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Post date: Apr 10, 2017 2:32:48 PM
This trip has been so full of experiences the return through the spectacular Colorado Rockies and high dessert feels like trying to pour more water into a cup that is already full. I am overflowing with awe and glee for how beautiful the natural environment is in the western states. Not to mention as soon as I left Denver heading up into the mountains on a two lane road the ride itself became much more enjoyable. Twisting turns, temperature in the 50’s and snow-capped panoramas are the serving as a nice motor-love crescendo to this odyssey I’ve been on. Pictures or my inadequate words do not do justice to the snow capped cathedrals reaching up into the sky that are the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Imagine the picture on the label of bottle of Coors Beer. Now imagine yourself surrounded in 360 degrees by that picture. Now make it 1000 times bigger and more vibrant as the sun gleams off the fresh white snow. My return is well timed and well placed, as the rains that just drenched the bay area have diverted just north and have laid down fresh snowcaps but thanks to my wife’s cousin and her husband who live in the more southern mountains I have avoided the bad weather on my way visit them. John is also an avid motorcyclist himself and has aided me greatly with a well-planed route through Utah and Nevada.
A highlight of just getting to their house was crossing back over the continental divide this time at Monarch pass where the roads were clear but it was frigid and the snow was still piled up thick. Which side of the pass the snow settled on will make a big difference in where it ends up as the run off flows into rivers heading in opposite directions on their journey to either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. A few miles down the road a stunning vista of the mountains was accompanied by a roadside display explaining the evolution of water issues in the area including a very accessible explanation of the differences in legal water rights for western states (appropriation rights) vs. eastern states (riparian rights). From the mountain peaks things seem to stretch out and turn red the farther you travel westward into Utah. Choosing to avoid the interstates and find a path through the middle of the states lead me to ride on and over sweeping mesas and into remote farmland. The landscapes snow caped peaks start to be less prominent, being replaced by cathedrals made of red sandstone. A diversion through Arches National Park on Sunday afternoon was almost too much to believe, as the most extreme effects of erosion produce massive sandstone peaks and ethereal sculptures.
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