offthepath
Adventurer
The following is a trip report from our blog, offthepathadventures.com
See the report and full picture gallery HERE
Dinosaur National Monument Motorcycle Trip
If you have never been to Dinosaur National Monument in the remote northwest corner of Colorado, it should be on everyone’s bucket list. This trip was in 2013 and I spent a weekend camping off my KTM 950, starting in Denver and making my way over the Flat Top’s Wilderness and then taking seldom used dirt two tracks across Colorado into Dinosaur National Monument. The sheer size and contrast of the canyon walls formed by the Green and Yampa Rivers over thousands of years makes Dinosaur National Monument an incredibly unique area, coupled with the history of the Fremont Indian culture and the ruggedness of the 1800’s wild west.
This ride was mostly all on dirt roads and the fun really started once I got off I-70 and started into the Flat Tops Wilderness on Coffee Pot Road. The views looking back on the I-70 corridor as your climb higher and higher away from the congestion and into the mountains is uplifting.
The Flat Tops are such a cool area, especially as you reach the top of the plateau and look across Deep Creek Canyon which is home to many of the longest and largest caves in Colorado including Groaning Cave (12 miles long!).
The Flat Tops offer a wealth of camping from Forest Service campgrounds to primitive camping. Spread all over the plateau are beautiful lakes that must be an anglers dream, perhaps the most popular being Trappers Lake or Heart Lake.
While crossing the Flat Tops I had a little mishap involving my pannier and a tall rock sticking out of the ground. The rock won, my pannier lost and it was ripped off the motorcycle and I was thrown to the ground before I ever knew what happened. Luckily no damage to me and minimal to the bike, I did give the ATV riders coming down the hill a show though!
After finding a very nice area to pitch my tent next to a picturesque lake I enjoyed the night. The next day I began getting into more and more remote back roads as I continued on to Dinosaur. I dropped off the Flat Tops and headed into Buford and Meeker, stopping to read about the Meeker Massacre. It was very sobering to look over the green valley reading about the death and warfare between the settlers and the Ute Indians . This location represented a tipping point in policy changes towards Native Americans that lead to the Ute people being moved and placed in the present day reservations in Utah.
From Meeker the roads began getting more difficult and remote and I had to battle some nasty silt sections. None of which were fun on a fully loaded motorcycle! There is nothing more satisfying however than going out riding on scenic back roads and never seeing another person. I was lucky enough to travel all the way into Dinosaur without running into a single person or vehicle!
It was so rewarding entering into Dinosaur National Monument after coming in off the east side on the Yampa Bench Road and seeing such amazing views. The canyons and overlooks are truly spectacular and have to be seen to be appreciated. The ride up to this point was not without adventure when I began loosing my rear brake! The fitting for the brake light had failed and fluid was leaking out, never a good situation riding next to 500 foot cliffs. Luckily a little JB Weld fixed it right up.
I continued to ride along the Yampa Bench Road, eventually going down Pats Draw to the Echo Park Campground. This was the best part of this trip, riding down the deep canyon and seeing the old homesteads and petroglyphs and then coming out to the Green Rivers edge with massive cliffs all around you. This area is a must do and although I did not spend the night here, the experience of camping in Echo Park would be hard to beat.
As much as I would have liked to spend the night in Echo Park, I continued on, out of the park and into Utah on Blue Hills Road. This led into Vernal and on to some very isolated dirt two tracks that took me to the Swinging Bridge and Browns Park. This small bridge is the only way to cross the Green River and access Browns Park without taking a very long alternate route. As a side note, this bridge may not be open anymore after a tractor tried to cross and almost fell through the bridge in 2014. Check before you go.
After crossing the Swinging Bridge I rode east along the Green River through Browns Park. The old western history, from cattle rustlers to gun fighters and outlaws is astounding. The Ladore Cemetery and School House highlighted this rough and tumble past. This unique website allows you to look up many of the people buried in the cemetery. Its very chilling walking through the cemetery and seeing graves labeled “unnamed immigrant child”.
At this point I planned on getting gas at the station listed on my GPS and going into the Gates of Lodore, but I dont think the GPS had been updated and all I found was a very old, and long closed, gas station. Seeing I had miles of dirt roads to go and not wanting to end up walking in the middle of nowhere I bypassed the Gates of Lodore and pitched my tent along the Green River.
The following day I began the trek back to Denver, but only after checking out the Duffy Irrigation Tunnel, an amazing piece of history showing what the first settlers to this area did to bring in irrigation water. The Duffy Tunnel was made in in 1904 with the intention of bringing irrigation water from the Yampa River over the mountain to the dry and arid land. The tunnel was over 2000 feet long and took 7 years to complete and still today provides valuable irrigation water to Moffat County.
I enjoyed the remainder of the trip on nice 2 lane highways, still yearning for more dirt and back roads.
