Continental Divide and More: The "No Dust" Tour of WY and MT

Hauling the Mail

Ah, finally done with personal business, time to hit the road. Looks like I will have nine days to explore various roads. With everything packed, the bike and I hit the road at about 8:30. The bike has 28,530 miles on the odometer.

This Map allows you to see the whole trip. Green tracks are routes we planned ahead and red is the actual track from the GPS. In this case, red and green make dark green, so the dark green lines are places we followed the planned track. Makes perfect sense, no?




Prairie to the Yellowstone

It’s about 700 miles to Steamboat Springs CO where I want to meet up with friends from Glendive who are already riding. This will be a long day, so I leave late, and immediately head down a gravel road. It’s a beautiful day, take advantage of it, I thought. Turns out to be almost prophetic.

The gravel road rolls south over hills and prairie with some very nice vista’s. The view down this valley gives you a glimpse of the Yellowstone River; probably 5 miles from this point. The Big Sky is on display also this morning, adding its endless azure tint to the picture.




Ismay, Montana. AKA Joe

Ismay is one of those little one horse towns that have no real reason to be out here. It’s a rail siding town along the track from Miles City MT to Mobridge SD, an old freight supply route for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Keogh">Fort Keogh</a>. No highway, just a gravel road from Fallon to Plevna. Ismay made a brief splash in the news back in the late 80’s trying to capitalize on the then 49er Quarterback by briefly changing the town name to Joe, and get some press as Joe, Montana. Wheat harvest was wrapping up in this area as indicated pile of grain outside an older elevator which doesn’t have rail loading facilities. I snapped a couple of pics and then kept moving on.



Knowlton, Montana

Knowlton is another little oddball in the area. You are driving along normal prairie and badlands when you come up on these pine covered hills. They are kind of like the Long Pines or Black Hills plopped down here a few miles from the Powder River. Nestled in theses hills are a couple ranches and an elementary school. Somewhere around here I nailed a prairie chicken with my hand guard. :-(



Mizpah, Montana

After Knowlton the road drops down off the bench and into the Powder river valley. With the rain this year, things were still green and the view was pretty amazing. Here is my feeble attempt to capture this with a digital camera.

There is a bridge down here that crosses the Powder with the Mizpah school just up the hill on the west side. Before the school there is a road that follows the west side of the river to Broadus where I wanted to get fuel and lunch.

Sometimes the weeds get pretty bad along the sides of these roads and it’s necessary for the counties to mow them before winter comes and the snow blows into the road. I encountered a first for me, a motor patrol with a wing mounted mower; it seemed to be a little unwieldy but was getting the job done. As the road was an improved 2 track, I had to wait for him to pull off at an approach before I could pass him.

At Broadus I got fuel and a fresh made sub sandwich at Alderman’s fuel. As I ate the sandwich outside a group of cruisers from Salt Lake City came in and fueled up, leaving in a staccato burst of exhaust.




Upper Powder, Wyoming

After Broadus you continue south on the west side of the river to a little town (three houses) called Moorehead right by the Wyoming border. As you continue south “upstream” the hills take on a reddish hue and the water meanders a little slower as the river becomes smaller.

It is out here that an antelope decided to out race me, and did a last minute course correction as he came up on the road and hit my footpeg and rolled under the rear wheel. That course correction probably saved both of us, as he just bumped into the side of the bike, rolled over, and ran off into the sage.

I continued on the Upper Powder River road past Arvarda to the I-90 interstate. At this point the road the road dead ended so I road west towards Buffalo looking for a road south. Finally I hit one and rode along stopping briefly at a marker for the Bozeman trail. Then I hit the highway to Kaycee.

I stopped for gas and as it was getting late decided I better stay on the highway the rest of the way to Steamboat Springs. Rather boring trip of another 350 miles of highway added to the 350 miles of gravel roads I had covered in the morning. There was a little rain at Rawlins which was an ominous foreboding. I ended up at Steamboat at midnight with my phone dead and no way to contact the crew, so I got a room at the LaQuinta and went to sleep.

