Yellowstone National Park: bison, mountains, antelope and more bison!

 We spent 4 days with our son and his girlfriend in Bozeman, MT and thoroughly enjoyed the area. Today we started our journey home, riding from Bozeman through Paradise Valley, a major valley of the Yellowstone River.

Much to our delight, this is a less busy time of year at Yellowstone National Park which meant far less traffic and plenty of time to enjoy the scenery while looking for wildlife.

Much to our relief, this was the closest we came to bison in the park

There is still plenty of snow on the tops of the mountains, and plenty of bison including numerous calves.

After we left the park, we rode for a few miles on the Beartooth Scenic Byway 

before turning south on Wyoming 296, Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, crossing the Shoshone National Forest and the Absaroka Mountains on twisting, tight hairpins and wide sweeping curves.

We stopped at the Sunlight Bridge and walked out over the spectacular canyon below.

After descending more twisties we turned south on WY 120 and rode through gorgeous red cliffs and more open country.

After stopping for lunch in Cody, WY, our luck held as we watched rainstorms all around us but only felt a few random raindrops.

We finished today's 299 absolutely gorgeous miles in Thermopolis, WY, home to mineral hot springs where we spent a relaxing 30 minutes before dinner. Tomorrow we'll spend the entire day in Wyoming on our way to Colorado.

Overcast skies and rain

 We had a short fourth day, riding 149 miles from Island Park, ID to Bozeman, MT. Once again we started the day wearing all of our liners and raingear since the temperature was in the low 50's and the weather forecast called for rain.

US 20 north was lined with pine trees, with occasional views of the cloud-covered mountains around us.

In West Yellowstone we turned north onto US 191, and quickly passed into Montana, riding through the Gallatin National Forest, 3+ million acres that is part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, stretching through Montana into South Dakota. 

We saw one sign for Yellowstone, but never truly entered the park. There were several signs about bison roaming nearby, and to our disappointment they never made an appearance.

The Gallatin River wound it's way along the highway, the high water due to all of the recent rains and snowmelt churning over rocks. It rained off and on, but luckily never a hard downpour.

We'll stay in Bozeman through the weekend with our son and his girlfriend before we head out again, this time southeast toward Denver.

Snowy mountains and lush farmland

 I put on all of my warm liners plus raingear before we left Kemmerer, WY this morning due to cool weather (temperature in the low 50's) and high chance of rain/thunderstorms. We started off under clear blue skies, riding west on US 30.

We passed herds of sheep and cattle as we rode straight west, then turned north on US 89.

We watched the snow-capped mountains get closer, and then the wide-open valley narrowed as we climbed up the Salt River Pass, one of the routes used by the California, Oregon, and Mormon wagon trains.

We continued on 89 north through Star Valley, bordered by the Salt River mountain range in western Wyoming, and the Webster range in eastern Idaho. The 2-lane road sweeps and turns along the Snake River, which eventually dumps into the Columbia River. Due to the high amounts of snow this past winter and rainier than usual Spring, the Snake was churning brown water and often over its banks as we rode past.

We picked up US 191 north into Jackson, WY. The traffic increased as we rode north through several small towns and outlying ranches. One of our favorites is Afton, home to the largest elk antler bridge in the world.

Much of this route goes through the Bridger-Teton National Forest, 3.4 million acres of protected land.

We stopped for lunch in Jackson, and then turned west onto WY 22 over the Teton Pass. Even with 10% grades, it was one of the lower and tamer passes of our trip and definitely had a lot more traffic than we've seen so far on this trip.

The west side of the pass is in Idaho, the 4th state on this trip. We continued on ID 33 north, riding through rollercoaster hills in the lush farmland with views of the Grand Tetons to the east.

We had been watching dark rain clouds, and had a few miles of light rain before we rode out of the clouds and back into the sunshine. We turned north onto US 20 into Island Park, our stop for the night. There are less than 400 people who live in Island Park, which is one of the gateways into Yellowstone National Park.

We rode 269 miles today and were wowed by the landscape each mile: snowy mountains, green pastures, brown tilled fields, rolling hills, and overflowing rivers and streams. Tomorrow we have a shorter ride into Bozeman, MT where we'll stop for the Memorial Day weekend to visit our youngest son and his girlfriend before we continue on our trip back into Colorado.

