How does the Club Supported Backroads Adventure Work

How does this Club Supported COBDR + Adventure Work ?

The Club supported ride on the COBDR+ will take place for 7 days the Last week of August.

Brief synopsis on the Colorado Backroads Discovery Ride + before we get into the route info:

The COBDR+ includes Gear Portage for 8 days.
The Camaraderie of Like-imnded enthusiasts that can ride.
Bring a small Ice chest the club will portage.
The club will supply a BBQ or Grill for you to cook dinner if you wish.
We’ll also have a community Ice chest for beverages and food.
Dinner and breakfast is available and included with Lodging on days 3 – 7.
The club will cook breakfast and have coffee on the morning of day 2 .
Breakfast is included on Day 8 at the Ladder Ranch on the remote Wyoming border.

Ute Casino Sign in — **Support Truck & Trailer near Sign-In at the Ute Casino**

All Exit Tours MC Rides in North America have free Starlink Hi-speed Wi-Fi access

Exit Tours MC will supply a Starlink Wi-Fi connection for the duration of the ride.

From a Generator when we are camping. You’ll be able to make phone calls, post on Social Media, check your email and take care of business for the duration of the ride while your in the staging area.
Show up on Thursday near the 4 Corners at the Ute Mountain Casino outside Cortez, CO. for an included Welcome & Introduction Banquet Thursday evening.
We’ll commence with the 7 Day Adventure Ride Friday morning from the Ute Casino to the Wyoming Border.

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

This COBDR Adventure starts at the Ute Casino, where secure Truck parking is assured, and heads over the Rocky Mountains to the Wyoming Border.
Exit Tours MC the Club hosting this Adventure ride is a Colorado non-profit Motorcycle Club.
Any Like-minded Enthusiast 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 Mountains and the West.

On the COLORADO BACKROADS DISCOVERY RIDE + the Club will portage your gear so that you may ride unencumbered.
Portage of your Tent, Sleeping Bag, Cot, Chair, Ice chest.
Supply a kitchen when camping, with condiments and utensils.
Re-supply your ice chest with ice.
The club will have a Chase truck and trailer along to portage gear and in the event of a breakdown or anyone’s lack of balance that results in an injury.
Supply Phone compatible Ride with GPS tracks with Voice Navigation with a bluetooth headset.

GPS NAVIGATION & SAFETY

ponderosa dining — **Dining Room at the Ponderosa Lodge on Monarch Pass**

Day 4 of the COBDR Adventure + is a Rest Day in the Heart of the Rockies, at the Ponderosa Lodge on Monarch Pass.

You’ll have the option to Ride on Monday over Mtn Passes, not on the ‘official’ COBDR.
Remote Camping on Day 1 is included with your membership, but all lodging is 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.
We’ll delve further into that in the route description below.
You will also receive with your membership a ride T-Shirt, Ride Pin, stickers and you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow Like-minded enthusiasts.
Cost of the 7-Day club supported COLORADO BACKROADS DISCOVERY RIDE ADVENTURE + is $700, payable in 4 installments.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

You could visit the 4 Corners on a paved route from Cortez, CO on Thursday, if you’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, head North from the Ute Mtn Casino towards Telluride high in the Rocky Mountains.

Ride Dirt roads and pavement.
The club will set up camp high above Telluride near the Last Dollar Pass.
You could also stay in upscale downtown Telluride if you wish.
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.
Cook breakfast to start Day 2 and have Coffee available.

Day 2, the ride on Day 2 is the most Challenging day of the COBDR+

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 a less challenging Option to ride over Last Dollar Pass to Ouray and the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton. Then ride one pass to Lake City.

We’ll stay at the Legacy Lodge in Lake City on Day 2. Eat at the Alfred Packer Cafe & Saloon in Lake City.
Breakfast included at the Lodge.

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.

**The Palisades on the way to the Alpine Tunnel**

You should have plenty of time as the 2 passes on Day 3 are a 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.
Monday is our designated rest day.
2 Dinners and 2 Breakfasts are included at the Lodge.

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

Where you could 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.
Marshall Pass 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.

Marshall Pass Info

Day 5, we are headed to Leadville, Hagerman Pass, Gypsum to Hwy 70 and Dotsero and the Colorado River. Or to Aspen on the less challenging route.

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 the old historical monument smokestack and a stop for fuel, you’d head up an old racetrack dirt road ala Pikes Peak before it was paved to the top of Ute Pass above Salida.

Hagerman Pass Info

Historical Smokestack — **Historical Smeltertown Smokestack with the Divide in the background**

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 into the ‘official’ 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 silver mining town.
Or on the less challenging route you could ride from Weston Pass to Twin Lakes to Aspen over Independence Pass, skipping Hagerman Pass. Have Lunch in Aspen. Then ride some old Railroad lines to Basalt, head up the Roaring Fork River to where you’d tie back in with the ‘official’ route just West of Hagerman Pass

Independence Pass and Aspen

From Leadville, you head around Turquoise Lake to Hagerman Pass.
Hagerman Pass was the old Colorado Midland Railroad Line to Aspen.
But you 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 you’re at a frontage road along Hwy 70 and the Eagle river.
Where you’d head west to the confluence of the Colorado and Eagle rivers.
At the Colorado river, we would again head north a short distance to Sweetwater Canyon and Ops’s Camp.

Our Tuesday Day 5 destination is a private motorcycle campground on Sweetwater canyon.

The days are still long in August, and the campground has white sand beach on a constantly recirculating 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 Pop-up trailers and 2 Glamping tents for rent, or you could camp in the green grass near the pond.

glamping tents — Glamping tents near the Pond at Opa’s Camp

Day 6 on Wednesday we will head towards the Wyoming Border and the Ladder Ranch on paved and dirt roads.

On Day 6 we’ll arrive at the old Homestead of the Ladder Ranch.

There are 2 cabins available.
One cabin has 2 bedrooms with 4 beds and the 2nd with 2 bedrooms and 2 beds.
4 bedrooms are available in the old Homestad with one bed each in the old Homestead.
4 comfortable couches are available in the living room.
Or you have the option to pitch a tent and camp in the grass in the yard.
There are also hot showers and a laundry room available.

Day 7, you’ll ride from the Ladder Ranch. Where we’ll again spend the night.

Ride the spectacular Red Desert X loop that makes this ride the COBDR Adventure +.

Ride the Red Desert X loop of the Wyoming Backroads Discovery Ride.
After the club cooks breakfast on Thursday, we are already on the Wyoming border.
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 that straddles the Colorado/ Wyoming border.

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, very few 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.
The shortest route is thru Moab.
We know of a dirt mountain pass if you don’t want to slab it the whole way, but it’s a bit of ride back to the 4 Corners.
Where the Club will portage your gear on Friday.
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 from the Ladder Ranch 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.
There is an an option if you came from the East, to Park your truck pre-ride at the secure Ladder Ranch, ride to the 4 Corners and then ride from the Ladder Ranch Home on day 8.
Or you could meet the Club Bus Pre-ride at the Ladder Ranch, transport your bike down to the Ute Casino, and have your truck at the Ranch when we arrive on Day 6.