Last week, my riding buddy brother-in-law, Rolly, and I rode 1,785 miles through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah over four days. We completely avoided freeways and rode through some of the most beautiful country in the Southwest U.S. Here's the map:
Thursday, we rode US-50 west to Poncha Springs, then US-285/CO-17 south across Cumbres Pass into New Mexico. Rode through snow from Salida until we crossed Poncha Pass, maybe 20 miles or so. At Chama, we picked up US-84 south to NM-96 west. Near Abiquiu, we stopped to see Ghost Ranch where Georgia O'Keefe drew inspiration for many of her iconic paintings of the Southwest.
Then we headed southwest on NM-96, NM-197, and NM-509/605/122 to Grants, New Mexico where we spent the night.Friday, we headed southwest on NM-53 through Navajo and Zuni country into Arizona, riding along AZ-260 through several national forests paralleling the Mogollon Rim. We stopped in Sedona for the night, surrounded by red stone rock formations.
Saturday, we left Sedona and rode north through Oak Creek Canyon on AZ-89A to Flagstaff, continuing north on US-89, then US-160 and US-163 to Monument Valley which crosses from Arizona into Utah. Monument Valley is where several classic Westerns have been filmed.
Riding north on US-191, we pulled into the eastern access to Canyonlands National Park after stopping briefly at Newspaper Rock to see petroglyphs carved into the rock hundreds of years ago.
We stayed in Moab Saturday night. Before heading home on Sunday, we rode a few miles north to Arches National Park.
We dropped back south to ride UT-46 back east into Colorado, then CO-141/62 through Placerville to Ridgway over the Dallas Divide. Colorado was not to be outdone with awesome scenery.
From Ridgway, we rode north on US-550 to Montrose where we picked up US-50 through Gunnison, Salida, and Canon City back home. It was a memorable ride; now to start planning the next one...