Stats for the day: 723 Miles, 8:30 am to 12:00 midnight

Hi Dave,

Holy smokes you put down some miles on that first day. Good to read stuff like this as this winter is about to get to me.

Sure enjoyed your company on the Mobius 10 ride.

Thanks so much !!!

BigDog

Did you ever wash your bike ????

I'm In!

More!

We spoke briefly in the morning as your group headed out.

Sorry i didn't come out when you pulled into the motel looking for your buds, it sure was late. Your riding buds and i met at the motel lobby earlier that day soaking wet dripping all over the lobby. It was hellish getting to Steamboat that day for me also in the monsoon.

Cant wait for the rest....
Scott----

edit;
BD, his bike looked the same when i saw him.

Does not look like he has washed it yet!

Ready for more of the same.

:eek1

Your a funny guy there BigDog. Just to let you know, I had to add a few farkles to Jane since the last time you saw her. Yes, she got a bath. If you would have zoomed in on the picture you would have noticed.



(hopefully that comes through, I'm playing with my Smugmug site settings.)

Thanks for the comments, its always a good time when you are around!

David

Glad to have ya!

No probs. I was so beat, I wasn't processing very well. The Laquinta worked great and nobody had to get up as I hauled my gear in.

However, you will notice, I have Wolfman's now instead of the Vario's and you can see through the windshield.

Sure, just pile on. Glad you are here, you'll see some familiar country.

Welcome aboard.


Well, I'm going to call it a night. See you tomorrow with the next installment. (or if you are the impatient type, just back track to my smugmug site, its completed there.)

David

Thanks for the RR. I'm planning a CDR trip in late summer and this is just more encouragement.

Looking forward to this RR.

700 mile day, half on gravel, is pretty good.

Interesting how you have storage containers (fuel, tool tube, etc.) strapped to your GS. Do you have more detailed pics of that?

In!

Me too!

You decided to do a RR!
Yay!

Welcome aboard! Enjoy.

Thanks. Regarding the tool tube, a welder friend helped me make a couple brackets for it. Here are some pics of the Kolpin bracket attached to the SW Motech engine guard.







The Kolpin tanks are tough, as you will see in a bit...

Hi Kelly! Your comments made me think of this little clip, which I think you have posted up before. I hope you like the humor.

You Can Do It!

Well, now to post another installment.

David

Day Two: Beginning of the Wet

LOL. Thinking back to this cracks me up. Since I didn’t get back until the wee hours of the morning, it was tough to get going. I think I finally got out onto the bike and across the street to where the other guys were staying at about 8:30. They were just getting up, so I didn’t make them late, whew. Todd and Dave and Dave wanted to get some breakfast and a gear bag. I only had the sub sandwich at Broadus and a corndog at Kaycee, so I was ready for food, even if it was MacDonalds. To celebrate surviving the ride yesterday I had not one, but two! breakfast sandwich combos. I was living high on the hog! I also got to see a Colorado “planned community” in the daylight, even Micky D’s had an “Alpine” façade and the requisite sales tax to pay for the goofiness.

We were all moving slow and got going about 10:30 to head over to Fort Collins where we would catch the road into Estes and come back through Rocky Mountain National Park. At least that was the plan! A few miles out of town our plan to return to Steamboat that night was abandoned due to our late start. We would find a place to stay on the road and return to Steamboat the next day.

We got out on a forest service road and started out on our way over the mountains. The road was well used with the rock rubble sticking out through the surface. It was rough but not too difficult.




Rally the Troops

We had a quick stop and with the usual small talk, joking, checking the horses and gear. We were quickly leaving the sun behind and it was getting damp and cool. We weren’t wet yet, that was a challenge we would face in the future.

We were taking various county and forest service roads to a junction with Hwy 14 south of Walden. Then the highway would take us over the mountains. After this picture the road improved with recently graveled surface and we start riding a little faster, playing with the corners and the connecting straights. Some would even comment that we had more horsepower than brains, but everyone escaped unscathed.

