The Colorado Elephant Ride:

Below freezing; In February; at over 11,000' Why not?

Each February, nut-case riders from all over converge on Bailey, Colorado to ride to the top of Guanella Pass (11,667') over the unmaintained Guanella Pass Road. (Sadly, as of 2012 the pass road is now paved on the eastern side. . .) The Colorado Elephant Ride pays homage to the Elefantentreffen held annually in the Bavarian mountains of Germany. In February 2006, I saddled up for my second attendance of this classic Colorado ride.

This time on my Yamaha XT225 enduro bike.

Above: Me and my ride after a cold two hour ride from home to the start point.

Above: Some of the other nuts and their bikes.

The road to the summit was pretty dry on the lower reaches this year.

Above: At the Guanella Pass summit. I’m mouthing “Damn, it’s cold. . .”

Bikes of all types and sizes are seen every year. From tiny old Honda CT110's up to heavy sidecar rigs. There were a number of Russian Ural rigs in attendance this year.

Heading down the east side of the divide the road down into Georgetown, Colorado was decidedly sketchier to ride on.

Of course, no trouble for the Ural rigs.

I on the other hand on my two-wheeler found it a bit challenging. Fresh snow is easy to ride on. Compacted snow is scary!