eofelis 

At sort of the last minute we decided to do a tour. We have not gotten to do a tour since 2004. We will tour around SW CO and the San Jaun Mtns. We have been over some of these roads on bike and others just in the car. We are thinking about 12 days. Our last tour was 7 days around the Uncompahgre Plateau, just to the south of where we live.

We plan on leaving out our door from Grand Junction, CO.
Tentative intinerary:

Delta - 40 miles. An easy first day.
Montrose - 20 miles. Another easy day. We have a friend that lives there who we will visit and stay overnight. In 2004 we went to Montrose the first day, 70 miles the first day out was too much.
Ridgway or Ouray - 20-40 miles.
Silverton - The climb over Red Mtn Pass will be our first big pass.
Durango - Maybe motel it this night.
We will head up to Dolores/Rico to go over Lizard Head Pass. Details are getting sketchy this far out. Depends on weather and how we feel. Anyway, Telluride/Placerville, then west to Norwood and Naturita, north through Gateway and Unaweep Canyon and on to GJ.

Vehicles:
His - Surly Crosscheck with XT 9sp drivetrain (22-32 low gear) pulling Bob trailer.
Hers - Surly LHT with XT 9sp drivetrain with 22-34 low gear. Jandd panniers front and rear.

Packing list is still in progress.

Shemp

No doubt a beautiful trip! Pack light!

staehpj1

I am so jealous. I loved riding in the Rockies last Summer and really miss them. I think we all almost cried as we rode into the flat country of Eastern Colorado and Kansas.

Have a great trip!

RichardCranium

be careful on 550, some guy on tour was just run over and killed near ridgway.

Good luck, be careful

eofelis 

We leave tomorrow morning!

Yes, there is a narrow scary part of 550 between Montrose and Ridgway. We have ridden it loaded before. I'm also a bit concerned about a few places on Red Mtn Pass.

eofelis 

12 days, 500 miles, 3 major mtn passes, it was awesome!

Not even 1 flat tire, thanks to slime.

We took a few hundred pictures. I'll try to upload a bunch this week to share.

eofelis 

I got a bunch of pictures uploaded!

https://sports.webshots.com/album/553273978zbzVVI

SRS

Thanks for sharing the photos. The Ouray-Durango ride is one of my favorites in Colorado.