We quickly crossed the next valley, getting some gas at a one horse stop, and continuing on to the anticipated junction. The clouds would occasionally spit at us, but we were mostly dry.




Into the Storm

Dave Turner took the opportunity to head north to Walden and back to Glendive as we crossed one of the highways. We kept on and eventually got to the desired junction. Highway 14 is a very nice road to take through the canyons, or it was a very nice road. I think the rains in the next few days would change things.




The Beginning of the Rain

The canyon quickly closed in on the road pushing the stream, rocks, and trees right up to the shoulders. The little canyons off to the sides would wind back with exposed rock faces like Harrowdale leading to the Paths of the Dead. And then it started to rain… fortunately this was just a light rain which didn’t hinder our riding, but heavy enough that we were chilled and wet when we came out of the canyon.

Escaping the canyon we found whiskey for my men and beer for my horses… not quite, but food and fuel anyway. Since it was 3:00 pm we headed into town to see the local KTM dealer in Fort Collins, nice orange bling with enough tee-shirts and gear to keep a Harley rider happy. Don’t kid yourself kiddies; orange knows how to roll in the green. ;-)

Before we got to the shop we had enough rain to convince ourselves the weather gods were not happy. They were able to wash the dust of the road and us.

The next stop was the BMW/Ducati/Triumph shop, which serviced a different type of clientele. They did have the connector Todd wanted to charge his phone, so it was a successful trip. Next was Old Chicago and the hotel, where we huddled around the TV and listened to horror stories about the rainstorms foisted upon us.

Stats for the Day: 201 Miles 10:00 am to 6:00 pm




Day 3: Escape Denver

We woke up with the knowledge that the weather gods were pissed, and there was no easy way out of the rain. Todd and Dave finally decided to head north to Laramie and hopefully Glendive. Todd would then be assured of getting to the football game Friday night.

The rest of us, Marty Mike, Todd and David discussed it and decided to head south to Golden and check out if the roads were as badly closed as we heard on the news. Besides it looked like the rain was rolling north along the mountains.

Are you confused with the names yet? Just to clarify, there were three Dave’s and two Todd’s along on this trip.

We all headed out, each group hoping we would be out of the rain soon. The quartet headed down to Loveland to check out highway 34 and what kind of road block would be set up. It was an impressive road block, and we quickly realized that going to Estes wasn’t in the cards; so Golden and I-70 was the route.




Soggy Rats

Leaving Loveland it started to rain; as in “find gopher wood” rain. The only place I’ve seen rain like this was in the Carolina’s along the coast. It was a challenge to keep the visor clear and water off the glasses, obviously the rest of our clothes were soaked. Several times we rode along the highways with streams of several inches draining down off the hills and down the roadway. The bridges and aqueducts were full of water and it was pretty obvious that if the run off didn’t quit soon they were going to wash out.

We picked up gas and stopped at a café for something warm in Golden. Fortunately we wanted something light ‘cause they weren’t filling the plates with any extras. Heck, my huevos rancheros fit on a saucer sized plate; I quickly ordered some sourdough toast to go with it.

Partly due to luck we headed out of Golden over Lookout Mountain Road. It’s a twisty little road that goes over the hill overlooking Golden and past Buffalo Bill Cody’s grave. With the rain we didn’t stop but kept moving onto I-70.




Almost Dry

We started getting out of the rain as we crossed the mountains on I-70. We only hit a few showers as we started north to Winter Park. Occasionally we would stop, chat, and let the blood flow back to our posteriors. Eventually we ended up in “SUNSHINE” in Winter Park. As we were fueling the bikes everyone was shedding gear and trying to dry off as much as possible.

The twisty bits were fun, and even Mike seemed to be doing okay on the DRZ400.



Back to Steamboat Springs

It was a short break and we headed out again, but fortunately we left the rain behind. We ended up in Steamboat Springs about 6:00, checked into the hotel, and found a little Mexican place for dinner.

Stats for the day: 240 miles, 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM

Okay, since it might be a couple days until I get back here, I'll leave you another installment.




