Twisties, Peaks, and Cherry Pie: A Local's Guide for Your Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Adventure

I've described in past episodes how I work part-time as a tour guide in Rocky Mountain National Park. I work for Green Jeep Tours and we take tourists up into the park by jeep Three hour tours typically but I almost always ride my motorcycle to work right when I'm coming up there. So any number of times, like on a busy Saturday, other folks that are coming up on their motorcycles. They would see this local guy on his bike and they would come up and ask me for suggestions and I would. I would give them, oh, just more information that they probably expected to get about how to avoid the crowds, where are the best places to ride in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. I love doing that, but a year or so ago I decided to put it into this podcast. So I created three episodes that were targeting around Rocky Mountain National Park and the region all around the national park. So, yeah, what I've decided to do. I thought it would be helpful.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Here we are in spring, or just almost in spring, right, the weather's warming up, the days are getting longer. I thought it'd be a good opportunity to bring those back and just share all of that information with you in one episode. So this is it today. So I wanted to let you know too, about something that I've been thinking about. If you find yourself, for example, in the northern Colorado area sometime during the spring or the summer or the fall, I would absolutely love to meet you. If we could work that out. I love to meet people in person and, gosh who knows, we could take a ride together. I have been thinking about organizing a tour sometime, at whatever time I can figure it out. I still have a day job which keeps me quite busy, but there's going to be a point where I'll retire and maybe do some touring full time. I'd love to take folks around my absolute favorite places all around Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming and really just all over the Western United States. Who knows, if you might be interested in talking about something like that and kick around some ideas? Send me an email. I'd love to chat with you. I get emails all the time, love to correspond and we'll just get on the phone together or over Zoom and just have a talk. So feel free to send me a note anytime. It's ron R-O-N at peacelovemotocom.

Speaker 1: 2:29

So if you have your pen and pad ready and your map handy, let's start talking about Rocky Mountain National Park and all of the wonderful places to ride here in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Thank you so much for joining me today. Are you ready to go? Let's go for a ride Recorded in beautiful Loveland, colorado. Welcome to Peace. Love Moto, the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful, easy feeling as we cruise through this life together. Are you ready? Let's go. Well, let's get started.

Speaker 1: 3:16

When you look at a map of northern Colorado, one of the first things that you'll notice is that Estes Park is right next to Rocky Mountain National Park. Now some folks think that Estes is within Rocky and Estes Park is the same thing as Rocky Mountain National Park. Well, they're two different things. Estes Park is a little village or a little town, and then Rocky or Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park. It's actually owned by you and me, the taxpayer, and it's managed by the National Park Service. So when you leave the Estes Park city limits on either Highway 34 or 36 going west, you immediately reach either the Beaver Meadows entrance, a little bit to the middle of the park, or to the northern edge of the park. You can also reach Fall River entrance. Those are the two main entrances from the east side of the park. So as you exit the park on the western side, those two roads combine together and then you'll enter the sister village of Estes Park, which is called Grand Lake. We'll talk more about that a little bit later, but let's begin with when to be there, and I'm just going to hit to the highlights on that.

Speaker 1: 4:24

These are some primary tips I would say to have the most enjoyable trip by motorcycle. Avoid holidays. Full stop there. Avoid holidays. The full-time population of Estes Park is about 6,000 people. Rocky Mountain National Park receives about 4.3 million visitors each year and the great majority of those visitors arrive in Estes Park. The vast majority of those 3.4 million visitors will come between June and September every year. Holidays during this span, especially the week of July 4th that's the big one. Avoid July 4th. Anytime around that date. Either weekend around that Midweek is almost always less crowded. I always recommend visiting the area Monday through Thursday, if you can.

Speaker 1: 5:20

In Estes you'll have the opportunity to talk with the locals and in Rocky you'll have plenty of opportunity to talk with the rangers and it'll pretty much be traffic free, especially early in the mornings and late in the evenings. That's really the best time to be out in the national park. The reason early mornings and evenings are the best also is because that's where the wildlife are going to be out and about most of the time, really early in the morning around sunrise and then late in the evening as the sun begins to set. That's when the wildlife are most active. In general, be watchful of storms. Really any time of year up there, getting into the higher elevations, a storm can turn into ice or it can turn into snow any month of the year. I've actually been in snow on the higher elevations in Rocky Mountain National Parks in July yes, fresh snow in July, so that can absolutely happen.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Let's talk about now about where to ride. Now it's going to definitely depend on the season because Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest road in Rocky Mountain National Park. It actually reaches an elevation of over 12,000 feet. Now when you get up into those kind of elevations you can have, like I said, ice and snow just about any time of year. But they typically won't open Trail Ridge Road at its highest elevations until about May and then, depending on the season between the weather, it'll generally be closing again. That road will close in the higher elevations sometime around October, something like that. But just wanted to point that out.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Like I mentioned, though, one of the highlights of going into Rocky Mountain National Park by motorcycle is Trail Ridge Road. It's the highest continuous road, continuous paved road in the United States, and it is absolutely wonderful. When you cross over from Estes Park on Trail Ridge Road, all the way across the National Park, you'll eventually reach Grant Lake, which is considered the sister city of Estes Park, eventually reach Grand Lake, which is considered the sister city of Estes Park. You'll find the deepest lake, the deepest natural lake in all of Colorado, there at Grand Lake. The population of Grand Lake is about 400 people, but it certainly swells during the summertime. It's a very peaceful setting out by the lake, excellent restaurants and coffee shops, and they also have a hidden gem there in Grand Lake.

