The Trail Ridge Loop

On the 3rd of July, 1977, I decided to ride my bike up to Estes Park and see how far I could get. I'd ridden up to Estes Park before, but those were day-trips. I got a rather late start on that day, so it was clear that I intended to sleep out overnight somewhere.

It was evening by the time I reached the entrance to the National Park at Beaver Meadows. I continued on toward Moraine Junction and started up Trail Ridge Road. About the time I reached Many Parks Curve, I was pretty tired, so I just lay down in the ditch and slept. One or two cars went by, but mostly I had the place to myself.

Dawn over Estes Park

At first light the next morning, I got on the bike and continued riding. It was a bit chilly and I had only my green duck jacket, so I wanted to get the blood pumping. Soon enough, I was warmed up. I stopped to take a few pictures of Estes Park at dawn. I climbed another 1000 feet and took pictures back across the valley to show the road I had climbed.

Traffic started to pick up after it got light. There were many cars in the parking lot at the Visitor's Center at Milner Pass when I got there. It was probably about 8 in the morning. I refilled my water bottle there and continued.

It's a long coast down to Grand Lake, I and I was keeping up with the cars until I got to the head of the Kawauneeche Valley. I had to pedal to reach Grand Lake, but it was still quite early as I passed Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Reservoir. I imagined it would be nice to stop in one of the restaurants along the Lake Granby for breakfast, but I didn't have the money for that so I kept riding.

As I continued south from Lake Granby, I heard a noise behind me that sounded like thunder. Then it resolved into something more like a herd of stampeding elephants. Finally, it turned out the be the unmuffled exhaust pipes of a dozen or so Harley-Davidson motorcycles, catching up with me at a pretty good clip. They zoomed on by and went thundering off into the distance. I was sure to wave as they passed -- a kindred spirit, deliberately overlooking the obvious differences: no engine, no leather, some hearing left....

A few miles up the road, I passed all of the motorcycles. One of them had gotten a flat tire, and the rest had stopped while the tire was fixed. I waved as I passed. Before long, I was passed again. This time, the motorcyclists waved enthusiastically as they passed. And off they thundered into the distance. When I got to Tabernash, I again passed the motorcycles. They had stopped for food and gas there.

Between Tabernash and Fraser, the motorcycles passed again. After that I did not see them again. In early afternoon, I stopped at a campground and ate lunch. Then, I lay down on the picnic table and snoozed for about an hour. I wanted to get back to Boulder the same day if possible, so I did pressed myself to get back on the bike and continue.

It was probably around 3:30 that I reached the top of Berthoud Pass. From there, it's pretty much all downhill to Golden. Well, what should greet my eyes as I headed east on US 6 below the junction with US 40, but a line of traffic moving at a crawl in the Interstate. I imagined that all these people were trying to get back home so they could watch the fireworks that evening. I also imagined that many would not make it. I took great pleasure in riding past at 15 to 18mph and making much better time than they were. 

Once I got to US6 below Idaho Springs, the traffic on that road was moving. I guess that few people know about the bypass or were willing to trade four lanes for two -- for all the good those lanes were doing them. It was probably about 6:30 when I reached Golden. I had on an earlier occasion ridden from Golden to Boulder in one hour, but not after riding over two mountain passes. It probably took me more like two hours to go those last miles. I remember quite clearly flopping into bed at 8:30 in the evening, only to be awakened by the fireworks an hour later.

That was a 4th of July every bit as memorable as the previous year's.