What a day! We started from Columbus, MT just before 8am, hoping to beat as much of the predicted high temperatures as possible. We started on Montana Highway 78 heading south toward Red Lodge through cultivated fields with mountain backdrops.
In Red Lodge we turned onto US 212, in this next stretch known as the Beartooth Highway that twists through hairpin turns with sheer, rocky drops off the side as it winds it's way into Wyoming and over Beartooth Pass at 10,947' above the treeline. This is not only an absolutely beautiful drive, it's a ton of fun on a motorcycle.
Near the top of the pass we crossed from Montana into Wyoming.
We passed several high mountain lakes and then a group of motorcycles, one with a side car.
We started seeing signs warning about cows in the road, and around the next few curves came across several cows.
After descending Beartooth Pass we turned south onto Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. The route winds through the Shoshone National Forest through the Absaroka Mountains. Although not as high elevation as the Beartooths, this route is just as beautiful with curving roads through the forested mountains and several ranches with open ranges - which meant more cows on the road.
We had been on the road for over 2 hours when we stopped at the Sunlight Creek bridge and overlook for a snack and bathroom break. This is the highest bridge in Wyoming over the deep Sunlight Creek canyon. - so far down that it's challenging to see the creek from the bridge.
We shed extra layers of motorcycle gear liners as we were now riding into lower elevations and warmer temperatures before we continued south on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, named for the Native American chief of the Nez Perce tribe who led his people through this area attempting to flee to Canada instead of being forced onto a reservation.
Wyoming 296 ends at Wyoming 120 where we turned east toward Cody. The terrain was now dusty, dry hills with occasional rocky outcroppings that meant the road was mostly straight with some curves around the higher hills.
We stopped in Cody, founded in 1896 by Buffalo Bill Cody who was impressed with the rich soil, scenery, hunting, and proximity to Yellowstone National Park (only 52 miles away). Continuing on toward Thermopolis, the BMW's odometer rolled over to 49000 miles; we've ridden over 3000 miles so far on this trip.
We've stayed in Thermopolis before, taking advantage of the Hot Springs state park but we still had about 40 miles to ride for the day. Instead of the hot springs, we stopped at a McDonald's so Mike could get a strawberry shake and we both drank ice water to try and cool off as the temperature was now 99-101 degrees. I dipped my shirt in water to try for some evaporative cooling - it helped a bit until the shirt dried.
We now turned onto a combined route with US 20 and Wyoming 789 for the final part of today's ride. The first few miles were the best - through Wind River Canyon where the rock walls rise 2500' above the 2-lane highway.
As we rode out of the canyon we passed Boysen Reservoir which stretches for miles along the highway.
We rode 297 miles today, ending at Riverton, Wyoming. We saw more motorcycles on the road today than we have during the entire past two weeks with so many riders out enjoying the scenic byways, twisting hairpin turns, curving and sweeping roads, and fabulous scenery. We're anticipating hot temperatures for the next two days as we continue south toward Colorado - but that doesn't change our enthusiasm for what each day will bring on the BMW.
