Black Bear Pass, on the Trans America Trail
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Jake and I take on Black Bear Pass as we head through Colorado on the Trans America Trail.
Black Bear Pass is probably the most difficult of the Colorado Mountain Passes because of the treacherous descent into Telluride on the Western side. There are steep rocky steps, 1000 foot cliffs, and some of the most beautiful views that you will ever see.
I want to sincerely thank you and your son for doing this video series. I recently retired and did a good bit of the TAT on a Tiger 900 in July and August, including Black Bear Pass. You were 100% right not to do it on a big adventure bike!!! Like my kids, I didn't listen and man was it scary. I mention you and your son in my video, Black Bear Pass the Descent Part 2. Thank you again for inspiring me to adventure ride. It's changed my life for the better.
Great video w/ outstanding scenery! Like your narrative style. No drama, no annoying background music or excessive verbiage. Straight up descriptions. Thanks for "taking me along" on this trip! Be safe. Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks for riding along. Working on an Imogene Pass video now.
OMG! My BP is up and I'm fully puckered while watching this and I've been riding over 40 years. Thanks for shooting this video, now I won't feel that I need to do Black Bear Pass on my loaded Africa Twin!
I wouldn’t do it on anything bigger than my KTM 690 Enduro R. And I’d rather ride it on a 300.
The house was the first hydro electric plant in North America. Also that’s called Bridal Veil Falls.
No it was not.
Few miles away, the Ames plant in Ophir was built in 1890. This one, known now as the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Power Plant, was built in 1907. Currently the power generated provides about 25 percent of Telluride's demand for electricity and the plant still contains its original 2300 volt Westinghouse Electric AC generator.
ruclips.net/video/wCaKm6kjU_o/видео.html now both ya'll stfu
@@mikeowen9268 very cool!
I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life and just can’t get anyone interested in it, I admire you guys for doing it
sounds like you should do it solo. lots of information on the net for solo TAT.
Go for it!
I did it solo at 56 with little off-road experience. Trip of a lifetime. Just do it.
Id be so nervous to get a flat tire. Only concern
Good job guys. I agree, one of the better documented videos of it on a motorcycle. A buddy and I rode it last year.
Thank you! We rode Imogene pass right after Black Bear, will do a video on it next
@Trailryder42 helped me get my xr400 carb running great a long time ago, thanks! And thanks @BillyTyo for all the great videos too 👍🏻 That house at the end was something to see!!!
Excellent Video!! I grew up in those mountains riding with my big brother there is still a treat!. You are correct the riding isn't super technical but even a small mistake "such as poor choice of motorcycle or bravado" can be catastrophic "the mountains do not suffer fools :) " Glad you get to enjoy rides like this with your son. Safe travels
Thanks. That would be an awesome place to grown up
That was intense! You can tell by the way I was leaning in my chair as you were going through the switchbacks! And the drop over the edge on some of those shots - hoo boy!
One hell of a great adventure ride you just took us on! Thank you
Thanks for watching, it was a wild day
I love watching y’all ride this stuff! Thanks for the videos!
More to come!
Both you guys have got some skills, been leaning your bike into the hill from my seat at home 🙈👍
Great video Billy! I too am a 450L/RL rider and planning on riding the Alpine Loop in Colorado one day.
Thanks! That area is so much fun to ride. Would love to go back and do some more exploring.
Great video. Best I’ve seen yet of Black Bear Pass! A+!!!
Thank you!
Great videos guys. I really enjoy them. Been up and down that pass many times. When riding the CO 500, My buddy and I always have an engine-off race from the top to the bottom down into Telluride.
Now, that sounds fun. Would have to watch some of those drops with the engine off.
@@BillyTyo Much lighter bikes than fully packed ADV bikes. KTM 525 and 450's 😉
Absolutely fantastic track and country side lol us the fact that you are having fun and learning and experiencing some of the best ways to enjoy life is just awesome. I can’t get enough of riding my bike around New Zealand and seeing new places!
Glad you enjoy it!
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us. From Australia
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for video. I rode pass years ago in spring before it was officially open, big snow cuts. From your video it looks like the road is rougher and more eroded than when I was there. Good video.
Sounds sketchy in the snow
best quality video of its type that I've seen. Content, sound, steady, well done.
Wow, thanks!
Thanks for taking us along on your adventure!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
mind-blowing
and those riding skills were sharp AF too
You guys are awesome! Thanks for making this video!
Thanks for watching!
Black Bear definitely has a series of beautiful views! But, the consequence of riding and looking at the scenery might not be too good! Great video! Best one I’ve seen of this pass. Thanks. Be safe out there!
Thanks for watching. Imogene Pass is up next.
Great inspiring video. Thanks for having the courage.
