Colorado Back Country Discovery Route

A wise man has said that the Ducati Panigale is fine representation of and Italian Supermodel. If that is true then the Ducati Hyperstrada is the tomboy half sister of an Italian Supermodel! A fun easy free-spirited lady game for anything.....



We set out to accomplish the CoBDR last fall with all the eagerness we possessed and so we did and our chosen steeds were up to the tasks!

The two beasts
Camodogs Wee


My Strada






Departed Denver on day one at 6 am sharp, heading south on the tarmac with the intentions of making it to Dolores and finding a spot to camp for the night. I25 south to C-Springs up 24 to Woodland Park. On to 285 and south to 50, to Gunnison, Montrose Ouray to Durango where we had a late lunch in the mid afternoon. Then proceeded 160 to 124 to Dolores where we topped off the bikes and looked around the town for our exit.

I really enjoyed the first segment of the route the terrain and forest reminded me a lot of New Mexico where I had lived for several years. It stands to reason given its close proximity to that state.





Twisty turny two track with all the gates made me wonder if the entire route was going to be like this.

We cruised into the early evening hours on well maintained gravel roads until we got passed Groundhog Reservoir and started looking for a place to camp. I had ridden long enough for one day was hungry and my low beer light was on.





Day two we got a bit of a late start waking up at 8, we ate loaded and quickly got back on the trail as today was the day for Ophir! Had no problem following the GPS tracks and soon found ourselves climbing the pass after passing thru the town of Ophir.

Can't beat the views in this part of the country!

Continuing on down the back side we stopped and help some fellow adventurers load a KLR after it lost its rider to what we think might be a torn rotator or separated shoulder. We got to the bottom and stopped for some lunch.







I have not spent a lot of time eating dehydrated food and found these samples to be quite tasty!

The short jaunt off 550 along Red Mountain creek RD 31 where all the mining activity is was worth the time!

From there it was off up Corkscrew gulch trail! I really enjoyed that climb, was like a rollercoaster all twisty turny up and down, was great fun!





Hurricane Pass followed shortly with more great views!

California Pass

Cinnamon Pass










We hopped off the trail and ran into Lake City to fuel up, I was rather surprised about the area and community of Lake City! Not have been before will have to venture back and explore.

Back on the trail we headed up the Cebolla creek drainage and ran into a heard of cows being moved by some local wrangles and I'm not talking about the Jeep product. It was painful, the cows had no place to go to get off the road and let us by and they were a bit stressed and pooping everywhere! The valley did finally open up enough and we managed to get around, sorry no photos.

It was getting along in the day and was decided to find a place for the night and found a spot in the Los Pinos Pass area and made camp.

We got rained on in the early morning hours a little foreshadowing for the day ahead"¦.


We rolled out and made some breaky under overcast sky's.




More food ****...




It rained on us all day! Some drizzle some full on rain. Were both dressed in Gortex gear so no issue but the roads were degrading somewhat as the day went on. Not really sloppy and snotty but puddles everywhere.


We rolled over Waunita Pass without issue and pictures then down the hill into Pitkin. Another surprising little mountain town, Pitkin was well maintained from my perspective. Not a soul was out and about and the clouds were on the ground the drizzle was heavy. We passed thru town without incident nodding to a couple locals sitting on the front porch at the mercantile store.

On through the clouds and rain to Cumberland Pass without incident but the cold was starting to soak in. As I recall the bike indicated temperatures in the upper 40F and being wet it was starting to wain on us.






Hoping to gain some temperatures by losing altitude we continued on toward Tin Cup, verified the route against the map left Tin Cup and missed the turn having to back track a little. The route turns and follows NF-725 and we blew past it not paying attention.


They have been doing some logging in that area and were in the processes of reworking the road. Work had stopped due to the rain and wet conditions being half plowed. The road was a mess 3" of wet loose soil on top of a hard packed surface and we did a lot of paddling for the next hour until we got passed it and back onto Pass Creek road.


At that point we were done and beat feet to Buena Vista for some much needed substance! I had no problem with the freeze dried food we had been existing on for the last few days but I was always hungry! Always Hungry!!!! It was then that we decided we were done, after checking the weather forecast which indicating more of the same for the next 3 days we checked out of the CoBDR for this year and jetted back to Denver in the rain. Did over 800 miles in 3 days and I averaged 64MPG.

This route runs north and south in the western part of the state roughly from Telluride to Steamboat Springs.