No loops today. We’re on a one-way ride.

Leaving Gunnison, we head west on US-50, riding along the Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Reservoir.

At the western end of the reservoir, we turn onto CO-92, a twisty mountain road that winds along the Gunnison River gorge. It is probably the most spectacular road we’ve been on since beginning our ride through the Rockies.

Ray even says it might be one of his favorite rides of all time, which says a lot coming from someone who’s ridden more than 360,000 miles in the past 20 years.

The road has been designated a scenic byway, and is known as part of the West Elk Loop.

CO-92 takes us past Gould Reservoir and Crawford Reservoir, before we arrive in the town of Hotchkiss 52 miles later.

About 10 miles south of Hotchkiss is the tiny ranch town of Crawford, best known for its resident rocker, Joe Cocker. Cocker, who turned 70 a week ago, has owned his 240-acre ranch here since the 1990s. Called Mad Dog Ranch, it has a European-style, seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom house with a turret at the entrance. Like many his age, Joe and his wife, Pam, are downsizing. So the ranch is now for sale; it could be yours for $7 million.

One of Cocker’s biggest hits was “With a Little Help From My Friends,” a Lennon-McCartney song originally released on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Click here to see Joe Cocker perform that classic song in concert a few years ago.

We pass by Mad Dog Ranch, named after Cocker’s 1970 album, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, then turn northeast onto CO-133 and head for Carbondale, Colorado. We’re now following the North Fork of the Gunnison River.

We pass the Paonia Reservoir and the town of Paonia, named for the flower, Paeonia mascula. The road begins to climb until we arrive at McClure Pass, which sits on the boundary between Pitkin and Gunnison Counties. The approaches on either side of the pass have an eight percent grade.

CO-133 takes us past the town of Redstone, home to the renowned Redstone Inn. Redstone was established in the 19^th century as part of a coal mining enterprise by industrialist John Cleveland Osgood. Osgood built 84 cottages and a 40-room inn – for his coal miners. Most of these Craftsman-era Swiss-style cottages are still used as homes.

A dominant feature of Redstone is Redstone Castle, a 42-room Tudor-style mansion that Osgood built for his second wife, Swedish Countess Alma Regina Shelgrem.

***

The Crystal River, a tributary of the Roaring Fork River, is on our right as we roll into Carbondale. Carbondale’s horizon is dominated by Mount Sopris, at the northwest end of the Elk Mountains, several miles south of town.

Mount Sopris is notable for having two summits, East Sopris and West Sopris. The summits are a half-mile apart, and have the identical elevation: 12,965 feet. The mountain is named for Richard Sopris, mayor of Denver from 1878 to 1881, and part of the first European expedition here in the Roaring Fork Valley.

In Carbondale, we turn east on CO-82 and head for Aspen, elevation 7,945 feet.

When I grew up in Northern California, skiing at Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows and Heavenly Meadows – in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Lake Tahoe – I’d always dreamed about skiing in Colorado. Skiing Aspen was at the top of my list.

And yet, after 40 years of skiing – including Alta, where I taught at the Alf Engen Ski School; Sun Valley, where I skied while living in Boise; and five trips to France – I never carved a single turn at Aspen.

So it was somewhat ironic that last summer, I finally saw Aspen for the first time. Then, I arrived by car, with Sarah. Today, I roll in to Aspen on a Harley.

Last year, I rode a bicycle on the Rio Grande Trail from Carbondale to Basalt, about a 20-mile ride. Basalt has some great restaurants, terrific trout fishing in the Frying Pan River, and mountain biking in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Basalt is also home to some notable residents, including:

• Wally Dallenbach Jr, NASCAR driver, who was born here.
• Christy Smith, contestant on the CBS TV show, Survivor: The Amazon. She’s best known for being the first deaf contestant on the show.
• Torin Yater-Wallace, freestyle skier and the youngest person ever to medal at the Winter X Games. Click here to watch Torin and friends skiing in Park City.

***

Today, I arrive in Basalt powered by 96 cubic inches of hot, throbbing metal, slightly more powerful than the rental bicycle I was on last year. From Basalt, we ride east on CO-82, past Snowmass, Woody Creek (home of the world-famous Wood Creek Tavern) and into Aspen.

About a mile past Buttermilk Mountain, we turn southwest on Maroon Creek Road to see what is believed to be the most photographed mountain scene in all of North America: the Maroon Bells. The Maroon Bells are two fourteeners, just 10 miles from Aspen, and a highly worthwhile side trip. Maroon Creek Road takes us to the Maroon-Snowmass Trailhead, at the foot of Maroon Lake. Once there, all you can say is Wow! My iPhone photos, while visually stunning, don’t do justice to the majesty of the view.

The Maroon Bells are two peaks – Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak – separated by about a third of a mile. Maroon Peak is 14,156 feet and North Maroon Peak is 14,014 feet. The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest is one of the most famous scenes in Colorado – which is saying a lot. Of Trip Advisor’s 59 rated attractions in the Aspen area, the Maroon Bells rank Number One; most of the visitor comments describe the view as just short of a religious experience. I’d have to agree.

Unfortunately, the skies are dark and clouds obscure the view of Maroon Bells as we arrive at the vista point. My photos today will not convey the beauty of this place, so I’ll include another one so you’ll know what we missed.

