Riding the range

We did stay a couple days in Lamar since it snowed all day.  Wednesday morning we pulled out and headed towards Pueblo.  Had a nice drive, about 160 miles.  Went through Pueblo on hwy 50, then turned north on 115 for about 15 miles.  We're staying at Mountaindale RV campground which is a very nice campground with nice roomy sites.
Yesterday we drove west on 50 past Canon City to Texas Creek on the Arkansas River.  We unloaded the RZR and rode for about 3 hours.  These were fairly easy trails through sand, dirt, rock, and alpine meadows.  We rode to the top at 9185 feet, then continued where we had a light snow falling on us.  Amazing how the temperature can go from comfortable to pretty darn chilly real quick when the dark clouds hide the sun.  We had a nice day just riding and enjoying the scenery.  Too bad it's a late spring and the meadows were still brown.
This morning (Saturday) we left at 8:15 and drove down 115 to Penrose Commons and rode the RZR
for almost 3 hours.  We beat the locals and saw the first atv's and motorcycles as we were almost back to the truck.  These trails were much more challenging.  The main trail had some pretty tough sections with rock ledges and loose rock climbs and descents.  But me being me I had to turn down one of the "brown trails".  This one trail had me wishing I would have bypassed it.  It was pretty tough with rock ledges that had me scraping the skid plates but then we started descending down into the canyon.  This is where it really got scary.  There was no way to even think of turning around.  I was committed!  Or as Cindy thinks I should be committed....
There was loose rocks, big and small.  Rock ledges that we slid down some, others I bounced down.  Finally we reached the bottom of the canyon and I could breathe.  Cindy was getting pretty frantic by then.  Then we had to climb out of the canyon.  The climb was worse since going down I could control my descent much easier.  Going up I had to keep my momentum up which meant bouncing from ledge to ledge in some places.  A couple times I had a hairpin turn at the top or bottom of some pretty large ledges.  But we made it!  No damage to the RZR.  Well except for Cindy's "oh shit" bar.  I think she might have bent it....
We then finished the drive on the main section which was easy compared to the "brown trail".  Cindy said she figured out why it's called "brown trail".  Think about it.
After loading up the RZR we washed the truck and RZR which  both needed it badly.  Then just spending the rest of the day relaxing at the coach enjoying the gorgeous weather.