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Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Bucksnort: So What if it IS on Dirt?

Sunday’s ride included The Bucksnort in Sphinx, CO. It’s been on the list of “to do’s” for quite some time. Every time my friends and I would plan this stop on a motorcycle ride, someone would bail…because it’s on dirt.

Yes, it IS on dirt, but it’s hard packed and no more of a challenge to ride than up to my friend’s home in Larkspur. Well, unless you go off the edge of the road. If you do that, trust me, riding on dirt is a minor problem! There are pictures on the walls of The Bucksnort that has cars in the ditches. We also had the wonderful opportunity of seeing a pickup truck being hauled out of a ravine….with a bent up rear-axle. Not good, in my opinion!

The ride down this little road is spectacular! The rock formations and small stream makes for typical gorgeous Rocky Mountain scenery. Yes, it is worth riding down this road to get to this place.

According to the July 2, 2004 article in The Gazette, the Bucksnort is a 100+ year-old cabin that is the last standing building of the old mining town of Sphinx Park. It was an old mercantile and now is a bar/restaurant. Evidently, it’s a pretty hot spot…even being on a dirt road and all!

Of course, being my first time, I had to try their famous burger…and yes, it was quite yummy. Scott, a burger connoisseur, pretty much put the stamp of approval on the whole dining experience…he inhaled his burger!! LOL. Of course, the burger was one highlight…the other being the beautiful scenery out back! It was daylight so there wasn’t a band…but I hear this is a pretty hoppin’ place at night too!

The company was fabulous too and we had a great time talking to everyone—in our riding group and the new faces at the other tables. Well, they had to talk to us—with all our riding gear we managed to take up all the tables! So other patrons HAD to talk to us….to ask if we would move our stuff!! LOL…

I’ve heard from several sources it’s a couple to three miles once you turn off the highway…the Internet says seven. I wasn’t paying attention since I was concentrating on keeping my motorcycle upright and not going off the edge!! At one point the ruts were so bad I was gritting my teeth and thinking “this is a Harley Davidson…NOT a flippin’ dirt bike”!!!

One of our riders wasn’t happy; she did drop her Deuce when she got stuck in sand. She’s alright, the bike has minor damage, but still…..

Oh yeah, I had to be pushed out too.

Still, it was worth it. I hear it now….some of my MSR friends won’t be doing this ride!! I can understand, but at the same time, this is really a cool place!

And no, it’s not on the Scavenger Hunt list. *Yippee* because no way was I going to get the Fatboy by the sign—it was way too much work!! I did get one of my friends to snap a pic, though. A “Christine was here memento”.


Yes, I was at The Bucksnort...see *smiles*

Finally, The Bucksnort. I still have to find Little Bear…which is in Evergreen. Anyone want to ride it with me? Evergreen is a great ride, BTW….I mean some really cool twisties!!

The whole Sunday ride was cool….this was just a stop. I’ll post the details of the full ride tomorrow….

Keep the Shiny Side Up!

~The Rainbow Wahine

2 comments:

Mustang said...

hey, thats cool. this is something similar to what we do with our royal enfield bullets.. we take them through slush, rock and sand (basically not through road) and at the end of it, feel really neat about it... well, the clutch case and the gear box are another story.... i think off roading develops the riding skills of a rider in quite a few ways.. !!!!

D

Beaker said...

I must admit we have been doing more and more dirt road riding as of late - just gotta do it to get to those out of the way places.