Best Route from Topaz Lake to SW Colorado

[AdventurePoser]

Hi all,

 

After the rally, the Flame and I are heading to southwestern Colorado for nine days in the San Juan mountains. Is that sweet or what???

 

Anyway, for those of you familiar with the area, do you have any tips about highways, time, places to stop, eat, etc, etc. We are allowing two days to ride from Topaz to Ouray, Co.

 

What do you say?

 

Steve

 

[marcopolo]

I'm no expert, given where I live, but after the Un my wife and I are spending a couple of weeks in California. However, when we head back east we'll be leaving from Oakhurst (just south of Yosemite NP). We're going to take three days to ride from Oakhurst to Ouray vs. the two you say you're doing. In any event, on Day 1 we'll ride from Oakhurst to Alamo Nevada. Day 2's ride is from Alamo to Torrey UT, and Day 3 is from Torrey to Ouray. If you're at all interested PM me and i can send you Garmin routes (this assumes you can open/view GDB files in Mapsource. I could also save them and send them in GPX format). In summary form:

 

Oakhurst-Alamo: east out of Yosemite on the 120, then onto US 6 at Benton, onto the 375 at Warm Springs, onto 318 for less than a mile and south for a few miles on US 93 to Windmill Ridge.

 

Alamo-Torrey: take the 93 north then east; turn onto the 319 at the Lincoln County airport (the 319 becomes the 56 when crossing into Utah); follow the 56 to Cedar City and leave Cedar City on the 14; turn off the 14 onto the 148 to ride through Cedar Breaks National Monument; exit Cedar Breaks by turning east onto the 143; turn onto the 12 in Panguitch and follow it all the way to Torrey.

 

Torrey-Ouray: leave Torrey on Hwy 24 and ride through Capitol Reef NP; turn south onto the 95 in Hanksville; cut off the 95 onto the 261 which will take you through the Moki Dugway; head northeast on the 163; the 163 becomes the 262 at Montezuma Creek; the 262 becomes the 41 at the state line; we're then going to cut back a few miles once we hit US 160 to go to Four Corners; we'll then follow the 160 up to (and past) Mesa Verde NP then take Hwy 550 north to Ouray.

 

In Alamo, we're staying at the cabins at Windmill Ridge. See here: http://wind-mill-ridge.com/

 

In Torrey, we're staying at the Schoolhouse. See here: http://www.torreyschoolhouse.com/about/index.shtml

 

We'll be eating at Cafe Diablo in Torrey. If you aren't a Torrey regular, see here: http://www.cafediablo.net/

 

Finally, in Ouray, we'll be staying at the Box Canyon Lodge. We stayed there in 2007 and really liked it (especially the natural hot springs hot tubs on site), so we're doing it again, this time for two nights. See here: http://www.boxcanyonouray.com/

[Bill_Walker]

This (Google Maps link) is, except for the Western end, the route I took from the last Ouray event to the SF area. It worked out pretty well. That little piece of 120 between 395 and 6 is a hoot. 6 and 50 are typical "crossing Nevada". At least you can go fast. I didn't actually do the Torrey loop part, now that I think of it, and you may not want to, either, having been there multiple times. I think I just did I70 to 50, and then caught 6 at Ely. But the lower loop to Cedar City takes you on the ET highway, and you can stop at the Little Al'e-Inn in Rachel. Note that all across this part of Nevada, gas is scarce.

 

Note that the turn off 191 south of Moab is UT46, then becomes CO90 when it crosses the state line. Anyway, it's a very pleasant road with some scenic parts. And you get to go through Bedrock! I didn't see Fred, Barney, Wilma or Betty when I passed through.

 

I can't say much about places to stop, as I was in a bit of a hurry. I spent the night at a Best Western on the main drag in Ely and had dinner at a surprisingly good Chinese restaurant a couple of blocks west. Knowing your proclivity for distance (and because you're going the other direction or skipping Ely entirely), you might spend the night in Cedar City.

[AdventurePoser]

Mark and Bill,

 

Many thanks for the tips...Mark I am a GPS novice. Own a Zumo but haven't downloaded routes into it other than "on the fly." Thanks for the directions! When in Ouray, we normally stay at the KOA. Super clean, great owners, and wonderful scenery make it a perfect base to explore the awesome roads in the area.

 

Best,

Steve