Such beautiful country.... the scenery is very different along this trail. Made the trek in 2015, driving my FJ Cruiser. Breathtaking for sure!!! Glad I did it, and made it safely down to Telluride.
Nice!
I hate ridding in the rain, makes stuff slippery! The day we rode BBP there was a guy on a BMW, dont know the size/model but I dont think they make small bikes, he made it ok, slow but.......He said that he had no experience on trails like this and at times it showed but he got to the bottom.
Enjoyed your video and I'm a bit jealous of your ridding cross country with your son, that would be a blast. thanks
Wow, I wouldn't want to tackle Black Bear with no off road experience, I'd say he did some puckering.
Done all those trail around that area most of my life, it’s definitely where my hearts at
It is an amazing place to ride!
@@BillyTyo yup, then Moab’s just a couple hours north
Stunning ride. Appreciate the commentary. It helped to understand what was going on.
I can't wait! Summer 2024 for me.
Awesome, you going from east to west?
@Billy Tyo yes. I live in NC, so starting at Nag's Head.
Wow! Great video! This looks like a lot of fun... once you're done and reflecting on how crazy it was. Amazing views.
Nice video! I love having a volume so much rambling.
I have been down Black Bear on my 1190r loaded up and on my 690r empty. The 690 was way more funner!! lol. Good job Guys! IMHO, Imagene is harder going up out of Telluride, maybe because we were tired form Black Bear...Anyway, Colorado is Amazing!! Thanks for the ride!!
Impressive! It is a beautiful place to ride
Some of those drop offs make me nervous. That view is AWESOME and I can only imagine how much fun you’re having
That is why I tried not to look down....
Thanks for the ride-a- long ... nicely done!
You are welcome, glad you enjoyed it
With rainy conditions - you guys are amazing riders! I have an Africa Twin and would never ever do this on that bike - maybe I’d walk it down the mountain.
Thank you, it was a bit sketchy and we were glad to get to the bottom. I wouldn’t want to try it on anything bigger than the 450.
Beautiful landscape. Great video! Gnarly pass!!
This is an amazing video. Great job - riding, filming, narration, editing - excellent work! I was just in Colorado and did many of the passes in this area. The only one harder than Black Bear may be Poughkeepsie Gulch coming down from Hurricane and California passes. I don’t advise it on any bike. Grateful that me and my 701 LR survived intact!
Wow, sounds gnarly. I’m glad Jake didn’t know about that one or he wound have made me do it!
Awesome video, great commentary!
looks so fun! a challenging ride makes the best memories
Takes me back to my youth in the 70's when I rode a lot of the passes on a Honda SL 125 with reduced jets and a 62 rear sprocket. Got caught on a pass in the Sangre de Cristos and in a heavy down pour ended up sliding on my butt down part of it. Many of those pass roads seem tore up compared to then. No way I would attempt some of them now unless I was on a 450 perhaps. That, and I'm closing in on 70 pretty fast. Thanks for letting me live through your ride.
I've got an experience of riding with a guy that only rode street bikes and he fell off a slope like the one seen at 6:40 though there were some trees (more mulch than rock) at that elevation. I tried to catch him, but ended up dropping my bike, grabbing some rope and a med kit and jumping off the side to help. The bike only went 60 feet upside down, but he rolled a long way down.
Wow, just don't look down......
Great video, great riding and great commentary. I've ridden in that area a fair amount the past few years, but haven't done Black Bear yet (my 350 isn't street legal, so kind of a PIA). Seen many videos of this pass and love how you guys just blew threw it even in the not-so-ideal conditions. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for watching, glad you liked it. Imogene Pass video is next
Man!… I really enjoyed this video. As a former motocross racer for many many years and former Enduro rider. I so much enjoyed this!
I found myself leaning physically do the uphill side of the trail no matter which side of the switch back you were on.
Haha. I would’ve gone slower than you guys did and I would’ve had a Yamaha DT 200 with the forks that are stiffer than stock
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching! It was a fun ride. We are getting ready for GNCC season now (east coast enduro series)
Been down with covid, really miss being outdoors and on my bike. Living vicariously through your adventure. All your videos have been great, partial to the rainbow trail one.
Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for watching.
I loved this video! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I agree, this is one the best videos. Great camera perspective.
Thank you!
I also have bear issues. I walk with bells and bear pepper spray.
Their fresh scat will start to lift your scalp hair. You're looking
at it for brass zippers or dental work exposed amid excreta.
Hello from Ouray! Thank you for sharing your ride!
Ouray, very cool town, hello!
That was some the most suspenseful content. I was on the edge of my seat for ya. I can relate as far as the drop offs. Kinda anyways. None that long. Great video.
