ADVENTUREMOTO.US
"Life should be an adventure"
Switzerland Trail Adventure
Boulder Colorado July 2007
Fellow adventure rider Jim Plumb came up with this ride. He and his son had made the ride a few weeks before, and thought I would enjoy it.
As all riders know, food is a big part of any real adventure. Jim and I met at Schmidt's Bakery for Bacon, eggs and Coffee to discuss the plans for our ride and to talk motorcycles, of course!
After a very scenic ride through some twisty paved backroads, we came to the "Lickskillet" turn-off heading up to Gold Hill. This road is very steep with lots of loose sand and rock.
It was a beautiful cool day on Main Street in Gold Hill Colorado. Lots of neat old buildings.
Colorado's warm dry summers go a long way in preserving the old structures and automobiles abandoned in the backwoods.
This old 40's firetruck looks like it could be restored with a bit of effort. I wonder how many stories it could tell if it could talk?
After a few photos, Jim and I were back on the bikes in search of the Switzerland Trailhead.
After a few missed turns, we found the start of our ride. The scenery was awesome and only getting better with each mile.
From pavement to deep sand and rocks, this ride would have it all.
Always my favorite part of any ride in the Rockies are the narrow trails and steep drop offs. What a view!!
Taking a break at the Mt. Alto picnic ground.ext.
This view shows why this area is called the Switzerland of the Rockies. The trail follows the mountains for about 12 miles.
Cool mountain air and beautiful scenery. It just doesn't get any better than this!
One more check of the map, and off we go towards Nederland Colorado.
Jim taking a shortcut on his new KLR650.
With me following on my DRZ400.
We set a pretty quick pace the first few miles and had to remind ourselves to stop now-and -then to enjoy the scenery.
Spectacular views like this are what make adventure riding in Colorado some of the best in North America.
We came close to a mountain neighborhood before we realized we had missed one of our turns.
This was how I saw Jim on most of the ride. I would stop to take a quick photo, and then it would take me a half-mile to catch up. Jim could really cook on that big KLR.
No tip-overs or crashes for either of us this day. The only casualty was a
lost license plate bolt. With a zip-tye in place, we heading on.
We had lunch at the Pioneer Inn. While waiting for our food we were entertained by some guy that was so drunk he could hardly stand, and it was hardly past noon! Nederland is a popular stopping point for many
motorcyclists.
I used to ride my V-Star 1100 up here. It's a good highway ride, but not near as scenic as the off road route.
Before leaving Nederland, we stopped to take a look at this old steam engine ore crane. Jim knows a lot, and added some nice history to the trip.
As part of our ride, we had to use some roads to hit the connecting trails. Here we are heading back towards Sugarloaf Pass.
On our way, we passed through Salina Colorado and stopped to look at this old 1800's church.
We eventually found our way back into Gold Hill for some last minute photos befor heading home.
The end of another perfect day trip with lots of scenery, good food and plenty of adventure riding.
Photos and text copyright 2007 by Ron Petitt
