a fire dept. crew to get her down the narrow stairway and out of the house. Was in the ER for about four hours then admitted to the hospital for the day and overnight. Let her out at noon the next day. Was quite the ordeal. Once released it took her a few days to get back to feeling 100% normal. Other than that the ride over the mountain was beautiful.  

[Reb]

Great report my friend,

Glad you got to buzz through my old stomping grounds back home. I haven't been on the river road from Alton to Grafton in years.

The Piasa Bird was Gary and I's high school Mascot. At one time, the painting on the bluff was on a steel backdrop. It was taken down and replaced with the painting on the bluff itself. Back in early 2000's a high school student wrote a letter to the city of Alton requesting if our high school could have the steel  backdrop to put up next to our football field to represent our mascot. Several companies and businesses in our area made donations to pay for sand blasting and prepping the steel backdrop. The Southwestern High School art department worked at repainting the image. It now sits over Knapp field at Southwestern High School in Piasa Illinois and blows fire out the mouth when a touchdown is scored

[Alpha Dog]

Great report my friend,

Glad you got to buzz through my old stomping grounds back home. I haven't been on the river road from Alton to Grafton in years.

The Piasa Bird was Gary and I's high school Mascot. At one time, the painting on the bluff was on a steel backdrop. It was taken down and replaced with the painting on the bluff itself. Back in early 2000's a high school student wrote a letter to the city of Alton requesting if our high school could have the steel  backdrop to put up next to our football field to represent our mascot. Several companies and businesses in our area made donations to pay for sand blasting and prepping the steel backdrop. The Southwestern High School art department worked at repainting the image. It now sits over Knapp field at Southwestern High School in Piasa Illinois and blows fire out the mouth when a touchdown is scored

How cool is this.  Sure not your typical school mascot.

[Ice]

Joe, Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post. As always, love your description and "history" lessons you provide with the pictures. We have always enjoyed your ride reports.
We are sorry we missed you while you were out west, but unfortunately we are still in the "new" phase of our Idaho life and it restricts us from participating in the longer rides.
Remember if your out in our neck of the "woods" let us know, you are always welcome my friend.
See you down the road.