Placerville to Mexican Hat

Today was an another amazing day.  What stands out to me is the contrast between how the day started...just outside Telluride in the high Rocky Mountains, the highest peaks now fully snow capped and the slopes below 9,000' drenched with Aspen groves in full fall colors.  And the day ended in southeast Utah in the high desert amid the most stunning red rock formations I've ever seen.  We rode about 230 miles and nearly 40 of that was on dirt and gravel roads.

So after a nice continental breakfast at The Angler Inn and some quality time with one of the staff's Golden Retriever (lawdy, I miss my Bella) KC and I loaded up and headed for a gravel road just off Hwy145 that snaked through an amazing canyon flanked by 12,000' snow covered peaks and with aspen groves that were totally engulfed with their fall colors. 

After eight miles of sensory overload we emerged onto Hwy 145 and rode through yet another stretch of incredible September Rocky Mountain scenery.  Hwy 145 southbound took us past three peaks over 14,000'...Mt Wilson, El Diente Peak and  Wilson Peak, then over Lizard Head Pass at 10,022 where the temperature dropped to 34F.  In just a few hours we'd be riding in temperatures 50 degrees higher.

By mid morning we reached Cortez, CO and had dropped down to 6,200', picking up around 25 degrees in the process.  Just outside of town we turned to the west on McElmo Creek road and we began to see the transition to red rock country and high desert, though the irrigated, deep green alfalfa hay fields stood in stark contrast to the dry-as-a-bone countryside.  Just to the north was Canyon of the Ancients National Monument and though it was tempting to venture into it, we had plans to see other things...turns out to have been a great decision.

On Hwy 163 (we were now in Utah) we headed west again and in Bluff, UT we pulled into a gas station for some fine dining.  When we went inside, I noticed a group of Japanese women sitting at a table, eating gas station pizza.  I wondered if they thought it was awful...and I pondered the terrifying scenario of eating gas station sushi along a Japanese highway.  Once outside and standing next to my GS, they walked by me and asked if they could take my picture.  And this, dear readers, is where I zigged when I should have zagged.

"Sure", I said.  

And immediately, Japanese giggling, whispering and high speed camera operation began. 

One of them approached me and asked, "How fast does motorcycle go?"

Oh God, here we go.

"One forty".  

They began ooh'ing.  In Japanese. 

Then I noticed they'd split into two groups and two of them had pinned KC down.  Run Keith, run now.

"How much does motorcyle cost?"

"Twenty five thousand."

More ooh'ing.  In Japanese.

Then I decided to take a high dive. 

"Would you like to sit on it?", referring, of course, to the motorcycle.

"Oh, yes, yes." In Japanese.

And then we spent the next twenty minutes getting each one of these 4'6" young ladies up onto the GS and then having their picture taken.  A group photo with me in the center capped off the activities and with great delight, I said goodbye, threw my leg over the GS and KC and I motored down the road en route to some of the most incredible riding I've ever experienced.

KC had passed through this area on his 1976 motorcycle trip cross country.  Some of our ride today was retracing his route...some of it was checking off bucket list items.  ALL of it was new for me and it would be an understatement to say it was jaw dropping.  The formations, the colors, the expanses...tough to describe, difficult to capture in a photo.

First was a 16 mile dirt road called Valley of the Gods Road. 

It connected Hwy 163 with Hwy 261 and ran through an amazing array of red rock towers, cliffs and buttes.  A short ways after it ended at Hwy 261 we found the road to Moki Dugway, a dirt road that is a series of switchbacks up a rock wall that looks out onto the Valley of the Gods Rd. 

And finally, we found the dirt road that leads to Muley Point Overlook, which affords incredible views of Gooseneck State Park.  

Our final destination was the rock formation called Mexican Hat which is also the name of the town nearby.  From here we had a short ride into Mexican Hat, UT, population 31 and the location of our hotel (The Hat Rock Inn) and our dinner location, The Swinging Steak.  The Hat Rock Inn is nice enough, though it is NOT the Ritz Carlton (KC claims I yelled "You're shitting me" when he pointed it out to me...I have no recollection of having said this, but it's possible). 

The Swinging Steak is named after the open wood fire grill that the "chef" cooks the steaks over.  The swinging refers to the grate that the steaks lay on and actually swings back and forth over the fire.  Steaks were great...rib eye steaks cooked medium rare and charred on the outside from the crazy hot fire below.  

Later that night I stepped outside my room to look into the night sky.  Danny Short has been after me to take advantage of being in some very remote areas to photograph the night sky and maybe catch the Milky Way.  Unfortunately, the sky was about 50% clouded over and the prospects seemed unlikely.  My neighbor emerged from his room and told me that he'd seen the Milky Way last night very clearly.  Timing is everything isn't it?