James Pratt

Photographer, Writer, Storyteller, IT networking professional

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Dirt Bikes in Colorado

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For our summer vacation pandemic-style, Kay and I took another trip to Colorado to explore the back roads, visit friends, and ride our street-legal dirt bikes. We were a bit worried about making sure we had a place to stay and places to eat, but Colorado was pretty well open for the summer tourism season.

This time we loaded our dirt bikes – a 2002 Suzuki DRZ-400S for me, and a 2008 Honda CRF-230L for Kay, into the back of my 4×4 Silverado and went exploring. As usual, we drove back roads and dirt trails as often as possible, only choosing the highway when we needed to make time or there were no other viable options available.

Rather than bore you with a bunch of text, I have posted pictures with captions. Enjoy and if you have questions about planning your own trip, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.

Kay and I made a quick stop in Boise City before heading into eastern New Mexico and Colorado. It is nice to see SageNet clients like Dollar General in so many remote areas.
We had to take a short side trip in Boise City to see this huge dinosaur statue made out of metal. I had seen it on my previous trips through the Oklahoma panhandle.
We love traveling through the for-western Oklahoma panhandle town of Kenton on our way to New Mexico or Colorado. It is furthest west town of Oklahoma, right on the New Mexico border, and has a population of about 25 people.
We spent our first night in Trinidad. Accommodations were tight but we managed a room at Holiday Inn Express. The next morning we explored this old mining town.
I am an avid photographer and do work for a variety of magazines, but never had a rig for wildlife photography like this!
Kay and I unloaded our bikes and went for a day ride in the area north of Pagosa Springs.
Kay has been riding motorcycles for 50 years and has ridden dirt bikes off-road since we were married in 1980. She is now an excellent on and off-road rider.
We stopped for a break in an aspen grove at about 10,000 feet elevation.
This is our normal riding attire during the summer heat in Oklahoma. In Colorado we were wearing armored jackets much of the day.
Kay and I still like to exercise while traveling, so we went for a late evening walk along the Animas River in Durango.
After Durango, we headed north to Silverton, Colorado, home to the world’s highest Harley Davidson store. Not sure what they do in the winter!
After Silverton, we headed to Telluride via Ophir Pass, which is steep, rocky, and full of slippery shale. Not for the faint-of-heart in a full-sized Silverado.
Had to stop on Ophir Pass for a portrait taken by some other 4WD folks.
That tiny road to the right I this picture is the descent west-bound on Ophir Pass. It is single-file so we had to wait for some other folks to finish their 4 mph climb up the road until we could descend.
We spent the night in Montrose and headed east the next morning. after a few stops we decided to try a shortcut over Hayden Pass that would save us about 150 miles of driving.
My first clue that Hayden Pass was going to be really rough was this road on the western approach. It is little used – because Hayden Pass is very, very challenging. We made it half-way up the pass and had to turn around. A short-wheelbase high ground clearance Jeep would have made it, but a full-sized Silverado didn’t stand a chance.
We were barely able to turn my Silverado around on Hayden Pass without tumbling down the side. It was very steep and rocky. Backing up was virtually impossible. Going up the pass was very, very iffy. We finally found a place just barely wide enough on the trail to turn my Silverado around. The slope was steep so it was very dicey getting turned around. Kay was out of the truck directing me. I felt like Dr. Evil turning the golf cart around in Austin Powers.
They weren’t kidding with this sign. Even my 4×4 Silverado couldn’t make it across Hayden Pass. A shorter wheelbase Jeep or Bronco would have been just fine. Or a motorcycle, of course.
After Hayden Pass, we drove on to Salina and spent the night in Pueblo. Kay had friends she wanted to meet for breakfast, so I unloaded my DRZ and headed towards Oklahoma along the back roads of eastern Colorado. The plan was for Kay to catch up with me later in the day.
I ran low on fuel and it is a LONG ways between fuel stops in eastern Colorado. Luckily I found this unattended fuel station in Kim, Colorado right along the New Mexico border. It was the only fuel for at least 80 miles.
It is a long, long ways between fuel, towns, and even people in eastern Colorado, especially near the New Mexico border. Reminds me of riding across northern Nevada.
I crossed directly from Colorado into the far corner of the Oklahoma panhandle along a dirt road. Yea, lots of this in western Oklahoma.
Big balls of barbed wire make interesting art.
Water in the Oklahoma panhandle has to be pumped from the ground, and in this case the pump runs on solar power.
A row of trees is called a living snow fence. They get a lot of blowing snow in the winter in the Oklahoma panhandle.
I like to ride some really small, little-used roads when traveling. This one in the Oklahoma panhandle was very sandy and it was hotter than blue blazes.
I met Hal Clark on a story assignment years ago and saw this sign for his ranch in the far corner of the panhandle, so I detoured to see if he was by chance home.
Hal Clark’s ranch in the Oklahoma panhandle is only a few miles from both New Mexico and Colorado. It was in his family long before Oklahoma statehood. It is situated one one of the only creeks in the area, and is tucked away under trees and behind some bluffs to block the wind. Alas Hal wasn’t home.
After leaving Hal Clark’s ranch, I fueled in Boise City, then followed part of the Trans America Trail to Guymon, where I parked at one of SageNet’s customers, Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Store, to wait for Kay to catch up with me. We spent the night in Woodward and home the next day. A week long great time exploring off-road places in our truck and bikes.

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4x5 film 4x5x365 agriculture Amazon Web Services bicycle Bill Dragoo BMW Brass Ball Bobbers combine Darwin Motorcycles dirt bike drag racing Edmond El Reno film Fortinet Guthrie Ilford Delta 100 Ilford Delta Pro 100 Ilford HP5 Jeep John Deere Kawasaki Kay Pratt Kodak TMAX-100 Lexington Micha Young motorcycle New Mexico Nikon Norman Conquest Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Living Oklahoma Living Magazine Oklahoma Today Ride Oklahoma South Canadian River Thunder Valley Raceway Tombo Racing Tommy Bolton Toyo 45A Toyo VX-125 wheat harvest Wrangler

About James Pratt

I am an Oklahoma based writer, commercial photographer, editorial photographer and adventurer based in Oklahoma City. I love telling stories about people. A motorcycle is my preferred means of travel, and I have over 5,000 hours piloting small airplanes. My editorial photography has been published in hundreds of magazines and my commercial photography has been used by dozens of companies worldwide.

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4x5 film 4x5x365 agriculture Amazon Web Services bicycle Bill Dragoo BMW Brass Ball Bobbers combine Darwin Motorcycles dirt bike drag racing Edmond El Reno film Fortinet Guthrie Ilford Delta 100 Ilford Delta Pro 100 Ilford HP5 Jeep John Deere Kawasaki Kay Pratt Kodak TMAX-100 Lexington Micha Young motorcycle New Mexico Nikon Norman Conquest Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Living Oklahoma Living Magazine Oklahoma Today Ride Oklahoma South Canadian River Thunder Valley Raceway Tombo Racing Tommy Bolton Toyo 45A Toyo VX-125 wheat harvest Wrangler
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