CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
A one-way ride of 244 km, Grand Junction to Mountain Village - roughly 5 h 38 in the saddle. On the way it passes Unaweep Canyon and Gateway. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Grand Junction sits where the Gunnison River flows into the Colorado, in the high desert of western Colorado, and it takes its name from that meeting of waters. Red sandstone mesas close it in on one side, the Book Cliffs on the other, and in between is a fertile valley full of orchards and vineyards. Peaches from nearby Palisade are famous in Colorado, and the town of Palisade has become a small wine region, with tasting rooms among the fruit farms. Orchard Mesa, a short way south, is part of the same agricultural belt.
Read the complete Grand Junction write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grand Junction is where the day begins. Next is Unaweep Canyon.
Unaweep Canyon is a geological oddity. Most canyons have a river running through them, in one direction, from a high end to a low one. This one has two creeks, East Creek and West Creek, flowing in opposite directions from a low divide in the middle, so that the valley appears to drain both ways at once. The canyon was carved by an ancient river, probably the Colorado or Gunnison, that flowed through it millions of years ago before something diverted it, and geologists are still arguing about what. The name is generally given as a Ute word, sometimes translated as canyon with two mouths.
Read the complete Unaweep Canyon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Unaweep Canyon comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gateway.
Gateway, Colorado, sits where the Dolores River squeezes out of a red-rock canyon and the land opens into a wide, flat valley, and the name describes the geography exactly. Cliffs of rust-coloured sandstone rise on every side, stained with desert varnish and carved into fins, towers and shelves, and the town fits into the gap like a pebble in a doorway. There are a few dozen residents, a post office, and a very comfortable-looking resort, and not much else for miles.
Read the complete Gateway write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Gateway. Next is Placerville.
Placerville is a handful of buildings beside the San Miguel River in the southwest Colorado mountains, and it is barely more than a name on the map, but it has a good one. The word placer refers to a deposit of gold in a streambed that can be washed out by hand, and the hunt for it brought prospectors here in the 1870s. Later, the Rio Grande Southern Railroad ran through the village, carrying ore and passengers down the canyon, and some of the old railroad buildings and grades can still be seen.
Read the complete Placerville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Placerville closes the day.
Grand Junction → Unaweep Canyon is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Unaweep Canyon → Gateway is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gateway → Placerville is 142 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.