High_Sides Trips and Pics

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High_Side
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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#261 Unread post by High_Side »

sapaul wrote:Awesome stuff mate, really enjoyed that, thanks for posting. I was working on tour last week, so never got a chance to take pics.
Thanks buddy - but it's your "working on tour" comment that has me jealous. Thus far, I have not figured out a way to make that happen!

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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#262 Unread post by sapaul »

Every day I count my blessings, these "tours" keep me sane. They are very special and allow me to contribute to community safety at the same time.

Just wish I could have made a stop at every wine farm we passed.
I spent my therapy money an a K1200S
The therapy worked, I got a GS now
A touch of insanity crept back in the shape of an R1200R

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High_Side
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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#263 Unread post by High_Side »

sapaul wrote:Every day I count my blessings, these "tours" keep me sane. They are very special and allow me to contribute to community safety at the same time.

Just wish I could have made a stop at every wine farm we passed.
/\ This second goal could have really gotten in the way of your first one :laughing:

Just the mention of "tours" is giving me itchy feet. The weather here has been spectacular this week and with any luck "Puxatony VFR" will poke his head out of the garage tomorrow and see his own shadow. Can't wait! It's a one day deal only though as we are jumping on a plane on Saturday for Rome. By the time I get back though it's riding season baby!

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High_Side
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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#264 Unread post by High_Side »

Well - I am back at it having a solo tour and getting lost in BC! About time!!! I should have some pics sorted in a couple of weeks :)

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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#265 Unread post by blues2cruise »

I wish you dry weather.

My friend tried to get to Cranbrook after the long weekend and had to turn back because of the snow in the Paulson Pass. He was on his motorcycle. He was contemplating pitching his tent to wait out the snow storm, but a snow plow came along. He followed the snow plow back to Grand Forks.

You should be ok now though since it has warmed up considerably in the last couple of weeks.
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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#266 Unread post by High_Side »

Wow - my last post was about posting pictures soon, and I posted it months ago. But now I am back! And a note about 2013 - I ended up taking 4 decent length motorcycle trips and am doing my trip reports in reverse order. If things seem a little out of sync, this is the reason why.

This is it - I'm finally going to do it. Colorado. Being always limited on time, this option never seems to be on the table. But this year is different. I am living a path of what I thought was three months without working (it turned out to be two), and I could justify the 8 days to get it done. So after the kids were back in school, off I went.

The only problem was two days of nothingness on either side of this ride. The express road between Alberta and Colorado is full of a lot of nothingness....

Hey look - A hill! Finally something to see near Butte Montana.... :laughing:

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Day two takes me to Salt Lake City. Again there is a whole lot of nothing on the way there. The excitement for the day was a speeding ticket in Idaho (88mph in a 75...), but it was really the police in Salt Lake that blew me away. NEVER have I seen such a large concentration of police in such a small area, and this apparently leads to boredom. After checking in to my hotel I walk to the convenience store to buy beer. I passed a guy who was just hanging around on the sidewalk on the way there and shortly thereafter he had two cops cars stopped and working him over. By the time I walked back they were full on harassing him for what sounded like absolutely nothing. The more I am in some of the US the more I find that it is becoming more of a police state. It's shocking really - and reminds me of old movies about life behind the iron curtain. I keep my head down and slink back to the hotel....

As one would suspect, there is a whole lot of nothingness in parts of Utah. The long drone from Salt Lake towards Moab held little to see, and when rock formations finally started to appear it felt like the main event. Little did I know that things were going to get A LOT better very soon.

For now - this was as good as it gets....
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Coming off of the interstate towards Moab brought a very dramatic change in landscape.

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The heat in southern Utah was bloody intense, and for a Canadian boy with Scottish ancestry I was at my limit at the 39deg. C that was indicated on the dash of the VFR. I spent way too much time waiting in intense heat in a construction zone heading in to Moab, and the only think I could think of was finding an air conditioned restaurant and taking off some gear. When said restaurant was found, the waitress thought it was rather humorous to see me stripping down and dying in the "heat" because for her, it was a mild day! I must have drank three pitchers of water while I was entertained by the passing homecoming parade that just so happened to be occurring at that moment outside of the window. Looking around at how everyone else was handling the heat it was clear to me that I was going to have to adjust and suck it up, because the locals weren't even breaking a sweat! hehe

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After the parade, and many jugs of water I realized that if I was going to see much of the park in daylight I had better get to it. I recalled seeing the exit to the park on the way in to town and I set about back-tracking until I found it - or what I thought was it....