3 states: Colorado, Utah and Wyoming

 We started off our day in Grand Junction, Colorado, riding west on CO 340 into Fruita along the Colorado National Monument's towering red rocks.

Once in Fruita we headed west on US 50 for just a few miles until turning north on CO 139 toward Rangely. This 134 mile stretch of road from Fruita to Dinosaur is the Dinosaur Diamond scenic byway, home to several dinosaur and fossil museums. We started riding through irrigated green farmland toward the Book Cliffs. We were at about 5500' in the north desert shrub zone, and as we steadily climbed we rode through stands of aspens and firs as we crested Douglas Pass at 8205'.

It was a gorgeous day for a motorcycle ride as we zoomed along straight sections of the 2-lane highway, then wound around long sweepers, and twisted our way up and down the pass. 

15 miles of CO 139 goes through the Canyon Pintado National Historic District, named by Spanish Fathers Dominguez and Escalante as they traveled through this area in 1776. People have lived in this area for over 11,000 years, and there are numerous places to stop and learn more, plus view pictographs. We stopped at the White Birds Interpretive site and hiked up the steep, short trail to view pictographs of birds and corn.

Back on the road we turned onto CO 64 in Rangely to Dinosaur (originally it was named Artesia and changed its name when Dinosaur National Monument came into existence). In Dinosaur we turned west onto US 40 and soon crossed into Utah.

Heading north on US 191 we enjoyed more twisting roads that climbed up and down, through large stands of aspens, and with views of snowy mountains. We also surprised a few deer who bounded across the road in front of us.

Turning west onto UT 44 we rode through some of the most stunning scenery of the day along the Green River and the Flaming Gorge. John Wesley Powell and his intrepid crew started their exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers here in 1869. They named the area Flaming Gorge when they saw the sun setting on the red rocks of the canyon.

There was almost no traffic, so we were able to pull over and stop at the side of the road a few times to take in more of the amazing scenery.

We stopped in Manila, UT at Browning's for lunch with thick and delicious chocolate marshmallow malts along with our sandwiches. 

Heading west on CO 43, which became WY 414, the landscape changed again to a high plateau with distant views of mountains - and also several dark and threatening storm clouds.

Our luck held out and made it to Kemmerer, WY without getting soaked. We had 298 miles of motorcycle fun through three western states as we continue to head toward Montana.

First ride of 2023

 A lot has happened since we last were on a BMW trip: we moved from Arizona to Colorado! We live in the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado, and are thrilled to watch the deer, elk, chipmunks and birds all around our home.

Today we started a 2-week trip, first heading to Bozeman, Montana to visit our youngest son. We rode 255 miles for the day, first riding west on US 160 out of Pagosa Springs to Durango. 

                                     

Pagosa Springs

In Durango we picked up US 550 north, one of our favorite rides through the San Juan and Uncompahgre national forests. I've never ridden south to north, and this is the earliest in the year we've been on this route. There's still a lot of snow after one of the snowiest years on record, and the aspens at the higher elevations haven't yet started to leaf out.

This narrow, 2-lane highway is famous for tight hairpin turns and sheer drop-offs with no guardrails. There wasn't much traffic and we had a lot of fun zooming down the road.

550 goes through Silverton, one of the highest towns in the US at 9,318' and our entrance today to the Million Dollar Highway that runs between Silverton and Ouray. These were originally gold and silver mining towns and today are more famous for the astounding scenery and remote backcountry adventures. 

I had on my raingear from the beginning of the trip to stay warm (temperatures in the 50's and low 60's) but when we spotted rain clouds ahead, we stopped so Mike could put on his rain gear.

I love how small the BMW and Mike look in this photo against the huge mountains!

It was raining as we rode through Ouray, and then the sun came out as the valley opened up. We stopped in Montrose for lunch, and then continued on US 50 west and north toward Grand Junction. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changes in Colorado. We were out of the snow-capped mountains and at lower elevations riding through the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. 

We rode through the Uncompahgre Plateau where red-rock canyons and sandstone bluffs dominate the landscape.

As we headed into Grand Junction, Mike had some fun at a stoplight with a guy on a Ninja. They both did wheelies, and Mike accelerated ahead. The power of the BMW!

We're spending the night in Grand Junction on the Western Slope of the Rockies and looking forward to sunny skies and fun riding tomorrow as we continue north toward Montana.