Colorado in late May or June

My bother and have been talking about making the trip, we will have 7 or 8 days. Just looking for suggestions on roads, thought we might try to come in on the south and go out on the north. Maybe some mild dirt, bike needs to make it back home in one piece . Also there is just not a good way to get there from AL.

Get a Butler map for Colorado. That will give you tons of information on the types of roads you like. Once you figure out your route, you can use the Internet to fill in the details for food and the lodging type of your choice.

There is no good way to get there from Alabama.
Other than just come from the south.
As to roads, get the Butler Motorcycle map for Colorado.
As to the state, draw a line north and south that intersects Denver. Then stay to the west of that line at all times.
Then try all the highlighted roads on the Butler map, and maybe a few not on it, just for the sake of getting to the other ones.
There is also one small stretch of freeway, 70, that goes through or just to the east of Glenwood Springs that is worth it, but also from Denver west on 70 is nice really out to Vail or so, but then also the Glenwood Springs area. Denver west on 70 will take you thru' the Eisenhower Tunnel, which is ok, but don't neglect the many passes to the north and south on the old roads, the ones used before there was a 70.
And dress warm, you might have snow, rain, ice, etc. I have.
dc
Let me add some cities. Durango, Silverton, Georgetown, Estes Park, and Cortez, from whence you should ride north east to Telluride, I forget the road number, oh 145. Maybe Salida. There is a scenic train to the west of Salida and an unusual bridge.
One really nice train runs from Durango to Silverton and back, on steam.
Some will mention Aspen. Don't bother. Tourist trap, ski town.

kskraye said:

My bother and have been talking about making the trip, we will have 7 or 8 days. Just looking for suggestions on roads, thought we might try to come in on the south and go out on the north. Maybe some mild dirt, bike needs to make it back home in one piece . Also there is just not a good way to get there from AL.

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Where in AL you leaving from? You think you might want a riding partner?

Check the road conditions to make sure the routes you pick are open.
One year in early June we had snowmobiles running next to us in the road ditch on Hwy 14. Cameron Pass on Poudre Canyon Rd is not very high, a little over 10,000 feet.
We've been in Colorado in early June several times without any problems, but you really need to check the high passes. They don't run plows up those bike and jeep trails

I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but on another thread, I extolled the virtues of planning. PM me if you need a riding partner. Contrary to dc's deceleration regarding no good roads from AL... I know a few.

Disclaimer: I have a full time job, I don't know the details of your adventure, and I'm not rich, that said, I would love to go on an adventure.

kskraye said:

Also there is just not a good way to get there from AL.

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You have several good options on the way.
Texas Hill Country,NW Arkansas, and Northern New Mexico.

rangerreece said:

Where in AL you leaving from? You think you might want a riding partner?

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Tuscaloosa area.

rangerreece said:

I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but on another thread, I extolled the virtues of planning. PM me if you need a riding partner. Contrary to dc's deceleration regarding no good roads from AL... I know a few.

Disclaimer: I have a ful time job, I don't know the details of your adventure, and I'm not rich, that said, I would love to go on an adventure.

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My brother and I both work and that is why it needs to be 7 to 8 days. He is a police and I'm a game warden.

GRLambert said:

Get a Butler map for Colorado. That will give you tons of information on the types of roads you like. Once you figure out your route, you can use the Internet to fill in the details for food and the lodging type of your choice.

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Never heard of a Butler map, but will look into that.

kskraye said:

Never heard of a Butler map, but will look into that.

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https://www.butlermaps.com/motorcycle-road-maps/colorado-map/

kskraye said:

Tuscaloosa area.

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Roll Tide!!! Watching the game, as we post. Let me know if your up for company. Gotta put in leave and such.

Ouray is not to be missed.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison - beautiful and unique place. Great twisty ride on the north side - CO 92. Another I like is CO 14 to/from Walden & Fort Collins - twisty and scenic river canyon riding and not a lot of traffic. Traveled through Colorado last year - great ride. May-June might be too early for a few high passes. Trail Ridge Road was beautiful and fun. Yes, Ouray and Million Dollar Highway was good too. Avoid Denver.

A great cell phone app to have is the CDOT (Colorado Dept of Transportation) Mobile App. It will give you near real-time road information - weather, traffic, construction, accidents, etc. It is available for IOS (Apple) and Android.

Suggestion

Track down, or buy a copy of Steve Farson's book. Not sure but I think he's a "participant" here. Be warned, you CANNOT see all of the good riding roads in CO in a week - choose wisely!

Regards, Marty

I like 145 and 141 out in the western part of Colorado. It can get a little toasty on this road.



Another road with very little traffic is 149 north of South Fork up to Hwy 50. Creed is a nice little town to stop at.
There's a nice waterfall on this route. http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/f...st - North Clear Creek Falls Observation Site





Another fun road with no traffic is 114 south of Hwy 50 to North Pass.


67 to Deckers is also good. The road is good north and south of Deckers.
There's a little hangout there popular with bikes.

My wife and I have spent several vacations in southwest Colorado. We have rented a cabin with kitchen and bath at the KOA in Durango and trailered two F650s out there and had a blast. We have Towed the RT behind our RV and stayed at the same KOA. I was stationed at Norad HQ in Cheyenne mountain in the Air Force so I have been all over Colorado. As a corporate pilot I have flown into every major airport in Colorado including Hayden, Montrose, Eagle and Aspen. So I am very familiar with Colorado. Meeker Colorado in named after one of my ancestors. My mother's maiden name is Meeker. So trust me. If I had only a week to spend there I would base in Durango and not bother going north of Montrose. One thing we love to do is go the the Great Sand Dunes Nat. Park and hike to the top of the dunes. It's a one mile walk from 7000ft elevation to 8000ft elevation. My favorite one day loop is Durango to Silverton up through Ouray to Ridgeway and around to Telluride. Then down to Cortez and back home to Durango. Also over Wolf creek pass to South Fork and up to Creede is fun. One of my best friends (now deceased) was born and raised in Monte Vista and he showed us all over the area. A tough old cowboy, I really miss traveling with him. I could bore you with pictures but then you wouldn't need to take any. ;-) I'm getting so pumped up just thinking about it you may see us out there!

I will definitely second what Dubick said there, particularly where you are on short time.
dc

I have found virtually all roads, including the interstates, great riding in Colorado. I have stayed on paved roads and can't provide info on trails.

Suggest you take some warm clothes in late May/early June. Many years ago I went through Colorado on Memorial Day weekend on my R75/5 taking my brother from Michigan to California for a summer job.

It snowed 18 inches in Denver. We decided to cut south instead of going toward Grand Junction...the high elevation passes were closed for several days with much greater snow. We had snow all through Colorado and the higher elevations in New Mexico. Finally got into hot weather when got to the Petrified Forest in Arizona.

Other rides through Colorado were in the summer and the weather was consistently excellent.

That looks like some of the country I'd like to see there Lee. It sounds like we might be planning our trip a few weeks early. Would late June be better.