Trip report and full picture gallery at offthepathadventures.com
See the report and full picture gallery HERE
Dinosaur National Monument Motorcycle Trip
If you have never been to Dinosaur National Monument in the remote northwest corner of Colorado, it should be on everyone’s bucket list. This trip was in 2013 and I spent a weekend camping off my KTM 950, starting in Denver and making my way over the Flat Top’s Wilderness and then taking seldom used dirt two tracks across Colorado into Dinosaur National Monument. The sheer size and contrast of the canyon walls formed by the Green and Yampa Rivers over thousands of years makes Dinosaur National Monument an incredibly unique area, coupled with the history of the Fremont Indian culture and the ruggedness of the 1800’s wild west.
This ride was mostly all on dirt roads and the fun really started once I got off I-70 and started into the Flat Tops Wilderness on Coffee Pot Road. The views looking back on the I-70 corridor as your climb higher and higher away from the congestion and into the mountains is uplifting.
The Flat Tops are such a cool area, especially as you reach the top of the plateau and look across Deep Creek Canyon which is home to many of the longest and largest caves in Colorado including Groaning Cave (12 miles long!).
The Flat Tops offer a wealth of camping from Forest Service campgrounds to primitive camping. Spread all over the plateau are beautiful lakes that must be an anglers dream, perhaps the most popular being Trappers Lake or Heart Lake.
While crossing the Flat Tops I had a little mishap involving my pannier and a tall rock sticking out of the ground. The rock won, my pannier lost and it was ripped off the motorcycle and I was thrown to the ground before I ever knew what happened. Luckily no damage to me and minimal to the bike, I did give the ATV riders coming down the hill a show though!
After finding a very nice area to pitch my tent next to a picturesque lake I enjoyed the night. The next day I began getting into more and more remote back roads as I continued on to Dinosaur. I dropped off the Flat Tops and headed into Buford and Meeker, stopping to read about the Meeker Massacre. It was very sobering to look over the green valley reading about the death and warfare between the settlers and the Ute Indians . This location represented a tipping point in policy changes towards Native Americans that lead to the Ute people being moved and placed in the present day reservations in Utah.
From Meeker the roads began getting more difficult and remote and I had to battle some nasty silt sections. None of which were fun on a fully loaded motorcycle! There is nothing more satisfying however than going out riding on scenic back roads and never seeing another person. I was lucky enough to travel all the way into Dinosaur without running into a single person or vehicle!
It was so rewarding entering into Dinosaur National Monument after coming in off the east side on the Yampa Bench Road and seeing such amazing views. The canyons and overlooks are truly spectacular and have to be seen to be appreciated. The ride up to this point was not without adventure when I began loosing my rear brake! The fitting for the brake light had failed and fluid was leaking out, never a good situation riding next to 500 foot cliffs. Luckily a little JB Weld fixed it right up.
I continued to ride along the Yampa Bench Road, eventually going down Pats Draw to the Echo Park Campground. This was the best part of this trip, riding down the deep canyon and seeing the old homesteads and petroglyphs and then coming out to the Green Rivers edge with massive cliffs all around you. This area is a must do and although I did not spend the night here, the experience of camping in Echo Park would be hard to beat.
As much as I would have liked to spend the night in Echo Park, I continued on, out of the park and into Utah on Blue Hills Road. This led into Vernal and on to some very isolated dirt two tracks that took me to the Swinging Bridge and Browns Park. This small bridge is the only way to cross the Green River and access Browns Park without taking a very long alternate route. As a side note, this bridge may not be open anymore after a tractor tried to cross and almost fell through the bridge in 2014. Check before you go.
After crossing the Swinging Bridge I rode east along the Green River through Browns Park. The old western history, from cattle rustlers to gun fighters and outlaws is astounding. The Ladore Cemetery and School House highlighted this rough and tumble past. This unique website allows you to look up many of the people buried in the cemetery. Its very chilling walking through the cemetery and seeing graves labeled “unnamed immigrant child”.
At this point I planned on getting gas at the station listed on my GPS and going into the Gates of Lodore, but I dont think the GPS had been updated and all I found was a very old, and long closed, gas station. Seeing I had miles of dirt roads to go and not wanting to end up walking in the middle of nowhere I bypassed the Gates of Lodore and pitched my tent along the Green River.
The following day I began the trek back to Denver, but only after checking out the Duffy Irrigation Tunnel, an amazing piece of history showing what the first settlers to this area did to bring in irrigation water. The Duffy Tunnel was made in in 1904 with the intention of bringing irrigation water from the Yampa River over the mountain to the dry and arid land. The tunnel was over 2000 feet long and took 7 years to complete and still today provides valuable irrigation water to Moffat County.
I enjoyed the remainder of the trip on nice 2 lane highways, still yearning for more dirt and back roads.
Trip report and full picture gallery at offthepathadventures.com
