Baxter Pass

May 27, 2010

I like Baxter Pass and have since I first crossed it from north to south in a 1969 R10 Renault in the early seventies. (Don't dismiss the R10 because you once heard bad things about Renault. My two R10s were not only more reliable than the four VW bugs I owned but were more comfortable, had more luggage space, pulled the hills better, got better fuel mileage and came with Michelin radials. The VW doors did close with a more solid "thunk." Not the first time popular myth has differed from my reality.) I find the Baxter Pass area compellingly attractive partly because it isn't a popular road and hasn't changed much in forty years. I've driven or ridden Baxter Pass many times and can't remember ever meeting a vehicle on the pass itself and only a few on the long connecting roads either side. The pass itself is mostly graded two track dirt, the connecting roads graded gravel. I believe the county usually grades the road each spring. The pass had not been graded yet this spring. Tracks indicated very few vehicles preceded me over Baxter this year. Several minor rock slides might stop wider vehicles on the south side, the snow on the upper north side had receded just enough for a four-wheel vehicle. The south side was dry as a bone, the north side had some running snow melt in ruts but mud holes were insignificant. Because the road had not been graded this year much of the road was very rutted. Unlike some years there was very little soft, powdered silt sections on the connecting roads.

I made good time on the fast gravel roads leading north from Mack up the canyons leading to the pass. As the road neared the pass it became less gravel, more dried mud and very rutted. The last climb to the summit was rocky and rough. Considerable skill would have been required for heavy adventure bikes. The summit was extremely windy. I rode down a mile or so on the north side for shelter from the wind before stopping to eat my lunch. The road on the north side was rutted for miles and I did have an incident there.

On a particularly rutted section I was riding the extreme left side of the 2-track road because that's where the only relatively smooth line was. I almost never meet a vehicle in that area, probably never had before, yet I was not unaware of the dangers of riding on the wrong side of the road and decided if I did meet a vehicle I would stop on the extreme left and let them pass. Good plan. Not much later a big pickup appeared somewhat suddenly from a blind corner. We were both going slow and there was no danger but I was startled and despite recent good reasoning my instinct was to move right. In a very few seconds I picked a line through the ruts and maneuvered accordingly. My rear wheel failed to follow my front, I got crossed up and went off the road to the right, dropping my front wheel into a 2-foot deep ditch with running snow melt. By then I had scrubbed off enough speed that the bike stopped with the skid plate and rear wheel supporting the bike and the front wheel several inches above the bottom of the ditch. Unfortunately, this was at an angle and the bike pitched over to the right and into the ditch, tossing me off, elbow into the muddy bank, knee into the mud and water on the ditch bottom. I suffered no damage and I've not seen any damage on the bike either although we both emerged a bit mud slathered.

I hopped up quickly and saw the KLR nose down, on its side, wheels higher than the center of mass. My first thought was, "I could not get out of this alone." The pickup driver was there to help about as quick as I got up. He must have been strong because we stood the bike up on the rear wheel and skid plate, front wheel suspended over the ditch bottom. With him at the front and me tugging on the rear we got it back up onto the road and pointed the right direction. I apologized for being on the wrong side of the road and thanked him for his help. He was a really nice guy (I use my age as an excuse for forgetting to write down his name and already forgetting what it was), a local guy (Vernal) with frequent reason to travel the Baxter road. We had a pleasant and interesting visit. He owned a dirt bike and was considering something suitable for street and highway. He liked the concept of the KLR and asked a lot of questions. I gave him my card and referred him to this web site and my KLR page, also suggesting he read about the DL650 V-Strom. I hope I hear from him. We continued our separate ways. I remembered an hour or so later that it never occurred to me to take pictures of any of this.

I had an idea for where to ride after Baxter Pass; telling it involves a bit of background information, all subject to faulty memory. As I recall, maps (probably Rand McNally) forty years ago labeled a small area to the northwest of Baxter Pass and near the CO/UT line as "Devils Kitchen" or "Hells Kitchen" or something like that. I was looking for this area on the R10 trip in the early seventies but didn't find it. As I recall, the map indicated it was just west of the state line in Utah. About 10 years ago I did find, quite accidentally, a sign marked "Devils Kitchen," "Hells Kitchen," something like that, just east of the state line in Colorado. It was an interesting small valley, notable for a few rather unusual rock formations. Since then, I've wanted to return but wasn't sure where I found it. No maps available to me, including on the Internet, showed any such spot. No Internet search using various possible names produced any useful results. I couldn't find the unusual rocks on Google Earth. I was hoping to find it again on this ride.

I knew where to turn off the Baxter Pass road heading northwest: just short of the CO/UT line, a road branches off to the east. It's easy to find because it has a painted sign reading "Rangely." Once on this road there are many options and one can wander for miles yet eventually arrive at Rangely or State Highway 139. The pickup driver who helped me had asked where I was headed and I told him it was my intention to turn east near the CO/UT line and travel mostly eastward until I came to CO139 as I had done once before. He agreed that would work and mentioned a road number he sometimes used to get to CO139. I found my Rangely sign, turned right and after a few winding, sometimes climbing, miles of good dirt/gravel I entered a little valley with unusual rock formations but no sign as I remembered from a few years ago. While I'm satisfied I found what I was looking for, there is still a bit of a mystery: was there ever a place called Devil's or Hell's Kitchen (or something similar)? If so, why has that name disappeared from maps, signs and people's memory? Did I imagine the whole thing or, more likely, confuse a number of memories over the years?

Satisfied I had found what I was looking for, I was free to try any road I chose or keep an eye out for the recommended road (was that 116?). A few miles farther I came to a sign reading, "Missouri Creek Road/Highway 139 20 miles." So Close? Didn't look like much of a road but why not? This was a narrow, primitive 2-track road, often very rutted and rough, soft from sand and powdered silt or both, obviously used more by cattle than vehicles. Most of the road had only one pair of vehicle tracks showing over cattle tracks. A couple miles in I got my first clue as to why not: a sign reading, "Road damage ahead/travel at your own risk." Why not? Road damage turned out to be washouts from a serious rain, probably not recent. These washouts occurred at regular intervals for several miles. All were marginally passable for a determined driver in a 4WD vehicle; not all were ideally suited to an old man on a KLR. I continued on but at an uncommonly slow pace. A couple of the washouts were barely passable for me, requiring one quick, precise line. Fortunately these lasted for only a few feet. I got lucky and had no close calls. Eventually the road began to twist and climb and became steep, rough and rocky. I was a bit apprehensive but it all worked out and I finally emerged onto a good graded gravel road with no clear indication of which direction I should go, up or down. I decide down made sense. I rode out onto a close overlook and observed a beautiful green valley far below with what was probably my road winding through it. I was pretty sure I could see CO139 at the far end of the valley. This turned out to be correct. It was good to get back on a fast, fun gravel road and reassuring to turn southbound on paved CO139.

I wonder how may times I've discovered anew how pretty Douglas Pass can be and how much fun it is to ride. I stopped near the top to drink a bottle of water and admire the lovely valleys below, made lush green by snow melt. On the south side, the sometimes near violent wind gusts did little to damp my satisfaction for the day. The ride had it's moments but most of them were good.

Notable differences from past rides: 1. Baxter Pass was the roughest I've seen it, probably because I was ahead of spring grading. 2. Cattle everywhere including in the road, both sides of Baxter Pass and especially Missouri Creek Road. At one point I met a densely packed herd marching resolutely in my direction as though driven by invisible ghost riders.