COLORADO BACKROADS DISCOVERY RIDE ADVENTURE + ADVENTURE AWAITS

This Club supported ride on the COBDR+ takes place for 7 days the Last week of August.

Show up on Thursday near the 4 Corners at the Ute Mountain Casino outside Cortez, CO.
For Sign-In and an included Welcome Banquet and Swag drawing Thursday evening.
Before we commence with the 7 Day Adventure Ride Friday morning to the Wyoming Border.

Let’s get a few of the particulars out of the way before we dive into the Route Description:

Day 4 is a Rest Day. With loop options.
This is not a Guided ride. You follow Phone Compatible Ride with GPS Tracks.
Ride with who you want to. New Buddies or old.
Leave when you wish, though typically the Club likes to see everyone on the trail by 9 AM.
The Ride includes Gear Portage so you may ride unencumbered.

This COBDR Adventure starts at the Ute Casino, where secure Truck parking available, then heads over the Rocky Mountains to the Wyoming Border.

Exit Tours MC who is hosting this Adventure ride is a Colorado non-profit Motorcycle Club.
Any competent rider can Join.
The Club does not require that you attend meetings, workdays or seminars, nor does it play Politics.
The purpose of the club is to put on outstanding Dual Sport and Adventure rides for Like-minded enthusiasts in the Rocky Mtns and the West.

On the COLORADO BACKROADS DISCOVERY RIDE + the Club will portage your gear so that you may ride unencumbered.

Tent, Sleeping Bag, Cot, Chair, small Ice chest.
Club will Supply a kitchen when camping, with condiments and utensils.
Re-supply your ice chest,
Have a Chase truck and trailer along in the event of a breakdown or anyone’s lack of balance that results in an injury.
The Club will supply dialed-in Phone compatible Ride with GPS tracks with Voice Nav turn cues if you wish.
Fuel stops are noted on the tracks.
We have a plan and have held spots for camping and lodging.
The club will Cook breakfast when remote camping and purchase dinner one or 2 nights.
Day 4 of the COBDR Adventure + is a Rest Day in the Heart of the Rockies, on the Continental Divide.
Where you’ll have the option to Ride on Monday over Mtn Passes, not on the ‘official’ COBDR.

Remote Camping is included with your membership, but all lodging will be on you.

If do not wish to camp, the club will drop off and pick up your bags at your chosen hotel, as long as that hotel is on the route.
You will also receive with your membership a ride T-Shirt, coffee cup, stickers and you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow Like-minded enthusiasts.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

You could visit the 4 Corners on a paved route from Cortez, CO on Thursday, if we’re that close, and you’ve never been there.

You could also visit the Mesa Verde National Monument on Thursday, just a short jaunt from the Ute Casino.

Day 1, we’ll head north from the Ute Mtn Casino towards Telluride high in the Rocky Mountains.

On Dirt roads and pavement.

The club will set up camp high above Telluride near the Last Dollar campsites.
You could stay in upscale downtown Telluride if you wish, or the club will have the kitchen set-up with a BBQ if you’ve stocked your ice chest.
We’ll have a raging campfire and after ride libations if camping is your thing.

Day 2, after an evening camping under the spectacular stars in the dark Rocky Mountain skies, the club will brew up coffee & breakfast.

If you stayed in town, you could ride up early and enjoy breakfast, or take off from downtown.

The ride on Day 2 is the most Challenging day of the COLORADO BACKROADS DISCOVERY RIDE Adventure +.
You’ll head in the dirt over the rough Jeep roads that are Ophir, Corkscrew, Hurricane, California and Cinnamon Passes.
For ’25 we’ll offer an option to ride over Last Dollar Pass to Ouray, then the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton and over one pass to Lake City
We’ll lodge just outside Lake City.

Day 3, Your headed into the Heart of the Rockies. Dirt and paved roads.

Through Pitkin, an old Railroad town on the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad line that was through the Alpine Tunnel.

You could visit the old Telegraph station at the Alpine Tunnel and ride over the engineering marvel that is the Palisades to where the tunnel was bored thru the mountains on a short side loop.
If you’re into old railroad history and fantastic scenery, this is a outstanding short side trip.
You should have plenty of time as the 2 passes on Day 3 are a smooth dirt road over Cumberland Pass and the now paved Cottonwood Pass.
From Cottonwood Pass and Buena Vista, we’ll head south down the west side of the Continental Divide to past Chalk Creek and off-road below 14k foot mountains to Monarch Pass.
Where we will stop at a private lodge for dinner and stay below 14k Mt Shavano for the next 2 nights.
Sunday night and Monday are our designated rest days.
2 Dinners and 2 Breakfasts are included at the Lodge.

Day 4, is a rest day on Monarch Pass at the Firefighters Lodge on the North fork of the South fork of the Arkansas river.

Where you can just kick back on the porch and enjoy the mountain views.

