Matt's Big Adventure

July 1st

I went to the Paonia State Park camp after the Black Canyon. I took the route that passed the Blue Mesa dam, and up HW92, which is another underrated scenic highway, curvy and scenic.

I was to stay only one night at Paonia, and then move on to a camp near Leadville, but things didn’t go that way.

Down stream from Blue Mesa dam towards the Black Canyon.
Above Morrow Point reservoir, with a fire in the west, possibly Utah?
Massive Mt. Ragged, just before arriving at Paonia, is an amazingly stark presence in the area.
I’d say best campground since Seminole Canyon back in Texas. Shaded, quiet and next to a stream. No cell phone connection and I had the place to myself. 🙂
Even a little swimming hole.

Then… the next morning my motorcycle didn’t want to start. No one else was in the campground. It still didn’t want to start as the day wore on. Eventually a Park ranger came by to check the camp and he was nice enough to let me reserve another night through him. He commented how well placed in the middle of nowhere I was. Closest “big” city was back to Montrose, 70 miles away. I started working on my motorcycle to see if there was something I could fix. I have a spare fuel filter which I could swap out, but I don’t have the pinch wrench needed to remove the fuel line.

The next day a Paonia deputy visits the camp ground and helps get me set up a tow truck. Back to Montrose I go, to the one shop that would accept my “off-brand” Moto Morini motorcycle.