“The word adventure has
gotten
overused. For me, when everything goes wrong —that’s when adventure starts.”
Yvon Chouinard, 180° South
SAM PULLED INTO MY DRIVEWAY ON his blue BMW F 800 GS. He was wearing a matching blue helmet with a blue dry bag strapped to his back rack. I’d just spent two hours packing and repacking my panniers and dry bag, trying to decide what to bring. Our plan was to ride to the western slope
of Colorado to scout Engineer Pass, one of the most famous 4-wheel-drive routes in the state, as well as the most technical sec- tion of our planned route for the upcoming A Story Worth Living film trip. We wanted to see if it was as difficult as we’d heard and make sure we were comfortable leading four guys over it. After studying maps and reading trip reports from other riders, we
had concluded that we’d either take the shortcut from Ouray or the slightly longer route to the south via Corkscrew Gulch. Once on the road, we arrived first at the shortcut turnoff and pulled off the highway. The road ahead of us was a collection of
small boulders and rock ledges that almost immediately disappeared around a bend to the right. I pulled up on a hill next to an “Extreme 4-Wheel-Drive” information sign and almost dropped my bike. I played it off, hoping Sam hadn’t noticed. I was supposed to be the experienced rider on this trip, after all. Sam parked his bike on some flat ground,
took off his helmet, and asked me for a cigar. We took turns smoking it, staring at the road ahead. This was more than either of us had bargained for. “Let’s go take a look at the next turnoff at
Corkscrew,” I said. “Maybe it’s more manageable.”
We pulled back onto the Million Dollar
Highway and rode a few miles farther south to the Ironton Park trailhead, also known as the beginning of Corkscrew Gulch, and breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived. This looked much better—a nice, hard- packed dirt road winding off into the trees. We knew we’d be facing several water cross- ings and some pretty significant exposure and elevation gains, but at least it looked like something we could actually ride up. We lowered our tire pressure for better trac- tion and decided I’d lead and we’d stop as soon as we found a good place to camp below the treeline. We headed off to whoops and hollers in
our headsets. We were finally on dirt and that’s what our bikes were made for! Corkscrew Gulch began to live up to its
name. What had started as a mild fire road quickly became a roller coaster of ups and downs, creek crossings and sheer exposure. We were having a blast. Then we came to a
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2016
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