Mounting Mountaina - Three some...

[GatorTiger]

Like I said: a better view behind every next tree:



and an even better tree, err, view:



The road dowm in the canyon you can get by either continuing the way that Keith and I tried first and turned around because of the sand, or via the road we saw from that one overlook (the road that was impassable when wet. But (see below) it still is getting better!

Next tree, next vista:



Why don't I let the pics talk for little while:







This is what the rafts on the river look with 12x zoom:



and like this with 1x zoom:



And using my photo sticher the canyon looks like this:

[GatorTiger]

Thank goodness for digital! If I were still using old style film I would have gotten broke in here with all the gazillions of pics that I took! The slogan of the park is this: "We are not the biggest park, but the most beautiful!" (or along that line). And they are darn right!!!!!!!



The other side of the canyon as seen from the final platform:



Pictures (MY pictures!!) cannot do the place justice! I was just standing there, goosebumps all over, sucking in the scene, and taking one picture after another. In-frikkin-credible!!!!





And this is the spot i mentioned above where it would get even better:



Can you see the cars? Gives one a size-relationship! Camping, baby! Just think: camping down there with a nice group, camp fires, steaks, hop and malt sodas... Yeah baby!!!!!!  :D

[GatorTiger]

With the sun going down the contours of the landscape REALLY came out:



Another AAA (Ansel Adams Attempt):



before I got back to con-touring: (I love con-touring! As long as the con-tours are nicely shaped and firm to the grip!!!)



Sigh.... time to say good bye to the park and head back. Just a quick good bye to Andrew, a quickie.....photo at the gates



and off we went heading west again. We had "lost" quite some time playing around like that. It was now 6 pm and we wer about 5 hours behind our schedule! Oh well!!! Was time well spent!!!

Onward... Another quickie on the Utah border:


photo by Keith

and we got to Vernal, UT, "Dinosaur capital" of the area:

[GatorTiger]

Enjoying this....keep going!

Doin' it, baby!!  8)

Since I have the report already written it's just a copy and paste... But with all the pics even that takes a long time...

[GatorTiger]

Can't ride on an empty stomach. So we took Andrew's tip (he had had lunch in Vernal on his way to the monument) and stopped at a nice roadside diner:



awesome wings



and a delicious burger for Keith:



After having filled our bellies we filled the gas tanks and headed out. Another 250 miles to go to the next reserved hotel in Pinedale, WY. By the time we were done with dinner it was 7:30 pm already; with darkness falling upon us... So no more pics that day. But tons of future roadkill!!! Well, roadkill only if hit by a truck, not by us! So while riding US-191 north in the dark ñ and even in the dark we noticed how much scenery we were missing!!!! - we made use of the little traffic and combined forces for some deer-sweeping: Keith was in the right lane, I was in the left lane (only to move over for opposing traffic). With all our high beams and fog lights on we had the road nicely illuminated. Keith was watching the right side of the road, I was watching the left. Despite that seemingly work-sharing thing the whole procedure was very intense. And we were happy to finally get to Pinedale unharmed! We saw A LOT of deer (big bucks among them!!!), rabbits galore, foxes, you name it. Killed a few snakes and one squirrel on the way. Life can suck for the little ones!

2 am we finally got to the hotel. A quick coke'n'bourbon to ease off a bit... And before we knew it our heads hit the pillows and we were out...

Done with!! Coma!!!! So much for day 2!

[GatorTiger]

And on we go... Where was I? Errr, I mean, where were we? Here is a summing up of the route(s) we took so far:

Thursday night to Friday night we drove through from Atlanta to Denver:



Saturday then to Craig, Colorado:



And Sunday through the land of the Dinosaurs using deer-sweeping to Pinedale, Wyoming:



Monday was our last day together for a while (until the return trip). The route would go via Yellowstone and Beartooth Pass to Red Lodge, from where we would go separate ways after a good dinner: Keith would head to Minot, ND, and I would head towards Helena, MT.

That was the plan, anyways....

[GatorTiger]

Monday morning... Our last day for this part of the trip. After the late arrival yesterday ñ or early arrival today depending on how you look at it ñ we slept in somewhat. After a short breakfast we were on the road after 10am. So we lost the first two hours of the 'planned' route for today.

Since the mountains came back into view and the sun was shining nicely we didn't care and happily went on our way:



But one flaw persisted: the mountains didn't come closer! Yet after a while the road turned and we were actually headed back into the mountains again:



And when we finally reached the mountains again life was good.....again!



