Lower Powerline Road is still too muddy for use - and that's the kind of mud that sticks to the tires and jams up the wheels!
With temps well into the 60s, it was time to unlimber the Yamaha XT-250 and head for the hills! With a bit of aid from the Blazer’s battery, it started right up. I had to top off the tire pressure (actually, they needed quite a bit of air), top off the oil (didn’t take much) and oiled up the chain. A safety check revealed that the tail/brake light wasn’t working, but a new 1157 bulb fixed that. I dug out my dirt bike clothing (note to self: should have cleaned everything last fall!) and headed for one of my favorite roads, not far away.
I thought I’d try the Lower Powerline Road, but quickly ran into mud, as shown in the picture above. So, I thought, let’s try the Upper Powerline Road, but there I ran into snow, shown below. I guess mid-March is still a bit early for rides in the hills, even the low hills. This kind of mud is very slippery, offers very poor traction, and sticks to the tires and can jam up wheels—in other words, something to avoid.
This is snow on the Upper Powerline Road, not yet melted. This type of mud is slippery and goopy.
From where I had to turn around, I did get a nice view of Horse Fly across the Uncompahgre Valley, still with snow on it. They say around here that the winds will keep blowing until there’s no more snow on Horse Fly. Looks like the winds will be with us for awhile.
That's Horse Fly across the valley there. Still lots of snow, though it was quite warm today.
I caught the following picture showing the intersection of the lower powerline (the three wooden poles) with the upper powerline (the pylons). If you look carefully, you can see a pylon right atop that hill. The Upper Powerline Road goes right by it, but it’s still inaccessible due to the snow.
I often refer to the "powerline roads." The Upper Powerline Road leads up the hill to follow the pylons. The lower powerline is held up by the wooden poles, and the Lower Powerline Road loosely follows that line to the north, where it comes out on Kinikin Road.