My Dad and I, a Weekend of High Country Riding and Camping

Colorado CJ · Joined: 29 Jul 2012 Posts: 210 Location: Northern Colorado

Photos shot with a Nikon D600 and Samyang 35mm f1.4 manual lens.

A few weeks ago, my Dad and I decided to pack up the bikes and head out for a couple of days of riding and camping in the high country. This time we chose Guanella pass for the camping destination. Guanella pass is a 11,667 ft elevation pass that connects the old mining town of Georgetown to the very small town of Grant, CO. Numerous trails and high mountain lakes are in the area, as well as some old ghost towns and mines.

Here's my Dad, just outside of Georgetown. He saw an old dirt road off the side of the highway and took off, off road to get to it.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-1 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

About 70 miles into the trip we rode into Georgetown, Colorado. Georgetown started as a mining camp in 1859. It remains today a very small town, with mostly original buildings still intact. You have to ride right through downtown Georgetown to get to the Guanella Pass road.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-13 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Heading up Guanella Pass

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-2 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-3 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

We took the bikes offroad a little and found an old campsite. It looked like as good a location as any so we parked the bikes and started setting up camp. There was a ~200 ft. vertical drop right behind the bike that went down to a swift running creek.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-14 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

The tents are up and after a little exploring, we were starting to get hungry. Here's Dad, cookin up the dinner.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-2 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

After dinner, we took the bikes up to the top of the pass for a little photography/videography. Waiting for the skies to get completely dark, we killed time by using our motorcycle headlights to light up some scenes. It was around 9:30 p.m. but not quite dark enough for the milky way yet.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-5 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-6 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

An hour or so later, the Milky Way was starting to become visible to the naked eye. The only problem was, so where the distant Denver lights and low scudding clouds. Here's one of the night shots we were able to get.

29-June-2013-1 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

A little before midnight, we hopped back on the bikes and tried to find camp. We were successful Very Happy

. My Dad hit the hay, but I stayed up a little longer, trying for some more night time shots. Here's on of them, the Milky Way shining through the lantern lit trees.

29-June-2013-2 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

We got up right before sun-up the following morning and shot a few more photos/video.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-10 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-11 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-9 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Back at camp, we made a decent breakfast of LOTS of bacon and eggs, broke camp and headed down off the pass. We wanted to try to get to the Santiago Mine, which was in the area, but once getting to the 4x4 road that headed up there, we discovered the road was too rough for a loaded down V-Strom. My DR650 would have made it easily, but I didn't want my dad to have to wait around a couple of hours for me to make the trip.

So, with that plan not working, we decided to go the long way home and headed up over Berthoud Pass. Here's a photo at the top of the pass, looking west into Winter Park and Grand County.

Guanella-Pass-Ride-Camp-12 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

We rode through Winter Park, Granby, and around Granby Lake, finally coming into the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, my backyard stomping ground.

Although there wasn't many miles rode (~300) it was a fun weekend trip and a great time spent with my Dad.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

RSalles · Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 2:52 pm Post subject:

Congrats, llike all of them,

Cheers,

Renato

Gurdie · Expire: 2013-02-20

A wonderful series and a nice trip!

I like the Milky Way shots and the last landscape best.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Usual great images, congrats.

skida · Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:03 pm Post subject:

Great story through wonderful images! I look forward to the next one.

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Again wonderful shots and a great story in pictures!

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

very nice, thanks for share the trip with us !

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Beautiful pictures, you had a wonderful weekend!

Can I ask - the pictures on the forum look fine but the Flikr images look a little over-sharpened to me. Did you sharpen
them a little, or is that how Flikr handles them?

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18