Day 4: The Rally and More

Another breakfast at the hotel, and we were out packing up the bikes and the trailer. Then we headed up to the ski lodge for the KTM Rally; which a fair number of vendors and of course bikes from KTM. This year KTM had revealed the big 1190 ADV which was to go head to head with BMW’s R1200. It was a pretty bike.

After the Rally, I was heading up to Rawlings Wy, to back track the CDT that the others had already completed.




Like Celebrities on the Red Carpet

This was a big announcement by the manufacturer of Big Orange. And here was the star of the show, the 1190 Adv. Pretty bike. IMHO its built for those that come out of the enduro ranks, who want a more dirt worthy bike like 450’s they ride on the trails. If you come from the touring crowd the sparse amenities will probably push the potential buyer to the BMW.

Unfortunately for us, we have already made our investment into the advrider scene, so we were just window shopping and seeing what the aftermarket folks had that could make our current rides more comfortable. We certainly spent our time “ooh and ahh” over the new bikes though. lol Does this bike make my butt look big?

Breaking update, one of my friends just got an 1190. :eek1 Maybe we need to hold an intervention or something.




Ned Suesse

As I said, we kept walking around checking out the vendor booths around the parking lot.

I saw Ned Suesse who had run in the 2012 Dakar and the 2011 Score Baja 1000 with both bikes in front of the BRP tent. He was gracious and we snapped a picture in front of the Dakar bike. Ned has some nice riding instruction DVD's at his site www.dualsportriding.com.




Stars in Daylight

Kurt Caselli was mingling and was showing some interested fans some of the details of his bike.

It was fun to see all the orange bling, but I wanted to get on the road, and at least get to Rawlings. So I loaded up and headed out down the road. The road wound through the trees and mountains north of Steamboat

(Kurt passed away on Nov 15th from injuries sustained while racing in the Baja 1000. RIP Kurt. One of my favorite tribute videos has a clip from this ralley. KTM Caselli Tribute see 3:17)




Back in the Saddle

From here on out I was on my own, as Marty and Mike needed to head back to Billings, and Todd was also making his own tracks back.

The road was paved for a ways, but soon became a nice gravel forest service road. It was beautiful day, and the trees, sunlight, and clouds made for a nice mixture of light and shadow along the road. I need a camera with some HDR options. As I recall it never really rained but did spit on me a couple times.
A group of five riders came up behind me. We leapfrogged past each other for a ways, stopping for breaks and pictures. They mentioned they were at the rally and were taking one of the routes. It was an interesting group, a couple KTM’s and an older BMW boxer, plus some bikes I don’t remember. The road started to get a little muddy, not too bad, and I didn’t see the boxer anymore.




Into Wyoming

I went past the Three Forks ranch which was a nice looking dude ranch, not sure what they raised but they had money for some fancy gates and buildings. I suppose I shouldn’t be judgmental; we’d all like our places to look nice and maybe it was celebrity money, or a couple oil wells, but it didn’t have the feel of a working ranch. (some net friends pointed out that it is a posh resort)

Eventually I hit pavement and took a little jog east, and then jumped off on a county gravel road. It was great for a ways, but I hit a section of about 5-7 miles where they were upgrading the road. No gravel just muddy slop and clay. I eased through it at about 25 mph, and took this picture of the finished road. It was still pretty nice, but still muddy as it hadn’t had a chance to be packed down by traffic.

The whole morning I was watching the radar map on my phone to see what was happening on the CDT for the next day. I was disappointed to see several rain patches move across the Great Basin, a desert with dirt roads and clay. The rain gods weren’t letting me out of this easy.

Even though it was early when I got to Rawlins, I found a hotel and hunkered down to create a plan B tomorrow.

Stats for the day: 139 miles, 10:00 AM to 2:45 PM

Since reading your Alaska report, I always enjoy seeing places through your perspective.

I forget what you use to make your interesting looking maps--any hints?

TIA,
Alex

Thanks. A little picture/screenshot editing program called SnagIt. Last time I signed up for it, it was $45. I'm just editing screen shots of my Garmin basecamp maps.