Or fish in the Arkansas River.
Or go for a short ride to well stocked with trout Alpine lakes.
Some of which are outstanding rides to get to.
On Monday, while not on the ‘official’ COBDR, you could ride over Old Monarch Pass to Sargents, an old Railroad town with a Bar & Grill at the base of Marshall Pass.
Which was the first Railroad line over the Continental Divide in Colorado.
Marshall Pass is now a dirt Forest Service Road.
After the summit, you’d then drop down to Salida on the twisty old rail line and come back to the Lodge for dinner Monday night.

Day 5, we are headed to Leadville, Hagerman Pass, Gypsum to Hwy 70 and Dotsero and the Colorado River.

This is the longest day with a bit of rough Jeep Road over Hagerman Pass.

After breakfast at the lodge to start Tuesday morning, you’ll have a choice of routes.
Ride up paved Hwy 285 from Hwy 50 at the Crossroads of the Rockies to Buena Vista and pick up the route from BV over Weston Pass.
Or you could ride along the Arkansas river in the dirt a short distance to the Historic Smeltertown smokestack just outside of Salida.
From there and a stop for fuel, you’d head up an old racetrack dirt road ala Pikes Peak to the top of Ute Pass.
From Ute Pass Road you’ll head across a 2 track Jeep Road that is Aspen Ridge on top of the Mosquito Mountain Range.
Above and along the Arkansas river valley thru Aspen groves north towards BV and Trout Creek Pass, off-road.
From Trout Creek Pass we’ll tie back onto the route and head over Weston Pass, which was known as the ‘Road to Riches’ when it was a stagecoach line to Leadville, back in the day, before the Railroads.
From Weston Pass you drop back down to the Arkansas River and head north again along the Tennessee Pass Railroad line to Leadville.
Where you could stop for lunch downtown in the historic town.
From Leadville, you head around Turquoise Lake to Hagerman Pass.
The old Colorado Midland Railroad Line to Aspen. But we are not going to Aspen this day.
You drop down into the Roaring Fork River Valley, then hang a right over a mountain and drop down into Gypsum.
From Gypsum your at Hwy 70 and the Eagle river.
Where you’d head west to the confluence of the Colorado and Eagle rivers.
In ’25 you’ll have the option to skip Hagerman Pass & Leadville and ride over Independence Pass to Aspen.
Pick the route back up just west of Hagerman Pass in the Roaring Fork river Valley.

At the Colorado river, we would again head north a short distance to Sweetwater Canyon.

Where our Tuesday Day 5 destination is a private motorcycle campground on Sweetwater canyon.
The days are still long in August, and the campground has sand beach on a swimming pond.
Plus, instant-on hot showers and they’ll cook us dinner and breakfast.
You could also fish in Sweetwater creek, which is a tributary to the Colorado river just over a mile away.
The campground has several Glam Camping tents or Pop-Ups for rent, or you could camp in the green grass near the pond.

Day 6 on Wednesday we will head towards Steamboat Springs on paved and dirt roads.

You could grab lunch in Steamboat Springs.
Then head North to where we will camp or Lodge and the Club will set up staging at the Ladder Ranch.
In preparation for Day 7’s assault on the Red Desert X Loop
Hang out at the old homestead, enjoy a Campfire and enjoy the nights stars.

Day 7, after the Ranch cooks breakfast on Thursday, we are on the border with Wyoming.

Where we’ll spend the Thursday night, after a riding the spectacular loop that makes this ride the COBDR Adventure +.

Ride the Red Desert X loop of the Wyoming Backroads Discovery Ride.
After that scenic loop through the Wyoming desert, it’s now Thursday Afternoon on Day 7.
We will have a T-Bone dinner at the Ladder Ranch, a working cattle and sheep Ranch right on the Colorado/ Wyoming border.
There are 3 cabins available.
One cabin with 6 beds and a 2nd with 2 beds.
4 beds in 4 rooms in the old Homestead house, 4 couches in the living room or you could camp in the grass in the yard.
There are also hot showers and a laundry room available.

Day 8, so now it’s Day 8 of a fantastic ride through the Rocky Mountains.

After breakfast at the Ladder Ranch, and 7 days, 900 plus miles, no stop lights and spotty cell service, it’s back to reality.

If you drove to the Ute Casino to save your tires for the ride, it’s now time to head back to your truck.
It’s around 7 hours back to the 4 Corners
The shortest route is thru Moab.
It’s a bit of ride back to the 4 Corners.
Where the Club will portage your gear.
You can grab a room for a discount at the Ute Casino on Friday.
If you rented truck to get to the 4 Corners, or rode there, its now time to head home.
South to Hwy 70 is probably your best bet, then east or west to home.
Just make sure you can get all your gear on your bike.
The club will have transported your saddlebags for you for the duration of the ride, so you really could ride for 7 days over the Rocky Mountains, unencumbered.