Riding the BMW through 4 Western States in one day: Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Colorado

 We started today a bit earlier to try and beat the mid-90 degree temperatures forecast for today, which meant the temperature dipped down into the high 40's at the beginning of our ride, then quickly got warmer when we rode into sunny areas.

We spent the night in Afton, Wyoming that boasts the largest arch made of elk horns in the US.

We rode US 89 South over the Salt River Pass at 7630' on the Continental Divide between the Gannett Hills and the Salt River Range, enjoying the mountain views.

US 89 jogs a bit into Idaho, and then re-entered Wyoming and turned south on WY 61 through a wide ranching valley as we joined US 30/WY 89. There was almost no traffic and we enjoyed zooming along the 2-lane highway by ourselves.

We turned south on US 189 for a short distance before continuing on WY 412 East, passing ranches, large mining operations, and lots of snow fences to remind us that winter can be fierce in this area.

WY 412 became WY 414 in Mountain View, and then the same road became UT 43 after we crossed the state line, riding by buttes that reminded us of Arizona landscapes, and then distant mountains.

In Manila we turned southeast onto UT 44 which climbs, twists, sweeps and then descends through Flaming Gorge, named by John Wesley Powell in 1869 for the red sandstone cliffs and today home to a  91-mile long reservoir on the Green River. The reservoir is at about 70% of it's full capacity which is quite full by today's dry standards. It's such a fun motorcycle ride that we enjoyed riding today from north to south; last week on our way to Montana we rode in the opposite direction on the more eastern side of the Gorge on US 191.

 

We continued south on US 191, another sweeping, curving road that is perfect for the BMW. We rode past another, smaller reservoir - the Steinaker Reservoir that stores runoff water from Ashley Creek to irrigate the agriculture in the valley.

We stopped for lunch in Vernal, Utah and turned onto US 40 south/east. This is part of the 512 mile Dinosaur Diamond scenic byway route in Utah and northwest Colorado that provides access to many significant dinosaur fossils and museums. The landscape is breathtaking and well worth venturing to this remote part of the West.

We rode into Colorado, the last of four states for today and then turned onto CO 64 East in the town of Dinosaur, still part of the Dinosaur Diamond scenic byway. The town was first known as Baxter Springs, then Artesia (to promote water in the area) and finally in 1966 changed it's name again to Dinosaur.

We are stopping for the day in Rangely, CO just 13 miles from the Utah border.

We rode 300 miles today, ending with temperatures right at 90 degrees - perfect to enjoy ice cream before we checked into the air conditioned motel. Tomorrow is the last day of this trip, winding our way southeast through Colorado on some of our favorite mountain roads in the state.

Rivers, mountains and wide valleys riding from Idaho to Wyoming

 We started today in Salmon, ID  and started riding south on US 93 along the Salmon River. This part of US 93 is the Salmon River Scenic Byway as it curves and twists following the Salmon River past large rolling hills and rocky mountains.

Once we passed Challis, ID US 93 now is part of the Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway. The ride so far today is one of the most beautiful and fun motorcycle roads we've been on this trip.

We rode through part of the Lost River Valley until in Arco we turned east on US 26. Arco ID which in 1955 was the first town in the world to be lit by electricity generated by atomic power for 1 hour. Today the Idaho National Laboratory continues work with nuclear energy.

US 26, and then US 20 are mostly flat and straight with long range views of ranch land until we worked our way through Idaho Falls and turned once again onto US 26 east.

We rode along the Snake River that starts in Yellowstone National park, flows through Grand Tetons National park, and eventually meets the Columbia River in Washington. 

The Snake River is dammed to create the Palisades Reservoir to provide hydroelectricity, but like so many of the lakes, rivers and reservoirs in the West the water level is extremely low - about 21% full.

We crossed into Wyoming and then rode a short stretch of US 89 south from Alpine to Afton where we've stopped for the night. It was a wonderful day on the BMW, twisting along rivers and mountains, riding straight stretches bordered by ranch land, and enjoying just about perfect weather conditions for late August. We'll be ready to ride into northwestern Colorado tomorrow, looking forward to more mountains.

Through the Rockies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana

We started today in Pinedale, Wyoming and headed north on US 191 toward Jackson, riding on gorgeous sweeping mountain roads.

The Hogback River criss-crossed the highway and then we rode through the narrow canyon and steep cliffs carved out by the river.

We then turned onto WY 22 which twists and winds over Teton Pass that tops out at 8431'. There were a lot of vehicles traveling both directions on the highway which meant riding more slowly and giving us more time to look at the scenery.

We then rode straight throgh Teton Valley on ID 32, marveling at the bright gold fields of grain as far as we could see.

We've had clear skies since we left Colorado three days ago but today the effects from the numerous wildfires in Oregon made everything a bit hazy, especially the usually clear long views to the mountains.

The landscape changed agaiin as we rode through Island Park on US 20N, passing fields of pine trees, dirt roads that snaked off the highway toward camping areas, and distant views of mountains.

