Utah/Idaho - Mike Hoppe’s
Off Road Adventures
by Mike Hoppe
After the last ride, leaving Durango is tough…so nice there,
check out www.durangoriversideresort.com and say hi to Eric and Jaimie who
manage the resort. Heading over to Utah I had decided to take the ferry
across Lake Powell to Bullfrog in order to ride the Burr Trail over to Boulder
on route 12.
First off, the road over to the ferry is outstanding…totally
worth going out of the way for! Secondly, the boat ride alone is worth
the $10 ticket…and that includes your motorcycle! Best of all is the Burr
trail…
Heading off to the northeast from Bullfrog, the Burr trail
starts off as ancient pavement and quickly degrades to a combination of
pavement, gravel and washouts…in other words a perfect GS road! After 15
miles or so it turns to hardpack with some sand sections just before the switchbacks
that take you up to the mesa. Once on top of the mesa, it quickly turns
back to unmarked narrow asphalt that is about 30 miles of incredible twisties
and scenery.
Route 12 used to be my favorite road in the U.S. …not
anymore! If you want to ride this on a street bike just head southeast
out of Boulder (at Route 12) on the Burr trail…it will be an in and out ride
but guaranteed to make you grin!
Overnighted at the Red Rock Rendezvous in Panguitch, Utah and
then headed up the superslab past Salt Lake to Idaho. I had GPS-routed
some ranch roads in Idaho to do a little exploring. They started off as
paved, degraded to gravel (as expected), but then became trails…but I was 30
miles committed by that point…so I kept going. The pictures don’t do it
justice …360 degrees of nothing but horizon for 40 miles..and an 8 inch wide
dirt track…very weird but I made it!
Hanging
out at my friend Lee’s on Flathead lake in Montana for the next 2 days then off
to Hell’s Canyon NP and the Oregon coast…to be continued...
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