The day promised to be another warm one. And getting there fast. So much to our delight this nice body came into view:



Very inviting indeed!!!



I just couldn't resist and had to get my feet wet. So first a foot-friendly spot had to be located



after which snowwhite's legs had to be exposed and dipped in the cool goodness!! Fantastic!!!


photo taken by Keith with HG's camera[/i]

:P

[GatorTiger]

Some more mouth-watering shots of the area:





Freshly refreshed and drained of other liquids wie hoppen in our saddles again and pressed on...





Whatever I tried, I could not loose Keith... He stuck with me like glue... :P



We followed the river (in the picture where the tree line is ñ hard to see) downstream through the mountains. Smooth curves and road surface, nice vistas, nice day!!!!





We continued on to Jackson Hole, passing strange looking rocks



and countless recreational areas



we finally made it to the Hole's outskirts. With our tanks empty (of gas AND food!) we followed Keith's urge to some Subway chow:



Nicely filled with soggy bread and coke we rode through downtown. The time being outside of ski season some other festival was going on. These decorations were everywhere:



Hopefully they are made out of plastic!!!
We also came by the hotel I stayed in the last time I come through here! The wx - this time ñ was even worse than last time: Clouds were moving in FAST!



 :shock:

[GatorTiger]

Soon thereafter it started raining. The Tetons were hardly visible due to the rain and low clouds. Ok by me, since I already saw them last time I came through. I felt sorry for Keith, though...

The rain didn't last long. The clouds remained, however, and put a little damper on the mood. But just a little!!

Next I had a bit of dejavu entering Yellowstone National Park and seeing this:



With Yellowstone being a tourist magnet and therefore saturated with those they call city slickers one can bet that as soon as there are two or more cars parked on the side of the road there is some form of wildlife going on. Same here! We got to a crawl close to a small bridge with thousands of cars being on the side of the road trying to get an eyeful of this:





If you want to see Elk you just have to ride the highways! You see them galore dead and alive!

Traffic in the park is same as always: slow and unnerving!



RVs!!! Guaranteed to slow you down!!! And hardly any passing zones... Depressing! Adding to that feeling was that the plantlife ñ although coming back slowly ñ still has that desolate look caused by the wildfires almost a decade ago:



It will be another 15 years or so before the park is back in shape WRT trees and greenery.

[GatorTiger]

As I feared we were making way less progress than we should have to stay in our timetable at least to some extend. One couldn't call it riding! Was more like crawling... We tried to check Old Faithful, but the traffic on its parking lot was even worse then previously. And with a few buses unloading we called it quits... Why did we take the route into Yellowstone again in the first place? Because 'me idiot' wanted to give Beartooth another shot. But by now we were behind schedule too far to make it through the pass in good daylight any more. My ETS to Helena was drifting towards 2-3 am fast like that. On top of that the weather was moving into Beartooth's direction. Another attempt for the birds...

Decision: Screw Beartooth! We took the off-ramp out of the park in West Yellowstone to make it to Bozeman for dinner and than part ways. That would put me into Helena around 10-11 pm. Much better! Would even give me time for a cool one!!!!!

Take off!

I guess all the park's tourists had a place in West Yellowstone village! What a trap! OMG!!! We pulled over to drink some more water and re-group. We checked the map and decided firmly now on US-191 north to Bozeman. The same US-191 as done at night previously!
At first the road was not that exciting. But then the first forest fires came into view:



US-191 is not officially part of the park, but is within the park bounds for a bit. And this area hadn't been hit by the fires YET. It gave us an idea how beautiful Yellowstone must have been



and still were if it weren't for this:



The countryside is totally without smoke most like even more beautiful:



A sign that the fires are indeed getting closer!



We got close to the actal fire, but never saw any flames



And Keith was always waiting patiently for me until a had my photo phix:

[GatorTiger]

And suddenly there was it again: that pool of cars randomly stopped on the side of the road. Maybe a fox this time??? Nope!!! About 450 feet on the side of the road was this little fella:



In my mind I was going through this what-if scenario: what if the grizzly started running towards the road all of a sudden? Made me smile! I left the engine running while taking the pictures, though........



Moving on... A look back to the smoke filled skies



and the somewhat clear ones ahead and all the good things still lying there:

[GatorTiger]

With the smoke getting less it got brighter a bit. Because we wanted to make some time I took pictures only via drive-by:



the road got better and better as time went on! Fast, twisty, nice views left and right! And very little traffic!



