I thought I'd start a ride report thread for my various day rides around Wyoming. Usually I carry a good camera, but today I left it at home so apologies in advance for the iPhone pics... Today's goal was a loop around the mountain by my house. I would go up Mormon Canyon then through Boxelder and down through Boxelder Canyon then a run down TankFarm road past the powerplant, across the prarie on Leuenberger Lane and back home via hwy 95. I knew it was early in the year for the mountain, especially since we have about 150% of the average snowpack, but at the least I would get to see how far up the mountain I could make it..... My optimistic route plan: My thoughts of the mountain were unfortunately correct. Not only were things completely unpassable up top, but getting up (and then back down) the canyon was a terribly muddy experience and not recommended on stock trailwing tires. What actually happened was the following: With the son shining bright and the temp up in the 40's I felt like summer was finally here. I could see the snow on the mountains, but of course it wouldn't be in my way so I loaded up the bike, loaded a route on my Garmin and headed south. It took about six miles before I ran out of pavement and hit the dirt: Click it into 5th gear and cruise along at 50-60mph for the next few miles. Mormon Canyon is the fold in the mountain right about where the road dissapears. Sadly, I did not stop in the canyon for pics as it was terribly muddy and a constant fight to stay upright. It was a fight that I lost once when my front tire slid sideways into a ditch and I could do nothing but try and get off without injury. The mud was terrible and it didn't stop until I came out of the canyon on the top side. BY time I came out of the canyon I was sweating like crazy from fighting the bike. I decided that as much as I didn't want to go back down that hill, I wasn't going any further either! If you look at the top you can faintly see three Side by Side vehicles. They were all three stuck in the snow, but there wasn't anything I could do for them so I turned around and headed north off the mountain. I did stop on the way down for one quick pic looking out from the canyon mouth across the prarie. Running down the hill I twisted it up a bit for a brief blast up speed (85.7mph) on the dirt. At the bottom of the hill I stopped in the town park and rode the bike through the river a couple of times to wash off the mud and discover that my new boots aren't really waterproof. I didn't take a pic of the water crossing today, but here's a pic from a month ago. It's running a lot more water now with the snow melt. So after washing the bike off I headed east towards Tank Farm road. I made it about 4 miles out of town when the bike sputtered and I switched to reserve with only 72 miles on the tank. Granted a lot of those miles were first gear riding the kids around the yard and then climbing the muddy mountain so it wasn't too depressing to see 38.6mpg although I do need to get a bigger tank. After topping off I head back east again to Tank farm road, right past Dave Johnson powerplant; a coal fired plant on the Platte River that powers a lot of the state. A mile or so later it turns to dirt and it a typical Wyoming dirt highway: I run this out for a few miles chugging along at a liesurely 45-50mph until I turn off on Leuenberger Lane, a road known for poor travel conditions in places due to multiple washes that flow across the road when it's rainy or snow melting like today. Looking North: Looking South: I continue along smiling and enjoying the ride until I see more mud ahead: Don't be fooled by the seemingly innocent looking puddles, this is bentonite clay mud and terribly sticky and slick. It's like riding through axle grease and far worse than anything I have dealt with including the red clay we had back in Georgia (that I miss...) All in all I crossed through a half dozen or so mud fields along the 5 miles of this road. Most of them looked simliar to this one: When I finally made it back to pavement without dropping the bike again I was a happy camper as you can tell by this big smile: So off on highway 95 heading back to my house after a great ride. This road is my daily commute, about 35 miles of it and I have the option to route down the dirt roads if I want. The observant reader has probably noticed the little sticks on the horizon in a few of the photos. Those are the wind farm power generators they have been putting in all around me since we have so much wind. The coal powerplant guys don't really like the windfarm guys. I'm not a fan of either of them truthfully, but they are impressively large (over 300ft tall). Finally I made it home, doubling the mileage on my new DR by finally getting a nice day to go for a ride. As soon as I finish the ride report I think I'm gonna order some new tires :) Two hours and two minutes of riding along with about twenty minutes stopped for pics, fuel and mud baths. Man what an incredible day and I really love this DR650!! Thanks for reading, George
Nice trip. I know Wyoming and this time of year can get tricky in the back roads. Snow is just around the corner at anytime! Thanks and enjoy your DR.
I miss Wyoming. Thanks for the report and I hope you keep adding to it. I've never been in that part of the state, but your farm roads look pretty familiar with the ones I cruised further west in the Wind River area.
Thanks for the input, I figure if I clutter up this one thread with all my small trips then I'll have refined my RR abilities some by time I do a longer trip later this summer.
Oh, don't you love riding on that bentonite when it's wet? When it's dry it's hard, when it's wet, slicker than snot....
Well, I made it out again today for another short trip. Today's ride I decided to stay off the mountains and let them thaw out since my new tires won't be here until tomorrow so I headed across the prarie to grab a couple of geocaches close to home. The first one was about 15 miles down the county road I live off of. The Geocache I nabbed is "giant fans?" or GC2XGEH for those out there who are into caching :) Before I get too deep in the ride I guess I'll post my tracks and elevation summary along with trip computer. Note that I was a few miles from the house before I remembered to turn on the Garmin so the trip total was actually about 110 miles. The starting point was the bullseye looking thing at the bottom left of the tracks. I went up 55 Ranch Road (shorter, western road) first, got my cache and backtracked down and over and up Ross Road (longer, eastern road) then backtracked home. Unfortunately there is no connecting public road between the two as it's al part of the SMith Sheep Company's giant ranch. So with the summary out of the way, I happily checked off another Geocahe from my list of local caches I still haven't gotten. (for more info see: http://www.geocaching.com/) Then time to head back towards home. The road out here is dirt and pretty much looks the same as most Wyoming dirt highways: After about ten miles of dirt it turns back to pavement for the last ten miles back in. It's a nice little two lane blacktop with elevation changes and curves enough to hold your attention. After another twenty miles or so I reach my next geocache at the intersection of highway 95 and 93. The cahe is named "$93.95" or GC24R7W for those who cache. It's somewhere in this picture, but I'm pretty hard core about not giving away spoilers for caches so you'll have to come find it yourself :) Now I'm heading up Ross Road, nothing up here but hundreds of oil rigs, a ton of Uranium mines and a million sheep wandering around everywhere! During hunting season this area gets quite crowded and nobody wants to accidentally shoot a uranium miner so you have to check in at the mine headquarters since they control the lease on all the public land out here... Once again the pavement turns to dirt and I ride about ten or fifteen miles of Wyoming highway... Eventually the storm is blowing in to the point I am freezing seeing as how I didn't really plan to run this far out and the temp has dropped about 20 degrees with winds now starting to kick up to around 40-50mph. Sadly I turn around, leaving for another day the rest of this road to be explored... All too quickly dirt turns back to pavement: ...and pavement nears home enough that I feel saddened at the thought of parking my bike... Home again with 282 miles total on the DR it is rapidly becoming my favorite bike out of the twenty plus bikes I've had over the years... Hope you enjoyed the read, I know I sure enjoyed the ride! G
Thanks for the RR and great pictures. That country is a lot different than here in the southeast. In case you haven't figured it out, those tires don't mix well with snow or mud. Think DOT knobbies. Be sure to post pics of any future rides.
Thanks for the coment. I have a T63 rear and TR8 front sitting in my shop ready to install tomorrow so this weekend I'll be heading back into the heart of nastyness to try them out
Oh man, I was born in Cheyenne. Haven't been back for 40 years. Those roads and the mountains look a lot like areas we'd go hunting. Did a lot of Antelope hunting with my dad when I was a young'n there. I got my second bike there when I was seven years old. A Yamaha 80. Cut it up and did some racing. Man I wish I still had that bike.. in its stock condition. My dad and his machine.. somewhere in Wyo. http://rubikonadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/life-ont-eh-edge-my-second-bike.html My dad passed away from cancer when I was 15 years old. He was 36 at the time. Too Young. I always remember those good times camping and fishing in Wyo. In May I will be riding my bike to a conference from Seattle to Colorado Springs. I will be taking a side trip through Wyo and Cheyenne. I want to visit the house I was born in. According to Google street view, it looks just the same as I remember it, 40 years ago! Amazing!! I also remember crawling inside the Ames monument with a road flare for light. I understand that the entrance is sealed now. But we used to tear around the countryside out there with trucks and bikes. Thanks for sharing. It brings back some cool childhood memories.
to see a report with those knobbies mounted. Don't delude yourself, nothing helps in bentonite. I think you'll hold the record for most miles ridden with Trailwings in mud and clay. Knobbies just allow you to carry more of it with you.
I'll write another report with the knobbies if it ever stops snowing. We got another 5" or so this weekend so no day trip for me. I have put about a hundred miles on the knobbies and they are nice, but no wet bentonite to try them in just loose gravel and nothing's great at that either! Sent from my leash
This entry will be less about the ride and more about the location. The total trip was only about 40 miles, but the destination is this rock maze about 15 miles from my house. It's located just to the left of nowhere down about 5 miles of two track road on some state land. I go there to relax and enjoy the solitude although occasionally I drag the rifles out there and do some long range shooting. I have yardage marks out to just over a mile, but this trip was not about shooting. After an exceptionally crummy week of work I needed some time to get away and reflect on life so off to the rocks I go. I didn't download the tracks because quite frankly I don't care to share this spot with outsiders other than a few pics. Call me selfish if you want, but a man needs his secret place and so far very few people even know this exists. Enough babble, here's some pics of my special place.... After taking some time to rest and reflect I had to haul ass outta there to meet the family for dinner. Peace and quiet, even if brief is one of the main reasons I traded my '07 VFR on the DR650. It's amazing how good I feel after an hour alone in the middle of nowhere without the sound of traffic, phones, TV or anything except the breeze and eagles.