Wow, I gotta say, this was one of the best ADV ride videos I have watched - my palms were literally sweating at some points. Heard and read alot about Black Bear. I don't think I would ever attempt it (even on a smaller Dual Sport). You guys rode it amazingly well. Really great stuff. Bravo, gentlemen.
Couldn't agree more!
@@lilliansmith5078 thanks guys, it was a wild ride
Great video and commentary. The views on clear days are spectacular. I have done Black Bear many times on 250's and 400's, plus Jeeps and even a (modified) Suburban. The worst trip was when I ignored the "road closed" signs and the switch backs on the West side were washed out and we had to ride two 400's UP the Steps. Not a fun day, but still an adventure!
I imagine riding up the steps would be a wild trip. We also ignored ‘road closed’ signs later that same day on Imogene pass, I’ll do a video of it soon.
Wow that looks like a really great time. Love the intro part 👍
Great video!!!
Thank you!!
Wow great video. I plan on riding the black bear pass this year.
For anyone doing stuff like this, or motorcycle riding in general, I put a piece of velcro on my phone and phone holder to ensure it never falls out. I drive off road as a truck driver and another driver showed me how he stopped his phone from ever popping out of the holder by adding velcro to it
Doing that in the rain. A bit sketchy. Glad you made it. Great riding. Great video!
Thanks! I was worried that a big storm would hit, but we got lucky, aside from the slick rocks the weather wasn't too bad
Smuggler-Union hydroelectric power plant is the house by the falls below Black Bear pass. I’ve seen it on a hundred videos but never thought to find out about it. So after you said that you had no idea what the story was I decided to look it up.
Enjoyed watching your ride.
Thanks for looking that up, now we know!
Love these videos! Really appreciate the time and effort you put into them. One note, maybe try and normalize the audio in post-production so the voice over portions are more equal to the audio parts on the bike. Makes it easier for the viewers that are listening in quit environment. Just my 2 cents....Keep up the great work on these videos, very enjoyable and informative!!
Thanks for the tip! It sounded like it was pretty even to me when I was editing it, but I will pay more attention to it on the next one. Working on an Imogene Pass video next.
@@BillyTyo We loved Imogene! That entire area of CO is awesome! Can't wait to watch along your journey! We will be out in Idaho and Washington State this summer...Hope to see out on the trail some day!
I thought out was well done
" ....you could go off the side of this mountain and still be falling today." LMAO I laughed so hard it hurt! Glad you guys made it.
Ha! I wondered if anyone would catch that. Thanks for watching
Excellent commentary
Excellent video. Great editing and narrative not to mention some very skillful riding!
Thanks!
Gorgeous footage. There is definitely a pucker factor here!
For sure! Don't look down
Great footage! Thanks for sharing
Great video, thanks for sharing, I did cinnamon and engineer pass in September of last year on my 690, I hope to do bear pass this year, and I totally agree this passes are more of a dual sport territory, and ideally with no luggage,
Cheers
You lost your phone when you hit the big ditch at 8:23… haha! Great videos. Thanks so much for sharing!
I wondered what happened to that thing!
Best Moto mount is the Perfect Squeeze by Hondo Garage. On your bikes use the Buzz Kill with it. I switched from the X mount and never looked back.
I haven't seen all of them but your vid of Black Bear is the best I've seen. Well done. I've got the bike for it (WR) but I'm to old and slow now!
Thank you!
Really enjoying this journey. Excellent videos. Sorry to hear about the phone. I had noticed on the prior Rainbow Trail video that the Ram Xmount for the phone oriented sideways (the phone was not in it) and thought to myself, "I hope he turns that mount up to the vertical position before he puts the phone back in it, because the phone will bounce out (as mine did) in the rough stuff with the mount oriented sideways. " Those mounts work better when oriented upright, but super rough riding may still drop the phone. Have since moved on to a mount that clamps the phone in place. Keep the videos coming!
Scary every time I ride it. Scary every time I watch others ride it. I love it.
Yep, scary stuff, just don’t look down
Excellent video and nice riding down the steps. It captures BB better than any other I've ever seen. I did BB and Imogene on my Hypermotard and I was very scared the whole time. I crashed hard on some of those ledges above the steps, but not on the steps.
Thanks. That would be really tough on a bigger bike. We did Imogene right after Black Bear, will put a video together soon
Just wow. Thank you!
Awesome great video loved it
beautiful part of the world
It really is
I Jeeped in SIlverton back in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 I also took my DRZ. I was lazy and didn't rejet it for the high elevation. It was un-rideable.
