Weflers Visit Colorado - July 2005

The Idea: In 2002, my wife and I were visiting the Arkansas River Valley area of Colorado, and we met Rick Ramsey, a local trail rider with an incredible knowledge of and passion for riding Rocky Mountain trails. During the course of a delightful evening with him and his wife, an idea was planted in my brain. I pledged to Rick that as a graduation present for my son Matt, I would take him to Colorado for a week of trail riding in the mountains. Rick probably thought yeah, I will never see this guy again, but three years later the idea became reality. We also added my nephew Jacob from Indiana and my brother Tim from Oregon onto the ride, which made for a nice size group. While I was concerned about Matt riding a YZ125 at altitude on tough mountain trails and Jacob who had little experience riding at all on his CRF230F, my fears were all soon forgotten as they proved to me how adaptable youth can be.

Saturday, July 16 - A local rider, PaulS, was our guide on Saturday.  We rode the Bonanza Mining area, which has some very interesting mines and some hills with great views. The ride was one of the most enjoyable rides I have ever had on a dirt bike and a great introduction to Colorado trail riding. I think the small section of the Rainbow Trail at the end of the day was the key confidence builder for Matt and Jacob, as well as me, for our ride on Monday.

Sunday, July 17 - We drove to Tomichi Creek Trading Post at Sargents and checked in, then got ready for a short afternoon ride. We rode from Sargents up to Tomichi Pass to get acquainted with the elevation and terrain. Tim took a quick trip back to Canon City to buy a KTM 300, since his '79 SL350 was judged to be 'inappropriate' for the tough Colorado trails.

Monday, July 18 - Monday's ride was a challenge and a lot of fun for all of us. Rick joined us as our guide. We decided to follow Rick's suggestion to ride the Continental Divide Trail to Sargents Mesa. We rode up Baldy Lake Tr, stopping at Baldy Lake to enjoy the scenery. We then rode up to the Continental Divide Trail. We rode east on the CDT to Sargents Mesa then further east to Frank's Bail-out (FR243.3E) where three of us bailed and took the easier roads back to Sargents. Jacob, Rick, and PaulS continued to Marshall Pass, the Crest Tr, Agate Cr Tr, Lime Cr Tr, then a climb up to the top of Pork Chop Hill, a local scenic spot. Rick then lead the small group down through aspen groves to Nelson Cr and back to Sargents. I hope I can someday get back out there to ride more of the trails in the Sargents area.

Tuesday, July 19 - We had a great day white water rafting on the Arkansas River through Brown's Canyon.  We all got a chance to jump into the river from a huge rock, and Tim and I both decided to run one rapids section in the river instead of in the raft. A little cold but refreshing (I also got a good mouthful of water as well). We then headed over Trout Creek Pass to see our land and then made our way to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs for a nice, relaxing soak. Tim especially enjoyed it as his legs were really sore from the day before. We had a great pizza at the brick oven pizza place in Salida (Amica's).  Rick, I would add them to your list of good places to eat in town.

Wednesday, July 20 - Our ride on Wednesday was a long dual sport type ride to St. Elmo, Tincup, and Pitkin. 100 miles. Had a really good hamburger at Frenchy's in Tincup.

Thursday, July 21 - We rode over Taylor Pass to the Aspen ski area and had lunch. Views were incredible.  On the way back we got into a storm with lightning up in the open, so we headed back down into the trees and waited it out for about an hour and a half.  Temp dropped down about 20-30 degrees, and it hailed on us for awhile. The lightning was pretty intense also.   We finally made it back over the pass.  The stream part of the trail was interesting.  Both Tim and I ended up dumping our bikes in the stream.  Matt did OK with a few stalls and Jacob was riding through it popping wheelies like it was a piece of cake. He really enjoyed his time, and it was really neat to see him improve in his riding skills and gain so much confidence while he was out there.  He now wants to try his hand at a few hare scramble races.  Matt wants to run a couple of mx races before he heads off to college.  Me, I am trying to figure out when I can get out there to ride again, although I can honestly say that after 5 days of riding, we all pretty much had our fill of rocks for awhile. A little break will be nice.

Friday, July 22 - On our way back, we stopped in at the Taylor Park Trading Post and had a wonderful breakfast at the café there, would highly recommend it to anyone. We then headed over Cottonwood Pass and then back home. Drove straight through and arrived at Jacob's house at 7:00am on Saturday, so we made pretty good time.

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