"MarquetteLa" (marquettela)
12/01/2014 at 12:01 • Filed to: marqgtx, mazda, 323, gtx, 323gtx
3
11|
"MarquetteLa" (marquettela)
12/01/2014 at 12:01 • Filed to: marqgtx, mazda, 323, gtx, 323gtx | 3
| 11 |
Saturday morning I was feeling some cabin fever and needed to get out of the house. It was an unusually warm late November day in Denver, about 63 ° (today it's 25 ° ), so I drove over to Georgetown, Colorado in my 1988 Mazda 323 GTX. The intent was to check out Georgetown itself and Georgetown Lake, which has been used in the winter for ice racing for the past 39 years:
(Not photoshopped. People take their ice racing really seriously.)
I plan on joining these guys out on the ice come January in the GTX, racing in the studless tire class.
So I arrived at Georgetown and found a little dirt road on top of a hill. Here's Georgetown Lake as of last Saturday:
As I headed into town, I saw signs for "Guanella Pass", which I had not heard of before, but got me excited because I wanted to really take the GTX into the mountains and spend some time above the treeline.
I put my sweater & jacket on, rolled the sunroof back, and started driving up the steep mountain road and around the copious switchbacks. About five miles up the road I came across a few gorgeous mountain lakes. I stopped at the Lower Cabin Creek Reservoir and spent some time reading Dune by the lakeside.
After I finished a few chapters, I continued up the mountain until I reached the summit, 11,670 feet above sea level.
After spending some time at the summit, I continued my trek down the southern side of the pass. Up to this point, the roads had been pretty dry. Some patches of snow & ice here and there, but on the whole very dry. Coming down the south side of the pass was a different story, though.
Covered in the shadow of the mountain, the southern side of the pass still had plenty of snow on the road. The GTX didn't have any problem at all driving down, though. In fact, it was a complete blast. Descending to lower altitudes, the snow started to melt and reveal what road signs earlier warned me about: Guanella Pass was still under road construction. The last 10 miles or so was all smooth dirt road. The dirt road eventually came to an end as it intersected 285 and I made my way back into Denver.
I had a whole lot of fun on Saturday, and was able to do so with almost zero traffic along the entire pass. Sorry I didn't think to take more photos!
Twitter & Instagram: @MarquetteLa
OPPOsaurus WRX
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 12:14 |
|
i dunno man, the pixels and what not.
ACESandEIGHTS
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 12:14 |
|
Neat! Had a buddy that raced on ice there. I think BMW does an extreme winter driving course too(?) Good for you giving Summit County some love, since they're kinda ramshackle outside of the ski towns. My bro used to drive a Continental Mk IV around those roads. Your descent reminded me of some of the hairy treks we'd make in that beast.
Pics remind me of my favorite ever bike trips: Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass, which is more extreme yet more fun than anything in Moab and elsewhere.
BoulderZ
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 12:16 |
|
Love Guanella. I've driven it, biked it, and run it and it's just always beautiful. Thanks for the writeup and pics!
|
MarquetteLa
> BoulderZ
12/01/2014 at 12:18 |
|
Yes, I will definitely be back soon!
McMike
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 12:47 |
|
"Georgetown" (send)
Is one of the progress texts we send the in-laws from the back of a CME van.
I send the texts sometimes because (if the weather is bad) Mrs Mike usually has her eyes closed. Those guys are nuts.
"Tunnel" and "Idaho Springs" are some of the other progress reports we send to let them know to pick us up from behind the Safeway.
They live in Frisco.
Bryan doesn't drive a 1M
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 13:58 |
|
I love that area. Looks like a fun drive.
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 17:27 |
|
You went up guanella pass! Man that road is gorgeous
|
MarquetteLa
> Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
12/01/2014 at 17:30 |
|
It really is! Looking forward to seeing the area on a snowy day.
|
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 17:39 |
|
On a snowy day it can get pretty scary. Guanella at its highest point is about 11,000 feet. When snows up there it dumps snow and the visibility is near nothing
|
MarquetteLa
> Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
12/01/2014 at 17:40 |
|
I was more talking about the Georgetown area, as I'll be back in January to race.
|
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> MarquetteLa
12/01/2014 at 17:44 |
|
Oh ya it's gorgeous. I snapped this pic there last January:
