A motorcycle ride across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
Early May I went on a solo ride across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and back to Texas. This 4300 miles trip took about 20 days. I was riding my AfricaTwin and did camp half of the time. The plan was to avoid as much as possible any highways.
Here is the route as recorded by the Garmin. Most of the videos below are from Utah.
On my way to Arizona I went through the Chiricahua mountain, pretty cool place and apparently one of the best area for bird watching. The forest road 42 crosses the mountain from cave creek canyon to the national monument. An easy level 1 dirt road.
 |
 |
Found a nice campground in Arizona with an awesome view on lake Roosevelt
And now in Utah...
 |
| Bryce Canyon |
Utah was spectacular. I unfortunately could not do all the trails I would have like to do. I’m a bit more cautious when traveling alone and I think I had my share of crashes while riding the New Mexico BDR with this bike. Nonetheless there are extremely scenic level 1 or 2 dirt trails in Utah to satisfy anyone. I really enjoyed the Burr trail on the way to Bullfrog
 |
| The Burr trail switchbacks |
The most spectacular day was certainly the leg from Bullfrog to Mexican Hat. The view from the top of the Moki Dugway is quite exceptional and the famous switchbacks are quite fun to ride. However, my best souvenir of this trip will certainly be the Valley of the Gods.
Moab was crowded and it took me a couple of hours to find a campground. It was really nice and quiet but about 15 miles from the town in hunters canyon.
From Moab, I went to Fruita were I had booked a campground at the Colorado national monument.
 |
 |
The ride in Colorado was rather short as the weather was a bit uncertain. So the plan was just to ride the ”million dollars highway“ between Ouray and Silverton and stop in Durango for the night. Had lunch in Silverton with a KLR rider I met few days ago in Mexican Hat.
|
|
The rest of the trip was enjoyable with couple more national parks (petrified forest and the white sands). The ride back through New Mexico looked familiar and I did a stop at the hidden springs in Reserve to eat a good burger and say hello to Jenn. What a cool place!!
 |
|
Then Texas was in sight
The dilemma is always to find a route that’s not going to put you asleep right away…I stopped for the night in Fort Stockton after a painful ride from Carlsbad (the 285 is a bit of a nightmare) and took the 190 through Iraan and Eldorado to get back to Austin. This route is definitely the best option.