2023 WESTERN TRIP
Colorado Motorcycle Rides
Base Camp: McPhee Recreation Complex — Dolores, Colorado
After leaving the Four Corners Monument area I headed up and over to Cortez, Colorado for fuel and supplies. My base campground for the next few nights was at the McPhee Recreation Complex, Dolores, Colorado — around 15 miles north of Cortez.
My first day's motorcycle ride from my base camp was over to Mesa Verde National Park. I checked out the visitor center and toured around the park on my Triumph. There is a lot of hiking and many interesting Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings to tour, should you be inclined to do so. There are also many interesting views that can be seen from the various overlooks and visitor areas without having to walk much distance.
On my second day I headed over to Durango, Colorado and then up the Million Dollar Highway on US-550 through Ouray and up to Ridgway. From there I jumped on CO-62 and CO-145 and made my way back to my base camp at McPhee Recreation Complex.
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DAY 1
Mesa Verde National Park
DAY 2
Million Dollar Highway Ride
The Million Dollar Highway runs between Silverton and Ouray, Colorado, and is one of the most dramatic sections of US-550. The road has high mountain vistas, steep drop-offs, twisting curves and waterfalls along the mountainsides, with much of the ride around 9,000–10,000 feet in elevation.
When evaluating my upcoming ride on the Million Dollar Highway I decided to travel the highway from south to north. This put me on the inside of the two-lane road running along side the high cliffs on my right many sections of the highway. The opposite lane going from north to south usually has no grardrails and the drop-offs, if you were to run off the road, were hundreds of feet to the bottom.
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