This was our second outing together.  We met up at the large trailhead parking lot on CR-116. Dana and Craig were sporting some recent changes to their bikes -- Dana had lowering links and bar risers and a new set of Michelin AC-10's  -- Craig dumped the overweight stock exhaust system on his DR650 and replaced it with a Supertrap slipon.

A couple miles of easy road to FR505. The Forest Service has closed the Whoopdeewhoop section which gave challenged to jeeps. The creek crossing was upon us fast and was negotiated easily. Craig produced a large wave in front of his bike. The next section up to Caribou was a bit wet.  After the Caribou site we climbed a hill up to Caribou Flat entering the Eldorado Mountain section.

Eldorado Mountain section was rocky and finished up with narrow switchbacks down to the town of Eldora.  Stopped for lunch and picked some flowers for Tu along side the Fourth of July trailhead road.

Reversed the route -- heading uphill on Eldorado Mountain was a blast -- we were all getting better at picking and following our lines through the loose rock. Stopped for some sightseeing at Caribou, whose silver deposits grew a town of 3,000 people in the late 1800's.

Caribou Creek had swelled some by afternoon and it was noticeably deeper.

Check out the movie of Dana crossing Caribou Creek on the way back.

No Topo maps this time, but click here for Google Earth data. (if Google Earth doesn't automatically open, then save this as a .kml file and double click to open).

Click a picture to see a larger view and captions.