Peak to Peak Highway

Two passes and 336 km

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Why this ride

Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. A 336 km loop that starts and ends near Brighton, about 7 h of riding. The stops in between: Lyons, near Central City, near Roxborough Park and Littleton. The climbs: Near Lyons, on the way back and near Parker. It tops out at about 3,200 m. Long stretches are under trees.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Brighton fuel

   Fuel at 0 km.

2. Near Lyons, on the way back pass

   Red rock and running water define Lyons. The small town sits where the North and South St. Vrain creeks meet and run out of the foothills onto the plains north of Boulder, and it is ringed by cliffs of pinkish-red sandstone. That stone, quarried here since the nineteenth century, built much of the University of Colorado campus in Boulder and countless houses and walls across the region. The town itself is built of it too, giving the main street a warm, solid look.

   Lyons has seen hard times. In September 2013, days of extraordinary rain sent floods roaring down the St. Vrain canyons, cutting the town off, destroying homes and tearing away highways. The roads into the mountains were closed for months and rebuilt, and the town recovered with remarkable community spirit. Today it is lively again, known for music, especially the bluegrass and folk festivals at a venue beside the river, and for outdoor sports: climbing, fishing, tubing and cycling.

   For riders, Lyons is the gateway to some excellent mountain roads. US 36 climbs northwest up the North St. Vrain to Estes Park and the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, a lovely road of long, flowing curves between cliffs and meadows. Colorado 7 follows the South St. Vrain canyon up to the Peak to Peak Highway, twisting through a narrow, rocky gorge with the creek alongside. Both are popular with motorcycles on weekends, and both get busy with cars heading for the national park, especially in summer and autumn.

   On the way back, this stretch near Lyons is where the mountains open onto the plains, and the change is sudden: one moment you are in a canyon of red rock and pine, the next you are rolling out onto flat farmland with Longmont and the urban corridor spread out ahead. The descent is a good time to cool off and enjoy the light as the sun drops behind the peaks. Watch for cyclists on the canyon roads, deer at dusk, and loose gravel on the shoulders.

   Lyons has cafes, restaurants and a brewery or two, and fuel is available in town or in Longmont, a large city about fifteen kilometres east. Summer afternoons often bring thunderstorms over the foothills, so plan the climb in the morning and the return before the clouds build.

3. Food stop near Central City food

   Central City climbs a steep gulch in the Colorado Rockies, a little brick town of a few hundred people at about eight and a half thousand feet, and it is a monument to the gold rush. In 1859, a prospector named John Gregory struck gold in the gulch, and within a few years, tens of thousands of people had arrived. The hills around were so full of ore that the town called itself the richest square mile on Earth, and the street names, the headframes, the tailings piles and the tilted miners' cottages still tell the story.

   The grand buildings from the boom survive, among them the Teller House hotel and the Central City Opera House, which opened in 1878 and is still used for a summer season of opera. The miners, many of them Cornish, wanted culture as well as gold, and they built a fine hall in a mining camp. In the past few decades, gambling was legalised in the town, and casinos now fill several of the old streets, which gives the main drag a slightly odd mix of Victorian charm and neon.

   For the ride, the roads that climb here from the east are steep and winding, narrow in places, with hairpins and sharp turns that follow old wagon tracks. The scenery is a combination of forest, rock outcrops, abandoned mine buildings and long views over the Front Range. Surfaces can be rough after winter, and in summer, tour buses and casino traffic can make progress slow. The Peak to Peak Scenic Byway runs a long way north from nearby Black Hawk through mountain villages toward Estes Park.

   You can buy fuel at Idaho Springs, in the valley below, about seven kilometres away, which is on the interstate and has plenty of stations and restaurants, so it is wise to fill up there. The town has a handful of cafes and bars, and a small museum devoted to its history. Weather at this altitude can be changeable, with fog, thunderstorms and a chance of snow outside summer. Autumn, when the aspen turn gold in the surrounding gulches, is a lovely time to visit, and the evening light on the old buildings is warm.

4. Photo stop near Roxborough Park photo

   Photo stop near Roxborough Park, about halfway.

5. Littleton finish

   Littleton, on the southern edge of the Denver metro area, has a historic Main Street of brick buildings from the late nineteenth century, when the town grew up around a mill and the railroad on the South Platte River. You could do far worse for the first or last coffee of a ride, with cafés, restaurants and a relaxed atmosphere that feels more like a small town than a suburb of a big city. And, crucially, the mountains are right there, rising abruptly to the west.

   The rides that start here head into the Front Range and beyond. The Peak to Peak Highway, Colorado's oldest scenic byway, runs north-south along the eastern edge of the Rockies between Black Hawk and Estes Park, through old mining towns, forests of pine and aspen, and past high peaks like Longs Peak. Trail Ridge Road, through Rocky Mountain National Park, is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, cresting at over 3,700 metres, with vast views over alpine tundra, and elk grazing beside the road. It is typically open only from late May to October, depending on snow.

   Closer to Littleton, Deer Creek Canyon and the roads through the foothills to the south-west are popular with local riders, winding through red rock formations and pine forests. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, at Morrison, a concert venue set between towering sandstone monoliths, is worth a detour.

   Riding in the Colorado mountains has its own challenges. The altitude affects both rider and machine, with thinner air reducing engine power and making you tire more quickly, so drink plenty of water. Afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer, often bringing hail and lightning, so plan to be off the high roads by early afternoon. Wildlife, especially deer and elk, are a hazard at dawn and dusk. Littleton has plenty of fuel and services, but fuel stations become scarcer in the mountains, so fill up before heading out.

6. High point near Parker pass
7. Scenic stretch near Aurora scenic
8. Back to Peak finish

   The Peak to Peak Highway belongs to the mountains, but this point is on the plains northeast of Denver, near Brighton and Todd Creek, where the land is flat enough to see the whole Front Range in a single glance. On a clear day the wall of the Rockies stretches across the western horizon for a hundred kilometres, with the snowy summits of Longs Peak and Mount Evans standing out, and the wide sky is the real feature of the place.

   This is farm country, once a huge cattle range and then irrigated by ditches that brought snowmelt out of the mountains. Sugar beets, corn and vegetables grew here, and Brighton still holds a local festival around its strawberries in the summer. The South Platte River, a wide shallow stream with cottonwoods along its banks, curves through, and the old irrigation ditches still run beside the roads in places.

   Nearby Barr Lake State Park is one of the best places in Colorado for birds. The big reservoir, ringed with cottonwoods, hosts great blue herons, pelicans and a good number of bald eagles, which nest there. A paved loop around it lets you walk or cycle, and the park's nature centre is in a barn at the edge. Not far to the southwest, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge occupies land once used to make chemical weapons and is now a wildlife sanctuary, with a herd of bison, prairie dogs and deer. It is a fascinating example of land that turned from military to wild use.

   The riding is of the straight, open kind, on county roads laid out in a grid and running dead straight for miles, with the mountains in front. The wind can be strong and gusty, and thunderstorms in summer can build fast, with hail. There is almost no shade, and the sun is fierce at altitude, which is about 1,500 metres here. A grain elevator or a distant windmill is the only landmark.

   Brighton has fuel, supermarkets and a range of Mexican restaurants and diners, and the airport is not far, which makes this a convenient place to start or finish a trip to the high country. Evening light is the best, when the mountains turn pink and purple and the plains glow gold.

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