Fun in the sun!!!!



Shortly after I took this pic the road got so fast and curvy that I didn't want to take any more pics. Just wanted to ride! Ride fast!! But even at 80 some cars with trailers were attacking me and wanting to get by! These people up here are nuts!!!! Here is a sneak peak how the road looked all that time!



Keith is still outta breath!



"We needed that! Exactly that!" he exclaimed. And right he is!! After a short break we rode on. And just like switched the landscape changed to this:





In Bozeman we had some Chinese food and then split ways. Here is today's map:



And with the last picture of today I bed you farewell...



...until the next installment of course!!!! :D

[GatorTiger]

So there I was in Helena. Got there early enough so that I could walk over to the Walmart SC and get loaded on groceries and some bubbly malt beverages... Then came the unpacking and some TV, all while sipping the cold ones. A quick WWW check for emails and the latest on my favorite forums before the time came to prepare the work clothes for tomorrow and hitting the sack...

Tue-Wed-Thu were work days. No biggie, work actually is fun! Good people up here in MT! Thursday evening came the next highlight: GatorWife would be flying in!!!! After work I went to the airport and picked her up! The back to the hotel, short freshen-up, get on the bike and off we were to the ìMarysville Houseî (see first Mounting Mountaina installment) to meet with my co-workers and some folks from the DOT for dinner. Moosedrool and crablegs, good company, but no campfires! :-( Because of the drought there was a open fire ban. We saw some very dark (and suspicious looking) clouds when we left the hotel. ìJust smokeî said the clerk. Trusting as we are we believed him, only to just skirt a major downpour on the way!!! Not wet, but a bit damp we got to Marysville and had a nice dinner with everybody.

It was just getting dark when we left to go back to the hotel. There had been just enough rain to wet the road and keep the dust down. We saw quite a few deer and bucks going home. Big ones! I'm just glad they didn't charge!

During the ride and back at the hotel my wife told me several times that she enjoyed the ride except for the gravel part. Hmmmmm... Guess I have to re-plan the weekend ride (included a pass in ID with about 60 miles of gravel roads). But now it was time to relief some of her tension......... 8)

[GatorTiger]

Friday was another workday for me, but a relaxing day for GatorWife. Rounding off the nice day was a nice dinner together. Soooooo much better than to eat alone! By far!

Saturday then was the day for the tour. It was also the weekend for the Tiger Ride-In in Kamiah, Idaho. Since I had to work Monday I couldn't participate during the whole thing, but at least I could show my sorry face down there.
With the forecast for the weekend predicting heat like crazy I thought a cooler on the bike would be a good idea. So I picked one up (the blue ones were to small so I had to get a red one... ) and strapped it on the bike as a backrest for my wife. It would move a tiny bit, but was definitely up to the task! Filled it up with water, Gatorade, and ice. Sweet! A quick shot for posterity:



And off we go... My re-routing would take us to Kamiah in paved roads all the way. But I did want to do some passes. So Flesher Pass it is... At least one of them! Not very high, but purty:







Usually I don't pick up hitch hikers, but I might make an exception here:



After a short brake (this was the very first real Trip for my wife ñ so I did take it slow!) we leisurely rode on



I didn't understand why Susan was always leaning forward so much. Don't get me wrong: I like full body contact, but it appeared odd to me. Must be uncomfortable... Oh well, she will sit in the best way for her I thought...

[GatorTiger]

Shortly after the pass we turned left onto SR-200 towards Missoula. Not very exciting, since it mostly straight. It was nice riding, though. Then I saw this tree stump on the side of the road. Pitch black. Odd... an when we rode by it moved!!! A black bear! 10 feet from us! And of course my camera was NOT ready... I was just about to turn around when I saw it vanish in the trees. Oh well, opportunity missed!!!

Onward... When we passed a small pond a little further down I saw a dear halfway submerged eating the plants in the water. Smart! Stay cool while eating and drinking!!!

GatorWife was quite happy about the road being straight like it was. She hasn't gotten into that twisty thing and bikes yet... All in due time!

We stopped at a rest area for a bladder break and some rehydration



The road to come looked like more fun again:



Then a group of noisemakers with lots of straight pipes entered the gas station on the other side of  the road. I wasn't the only one shaking my head... Seeing this beast made me realize that I was hungry!



After the short break the road was gently getting curvy again



and even more twisty...