Two Wheels, Two Lanes, and a Camera: Northern Colorado

Beautiful, majestic, and occasionally desolate landscape that stretches to infinity.

Taking a break on the side of the road in the northwest corner of Colorado.

I wasn’t really lost, I was simply not where I expected to be.

It was my sixth day on the road, and it was very early in the morning, in fact the sun was just coming over the horizon as I joined the main road.

I had just spent the night in a bunkhouse conversion on a ranch outside of Vernal, Utah. That was an amazing evening. Log fire, great wi-fi, and a hot tub to work out the long day on the road.

Due to a strange and nearly unforeseeable storm, my plan for heading north to Glacier wasn’t going to happen. The storm was going north and they expected several feet of snow.

Snow and motorcycles don’t really mix well, so I decided to spend some time in warmer, dryer Utah.

I’m glad I did. Damn… what beauty.

As I left Vernal, the land became flatter, wider, wilder. It wasn’t too long before you get to the Colorado border and the town of Dinosaur. I have a story about Dinosaur that must be written soon.

And after that, long, straight roads that gently take you to Craig, Colorado and beyond.

A lonely and endless landscape.

And man, does it stretch out in front of you.

Out here the sky meets the earth with a sudden impact that is breathtaking to behold in every direction. Lots of sky, lots of land… long, flat, straight roads.

If there is a good pullout, it is always nice to grab some water and perhaps a snack.

The sound of the motor is all that accompanies me along the road dotted by cattle guards, the occasional pothole, and vistas that can sometimes make it hard to concentrate on riding. And that is never a good idea when you are going 60 on a two lane road.

About midway, I stopped on a little pull out to have a snack and some water. I pulled out my camp chair from the saddle bag, parked my butt and leaned back against the saddle bag. I like to sit and watch the cars come by… every fifteen minutes or so. Maybe twenty minutes?

Pickup trucks are the preferred vehicle for locals, while the tourists zip by in fancy mini-vans and imported sports cars.

Maybe. Sometimes it is a lot longer than 15 minutes before someone comes up behind me or appears on the horizon.

Long, straight, and empty, the road comes up to meet you on the horizon.

This is when it hits me just how alone I am in the vast land that surrounds me and my bike.

And think about how important my vehicle is to survival.

I can only imagine getting off the road here and having trouble.

Without a SAT-Phone or similar, it would be a long time before someone found a wayward adventurer, or slightly old biker dude.

And I suppose that may not be all bad.

I have a profound dislike for crowds, traffic, and the general ‘big city’ bustle.

But I wonder if this may test my longing for being somewhere where things move a lot slower.

Or not. I seem to be very OK with the silence and the stillness.

Lots of vistas and land that feels empty and lonely.

Damn, I love this place, this wide open space.

I rode through Steamboat Springs.

Massive traffic in the middle of mountain paradise. I crossed it off the list of places I want to go again. Maybe it is good for passing through, but I wouldn’t want to stay there.

It was like a total disconnect for me. Like a big city planted right in the middle of the Colorado wilderness. Traffic, tourist shops, too many people. Lots of Cannabis stores and ‘dispensaries’ interspersed with a wide and very diverse collection of restaurants and spas.

NOT… my kind of town.

The road from Steamboat Springs to Hot Sulphur Springs went over a small mountain range with a couple of small switchbacks and beautiful pine forest. I stopped there as well. I need time off the bike, and I like to find a place where I can take a good walk, but keep my bike in view as well.

I saw deer, elk, and some smaller critters — possibly antelope, on the road outside of Sulphur Hot Springs. That always makes the ride a little more special.

The church was beautiful in a very old fashioned way. I love those windows.

Hot Sulphur Springs was a huge disappointment. Wow. I couldn’t believe how rundown that town was — and in the middle of the Colorado Rockies? WTF?

The only restaurant in town. It was a grill set up in a seemingly abandoned building.

But I grabbed a burger at the only restaurant in town, bunked into my hotel room and wrote a bit. Too tired to take in the town… oh wait, there is no town. Perhaps there is more going on in the summer, and I was there in mid fall.

In the morning I may head out to the Rocky Mountain National Park, or head down to Gunnison. I never know until I fire the bike up and get to the highway.

It’s the road that decides for me.

Images taken with a Nikon Df, or iPhone. Copyright Don Giannatti, 2022

I am a photographer, designer, and photo editor. You can find me at my self-named website or at Project 52 Pro System where I teach commercial photography online. This is our tenth year teaching, and it is the most unique online class you will find anywhere.

You can find my books at Amazon, and I have taught two classes at creativeLIVE.