Washed my Harley before leaving Torrey this morning. Here, it sits cleanly and proudly near the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park, on Utah Highway 24.
The day begins by riding east, into the rising sun, on Utah Highway 24.
From Torrey, it’s just a few miles to the west entrance to Capitol Reef National Park. Entrance may not be the right word.
Because State Highway 24 is the main east-west road through the park, there’s no toll to ride through much of Capitol Reef – unless you’re traveling on Scenic Drive south of the Fruita Campground. I’m just passing through.
Immediately after leaving Torrey, the red rocks of Capitol Reef National Park dominate the view.
Capitol Reef National Park was established in 1971. It has 241,904 acres of colorful canyons, ridges, cliffs, towers, arches, buttes and monoliths. The area is named for a line of white domes and cliffs of Navajo Sandstone, each of which looks a bit like the U.S. Capitol building. The local word “reef” refers to any rocky barrier to travel.
Soon, I roll through Fruita, the best-known settlement in Capitol Reef. Fruita was named for its productive fruit orchards.
The town had been long abandoned in 1955, when the National Park Service purchased Fruita to be included in Capitol Reef National Park. Today, few buildings remain, except for a restored one-room schoolhouse.
The orchards are still here, now under the ownership of the National Park Service, and have about 3,100 trees – including cherry, apricot, peach, pear, apple, plum, mulberry, almond and walnut. The trees were originally planted in the 1880s when Mormons settled the area. Visitors to the park are welcome to stroll in any unlocked orchard and consume ripe fruit. The orchards have an honor system; you pick fruit in season, then settle up at self-pay stations.
The Fruita orchard and barn in Capitol Reef National Park.
***
Past Fruita, I continue on UT-24 for another 38 miles, following the Fremont River as it winds from Torrey toward Hanksville, which calls itself “An Oasis in the Desert.”
In 1985, the town was named after Ebenezer Hanks, leader of a group of Mormon pioneers who established a small settlement here. It may be best known as a supply post for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, who would hide out at Robbers Roost in the desert southeast of town.
***
There are few choices to be made in Hanksville: What to have for breakfast. Which bib overalls to wear for the day. And whether to turn south on Highway 95 toward Hite, a ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Colorado River – or turn left and continue north on Highway 24.
In Hanksville, you can turn south toward beautiful Lake Powell. Or, you can turn left and head toward Colorado. My choice: left.
I turn left and continue on Highway 24, with barely a curve in the road, until after 45 minutes, it meets up with I-70. Then, I jump on the Interstate for what seems like an eternity — 123 miles.
Soon, I roll past the Green River, as well as its namesake city, Green River. The Green River is a tributary of the Colorado River.
At a convenience store in Green River, having a mid-day snack. In Utah, this is considered health food.
The next turnoff of any consequence is Crescent Junction, where most people turn right on US Highway 191 for the short drive to Moab, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park.
Today, my destination is Colorado, not Utah. So I continue east, eventually seeing the “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” signs.
Crossing into Colorful Colorado. Almost home!
It’s feeling like home.
Colorado has a reputation for being a state of active and athletic people, reportedly with the lowest obesity rate in the nation. People here are both healthy and happy: Colorado was one of the first states to legalize both the medicinal (2000) and recreational (2014) use of marijuana.
I roll past by Fruita, home of the Western Colorado Dinosaur Museum, then past Grand Junction. Ten miles east of Grand Junction, I take the turnoff for Palisade – which grows the best peaches humanly possible.
Palisade is also Colorado’s wine nivrana, with both vineyards and wineries. The small town has more than two dozen wineries.
The Grand Valley’s microclimate of sunny days, dry air and cool nights work together to produce plump grapes for the area wineries.
Palisade, today’s destination, was named for its nearby cliffs. Yes, but why stop in Palisade?
First, did I mention peaches and wineries? Second, my friends Kathryn and Eldon McBride live here, in the middle of a peach orchard, in an 1800s-era farmhouse a short walk away from the Colorado River.
Palisade peaches. Yum!
It’s a great place to call it a day before the final push tomorrow, when I’ll roll on to our new home in Carbondale.
