Enchanted Rockies Trail (segments 6-9)

I was expecting to take 4 days to cover this route, but things moved a bit more quickly than I expected. Started out leaving after work on Wednesday, mostly to cover some ground. I did find a great camp site, but the weather prevented the views from being as impressive as they could have been.

Up early the next day to finish the drive to the start of segment 6 of the ERT (Sand Dunes National Park). A quick breakfast, a last look at the view, then a lot of hard roads until the sand rose out of the mountains.

I checked on the conditions for Medano Pass, and I was told to get a move on (from a couple different rangers in the park). There are a number of water crossings on the way up Medano Pass, and flash flooding was expected with the afternoon storms. If only a small portion of the water crossings became problematic with afternoon storms, that would have made this trail much more difficult.

While I did make it over Medano Pass before the weather came in, a bit further up I had to take a minute to evaluate the road conditions before continuing on.

Finished the day out on the Phantom Canyon Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway. Some cool tunnels, pretty views in the canyon, and finished the day out in Divide, a bit beyond the planned end of the day in Victor. Found a nice campsite, but weather was still a bit rainy and overcast.

The next day overlapped with some routes and areas I was more familiar with. Due to this, I cut off a section of the ERT, and was able to make it from Divide to outside of Hot Sulphur Springs (which was initially slated for 2 days). Truck was a little muddy after the rainy days, so a quick spray while passing through Woodland Park after another quick breakfast.

Then it was off for a wonderful day of dirt roads connecting up the front range of CO to the mountains. Clouds started breaking up, so I found a nice place to stop for lunch.

Time to push on, first time driving up Boreas Pass from the Como Side (have biked it previously from Como, but never driven). Found my favorite campsite of the trip, and maybe one of my favorites in CO.

Played with the drone a bit (picture above and video below):

After getting out of camp the next morning, it was all asphalt through to Estes Park. Even though it's paved, Trail Ridge Road really is a spectacular road to drive on. Hard to ever capture it with pictures, but had to snap a few along the way.