CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
106 km one way from Estes Park - plan on about 2 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Nederland and Black Hawk. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The ride follows Peak to Peak Scenic Byway for 23 km.
Elk wander through the streets of Estes Park in autumn as if they had a lease on the place. During the rut, in late September and October, bulls bugle on the lawns and golf course, and visitors line up with cameras at a respectful distance, while the town itself, sitting at around 7,500 feet in a mountain bowl where the Big Thompson and Fall rivers meet, carries on with its cafes, fudge shops and outdoor stores. It is the eastern gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and the starting point for Trail Ridge Road.
Read the complete Estes Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Estes Park is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nederland comes up 29 km in. Next is Black Hawk.
Black Hawk is the last place you would expect to find slot machines wedged into a gold-rush canyon, and yet there they are, stacked up the sides of Clear Creek in glass and brick. The town sits in Gilpin County, a short drop from Central City, in a steep cleft where gold was first struck in 1859. John Gregory found the lode that set off the Colorado rush here, and for a few years this narrow gulch was said to be among the richest bits of ground in the country. Mills clustered at Black Hawk to crush the ore, which is why milling, not gambling, was its first business.
Read the complete Black Hawk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 65 km in you reach Black Hawk. Next is Central City.
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.
Read the complete Central City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central City closes the day.
Estes Park → Nederland is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nederland → Black Hawk is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.