There are a multitude of hikes from the trailhead to the mountain itself. It’s a hugely popular summertime activity. But we have a lot more to see today, so that’ll have to wait for another visit.

So after gazing lovingly at the two mountains, we begin our descent down Maroon Creek Road back into Aspen.

***

The list of part-time Aspen residents reads like a who’s who of Hollywood: Jack Nicholson, Kevin Costner, Mariah Carey, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, David and Victoria Beckham … and the list goes on. One thing’s clear: this skiing Mecca is a magnet for celebrities, who are drawn by the spectacular slopes and chic lifestyle.

Aspen’s sister cities include Chamonix, France; Davos, Switzerland; and Queenstown, New Zealand.

Aspen truly is a haven for the rich and famous. There’s a lot to see, a lot to do, a lot to buy, a lot to envy. Conspicuous consumption everywhere. But this is not a shopping trip, so we saddle up and head east on CO-82, toward Twin Lakes.

CO-82 is another scenic byway, appropriately named “Top of the Rockies.”

About 20 miles east of Aspen, we cross Independence Pass, the road climbing more than 4,000 vertical feet in those 20 miles.

At 12,095 feet, it’s the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide. The road is closed in the winter, but when it reopens annually in late May, it’s a popular tourist destination. The road opened this year on May 22 — just last week.

Independence Pass gets its name from the village named Independence, which was established on July 4, 1879 – and is now a ghost town four miles west of the pass.

Since 2011, the pass has been on the route of the week-long USA Pro Cycling Challenge, held in late August. The bicycle race begins in Aspen and finishes in the streets of downtown Denver. Last year’s winner was American Tejay van Garderen, who rode 573 miles in 22 hours and 38 minutes. Previous winners include Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde. This year’s race kicks off August 18 in Aspen.

Climbing Independence Pass is challenging enough in a car, or a Harley, or any sort of motorized transportation. It seems well beyond crazy to ride over the pass on a bicycle.

At the pass, we stop at a scenic overlook, which on a clear day, offers views east to Mount Elbert, at 14,440 feet, Colorado’s highest peak. Mount Elbert is the second-highest mountain in the continental U.S. (California’s 14,505-foot Mt. Whitney, which Sarah Murr summited, is the highest).

At Independence Pass, it’s anything but clear and we have no idea where Mount Elbert is. We snap a few photos, and as it starts snowing lightly, we saddle up for the ride down the mountain.

To the west, more Fourteeners stand out – or they would on a clear day. Any other day, we’d be able to see the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain and Capitol Peak. At some point, you become almost numb to these elevations. To put it in perspective, Mount Elbert is just shy of half as high as Mount Everest.

We leave Independence Pass, and begin our descent toward Twin Lakes. In 17 miles, we drop 3,000 feet, before arriving in Twin Lakes, elevation 9,200 feet. The arrival is low-key, to say the least, since there’s very little in Twin Lakes. It has a population of less than 200, and if you don’t eat at the Twin Lakes Inn, you’re not going to eat at all.

Just past Twin Lakes, we turn north on US-24 and 30 minutes later, arrive in the historic town of Leadville. At 10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the U.S. It’s a former silver mining town, credited with producing 240 million troy ounces of silver and nearly 3 million troy ounces of gold. Fittingly, Leadville opened the National Mining Museum and Hall of Fame in 1987.

The city annually hosts the Leadville Trail 100 Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon with elevations ranging between 9,200 and 12,620 feet. In most years, fewer than half the starters complete the race within the 30-hour time limit. The course record is 15 hours and 42 minutes, set by Matt Carpenter in 2005. Ann Trason holds the female record: 18 hours and 6 minutes.

Notable residents of Leadville have included:

• Harvey Seeley Mudd, famous mining engineer and founder of Cyprus Mines Corporation. Harvey Mudd College is named in his memory. The College is part of the Claremont University consortium in Southern California; it includes Scripps, Pomona, Pitzer, Claremont KcKenna, and Harvey Mudd.
• Barry Sadler, U.S. Army Green Beret and songwriter who made famous the song “Ballad of the Green Berets” in 1966. The song was one of the few in the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light.
• Alice Ivers Tubbs, frontier gambler known as “Poker Alice.” A 1987 made-for-TV film about Poker Alice, starred Elizabeth Taylor in the title role.

***

After a short rest in Leadville, we turn north on CO-91, riding past Buckeye Peak, Chalk Mountain and Jacque Peak, which sits on the shoulder of the Copper Mountain Ski Resort.

As we near I-70, Copper Mountain is just to our west, and the Breckenridge Ski Resort is to our east.

We jump on I-70, and head north toward Dillon Reservoir, sometimes called Lake Dillon. The reservoir provides water for the city of Denver. It’s bordered by the towns of Frisco, Dillon and Silverthorne, where we’ll stay tonight.

Silverthorne served as a makeshift camp for workers during the construction of the Dillon Reservoir in the early 1960s. Silverthorne is known as the “gateway to Summit County. At 9,035 feet, it’s the highest lodging we’ll have on our trip.

***

Day Ten Summary: In the land of the rich and famous, contemplating an ultramarathon, in Aspen at long last, the Ballad of the Green Beret.

To view today’s route from Gunnison to Silverthorne, click here.

What will tomorrow bring?