XR650R Dual Sport Project & Travels

Corkscrew Gulch - 2004

Corkscrew Gulch is rated as moderate difficulty in most 4x4 guides.  It was the first ride of my trip and the first mountain jeep road I'd ridden since 1996.  It has lots of steep switchbacks and a pretty good road surface.  Its narrow in places.  The early part could be slippery when wet.  I rode it starting from Ironton Park South of Ouray off Hwy 550, and then down through Gladstone to Silverton.  After Corkscrew I rode East from Silverton on County road 110 to do Maggie Gulch.

The turnoff for Corkscrew Gulch from the Ironton side.	The first section is a climb on clay through the woods.	The first switchback, but we're not into the main switchbacks yet.	Just a nice scene along the way.
The real switchbacks start pretty soon.  The middle photo in the next panel, looking down, shows where I was, and direction I was facing when I shot this pic.	I stopped part way up the switchbacks to shoot pics and drink water and discovered that my coolant was boiling.  At this point I didn't know quite what to think of it, but I rested to let things cool and shot the other two pics.
A shot of the hillside we're climbing.	At the top of Corkscrew.  I followed this snowy road thinking it was the rest of the trail, but it dead ends in about a half mile at an overlook.	Two scenes of the descent from Corkscrew towards Gladstone.
This is where you'd start Cordscrew from the Gladstone side.	The road to Silverton from Gladstone. 25 mph, yeah right....not on an XR650R folks!