Monday, June 13, 2016

Shakedown trip - Day 2 - Wye Campground to Mueller State Park

Day 2

Start - Wye Campground off of Gold Camp Road - Elev ~ ~ 9800'
End  - Mueller State Park - Elev ~ ~ 9600'
High Point -  ~ 10,000' on Gold Camp Road.
Low point - Dome Rock Wildlife area parking lot - Elev ~ ~8750'
Elevation Gain - ~ 1500'
Mileage - 34.2 Miles

















It was a bit of a slow morning in the Wye campground, as I needed to dry out much of my day gear and tent  after the rain of the previous evening. and had more thing to pack up, such as the tarp. It was a typical beautiful clear morning sky, and the air was crystal clean and fresh. My buddy Don showed up right on time, though I was running late. I'll need to work on my morning efficiency as it took about 3 hours to do breakfast, dry things, and break camp. We didn't get going until about 10:45 AM.



The ride it self was about 25+ miles of gravel county roads out of the 34 total, with a fair amount of easy cruising on the railroad grade. Closer to the tour distribution of pavement/gravel. Starting to get a feel for the fully loaded trailer at higher speeds on gravel. It tracks well, but you definitely know it is there, especially when the road gets bumpy. It is becoming clear that loose surfaces need your attention as front wheel is not as heavily weighted, relatively with a trailer. Good to get some practice in this regard. Again, some beautiful scenery along Gold Camp Rd, such as the shot from Cathedral Park below.




Cathedral Park on Gold Camp Road


A bit of historical map of the area
Corley Mountain Highway ( aka Gold Camp Road)  - Circa 1930


With the late-ish start however, the weather turned cloudy early on and was pretty cool to coldish during the day, though we dodged any serious sustained rains. The road was pleasantly lightly traveled mid week, and given the fact it was partially washed out at Clyde, so auto traffic was stopped part way through our day. We had a couple of short stretches on the paved CO Hwy 67, lots of traffic, and I'm glad for the flag on the BOB and bright cycling jerseys. 

We pulled off Hwy 67 and into Mueller for a steep 1.5 mile climb to visitor Center, and into the campsite about 5 PM.
A welcome site greeted us as we arrived as our camping trailer was already in place thanks to Glenda, with happy hour accouterments readily available after the quick setup. 

So about 6:15 hour day with mayhaps 4.5 hours of riding, average speed about 8 mph.




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