Speaker 1: 7:48

It's called the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater, and maybe I'll talk a little bit more about that later on. But for the Repertory Theater I'd recommend getting a reservation, and it's also a good idea just to go ahead and spend the night, because usually the shows at the Repertory Theater go into the evening and you really don't want to be out on the mountain roads at nighttime. You especially don't want to be out on Trail Ridge Road with no guardrails, at 12,000 feet at night. Don't want to do that. So get out your map and let's begin our journey.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Let's begin in the beautiful little town of Loveland, colorado, which is my hometown. Loveland is a great place to stay outside of the tourist traffic. If you choose not to stay in Estes Park, that's where I recommend anyway. So now there are many hotels and restaurants in the eastern portion of Loveland near Highway 25, but I really really recommend escaping the traffic that can be over there and the busyness and make your way into the old, original portion of Loveland. We have a new hotel right in the heart of downtown and it's called Town Place Suites by Marriott. It's within easy walking distance of the historic 4th Street, where you'll find locally owned and operated restaurants and pubs and don't miss Mary's Mountain Cookies. Those are really really good. Another hotel option that I really super duper recommend in Loveland is the La Quinta Inn and Suites in West Loveland, right on Highway 34. That's actually not too far from my home actually. This is a very quiet location and gives you a great jumping off point to head to Estes Park. It's also close to my favorite coffee shop in Loveland that's called Jamocha Joe's, which is owned and operated by my friend Christine. This is a drive-thru little coffee shop, little hippie shack you might say that has beautiful shade trees out there and vintage 1970s chairs underneath the shade tree. So get your espresso or latte and just go chill and have a little chat with Christine.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Okay, let's head to Estes Park from Loveland. We'll follow the Big Thompson River, so we're going to take Highway 34, which is just west from Jamocha Joes. We stay on the Highway 34 for about 12 miles or so. We immediately enter the foothills of Colorado from there, going through this amazing and deep portion of the road which we call the Narrows as it follows the Big Thompson River, going west, as soon as you exit the twisties of the narrows, on your left you'll see a beautiful little shop. It's called the Colorado Cherry Company. Stop in there for a cherry pie, pocket or juice and while you're listening to classic tunes and even polka sometimes. By the way, my beautiful wife Karen is the store manager. So we are there quite a lot and it is a great, great little shop. So you're going to continue on on Highway 34 and then you'll finally reach a point of a little town called Drake, tiny little village. There's a small restaurant and a campground there.

Speaker 1: 11:01

It's here where you want to turn right on County Road 43. Don't miss this turn. It's really really easy to miss it. But be looking for County Road 43. Here we're going to turn's really really easy to miss it, but be looking for County Road 43. Here we're going to turn toward Estes Park, but we're going to follow the less traveled Little Thompson River. We'll continue on County Road 43 through the little village of Glenhaven and there's going to be this amazingly sharp and steep twisty turn that you're going to be going up and over. Just be careful here. It's perfectly fine for street bikes, no need to have a dual sport or anything like that, but it is quite steep, so just be, yeah, know what you're doing when you're going up that one steep portion of that road and then you'll crest the top of the road and then out in front of you will be one of the most beautiful sights you've ever seen. You'll see Longs Peak, which is the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Continental Divide. Down below both of those peaks is the village of Estes Park.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Estes Park is a beautiful, cool little village and it's very popular. Like I said, I really, really recommend visiting Estes really any time of year, but Mondays through Thursdays is when you're going to see a lot less crowds and a lot less traffic Going into Estes Park. This is a point where I highly recommend that you fill up with gas. There are not a lot of gas stations around that area and there are certainly no gas stations in Rocky Mountain National Park, so it's a good time to top off with gas there, let's see. I recommend stopping in the sister store of the Colorado Cherry Company which is in the lower level of the Stanley Hotel, lower level of the Stanley Hotel. Get a snack and take your snack and latte or whatever you want, up on the porch and have a wonderful view of the Continental Divide Going down into the village of Estes Park. I so enjoy stopping by a little place called Inkwell and Brew. It's very close to the historic McDonald's bookstore. Another favorite coffee shop, there is Kind Coffee and if you're interested in a guided tour, I highly recommend Green Jeep Tours and that's where I work part-time. We have just wonderful, wonderful guests and I just work there every once in a while. But you'd be free to ask for me if you'd like. I'm Ron Francis. As for restaurants in Estes Park. If you want a really really good hamburger, stop by Penelope's on Elkhorn Avenue.

