P500 Summer vacation

lee

lee

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Finally got the p500 cleaned up after the Takeover.
IMG 2883

And loaded up for what comes next.
IMG 2884
 
Scoop

Scoop

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Okay. The first day on my vacation, what I did on my summer vacation, the first day on my vacation, I woke up. Then, I went downtown to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the drugstore.

The second day on my summer vacation, I woke up, then I went downtown to look for a job. Then I hung out in front of the drugstore.

The third day on my summer vacation, I woke up. Then I went downtown to look for a job. Then I got a job, keeping people from hanging out in front of the drugstore.
 
lee

lee

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Ok, still driving back from CO, somewhere in Illinois right now (wife wanting to drive the SxS has an up side, she takes turns driving the truck also).
My employer is a manufacturer so we get a week off 4th of July and at Christmas.
Kind of last minute I had the bright idea to go to Colorado for some riding.
With just over a weeks notice there were no reservable camping sites available so we planed to go to a remote not so popular area.

The plan was to go to the Uncompahgre national forest and camp near Columbine Pass.
This is 25 miles in on a dirt road at the 9,000 foot level.
From there we could ride the eastern side of the Rim Rocker Trail and hit some of the 50” trails on top of the mesa.

However my work tapped me for a trip to the factory in North Carolina the week before.
So I did not get packed until Saturday afternoon, this delayed our departure by a day.

The Uncompahgre NF was fantastic.
A high masa, straight (ish) on the west but fingers on the east.
Pine and aspen trees at high elevations and cactus and scrub down low.

With the lost day I thought we would ditch the trails up on top but after the drive in we went for the forest trails.

View of the mesa fingers.
IMG 2912


Down off the mesa there are cattle ranches.
IMG 2910


Little creek to stop for some lunch.
IMG 2911


More to come later.
 
NTCPrezJB

NTCPrezJB

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Ok, still driving back from CO, somewhere in Illinois right now (wife wanting to drive the SxS has an up side, she takes turns driving the truck also).
My employer is a manufacturer so we get a week off 4th of July and at Christmas.
Kind of last minute I had the bright idea to go to Colorado for some riding.
With just over a weeks notice there were no reservable camping sites available so we planed to go to a remote not so popular area.

The plan was to go to the Uncompahgre national forest and camp near Columbine Pass.
This is 25 miles in on a dirt road at the 9,000 foot level.
From there we could ride the eastern side of the Rim Rocker Trail and hit some of the 50” trails on top of the mesa.

However my work tapped me for a trip to the factory in North Carolina the week before.
So I did not get packed until Saturday afternoon, this delayed our departure by a day.

The Uncompahgre NF was fantastic.
A high masa, straight (ish) on the west but fingers on the east.
Pine and aspen trees at high elevations and cactus and scrub down low.

With the lost day I thought we would ditch the trails up on top but after the drive in we went for the forest trails.

View of the mesa fingers.
View attachment 395155

Down off the mesa there are cattle ranches.
View attachment 395153

Little creek to stop for some lunch.
View attachment 395154

More to come later.
Looks like you guys had a great trip
 
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lee

lee

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On Wednesday we moved to Pitkin camp, in the Gunnison area.
This was more my primary area of interest but I was afraid the campground would be full.
By showing up after the long holiday I figured finding a campsite would be easier.
Talking to the camp attendant, they where only half full…

My pan was to ride a loop, Hancock pass (12,140 ft), Tincup Pass (12,171 ft) and Cumberland Pass (12,015 ft).

Handcock Pass
1689103406515


On the back side of the pass there was an abandoned truck blocking a shelf road
1689103493432


So I needed to turnaround, only problem was I had just pushed threw a snow bank and there was no room to turn around.
I had the p500 laid on its side and tobogganed a little ways.
I ended up having to back past the snow bank, tobogganing doesn't work so well up hill.

It took me a bit to get back up the hill, honestly I was sweating bullets for a bit.
I payed a lot more attention to what was beyond the obstacle in front of me the rest of the week.
1689103802432
1689103705526
 
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lee

lee

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On Friday we rode up to Sherrod Loop, parked and hiked up to the Alpine station.
It's a 3 mile each way hike at 10,000 foot elevation.

Riding up the old narrow gauge railroad bed
1689105124986


There is a section of narrow gauge track at Sherrod loop.
1689105173315



You used to be able to ride up to the Alpine station but an avalanche a few years ago took out a bit of the palisades.
On the way out we bumped in to a forest ranger, I bent his ear for a bit and they are starting the restoration of this section.
He thought the trail should be open late next year.
1689105295879


By the time we arrived at the station my wife had figured out this was a "train thing" but the (literally) breath taking alpine scenery made up for that.
The ground hogs where not too afraid of people, this guy came within 10' (I suspect he was wanting to know what was for lunch).
1689105573562
 
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TripleB

TripleB

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On Wednesday we moved to Pitkin camp, in the Gunnison area.
This was more my primary area of interest but I was afraid the campground would be full.
By showing up after the long holiday I figured finding a campsite would be easier.
Talking to the camp attendant, they where only half full…

My pan was to ride a loop, Hancock pass (12,140 ft), Tincup Pass (12,171 ft) and Cumberland Pass (12,015 ft).

Handcock Pass
View attachment 395367

On the back side of the pass there was an abandoned truck blocking a shelf road
View attachment 395368

So I needed to turnaround, only problem was I had just pushed threw a snow bank and there was no room to turn around.
I had the p500 laid on its side and tobogganed a little ways.
I ended up having to back past the snow bank, tobogganing doesn't work so well up hill.

It took me a bit to get back up the hill, honestly I was sweating bullets for a bit.
I payed a lot more attention to what was beyond the obstacle in front of me the rest of the week.
View attachment 395370 View attachment 395369
Junk ass Dodge
 
lee

lee

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Post script:
Some observations / lessons learned.

There was a group that made a trip out to ride the Rim Rocker Trail a few years ago.
@GrnP500 gave a hot tip to avoid Monarch Pass and take 114 through Saguache.
The road to/from Pitkin is just a few miles down from the 114 junction, early in the morning we had no traffic and enjoyed rubbernecking through Cochetopa Canyon.

My hot tip: take I-74 out of Indy and avoid I-70 and St Louis.
1689113418018


I work with a guy who plans two days of riding for every day of travel.
My ratio was 1:1.
Next time (and there will be a next time) I will take a few more days off.


Finally, random picture so I don't break rule number 2:
Water tank was restored by a jeep club in the '60s, it's been restored several times since but because of that 1st effort it's still there to enjoy today.
1689114101179
 
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MI-Trailblazer

MI-Trailblazer

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When I started reading your post and you stated: "take a left at Grand Junction", I thought- ooh, he headed to Moab! I'm going to get another perspective on a P5 on Moab trails! Nope:( But hey, Colorado is one of the spots I want to trail ride one of these days!

Great pics by the way:)
 
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