I always wanted to go back to Silverton with a dual sport bike. In 2019 I bought a KTM 450 EXC-F (fuel injected). In 2020 I made the trip to Silverton and spent 4 days riding all over the place. 6-8 days would have been better. The first day I did Black Bear / Imogene. After Imogene, the road goes back to HWY 550, then you turn off on a dirt road and go up over another pass. I got several miles up that dirt road, which got pretty rough. I was already pretty worn out by that time I so I bailed back to the highway and went back to Silverton on 550. I had a blast. I might go back this summer.
Sounds like a great time. It’s an amazing place to ride.
Awersome ride guys
"There's gold in them hills" words of an old Colorado gold miner.
Realy beautiful 👌🏻
Amazing
Wow ! That left side drop off is a little more than I would want to deal with
Yeah, I wound NOT want to go over that
Whoa that's a ballsy ride. Your videos make me want to go there and do it all. I stopped using ram mounts for that exact reason. I've found the quadlock way superior and much more user friendly. Another great video. I'm nearly getting vertigo just watching 😂
I need to try the quad lock. Thanks for watching
Nice adventure, glad y'all made it safe.
Sucks about your phone. Hopefully, you've upgraded to a quadlock.
Nice video! Been down that a couple times on a loaded down klr. Had one guy say “you did bear on that klr? Isn’t that thing a little klunky?” Yes. Yes it is. 😆. Scary but totally worth it for the view. Hopefully it will be smoother on my 1090.
I'm sure that was a wild ride!
yall are bonkers love it
Imma do it on my tiger XCA this summer! Hopefully we make it!
That is a good bit bigger than the L, there will be very challenging sections.
@@BillyTyo I’ve took it on ohv trails here in KY. Some spots was extremely sketch, 12in rock steps up hill going, mud holes huge washouts! It was nerve wrecking but possible, I still don’t know if it compares to black bear. That video looked challenging as fuk but I’m still gonna at least try!
Absolutely beautiful but wow hang on
Beautiful
Great video series. I think a stand alone video with an in depth dive on route selection and navigation would be really helpful. That has been the toughest part of the trail to research for me. I'm planning on riding the trail in the near future. I want to pick the most difficult path and camp most of the way. This information seems to be far less available than what I'm used to with thru hikes.
A lot of people have asked for that, I will start thinking about a video that addresses routes. We bought both Sam's and Kevin's maps, loaded them into GAIA, and then just picked the one that looked the most interesting each day.
Nice job.
I have been over BB several times on my KTM 300EXC and once on my BMW 1150GS. I stripped off all the bags except a small backpack with a GPS rescue beacon, raingear, and extensive first aid gear. I would no do it again on the BMW, I had some errors on the steps that made me reconsider the risk based on my riding ability.
Kudos to you for getting over that on a big bike. I wouldn’t want to try it
Absolutely incredible views. I was going to get an Adventure Tourer but I think I’m gonna go smaller and get a KTM 520.
I really like the smaller dual sport bike, it is better for the tight stuff and still does fine on the road
Good job guy
Oh boy, that's a heck of a trip. I for sure hit the like and subscribed. I wish I could have done this with own father. I will make sure my kiddos make an effort to do this with me in the future.
Thanks for the sub!
It is a hydroelectric power station.
Someone probably already suggested it, but in the future you should try the Hondo Garage Perfect Squeeze mount for your nav phone, I gave up on the X grips and all that. The Perfect Squeeze your phone will never come out of.
Will look into these, thanks
I was told the steps were impossible for my vsttrom but at least the BDR has plenty of fun close by (did 2-6 twice and some roads from the Interstate were swwweeet too)
The steps would be tough on a big bike, I was very glad to be on the 450. That area has a lot of great riding.
Now, this is my type of fun!
Nice!
That was spectacular! Thanks for the ride. What did you guys do for navigation? Kevin or Sam's maps?
We used both. Looked at the route each day and picked the one that looked the most interesting
Famous Last Words:
“The guy who’s girlfriend I stole back in HighSchool told me BlackBear decent is a must-do in the pouring rain and he even made me a special custom map”.
What is a navigation phone? I'm guessing it's just a normal phone specifically purchased to do just GPS navigation? Amazing ride, thanks for sharing!
You are correct, we purchased the phone without a plan and just use the gps (it still works even if you don’t have a plan)
Billy: Just be careful along here, there's about a 1000ft drop off to the left.
Jake: Rides one handed so he can wipe his camera lens!
Gotta keep an eye on him...
You gotta do it for the vid!
Softer grip lets the bike stabilize itself better. Strategy. 😉
Great video. I like your commentary. Your right. It's not that difficult. It's the consequences. I did it solo. I totally get your statement.
Thank you, how did the steps go for you?
Challenging. I like your comment about the little drop offs that the camera shows as easy riding. My bike is too tall for me. Which added to the excitement. Not as good as your video. I have a black bear video posted on my channel. Thanks for the great videos! Hope you make more.@@BillyTyo