Speaker 1: 13:32

As far as other details about touring within Rocky Mountain National Park, I put a lot of detail in the first three episodes talking about touring in Rocky Mountain National Park, the episodes that begin with those titles, so I'm not going to repeat that so much here. I'll let you go back and listen to that on your own. But just keeping in mind probably the number one thing that I want to relay is that avoid holidays and avoid the crowds. If you can, again, avoid holidays, such as July 4th especially, and the ideal time to be in the park is Monday through Thursday, any time between, let's say, june and September. Those are usually the best times. As I mentioned, I published three episodes on Rocky Mountain National Park, which have a whole lot of detail in those three separate episodes, but I'd like to stress right now, as we begin to wrap up this section, where to go from Grand Lake.

Speaker 1: 14:33

Now, once you've reached the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park, from Estes Park, there's Grand Lake right there, the little village, and you can either come straight back, coming back east, and come across the park again, or, if you have extended time, you can take other options to return yourself back to Loveland. So option one for example, from Grand Lake you go west on Highway 34, and that's the same highway that goes through Rocky Mountain National Park. That's also Trail Ridge Road. So from Grand Lake you've got an opportunity to go back across Rocky Mountain National Park on the same road that you came over to Estes Park, if you want to. But if you have additional time, you have other options that are just completely amazing. So, for example, from Grand Lake, you can continue on going west and reach the little city called Granby, and from Granby, by the way, it's a good place to top off with gas again From Granby, you can take a right and actually cross the Continental Divide one more time. You've already crossed it when you were on Trail Ridge Road, but you'll cross it one more time.

Speaker 1: 15:38

Going north, you'll head over to, eventually, the little village of Walden, which is, out there, just beautiful. Out there, those are flat spaces that were made by the glaciers during the ice ages and completely surrounded by mountains, no traffic whatsoever, and it's just wonderful straight stretch of just uh, serenity, I guess you might say it's just wonderful. From there You'll eventually, as you go North, you'll eventually get to Walden, a great place to grab a bite to eat or top off with gas there if you need to. From there you'll take a right on Highway 14, and Highway 14 will take you over what's called Cameron Pass at 10,000 feet. You'll follow the Kachalaputa River all the way down for roughly about 100 miles and eventually reach the town of Fort Collins, and then you go from Fort Collins, you'll go south and then you'll reach Loveland once again.

Speaker 1: 16:36

So one other option I just want to throw out there as well going back to Grand Lake. So from Grand Lake again, go out to Granby and instead of turning right to go north, you'll turn left to go south. From there you're going to follow out the road and you'll eventually cross through the very famous ski resort called Winter Park. You'll pass that. You'll do an amazing climb up what's called Berthoud Pass, with some amazing views up there. From Berthoud Pass you'll continue on down where it'll eventually connect up with Highway 70. Now, from Highway 70, as you're coming back towards civilization, coming back east, you've got all sorts of options to work your way back to Loveland. You can work your way back through Nederland or through, actually, the city of Boulder, which is quite popular, and then, yeah, you'll work your way back down to Loveland following the foothills there.

Speaker 1: 17:29

There's just too many details and too many options to possibly be able to describe. I know I went really fast with this description of riding in and around Rocky Mountain National Park and different options there, but there's just so many options. I've literally ridden in this area for almost 30 years now well over 25, almost 30, I guess, collectively and I love it. I just absolutely love it. I love the terrain, the wildlife, the history, the people. There are just so many things about this area that I really really love. Sometimes the easiest thing, quite frankly, is just talk with a local in order to find out the best places to go, and I'm quite the experienced motorcycle rider around here. So I would love to talk with you Again, kind of thinking around the idea of creating a tour if you may be interested in something like that one of these days, but still thinking about that. But again, I would love to talk with you, whoever may be listening and interested in just finding out more information about riding around this area or maybe taking a tour at some point. So feel free to send me a note Again. My email is ron at peacelovemotocom.

Speaker 1: 18:55

I love what I do in regard to this podcast. This has just been a joy. I love it more all the time, and especially now that we're getting the warmer weather, and I got in a nice ride today too, about 200 miles up in the kind of cool wind, but it was just completely awesome, as always, and I'm so excited to have spring right around the corner and summer ahead, and I'd love to meet you as well as always. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy the podcast, please tell your friends. I really appreciate that. So until we meet again. I wish you peace. I wish you love, thank you.