46 years of riding around Colorado and Utah provide many picture opportunities for the dirt bike and Wing rider with an eye for beauty.  All of these pictures were taken from a dirt bike, quad or GoldWing, but they really feature fall colors more than the bikes, but the bikes are what got us there.

Beaver Lake on Grand Mesa outside of Grand Junction, Colorado on Fall 2010 trip.

Beaver Lake again then the road to Steamboat Springs

 Mt. Rushmore traditional view and a second view seldom shown

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Valley of the Gods near Bluff, Utah in September 2009 with Susan on the Honda 650 Quad. Click on the above picture to better see the "Locomotive rock" directly above Susan and the quad.

More of Valley of the Gods (above left) and Monument Valley on the right

Going over Picayune Gulch between Animas Forks and Silverton at 11,911 feet elevation we found this old snowmobile being used as a driveway marker for this cabin which is rented out for cross country skiers and snowmobile riders www.treasuremountainhut.com.  At right is the road headed up to the Little Giant Basin. Double click on the picture to see the larger version and find the old ore carts that went up to the old mine hanging from the 100 year old cable.

Maroon Bells near Aspen and the road up Yankee Boy Basin out of Ouray. Many great picture spots and many steep drop offs. 

Continuing up towards Imogene Pass we see even more beautiful spots.  Above right moves us a little west to Sunshine Mesa near Telluride.  This was an old log barn on the edge of a small meadow.

With the Polaris are my brother-in-law John and his wife Paula. They bring the quads up to Ouray and we ride the 500 miles from Prescott to Ouray on the GoldWing to meet them for the off road riding.  Susan and I ride the 650 Honda quad.  Above right John and Paul stop in front of a 100 year old log cabin on the Jeep road to Telluride.

What a spot to stop for lunch.  11,000 feet up Yankee Boy Basin.  And of course John, being the hunter he is, always has the binoculars spotting for animals.

One side road up Yankee Boy is Governor's basin.  We did some more glassing and then carefully explored the old boarding house which is part of the original Mountain Top Mine.  You have to be real careful around these old buildings.  

Susan enjoys a peaceful moment at Twin Falls.  Above right is a great little road headed from Ouray to Silverton by way of Corkscrew. 

When you ride over Corkscrew to the Silverton side and look south you see the mountain behind Gladstone Lake.  The ride to the base of this deadend road is worth the reward of seeing the lake.  Above right is one of the most unique things we have ever found in the middle of nowhere.  A model train with 6 inch tracks laid out up in the mountains with no house in site.

Last Dollar road from Dallas Divide to Telluride offers some beautiful large stands of aspen.  These aspen provide most of the fall color in the San Juans.

Color and more color.  The two quads are shown here from Last Dollar Road with the Telluride ski area 10 miles away in the background.

Our friend Ted, the tall man in the white hat, built this beautiful log barn on the Last Dollar Ranch on Last Dollar road and Susan and I posed beside an old wagon on the Ranch.

Every year Last Dollar Road has some of the most fantastic photo opportunities.

From the top of Kendall Peak the left picture looks down on Silverton, Colorado.  The town is 9,300 feet and the picture is taken from near 12,600 feet. The right picture is from the same spot looking south at the highway that leads to Durango.  RETURN TO HOME PAGE