David

Plan B, Big Loop, and the “Dirt Nap”

I had some time, so I spent it looking for alternate places to go. When I was watching the radar map, it looked like Kaycee and the southern Bighorns had been missed. I had also heard that the road past Seminole reservoir was also not to be missed. I threw some waypoints on my GPS and hoped it would work out.




Catching the Light of Dawn

One of the problems with riding in the fall is the reduced hours of daylight. I went to bed reasonably early after washing clothes and working on my gps route, but it was dark and chilly when I got up. I got some breakfast at the hotel and then worked on packing my gear. About 10 miles out of town I was seeing the morning light painting the river canyons and hills with reddish hues.




Lake Vistas

I hadn’t packed everything today, as I planned to go back to the hotel in Rawlins, a decision I would regret. However this morning was a great ride in the brisk air as the road followed the river to the lakes and then into the hills with stunning overlooks of the lake.




Looking Back the Way We Came

The hills behind me had wispy clouds playing on the slopes and the road was appearing and disappearing along the cuts and valleys. It made for a nice picture also.




The Gates of Isengard

Overall the road was relatively dry and easy to ride on at this point. So I made my way along the lake to the dam at the head of the reservoir. With its spillway gate head works, the dam looked like a set straight out of Lord of the Rings.




River Oasis

The road took a couple surprising twists and turns and ended up down by the river below the dam. The trees and rock walls of the canyon made for a nice picture setting.




Into the Great Wide Open

Following the river the road ended up at Alcova where I bought some gas, and headed west to find a north connecting road. This was the flat desolate landscape that everyone expects when they think of Wyoming. Fortunately the road was dry with only a few wet spots that caused me to slow down. The weather was a bit iffy though as it wanted to stay overcast.




I Saw the Sign

Riding north, I crossed the Gas Hills, Highway 20, and Arminto, coming to stop in front of this sign. The weather was also improving with the sun driving away the clouds and warming up the day. The sign marked the start of the South Bighorn Scenic Loop, the road I was looking for.




Riders in the Sky

Just past the sign, I had to stop again and try to take a panoramic shot. It worked fairly well if I may pat myself on the back.
This is the entrance to the scenic loop, and it did not disappoint today. The sun was out and the rain from the last few days was not in view at the moment. In my head Johnny Cash was singing about lonely cowboys and devil steers.




Crimson Hills

Just over the ridge the color of the hills changed dramatically.




Azure Sky

The road was fast as smooth, but I had to stop for pictures.




More

I was able to make better use of my stop, but turning around and taking a picture of where I came from.

Like I said, the road was pretty easy to travel along. I didn’t make the stop by the campgrounds as I was heading to Kaycee, and lunch. There was a turn off to the Hole in the Wall, which I stopped at briefly, but it was a hike from the end 10 mile drive along a private two track road. I was beginning to be aware that daylight was slipping away and I turned around at about 9 miles down that road and got back to the main road. Ground speed improved quickly.




Slip Road

After making a few turns, I ended up at the grocery store in Kaycee to get some food for lunch. It was a nice day sitting on the porch of the store eating a sandwich and cucumber. My motorcycle forks were making me worried as they were leaking onto my tire and motorcycle.

I picked up gas and headed out along the road to Mayworth and then turned on to the Slip road. It did several switchbacks to the top of the ridge and had a great view of the road back to Kaycee.




Into the Big Horn Mtns

The scenery and rock change and it's obvious we are in the Big Horn mountains.




Weather Top

Over another ridge and around a few corners and I come on this butte standing alone in the valley. The road meanders down, and I want the fork that will take me south. The weather is iffy, with dark clouds moving by, and only patches of clear to remind us of the sun. From here I head south and then west to Big Trails.




Jane

I take another stop, the views in this area are pretty cool. While I’m looking around for my foto spot, I snap a quick pic of Jane at the side of the road. (My bikes are starting to acquire names now. Jane; as in Tarzan and Jane, with a German accent. )




Big Trails

A couple hundred yard hike to a small knob by the road revealed this view. Fortunately the clouds blocked some of the light and allowed me to get this picture. The valley has a small creek running through it and there are some ranches along it that irrigate some alfalfa and crops. The clouds look ever more angry and dark.




