May 25, 2007
Walden-Laramie Loop


In search of... Some road that might connect the Red Feather Lakes area to the Walden area - that isn't Colorado Route 14. I wanted to do a counter-clockwise loop with the "dotted" area being the desired route. In the end the road, dirt, would be gated and I would end up turning back and taking CO-14 to Walden. This would then make the route into a clockwise one.





Heading north on US-287.




Road cut and shortly I'll be at the first turn - The Forks.







A dotted cloud day.



















Well, now I know the road I want to see, isn't to be asphalt.










Pickens Point. A nice stop to enjoy a snack.




And the reason it's called Pickens Point...










Turning about and looking back to the bike.




View from the point.

Panorama
Click for a larger size




CO-14 Heading towards Walden.
















Joe Wright Reservoir







Cameron Pass
10,276 Ft




Just after the pass the road turns a corner and we're presented with this mountain (and I'm looking at those horizontal lines on the mountainside).




Panorama
Click for a larger size




Over the pass and quickly heading to Walden.




Things are flat here - the North Park basin.










Walden's a small down - five blocks wide by 8 blocks long. Flag mounting. No large crew with a bucket lift and construction cones in the roadway. Simply a guy carrying a ladder from lightpole to lightpole. Easy. Done.




North of Walden. Still fairly flat though we'll roll through some low pass before long.













Old Union Pacific railroad grade on the right. My maps show the line ending at Walden and following the road up to Fox Park WY.













We're east of the mountains now - rolling grasslands.
















Back south of the CO-WY state line - US-287







Water channel and a "tunnel cut". The water was a couple feet deep and moving somewhat quick.






262 Miles
6:19 total time (h:m)
41.5 MPH Overall average
5:05 moving time (h:m)
51.5 MPH Moving average