Outlaws Run 2014 - 10th Annual!

[DanS]

It wasn't all aspens and sunshine for us.... Sometimes the trees were green.

Up near the top of Elwood Pass. Yep, weather getting worse...

Summitville. Summitville is now a superfund site, but the ghost town of Summitville is pretty interesting (as Perry's pics show)

For some reason I really like the way FF axle hubs look with the stock wheels. Even better when they are dirty.

On this 60, the auxiliary coolant temp sensor is located in the top tank of the radiator. This pic was taken after heading down the hill from Summitville towards South Fork. After 45 minutes of driving, you can clearly see the thermostat wasn't open even a little. Have I mentioned how much I love the efficiency of the 12HT?

 

[DanS]

Some of us (myself and Matt) were planning on breaking off on Friday from the group anyway. I had to get back to Antonito on Friday night (I got to ride the train again on Saturday--life is rough, sometimes), and as Perry noted: Daniel got sick (still not sure what from, a couple of us had the same food for dinner), so Daniel, Rachel and Perry headed more or less straight back to Denver.

The rest of us (5 trucks total) decided: why not try to head north towards Denver on dirt roads. We kind of made an efficient beeline between South Fork and Saguache....

(yes, another pic of the FF axle hub--it's mesmerizing!)

....and then we saw some dirt roads on a few maps that went north of Saguache, and eventually rejoined US-285 near the northern tip of the San Luis Valley. Since I only had to get back to Antonito, I figured what the heck, lets go for a ride. Now, I should note that the maps showed kind of a tangle of dirt roads, but they all joined up with one another and eventually made their way north, so off we went.

We were soon greeted by views like this:

 

[DanS]

These first two might look familiar. We are backtracking, after finding a locked gate, on a trail we were sure would go through. No such luck, so back to the highway to regroup...

Then we realized there was a turn we should have taken, so back to the north we went....

Matt thought there should be a good place for lunch up there, so naturally we went.

Two 60s in their element. Ready to slowly lumber towards any prey they might see! Crikey!

 

[DanS]

Another pic of those sexy, sexy 60s.

Not only was it a good place for lunch, it was a great place to view the San Luis Valley. Yes, off in the distance, that is the Great Sand Dunes. Added bonus, maybe we figured out just which trails would get us where we wanted to go.

Move it bossy! Yep, the cows were still in these pastures.

I'm pretty sure this is a super effective way to find your way out. Everyone go every which way!

 

[DanS]

And somewhere in all this jumble the trail got kind of tight and a little rocky.

Is there anything prettier than a classic cruiser riding along trails that have a nice bed of aspen leaves on the ground?

 

[DanS]

As you can see, the light was getting pretty low on the horizon. Which made for some INCREDIBLE photos.

This one aspen grove was absolutely captivating to me.

The San Luis Valley in the distance...

I know I wasn't the only one to snap some pics in this spot.

 

[DanS]

Well, we didn't navigate our way north very successfully, but we did eventually find out way back to a county road that was clearly going back towards pavement.

Snapping this pic was TOUGH. The light was moving so fast that I was only able to snap this one with the very cool beam of sun across the ground before the sun set entirely.

One last little bit of sun, in the form of alpenglow on the Sangre de Christos as we aired up back at the highway. After all day of driving, we ended back on the highway maybe 3 miles from where we left it (twice) to head north towards the northern point of the San Luis Valley.

From here I headed back down to Antonito--thus ending Outlaws 2014 for me. The guys went north, and were able to find some pretty passable pizza in Salida, I understand.

I'll for sure be putting Outlaws on my calendar in the future.

Dan

PS-now I need to find time to edit together the video I took!

 

[bh4rnnr]

Fun pics Dan. Looks like you guys had a fun day of exploring while heading north. Looks like we need to spend more time in the San Luis Valley

 

[DanS]

Fun pics Dan. Looks like you guys had a fun day of exploring while heading north. Looks like we need to spend more time in the San Luis Valley

Agreed. There's a whole "network" of trails in this area north of Saguache that were absolutely gorgeous.

LOTS of good camping spots up there too....

Dan

 

[rover67]

yeah that area is pretty sweet. When we were on the Colorado Trail this summer riding bikes through there, I decided I needed to go back and explore.

Did you guys go over Sargents Mesa at all? I should have told you about the war memorial.. its pretty sweet....

 

[Jacket]

I think a lot of that land is BLM, which makes it cool and open to exploration. Did you guys go anywhere near Penitente Canyon? I've always wanted to check it out.

 

[DanS]

Did you guys go over Sargents Mesa at all? I should have told you about the war memorial.. its pretty sweet....

We didn't.

That memorial is pretty high on my list of things to check out. The whole Marshall Pass area is gorgeous (and has some neat old railroad history).

Dan

 

[DanS]

I think a lot of that land is BLM, which makes it cool and open to exploration. Did you guys go anywhere near Penitente Canyon? I've always wanted to check it out.

We did go real close to it. The picture with the 4 trucks ahead, and the church on the ridge in the background is real close to it. In fact, I believe that is the La Garita church.

Dan