We then turned onto US 287 North, riding along the Madison River and then stopped for a few minutes to walk around downtown Ennis MT and sit at a shady picnic table before riding the last few miles to Three Forks.

Merriweather Lewis named the Madison in 1805 after then US Secretary of State Madison, who succeeded Thomas Jefferson as President.

We're staying at the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks. Built in 1910 and recently refurbished, it's a grand old 3-story hotel with a large, inviting covered front porch. After riding 290 miles today, we're ready for an easy evening before meeting up with our kids tomorrow at Flathead Lake.

Riding from northwest Colorado through Utah and into Wyoming

 Today is the second day of our ride to Flathead Lake, Montana and we rode 326 miles from Craig, CO to Pinedale, WY.

We started off west on US 40 through rolling hills covered with sagebrush with almost no other vehicles on the road and nothing to see as far we looked around us.

Mike kept noting that we were riding through 'the big empty' - it's amazing how far you can see to the horizon and how little manmade objects there are.

We rode past signs for Dinosaur National Monument and remembered when we visited here 18 years ago. The Colorado welcome center just over the line into Utah was a great bathroom stop, and then we continued on US 40 past Blue Mountain that displays different levels of sandstone, rock and fossils first deposited 290 million years ago when a shallow sea covered this part of the western United States and has been eroded by wind and water ever since.

This is a prime hang gliding and paragliding spot with some people able to fly 100-150 miles on the thermals. We didn't see anyone today, but it's amazing to imagine. It's a perfect spot for a photo of Mike on the BMW:

Every town we rode through in this area plays up the dinosaur theme, and after we passed the huge pink dinosaur in Vernal, UT we turned north on US 191.

US 191 goes through the Flaming Gorge and the reservoir formed by the dam on the Green River. Signs along the highway point out the wide variety of geological deposits as the road twists and curves through stupendous rock formations.

Most of the time we've been riding at over 7000' elevation and today we dipped down below 6000' before ascending once again to over 8000'. Once again we couldn't see anything manmade except for fences and sometimes electric lines as we rode from Utah into Wyoming.

We're in Pinedale Wyoming and tomorrow continue north into Montana, looking forward to riding through more of the Rocky Mountain peaks.

Wyoming into Colorado under hazy skies from wildfires in the West

We're in the thick of fire season in the West and even though there aren't any fires near us, the skies are hazy and smoky. We still had a wonderful ride today from Riverton, Wyoming just across the Colorado border to Craig.

Our day started riding south on Wyoming Highway 135, designated by Butler Motorcycle Maps as a lonely highway.

Usually when we're on a Butler lonely road we see perhaps 1 or 2 vehicles per hour. Perhaps because today is a Saturday there were several cars, trucks, and even a few motorcycles on the road.  It's a beautiful route with long views across empty land except for a few scattered cattle.

We then turned onto US 287 continuing south and east. This section of the highway is the Chief Washakie Trail, named after a chief of the Eastern Shoshone Indians of Wyoming in the mid 1800's.

This section of US 287 is also part of the California Historic Trail (over 5000 miles long in 8 states that over 250,000 people used in the 1840's and 1850's looking for gold and farmland), the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail (1300 mile route from Illinois to Utah used by Mormons in 1846-1847), the Oregon National Historic Trail (more than 2000 miles of wagon trail from Missouri to Oregon from 1836-1846) and the Pony Express National Historic Trail (it only took 10 days for mail to go from Independence, Missouri to Sacramento, California over a 1800 mile trail between April 1860 and October 1861).

Riding along the 2-lane highway today it was difficult to imagine hundreds of people walking and riding their way west through this area. We rode past Split Rock, an imposing and crucial landmark for the western-bound travelers.

In Rawlins we hopped on I-80 for 20 miles east, turning onto WY 130 to Saratoga where we stopped for lunch. It took us three tries to find a lunch spot: the first place didn't open until 2pm, the second place only served breakfast items, and we hit the jackpot with the third spot: The Malt for a burger, Southern fried chicken sandwich, salad and a chocolate malt. 

The temperature was now reaching toward 90 degrees and we thoroughly enjoyed the next part of the trip: WY 130 south to WY 230 south and then WY 70 west on the Battle Pass Scenic Byway which twists, curves and turns to 9955' as it crosses the Continental Divide. That meant much cooler temperatures and a gorgeous ride through the Medicine Bow National Forest through the Sierra Madre Mountains. 

Once again there were many open range signs warning us about the possibility of cattle on the road. We didn't see any cows, but did see one horse and one sheep - domestic, not wild.

As we descended back down to about 6000' elevation the temperature rose to the high 90's so we stopped and poured cold water on our shirts to gain some evaporative cooling for the last hour of today's ride.

We made our final turn south onto WY 789 in Baggs, and a few miles later crossed into Colorado on our way into Craig, our stop for the night.

Despite the hazy skies from wildfires we had a wonderful ride today exploring southern Wyoming and crossing into our home state of Colorado. 

 

Scenic byways through mountains and canyons

 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.