Road to Ten Sleep

I get down in the valley and the road coming from Ten Sleep to the north is paved. As I’m going south I have only a mile of pavement, but it is a surprise to me. The red hills are very photogenic with the green hills.




The Clouds Thicken

The road is a nicely graveled road that travels along this valley. The red cliffs stand out next to the dark clouds. Hopefully I get out of here without getting too wet.




Nowood International Airport

The creek’s name is Nowood, as in its hard to find fuel for a fire. I suppose it’s kinda humorous unless you are in a wagon train.

Anyway this little ranch holding was right in this picturesque valley where the creek comes out of the canyon between the hills. I had to stop and take a picture even though the clouds and time were pushing me on.

A little past this, there was a nice flat bench next to the creek that someone had used as a grass landing strip. The gate that led to the hanger had a hand lettered sign that said Nowood International Airport. Pilots have a sense of humor about their hobby.




Dirt Nap – Part 1

The road was pretty packed and good for travelling quickly, so I was. The clouds I had been watching previously finally caught up with me and it started to sprinkle lightly. I backed off the throttle slightly but still kept moving 45-50 as it was getting late. Suddenly, Jane took a nap.

It started out as a slow motion sort of thing but all of a sudden I was spit off the seat and sliding down the road on my back. I was a little worried as Jane was behind me, and sure enough she tapped me on the shoulder to let me know she was there.

When we stopped sliding, I hit the kill switch and then tipped Jane back up on her wheels and started a damage assessment. The return spring was off the kickstand, which made setting Jane up on the side of the road dicey. Mirror was broken, one of the straps broke on the bag, and the instrument cluster broke loose. Lots of mud, but all in all not much damage. I was surprised at the toughness of the fuel tank as it had quite a few of scrapes on it.




Dirt Nap – Part 2

The sliding started way back here. The road surface was slick clay that stuck to my boots but was slippery also.




Dirt Nap – Part 3

Looking around the resting sight, I found the mirror and stalk laying in broken pieces. Look, there is the return spring for the kickstand also. I dug in my tool kit for my pliers and installed it on the kickstand. While I was at it, I wired the instrument cluster to the dash as the mounting bezels were broken.

With no other damages, I packed up again, started up the engine, and motored cautiously on down the road.




Dirt Nap to Rawlins

A little further down the road and we got to the end of that clay surface. I was now able to relax a little and open the throttle some more. Lysite is a little wide spot along the railroad tracks in the middle of an oil field. Someone wanted a “Big House” back in the day and built a nice two story house in the middle of this sagebrush and desert. Had nice concrete fence, currently looks like a residence for the Adams family.

I finally got to highway 20 at Moneta and it was getting dark. The rain had passed through here earlier so the dirt roads were wet again. I wanted to keep heading south on dirt roads across the desert but needed fuel. The trailer house and shop next to the road didn’t look very inviting. Razor wire on top of chain link fence, and a Dixie flag and an upside down US flag said this person didn’t want company. I checked the bike over for loose parts from the nap and then headed west down the road to Shoshoni. Fuel and beans were on the menu.

When I got to Shoshoni, it was dark, I was tired, and it was obvious the desert had gotten more rain this afternoon. If I didn’t have my stuff at Rawlins, I probably would have stopped off at Riverton. I bulldogged on bypassing Lander and made the turn to Rawlins. I apparently like riding at night in the rain.

Stats for the day: 536 miles, 7:20 AM to 10:00 PM

This is playing out like my ride, escape from the monsoon, I was riding alone and overloaded with rain all around. ...
I also headed north out of Colorado stayed in Rawlings.
At Ten Sleep going north there is another one of those Back Country Byways, i spent most of a day trying to get thru this one. Notice the follow me signs.. never saw one on the whole ride.



Thanks for taking the time to post your ride.

i think you may have inspired me to do a report