USA 2012 - The Outbound Ride

Ready to ride - The Excalibur at 6am

At last, it was off down 'The Strip' at 6am to make the most of the cool and lack of traffic, to begin the ride.  We shortly left the freeway and the traffic behind, travelling through the Valley of Fire with its vivid red rock before heading for Zion City. 

Valley of Fire

The temperature rose to over 40degC so keeping cool was a constant necessity, and my new mesh riding suit in reflective light grey worked a treat with lots of through airflow to keep me reasonably cool.  We crossed a corner of Arizona to go onward to Springdale for our first stop just at the entrance to Zion National Park, now in Utah.   Huge mountains with different sedimentary colours either side were highlighted by the hot sun.  A heavy thunderstorm erupted just after we arrived, phew!

Majestic View Lodge outside Zion City, just after the storm

Next stop was Zion Canyon National Park and what a park it is!

Zion Canyon under cirrus cloud in the cool early morning

Climbing on sweeping twisty bends in cool early morning air, we saw some spectacular sedimentary rock formations, with lots of different coloured rock accented by the low sun, as we rose to a much greener plateau that we seemed to stay on for many miles.  However, as the sun got up and we descended a little, the temperature climbed 20deg in 20min, which caught a few out who had just layered up after feeling a little chilly!  Much of it was spent on huge plains with little or no vegetation or cultivation and mountains soaring either side, in the heart of cowboy country.  But, there were rivers and dammed lakes to break it up, although the hot winds meant that keeping cool was once again a challenge and I found my eyes watering uncontrollably when that wind was from the side and got inside my visor.

H-D Dealer near Provo - cleverly fitted into an old factory

After a compulsory dealership stop, which inevitably involved yet another T-shirt purchase, we climbed into cooler weather once again and to a ski resort hotel at Park City, still in Utah and just east of Salt Lake City. 

Apparently, I had run over a rattlesnake on the road!  I was moving into the outside lane and concentrating on the upcoming traffic to follow our leader to overtake and didn't see it, but did hear and feel the bump of something in the road.  I thought it was a bit of tyre carcass, but it seems not!  We did see some deer at the roadside earlier in Zion Park, and had been warned about the presence of rattlesnakes and some others.  The roads were terrific - straight and smooth, or with sweeping bends, to make wonderful riding.  We escaped another violent thunder storm just after our arrival.

Leaving Park City, it was a contrast of scenery as we passed from Utah into a corner of Idaho before returning again to Utah and then onward into Wyoming.  We met a couple of bikers at an ice cream stop by Bear Lake - "Bikers Against Child Abuse", who knew John & Dot and gave us a better route to ride for the rest of the day.

Huge plains, where mountains never seemed to get any closer, with straight but good roads that taxed my concentration to stay alert, although there was no traffic to worry about and hot prairie winds blew constantly.  We were off the freeway on state highways and there was very little habitation and what was there was well spaced out.  There were very large ranches, with the familiar arched entries with names over the top.  It is easy to run out of adjectives to describe the scale of the countryside.  We saw wild bison several times and many Black Angus cows.  Then, there was the contrast of some mountain ascents and descents through forested areas with wonderful sweeping bends and vistas, passing round a couple of huge lakes, and finally a 20 mile stretch following a fairly wide river abound with kayaks and white water rafters, all under a bright blue sky and temperatures in the upper 30s, to Jackson Hole at 6,200' at the foot of the Grand Tetons (Big Boobies) Mountains, which is part of the Rocky Mountains.  I became aware of the pack of pillion to take pictures and video while I was riding as we had few stops on this sector.  We stayed at the Painted Buffalo Inn.

I could see snow from the motel on their upper reaches.  Jackson Hole is very western themed and is a gateway to Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.  We stopped two nights.

On the second day, a small group of us went on a ride out to see more of the local scenery, and boy did we do just that!  First, it was a climb to the Teton Pass, cruising over more fabulous roads with sweeping bends among forested hills.  John, our leader, spotted a moose, but by the time a couple had turned round to try and find it, it had vanished.  There are plenty about and many elk too, but the trees give them good cover and nobody saw any more.

Teton Pass

At the Wyoming/Idaho State Line

After crossing back into Idaho again, we dropped down and to continue through Teton Valley followed by Swan Valley, both very beautiful, rode alongside an enormous lake/reservoir, crossing one of its dams.

A custom bike shop miles from anywhere

We encountered many Harley groups, all very friendly and, even though we were still over 600 miles from Sturgis, everyone is heading the same way! Wandering around Jackson Hole, I found it very old western in style with covered wooden boardwalks in the main street, mostly wooden buildings and many cowboy themes.  I enjoyed the scenes with some genuine cowboys riding around in their throaty V8 pick-up trucks as well as on foot, and it reminded me of years ago in Texas.