***
Day Eighteen Summary: Fruit orchards in Utah and Colorado, a hideout for Butch Cassidy, and a warm welcome home to Colorado.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Torrey to Palisade.
Home at last. Almost.
Vroom, vroom.
With the McBrides in Palisade, Colorado.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Take a Deeply Principled Stand, No Matter the Consequences.”
Goal Achieved: On August 14, 1846, philosopher Henry David Thoreau is jailed for tax resistance, the result of an act of civil disobedience. Thoreau spends one night in jail for not paying his poll tax. For Thoreau, it is an act of protest against slavery. His philosophy of civil disobedience later influences the political thoughts and actions of notable figures including Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection on simple living in natural surroundings.
A man ahead of his time.
What’s on your bucket list?
***
And, as a postscript, here’s an update on Scott and Dave’s ride home to Southern California: both arrived home in Orange County this afternoon. Of the six of us who were riding the Black Hills in South Dakota together recently (Dave, Gail, Scott, Jackie and Randy), that makes me the only one still on the road.
On their way home, Dave (hot dog) and Scott (cookie) stop for nourishment near Barstow, California. That’s considered health food in Barstow. Have you been to Barstow?
Scott arrives home safely in La Habra.
Dave at home in Fullerton. Didn’t take him long to begin catching up on the news. He drinks a much better brand of beer when on the road! (photo by Dave)
One last group photo before heading separate ways at the end of an epic journey.
After 16 days and 3,457 miles riding with Dave and Scott (and Randy, too), I’m on my own.
And, I’m on my way home.
The first sentence makes me sad. The second makes me happy.
***
Dave and Scott, tanks full of gas, moments before heading toward Kingman, Arizona, on their way home to Southern California.
As Dave and Scott head west toward Orange County, California, I leave Cedar City, too – beginning the 500-mile ride to the new Lesser/Murr homestead in Carbondale, Colorado.
My rear-view mirror is full of memories — and in front of me lies unbridled excitement about a new life in the Rockies.
Who leaves paradise (La Quinta) after 16 years of the good life at PGA West?
Sixteen years of the good life at PGA West. It’s been a wonderful experience, but now it’s time for something new. Hey … let’s try Carbondale, Colorado. Why not? For the curious among you, the hole pictured above is number 10 on the Arnold Palmer Private Course.
Who says goodbye to their friends and relocates to a place whose beauty is breathtaking, but so much about it is foreign?
Sarah and I do.
If you have to ask us why, well, you probably wouldn’t understand.
***
Utah Highway 14 leads me eastward from Cedar City into Cedar Canyon, a scenic drive that crests at nearly 10,000 feet.
For the next 35 miles, the road twists and turns, past Navajo Lake, through Duck Creek Village, and eventually to the intersection with US Highway 89. The road through Cedar Canyon offers epic views of the Dixie National Forest, before giving way to massive meadows on both sides of the highway.
Cedar Canyon.
At the gas station that marks the junction of Utah Highway 14 and US Highway 89, I turn north and begin making my way toward Bryce Canyon National Park.
I roll through the town of Hatch, population 133, home of the Bryce Zion Inn – where identity confusion apparently caused it to be named after both National Parks. An unconfirmed report suggests Hatch is named after 84-year-old US Senator Orrin Hatch, now serving his seventh term. The ultra-conservative Hatch hasn’t decided whether he’ll seek an eighth Senate term in 2018, but says he might be willing to step aside if Mitt Romney decides to give elective office another try. In a recent Salt Lake Tribune poll, 58 percent of Utahns said Hatch “definitely” should not seek re-election.
***
About 10 miles north of Hatch is the turnoff to Utah Highway 12, a Scenic Byway that’s Utah’s first All-American Road.
Utah Highway 12, one of the most spectacular roads imaginable.
Known as “A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway,” it’s considered one of the top five motorcycle roads in the US.
I’ve ridden Highway 12 three times in each direction (east to west, west to east), and it does not disappoint. It’s 123 miles of unparalleled beauty, alternatingly breathtaking and terrifying.
Parts of Highway 12 were built by in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 as part of FDR’s New Deal. It provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.
