Parker, Colorado Ridge · short arc

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Denver / Colorado Rockies

   There the Rockies rise in a long blue wall, with Longs Peak standing out as a notched summit above the rest, and on a clear morning the contrast between the field in front of you and the peaks behind is sharp. Campion is a small, quiet community; Berthoud, about six kilometres away, is a small town of some six thousand people with a historic main street.

   Read the complete Denver / Colorado Rockies write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Denver / Colorado Rockies is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Nederland.

2. 2. Food stop near Nederland

   Nederland is a mountain town that has never entirely decided whether it is a ski-resort suburb, a hippie holdout or a mining camp that kept going. The answer is probably all three. It sits at about 2,500 metres where Boulder Canyon spills into the high country, at the edge of the Barker Reservoir, with the Indian Peaks on the horizon. Once you ride in from the canyon, the first thing you register is how cold the air has become, even in summer.

   Read the complete Food stop near Nederland write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Food stop near Nederland is where this day stops to eat. Next is Photo stop near Evergreen.

3. 3. Photo stop near Evergreen

   Planning note

   This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Rocky Mountain checkpoint 8.

4. 4. Near Sheridan

   Southwest Denver ends abruptly where the plains slam into the foothills. Beyond it, red rock formations and pine-covered hills rise toward the higher peaks of the Front Range.

   Read the complete Near Sheridan write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Rocky Mountain checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Rocky Mountain National Park Trail.

5. 5. Parker, Colorado

   This is the broad ridge that separates the South Platte drainage from the Arkansas, a plateau of ponderosa pine, scrub oak and hay meadows at roughly two thousand metres, with the Front Range a blue wall away to the west. On a clear day, Pikes Peak stands out to the south as a great pale dome.

   Read the complete Rocky Mountain National Park Trail write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Parker, Colorado tops the climb. Next is Rocky Mountain National Park Trail.

6. Place association under review. The retained source text conflicts with its location label; verify the stop in the planner before using it.

   6. Parker, Colorado

   Parker is one of the fast-growing suburbs on the south-east side of Denver, a town of many thousands of people that used to be little more than a stagecoach stop. Despite the label, nothing here is a pass; the land is gently rolling and the nearest high peaks are thirty miles west, a blue-grey line of the Front Range along the horizon.

   Read the complete Rocky Mountain National Park Trail write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 337 km.