Jackson Hole, nestled in the foothills of the Grand Tetons

I enjoyed a buffalo steak and noted some of the quotes from behind the counter - "Of course we serve vegetarians, what do you think cows are?".  "How do you cut down on red meat, use a nice sharp knife" etc.   There were hundreds of Harleys in the town, some just promenading, others passing through, and I now couldn't wait to see the size numbers at Sturgis, the World's largest motorcycle rally! 

Arch of Antlers in Jackson Hole

We also had a chuck wagon cookout held on a ranch, with steak, beans, biscuit (scone to us) etc, followed by a brilliant show of western music.  700 folk were served their hot meal on tin plates in 22 min, plates and tables cleared ready for the show in 45 min, very impressive efficiency!

Next day, we were off to National Parks and Forests and what a great one it was. First, we headed through Grand Teton National Park on a very wide valley floor with the Tetons soaring to one side, snow and even a few glaciers up top.  We spent most of the day between 7,500 and 9,000' as we passed into Yellowstone National Park next, which made it relatively cooler.

Yellowstone has everything - high mountains, valleys, forest, geysers and lakes, although Yellowstone Lake should really be called Inland Sea as it is so huge.  The forest rose up steeply either side of the road on the way in, but I was curious about why there were so many tall dead trees, with no branches, sticking up beyond the mass of the rest.  It made the forest look somewhat odd, even petrified in places.

We found Old Faithfull and sat around while it sent out whisps of steam before finally blowing about an hour later.  It throws up a cloud of boiling water and steam about every 40-120 min and I was very glad we waited for it along with a substantial crowd of others, many of whom had come on Harleys, which were everywhere.  We rode along the Continental Divide for quite some time, the ridge from which water flows either to the east to the Atlantic, or the west to the Pacific. 

On the way out of Yellowstone, we spent many miles by the shore of its massive lake before encountering vast areas that had been ravaged by fire, perhaps relatively recently.  The trees were similar to the dead ones seen earlier, but were still blackened and only scrub had so far begun to grow on the forest floor.  It was really quite sad.  I also spotted a memorial to Fire Fighters in a lay-by, although we didn't stop, and suspect it was for those who lost their lives fighting these huge and fast moving fires, often started by lightning.  We enjoyed a really glorious descent of several thousand feet of sweeping bends through the Sleeping Giant Mountains with vertical drops to the side, but a terrific road surface to enjoy it on, to lunch in the former hunting lodge of Buffalo Bill.  After that, it was into Shoshone Forest at a lower level and in an area known as the North Absaroka Wilderness, which took us many miles alongside a white water river, with cliffs towering above us at times and very different coloured rock faces, but with taller mountains and snow peaks visible behind at times.  Last of all it was into Buffalo Bill State Park for the run alongside another lake, then some tunnels, then a river, and into Cody.  What wonderful riding!  We stayed in a log cabin village just outside the town.

Flag of Wyoming

In the evening, we went to a rodeo/stampede, which was real and very enjoyable.  I delighted in seeing kids of 5 being allowed to chase the calves to take a ribbon off their tails, and other 12 year olds bare back riding small bulls, without a lawyer in sight!

I get to sit on a bull

Cowboy lassos a calf

Leaving Cody in the cool of the morning, we spent a while in the Big Horn Canyon before climbing over 5,000' to chilly air with a fantastic outlook over the canyon.  We rode along the ridge of the Big Horn Mountains, peaking at around 9,500' and seeing some snow above us.  It was a great run for many miles along the ridge before a long descent back to just under 4,000' on more sweeping roads with a great road surface for swift riding to enjoy what these Harleys are made for.  We then passed through several small towns, where they always declare the population no matter how small e.g. 206 (I wonder how often updated?) precisely on the sign, together with elevation.  In one such town I was amused to see the Crazy Woman Saloon adjacent to Tongue River as we passed by!

On the Big Horn Mountains, overlooking the Canyon

Our highest stop at nearly 9,500'

Our stop for the evening was Buffalo, in the Occidental Hotel, a really historic place.  The owner gave us a full history briefing over breakfast the next day and what a history it was!  The hotel has been used by The Hole in the Wall Gang, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, several US Presidents, Ernest Hemmingway and other celebrities in its time.  The current owners took it over in '97 and had to restore it painstakingly to get it back into its former glory.  I had the pleasure of staying in the room, The Hole in the Wall, that had been occupied for some years by a lady who ran it after her husband lost it in a poker game!  It had a bath in the wardrobe and this was because she had become fed up with sharing bathroom facilities with the cattle men in the adjoining whorehouse!

Next day, we spent some time on freeway zipping along over miles of grassland before visiting dealerships at Gillette and then Sundance.  Then, it was into the Black Hills and onward to Deadwood, a few miles from Sturgis.  After checking in at Cadillac Jack's in Deadwood, John led a brief sortie into Sturgis.  Wow!  Never have I seen so many Harleys in one place, even with all the HOG rallies I have attended, and by a very large margin.  They were just everywhere.  We stopped 4 nights at Deadwood, so that was just a taster!

You could have your bike cleaned in a Bikini Bike Wash outside the hotel, and a groom and bride decided to do this: