A very long day, but over-the-top
views. Rode through the heart of Rocky Mountains National Park. Ride included a
12, 000 foot ascent / decent / ascent / decent via the highest continuous paved
road in the US. I rode up, over and down, then turned abound and did the route
in reverse. Only negative of the day was stopping in Estes Park. Nothing
against the town, but it was an overload of people, cars, tourist shops, etc.
Like Mackinaw Island on steroids. Probably a great place to spend a few days
with a family, but just "too much" for me.
On the way to
Estes Park, I went through a town called Central City / Black Hawk (population
around 600 people). Clearly this was a mining town in the past and there are
still many visible mining buildings in the area. Part of the 1860's gold rush, the Gregory Lode in Gregory Gulch (cool names) was the main gold
bearing vein. What is interesting is that these two small towns are out in
the middle of nowhere, but host a least 30 casinos in an area the size of
Dexter, MI. Very strange.
Similar to my other rides over high mountain passes, the photo opts were numerous:
The route out of Estes Park towards Loveland / Ft. Collins is hwy 34. It follows the Big Thompson Canyon / River. Beautiful potential pictures, but no place to stop. As I rode down the canyon, it was clear that there had been significant flooding recently (demolished houses, bad erosion). Also, I passed through a town which name sounded familiar. Turns out that in 1976 there was a terrible flash flood which killed 144 people and then another flood last September. The picture below is an example of the devastation which occurred. The road in the picture is the route I road on today :().
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