When the Civilian Conservation Corps built Highway 12, the new road provided the first year-round access for cars to this once-isolated part of southwestern Utah.
Highway 12 has been voted the second-most beautiful highway in the world, and for good reason.
Red Canyon road trip. What could be better? Not much.
A few miles after turning onto Highway 12, I immediately enter Red Canyon, home of Red Canyon State Park and Red Canyon Scenic Drive. All red, all the time. There’s red rock everywhere you look. The colors come from the presence of iron oxide, or hematite. Exposure to the elements caused iron minerals to oxidize, or rust, resulting in red, orange and brown-colored rocks.
The author’s Harley, at the entrance to Red Canyon.
Loving the red rocks.
Highway 12 approaches Bryce Canyon National Park from the west via Red Canyon, a relatively shallow valley in the side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau surrounded by exposed orange red limestone.
The rocks are eroded into the familiar pinnacles, spires, columns and hoodoos also found in the national park about 10 miles to the east. The formations line Highway 12 for about 4 miles, starting quite abruptly at the edge of the plateau, then fading away as the road reaches the flat grasslands on top, and extend several miles north, including two other large valleys of Losee and Casto Canyons.
Red Canyon has several tunnels carved from the red rocks.
And before you know it, I arrive at the turnoff to Bryce Canyon National Park, home of hoodos.
Bryce Canyon’s hoodoos are geological marvels. But today, I’ll skip them and continue riding.
But today is not a park visitation day. I’ll smell enough roses, metaphorically speaking, just by enjoying this spectacular road.
***
Shortly after the Bryce Canyon turnoff, I roll through the towns of Tropic, Cannonville and Henrieville, all established in the late 1800s by Mormon settlers.
Thirty miles northeast of Henrieville is Escalante, a small ranching town with about 800 full-time residents. It’s named after Silvestre Velez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and a member of the first European expedition into southern Utah. In 1776, Escalante left Santa Fe, New Mexico, trying to find a route to the missions of California. His expedition took him through western Colorado and west across central Utah before eventually arriving in what is today called the Escalante Desert.
Once you pass through Escalante, the road becomes exhilarating, and in places, sphincter-tightening. It has scary switchbacks and steep drop-offs. That sound you just heard was me, praying for a safe passage.
A hogback warning of what’s ahead. Signs and words don’t come even close to the terror I feel.
There’s a “hogback” section that pretty much brings me to tears every time I’m on it – today included.
A hogback is a long narrow ridge or series of hills with a narrow crest and steep slopes with nearly equal inclines on both sides. As you might guess, the name refers to its resemblance to the back of a hog. Apologies to my Jewish friends and family for riding on a non-kosher geological formation. I’ll try to pick my routes more carefully next time.
***
From the hogback, you head toward Boulder, a town of just over 200 residents. Boulder has the best food along Highway, at either Hell’s Backbone Grill or the Burr Trail Grill.
From Boulder, the road begins climbing steeply. Coincidentally, so do I.
Near the top of Boulder Mountain, a thunderstorm comes out of nowhere and soaks me. Thunder, lightning, and hail. The works!
The 30-mile long portion of the highway that ascends and descends Boulder Mountain is known as the Boulder Mountain Highway. It climbs to an elevation of more than 9,600 feet, through a huge aspen grove, before descending into the town of Torrey – gateway to Capitol Reef National Park.
Boulder Mountain Highway’s aspen groves are spectacular, especially in the fall. This photo was not shot today.
Building Highway 12 took nearly four decades, as construction crews sporadically blasted, cut and paved their way through rugged hills cliffs from the 1940s to the 1980s. The road was initially built to move cattle, supplies and mail for the people in five small towns in southern Utah. But when the last stretch over heavily forested Boulder Mountain was finally paved in 1985, it didn’t take travelers long to discover that this road was the best tour of Utah’s red-rock desert that can be made in a single day.
The weather may have sucked, but my bike took it all in stride.
If you enjoyed the ride on Utah Highway 12 as much as I did, here’s a chance to revisit it, this time from East to West – the entire 125 miles in time-lapse video.
***
At the northeastern terminus of Highway 12 is Torrey, elevation 6,830 feet. