Bike tour/Utah and Colorado (Summer 2022)

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Planning page for our hot summer bike tour in Utah and Colorado!

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: Salt Lake City

Friday July 29, 2022

Stay
[To Be Decided], same as previous day

Resources:

Day 1: 🚲 Salt Lake City → Kamas (Knotty Pine)

Saturday July 30, 2022

Stay
Knotty Pine Resort is a private RV park w/ swimming pool [DONE]
Mileage
~65mi 6200ft or ~60mi and 7100ft
Food
breakfast [To Be Decided]; lunch: Five5seeds in Park City; dinner: camping dinner #1
Weather
Hot (>30C).
Notes
Lodging is paid in advance plus one thing of firewood which should be included! There is a pool, hot tub, water and WiFi and probably even power for our phones.

Alternative Lodging:

  • Yellow Pine Campground (33 sites; all first come, first served; vault toilets, no water; $20)
  • Shingle Creek is also first-come/first-served and is 3mi down the road from Yellow Pine (21 other sites)
  • Should be all National Forest land so dispersed camping should be an option
  • The Saturday is fully booked at the nearest campground (Soapstone) so it might be worth thinking about staying at Knotty Pine instead.

Day 2: 🚲 Kamas (Knotty Pine) → Starvation State Park

Sunday July 31, 2022

Stay
Starvation State Park, Rabbit Gulch West Loop Site #5 (primitive campground w/ no water; but right on the lake; pre-paid) [DONE]
Mileage
(~62mi)
Food
breakfast camping breakfast; lunch: Hanna Hilton Cafe and Bar (~30mi); dinner: camping dinner #2
Weather
~30C
Stops
Pick up beer at the Hanna General Store
Alternatives lodging
  • Starvation State Park seems to have lots of availability
  • Alternative: Strawberry River Bed and Breakfast in Duchesne (or a best western)
  • [DONE] save/print the reservation
  • There seem to be some FCFS campgrounds at Rabbit Gulch and elsewhere within Starvation.

Day 3: 🚲 Starvation → Vernal

Monday August 1, 2022

Stay
Dinosaurland KOA (which has pool and minigolf) [DONE]
Mileage
67.4mi (1700ft but mostly down)
Food
  • Breakfast: Cowan's Cafe in Duchesne seems like the place but is likely closed Sunday+Monday; alternative could be Betos Mexican Food (open at 6am); and should be great.
  • Lunch Frontier Grill in Roosevelt (~35mi); alternative is Rocky's or Burger King. Many options!);
  • Dinner: Vernal Brewing Company (open until 9pm) or the slightly lower-key Dinosaur Brew House
Weather
Likely Hot (~33-35C)
Itinerary
  • Breakfast and lunch on the road
  • Arrival in Vernal by 4pm so we can stop by the Utah Field House (dinosaur museum/state park which is apparently good!) [open 9-5 every day]
  • Drop off bags and check in at KOA in Vernal (>2mi from the center of town)
  • Dinner in Vernal
Alternative lodgings
  • A bunch of hotels in Vernal

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: recommendation for Betty's Cafe in Vernal (open at 6am); lunch ?; dinner ?
Weather
[TODO]
Stops
  • Early breakfast in Vernal on the way out
  • Dinosaur National Monument!
    • Stop at the Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument
    • Take the 0.5mi hike to see petroglyphs at the Swelter Shelter near the QEH

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 but it might be a little too long?
  • Alternative route going into Bonanza and then Stanton seems doable. It's only 6-7mi more.
  • One idea is to visit Fantasy Canyon along the way but it would probably add 15mi (so like 85mi instead of 67).

Alternative places to stay:

Day 5: 🚲 Kenney Resevoir → Rifle State Park

Wednesday August 3, 2022

Stay
Rifle State Park (Site 45 Lakeview) [DONE]
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 (no reservations; FCFS; $10)
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 places to stay:

  • Gypsum Campground (BLM)
  • 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 7+1: Wedding!

Stay
Mileage
Food
breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
Weather
Hot (>30C).

Day 7+2: 🚌 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)
  • 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 7+3: ✈️ Denver → Seattle

Stay
[To Be Decided]
Food
breakfast?; lunch ?; dinner ?
Weather
Hot (>30C).

Places to visit

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