Bike tour/Utah and Colorado (Summer 2022)
From WikiDotMako
Alternate pages
- /Old: Mika's original alternate plan
- /Packing list
Planning page for our hot summer bike tour in Utah and Colorado!
- Someone's Salt Lake to Denver trip
- direct Google routing from SLC to Breckenridge.
Day -1 ✈️: Seattle → Salt Lake City
Thursday July 28, 2022
- Stay
- [TODO] hotels are all super reasonable in the $150 range for a DoubleTree! Want to do this? Or something else?
- Highest altitude
- ~4200ft
Itinerary:
- Flight from SEA @ 6:20pm → SLC @ 9:20pm
Resources:
Day 0: Seattle → Salt Lake City
Friday July 29, 2022
- Stay
- [To Be Decided], same as previous day
Resources:
Day 1: 🚲 Salt Lake City → Yellow Pine Campground
Saturday July 30, 2022
- Stay
- Yellow Pine Campground
- Mileage
- ~65mi 6200ft or ~60mi and 7100ft
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Resources:
- [TODO] [reserve on recreation.gov] https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10048898 [lots of availability]
Alternatives:
(b) knotty pine resort or (c) shingle creek atv campground
Day 2: 🚲 Yellow Pine Camground → Starvation State Park
Sunday July 31, 2022
- Stay
- Starvation State Park [TODO]
- Mileage
- ~44mi (4800 ft)
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Resources:
- https://utahstateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/fred-hayes-state-park-at-starvation/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=UT&parkId=342801#sr_a [lots of availability]
- Alternative: Strawberry River Bed and Breakfast in Duchesne (or a best western)
Day 3: 🚲 Starvation → Vernal
Monday August 1, 2022
- Stay
- [TODO]
- Mileage
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Resources:
dinosaurland koa maybe? seems kinda expensive so mayb ejust get a hotel?
Day 4: 🚲 Vernal → Kenney Resevoir
Tuesday August 2, 2022
- Stay
- Kenny Resevoir ("For more information on Kenney Reservoir or to make reservations, contact the water district at (970) 675-5055.") [TODO]
- Mileage
- 63mi 1500ft (pretty flat)
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- [TODO]
Notes:
- We'll cross from Utah into Colorado
- the more attractive route goes south along 45, changes to old bonanza hwy and crosses along a little unpaved road.
- Alternative route going into Bonanza and then Stanton seems doable. It's only 6-7mi more.
Resources:
Day 5: 🚲 Kenney Resevoir → Rifle State Park
Wednesday August 3, 2022
- Stay
- Rifle State Park [TODO]
- Mileage
- ~87mi but only 3k feet
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Resources:
- kenney resenvoir to rifle gap state park (87 miles (quite long) but only 3k ft
Alternatives:
- Elkhaven Lodge is in a better place but it's $300 and minimum 2nights. We could call?
- Trail and Hitch RVpark and Tiny Home Hotel has a sauna and wifi and $15 tent spots (Available); sadly, tinyhomes are only available for a 2-night stay. It's only (54mi from kenney) but it sets up a killer 100mi day for the last day assuming we stay in Glenwood Springs.
Day 6: 🚲 Rifle State Park → Wolcott BLM Campground
Thursday August 4, 2022
- Stay
- Wolcott BLM Campground
- Mileage
- [To Be Decided]
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Resources:
Itinerary:
- Leg 1: 15mi from campground to New Castle
- Bus: from New Castle to Glenwood Springs
- Bus from New Castle to to Glenwood Springs on Hogback Rifle route which leaves New Castle 6th and Main 40 minutes after each hour and also 10 minutes after 7am, 8am, 5pm, and 6pm.
- Not all bus stops take bikes but there is a [page about this here] and a map of bike stops here so I think we need to go from the stop on 6th and Main in New Castle to the Park & Ride in Glenwood springs.
- Loading bikes is either a two-bike rack which is the same as metro or a complicated 4-bike rack which is actually two racks and we should load them to the driver side first and then the passanger side.
- Pool in Glenwood Springs Hot Springs (open 8am-9pm; kinda pricey at $~39)
- Leg 2: 40 mi to Wolcott BLM campground
Alternative would be to stay in a Best Western (or similar) in Eagle. Kinda expensive for what it is, honestly!
Resources:
It's hard to do given the 100 mi to Breckenridge but It would be nice to stay in Glenwood Springs for the night since there's a hot spring there but it sets up a pretty rough day.
Glenwood resources:
- If we stay in glenwood, there is a "resort" with camping sites although they are quite expensive ($67) so a hotel might be easier.
- Hotels in Glenwood Springs are werdly expensive. the "best" hotel is a 3-star Hotel Denver is that is like $250 for the night.
Day 7: 🚲 Wolcott BLM Campground → Breckenridge
Friday August 5, 2022
- Stay
- Mileage
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
- The first thing with emma is 5-9pm so it would be good to arrive as close to 5pm as possible. if we do 100 we'll want to be rolling by like 6am.
- Option a: if we stay in glenwood, it's a little under 100 mi into breckenridge (and 5.6k feet of climbing. Basically the first 80 seems like a gradual river valley climb).. it's possible and it's the last day so might be OK?
- If we stay in Eagle or Wolcott it would be just 70 or 60 mi into breckenridge the next day.
Resources:
Day 8: Wedding!
- Stay
- Mileage
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Day 10: 🚌 Breckenridge → Denver
- Stay
- [TODO]
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Itinerary:
- [TODO] bus ticket (buy tickets)
- 4:20pm: Meow Wolf Convergence Station (tickets are in Google Pay) [arrive 10min early]
- 7pm: Dinner reservations at Uchi Denver at the counter (award winning sushi joint with a vegetarian tasting menu)
- https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Breckenridge_(Colorado)
- https://gobreck.com/plan-your-visit/transportation-maps-directions/how-to-get-to-breckenridge-from-denver
- This seems to be $60 each: https://www.mountainshuttle.com/shuttle-services/breckenridge/
- Epic Mountain Express seems to give a discount: "Book reservations at least 48 hours prior to travel. Reservations made the same day of travel are subject to a $5/per person fee. Accepting reservations through 10/31/2022"
Vail/DIA times: 7:00 am / 9:15 am 8:30 am / 10:45 am 10:00 am / 12:15 pm 11:30 am / 1:45 pm 3:00 pm / 5:15 pm
Day 11: ✈️ Denver → Seattle
- Stay
- [To Be Decided]
- Food
- breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
- Weather
- Hot (>30C).
Places to visit
- Arches National Park
- Dark Sky Parks - parks where you can see lots of stars
- Canyonlands National Park
- The Narrows in Zion National Park
