XR650R Dual Sport Project & Travels

Governor Basin - 2004

Governor Basin is rated difficult by 4x4 standards.  Much of the upper section is narrow shelf road with lots of knarely steps.  The steps are not sharp ones, they're more like bumpy pillows, but there's no room for error.  I tried this road in 1996 on my BMW R100 GSPD, but had to turn back; its geared too high for it and its too heavy.  Even on the XR650R it got my attention.  I'm sorry I don't have photos of the hardest parts......I was concentrating on getting over them.  This is a fabulous ride.  Follow Camp Bird Road out of Ouray to reach it.

Heading up Camp Bird Road near the start.	Further up after crossing the stream.	The road starts getting bumpier and steeper at this spot but is still pretty tame.	The early shelf-road places are wide.  This is looking back where I'd come from.
This may be the most photographed spot in the trail.  I drove this once in an SUV in the winter.  It gets icy under this overpass and further up.	Mine ruins shortly before the Governor Basin turnoff.	The lower part of Governor Basin trail, just after a stream crossing.  Around the bend it gets steeper and narrower, then the harder part begins.	Resting at the first switchback, after negotiating a pretty cobby section.
View of Yankee Boy Basin from the same switchback.  Yankee Boy is also a good ride, and it gets knarely in the upper parts.	About 90 degress to the right from the Yankee Boy Basin view.	The road up from the same switchback.  This isn't as rough as it gets, but its rougher than it looks in the photo.	Looking down into Governor Basin, not quite to the top.
Mine ruins in Governor Basin.	Me at a smooth spot on the descent, just above the place that had turned me back on my BMW.  Shortly after this I discovered that my floppies had bounced out of an unzipped compartment during my descent.  I doubled back and encountered an ATV rider who'd picked them up for me on his way down.	View of the overhang on the way down.  You meet lots of vehicles on the lower sections of this trail.