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As it turns out I had mistakenly turned on to US128 north but was preoccupied with the beauty of everything around me. Without knowing any better, I stopped to take dozens of pictures only to eventually realize that I had completely missed the park and I was nearly back to I-70 for my ride across the state line to Colorado. For a moment, I had to think about it. If I turned back to see the park it would have to be in the morning - which would mean putting me behind schedule, and would cause me to have to cut some of Colorado. On the other hand, coming this far to miss what was shaping up to be the main attraction seemed a little silly. So back I went to Moab, and without enough time to do the park justice in the evening I decided to get an early sleep and ride out before sun-rise to get the best light for pictures.

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But then I got to experience US128 from the other direction - DAMN. What a stunning road. What a beautiful place. I paused many times to soak it in.

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Morning came early but I scrambled to get on the bike while complete darkness still prevailed. I rode out of town and easily, in the dark this time, found the road in to the park. The advantage of being there so early is they do not have anyone manning the gate and apparently this means that entry is free! I'll take it!

Immediately the view is stunning as the road winds up the cliff in to the park. And honestly, it is much darker than it looks!
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Again - this picture was taken at the crack of dawn and I'm not adept at taking the best sunrise shots. I am feeling the sense of urgency to make it to Delicate Arch before I miss the best of the morning light, but this sight is just too much to pass up. To pull over, shut off the engine and take this picture brought an indescribable peace. The best may be yet to come - but damned if this moment was worth the trip alone.


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To be cont.... :mrgreen:

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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#267 Unread post by blues2cruise »

Awesome! :)
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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#268 Unread post by High_Side »

Cont.....

Shortly up the road the rising sun was giving urgency to my quest to get to Delicate Arch. I've seen some spectacular shots of this place in the rising and setting sun and wanted to live it for myself, and hopefully arrive before the place was over-run with tourists (kinda like me....:) ). As I turn off the main road I thought that this little guy might have the best seat in the house.

Just another day on the job for Mr. Crow
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Now it was early and a little cool, but I suspected that the heat would be building soon enough so I left my jacket with the bike. The sign at the beginning of the pathway mentioned something about being a 1.5 mile hike AND bringing lots of water. As this distance was minor and the temperature was nice and cool I did not heed this warning. I wanted the freedom to jump on different rocks with my camera in tow and did not want to be slowed down by carrying extra things. Needless to say, by the time I was back I was quite ready for the water....

The heat from the sun was not too serious at this point. I should have prepared myself for what was to come...
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Although the parking lot was nearly empty on my arrival I did manage to connect with a couple who were on the same mission as me. The pathway was not always recognizable and we had to change course a few times after coming to an abrupt end. At this point I hand them my camera and ask for a shot of me for my blog :)

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When we finally connect with this path a short time later we knew that we were going the right way. I started to get the feeling that I was on to something special....
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Along this pathway we spot a really cool key-hole in the rock about 30' above the main path. There has to be something up there to take a picture of so I scramble up to take a look....
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The first look was spectacular, and I let my hiking buddies know that they had better join me or forever regret it!
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If the first look was spectacular, the second look was awe-inspiring. It's our first view of Delicate Arch and it proves to be well worth the hike!
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After taking the time to drink in this view (and we actually took quite a bit of time), we were due for a closer look. Upon our arrival, shade from some other rocks in the vicinity made it a little challenging to find good light. It's hard to imagine as I stand here that this was just a little add-on that I decided to tack on to my Colorado trip. After so many awesome views I would recommend that anyone with a motorcycle adds this to their bucket list of awesome places to ride.

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Following a photography frenzy with my temporary hiking companions we parted company as I needed to get moving on to catch as much of the park as possible with the time I had left. By the time I get to the bike I am ultra thankful that I had kept a 1 litre bottle of water in the bags from my trip yesterday.

To be cont.....

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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#269 Unread post by High_Side »

And as one of the worst efforts ever of following up a "to be continued" post, I'm back! ......10 months later :laughing:

A quick rip through the rest of the park with many more pictures of a red VFR sitting in front of a bunch of red rocks and I am outta here. This is a place where I would plan to camp the next time around and take a few days to really hike and take it all in. After a couple of more stops I head back out US128 heading towards Colorado. Even though I erroneously took this road a day prior there is so much to see your head just spins.

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Once I am back on I-70 the beauty stops and I have a relatively short ride to Grand Junction CO where I take an exit on hwy 141.

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This has to be THE road that defines the Colorado - Utah riding experience.

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The next stop ends up by an information sign with a great view of the canyon below. If you look carefully you can see parts of an old hanging aqueduct that must have been a nightmare to construct in the mid-1800s. Apparently for all of their efforts it never really worked! I can't imagine working on that back in the day hanging from a rope....
http://hangingflume.org/hanging-flume-history/

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To be continued.....no really this time!

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Re: High_Sides Trips and Pics

#270 Unread post by Hanson »

Great photos.... thanks so much for sharing.

Safe Travels,
Richard
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