RedBear Rides on Switchbacks in Four States

Everyone knows about the famous switchbacks in the European Alps and a few other places like Chile, China, Bolivia.  But there are great switchback roads closer to home in the Western United States.

RedBear and FastKitty did a road trip to Colorado in the past two weeks to visit my sister and look for possible towns to live in where we can escape the California taxes.  On the way we treated ourselves to some wonderful roads.  First up was the dips and switches on Hwy 120 near Benton and then there was the descent on Interstate 70 down off the San Rafael Swell heading to Grand Junction.

Second was the Rimrock Trail just south of Grand Junction, CO.  This leads from town along the rim of the upthrust mesa in the predominantly red rocks.  It has great views, smooth pavement and if taken early in the morning, light traffic and the sun at your back.  There are some pretty good switchbacks at each end.

We went over East to Colorado Springs and then west by south to Taos and we continued to drive some great roads.  Monarch Pass at 11312 feet had some snaky bits.  One beautiful and unexpected road was Highway 161 in New Mexico with a 10,000 foot pass on the way to Farmington.



The next day was west toward a hotel at Bullfrog on Lake Powell.  We did the twisty 17 mile drive in Monument Valley after a side trip to Four Corners.  I had missed it before, but FastKitty insisted and it was worth every penny.

On the way through Hite, UT, we took Hwy. 261 and I received my gift of the trip - the Moki Dugway!  I had seen pictures of it on many ADV Rider ride reports, but I was not expecting to actually drive it on this trip. Spectacular road building!


Then we negotiated lots of corners on Hwy. 95 following the canyons down into Glen Canyon and Lake Powell.  We stayed at the Defiance House Inn at Bullfrog on the edge of the lake.

The next day brought the road section I had surreptitiously planned the whole trip around.  Ten years ago I rode RedBear on the Burr Trail and I wanted FastKitty to have the experience.  This road is paved in the National Forrest but is dirt through Capital Reef National Park and brings gorgeous scenery and amazing geology.  Great for Bikes and cars.  Forget it for trailers due to tight corners and the ford at Bullfrog Creek.

The road switches its way up a steep escarpment, similar to the Moki Dugway.  The views of the southern section of Capital Reef are better than one gets on the well traveled tourist section at the north end of the park.  Someday I will have to do the northern section (1670) up to Caineville.

The switches here came as a surprise to FastKitty. She squealed a little but loved the landscape.


Later in the day we passed through the small towns of Boulder, Escalante, and Cannonville and on to Bryce Canyon National Park.  I had never been to the look-off at Bryce, so that was a treat.

The next switchbacks were on the way to Cedar City.  We took the northern Route 20 to avoid the slow Hwy. 14 through Cedar Breaks Park, and ended up on another high pass road that was pretty neat.  Good thing too, because the south route was closed due to a massive landslide.

So there you have it.  The trip ended with one long day of high speed straight roads and curvy mountain passes in Nevada, followed by a beautiful trip over Hwy. 108 Sonora Pass.  More switches and stitches!  I had to pity the two guys with big toyhauler trailers who made the mistake of trying to use Sonora Pass to get to Nevada.  Last we saw they were still trying to turn one of the rigs around and head back west to find a more sane route.