Let It Snow

To say there was a slight change in weather from the day before to today might be a little bit of an understatement. I woke up, looked out side to an almost perfectly clear sky. Pretty spectacular. Got packed up and on the road around 8 AM (seems to be the normal starting time now) and noticed another few drips of coolant from the bike again. Same place.

Although I do believe the spill from yesterday had something to do with that, I'm hoping that it is the last time I see it do that. So, I watched it like a hawk throughout the day and didn't notice any further drips. It seems to have lost a little more than the first time, so I'm planning on calling up the Triumph dealership in Las Vegas and seeing if I can get them to look at it and in the meantime stop at a Wal-Mart or auto store and mix some up and top it off. What with the miles and people so far and few between, this would be the worst place for the bike to fail.

Anyway, now that I had something to preoccupy my mind yet again, I had get my mind distracted, so I got out on I-25 North to head up to Trinidad, Colorado to take a scenic (or so suggested) drive along state route 12. The scenery leading up to 12 was amazing from the interstate. I rounded a turn and *BAM* two huge snow covered peaks off to my left with this huge valley laid out below it. I wanted to get a picture but there was no place to turn off and I didn't have my P&S in my jacket. Blast!

So I got on 12 and I realized I had forgotten to plug my electric liner into the bike. I pulled over and pulled out my big camera and snapped where I had been.


With a little warmth now, the ride was getting better. I started climbing and I could tell I was getting up in altitude because pretty soon the heated jacket wasn't doing too much. That and being trapped under clouds with some wind doesn't help either. A quick check of the GPS and I saw I was at 9,000 some feet and climbing.

I pulled over near Monument Park Lake and added another top layer (should've threw on the pant liners too, but it was too cold!) and switched to the heavy gloves. I noticed it had started snowing too, nothing bad, just a few flakes here and there. All around you'd see obscured peaks covered in clouds that were just dumping snow.


I think I got some decent video out of that up there too. Really pretty.




Got down to the valley and looked around amazed at where I had come from and where I was going.


(Where I came from)


(Where I was going)

I hung a left onto 160 and was brutalized by the wind. I thought my helmet was going to be ripped off my head. Where I had the permanent 10 degree lean yesterday, I had about a permanent 20 to 25 degree lean that was rapidly approaching 30 degree leans (both directions) on gusts. While I wanted to get a shot of the last mountain(see above) as I got closer to it, there was just no way to stop and maintain the balance of the bike without me and the bike being blown over. So instead of fighting it, I just laid down on my tank bag and got my head down behind the windshield. Helped a little, but not a whole lot.

Rolled into Alamosa and stopped at one gas station. Got denied since some guy spilled a bunch of gas all over the ground by the pumps. So I took the opportunity to throw on the pant liners. Even though it was sunny, the temp was only 40 degrees. I think this was fate that I didn't fill up there. At the next gas station I met a guy on a BMW and we talked a little and he asked where I was headed. I said over 160 to Pagosa Springs. He said that's closed. They closed down Wolf Creek Pass due to snow and were advising people to put on chains to get through the pass. The mountain was getting dumped on pretty badly. Great.

So he suggested heading down 285 and take 17 over the mountains and drop down to 84. I thanked him and got rolling. A quick check of the map and I saw that Wolf Creek Pass was 10,000 some feet. I noticed there were two passes on 17, both over 10,000 feet as well and from looking at the range and where I figured 17 was, I figured I would have no luck there either. Pulled over and checked the map real quick in Antonito and saw that I could just keep going straight and catch 64 in New Mexico and grab 84 over to Farmington (another story to be told).

I blazed down 285 and got on 64. As I sprinted down 285, I noticed this was a wasteland and the thought of having low coolant was at the back of my mind. However, 64 was very pretty and would've have been nice to stop a little more, but I could see snow up ahead even this far south. I didn't want to waste time and chance the weather getting worse. Looking at the map again just to make sure, there were no labeled mountain passes. That map is not labeled correctly...

About 20 miles in I start climbing and I start seeing snow on the ground here and there, then eventually it's all stuck to the trees and the road is wet in places. Finally, there's about a good 6 inches of snow along the ground on either side of the road and it's trying as hard as it can to blow across it.

I climb and climb and I check the GPS...sure enough, I'm over 10,000 feet in elevation. I realize I better stop and take a picture of this because it's both terrifying and breathtaking. If it's impassible, then I have to backtrack another 30 miles and probably add on another 70 miles in detour.




Shortly after taking these pictures, just up the turn there was snow completely across the road. Well, it's official, the Tiger has ridden through snow now. The whole time the road kept going up and up and up I kept yelling "NO! NO! I want to go DOWN not UP!!" Looking back on it now, I'd do it all over again.

I finally dropped down out of the clouds and snow and came into a very small run down town and filled up. I told the gas attendant where I came from and her eyes got real big. "You didn't just come over that did you!?" and there her mother came in and heard and said a "Hail Mary" and crossed herself. What? It wasn't that bad.

I then high tailed it into Farmington opting not to stop for jack. I wanted a soft bed and some place to warm up and damn the scenery. Although it was pretty in its own right, it was very desolate rolling across 64 and did the last 125 miles w/o stopping. Ow. Total miles for the day came in at 387. Better go play the lottery.


Cross-section of the terrain I covered (Click to view bigger).

Ok, a little reasoning behind the reservations right now. It's a holiday weekend and people are out traveling. There's very few places around with lodging and they fill fast and there are hundreds of miles between them. So it's best to reserve a place and know I have a place to hole up for the night. As an example, I went out for dinner last night for about maybe a half hour and when I came back, I meant to make my reservations for Durango. Booked up, not a place in town under $200 available. Luckily there was room here at the La Quinta! Olè!

Tomorrow...Ouray, Colorado for the evening. Plan on going to Mesa Verde in the morning and making my way slowly north and arrive around two and walk around town and relax.

Today's Pictures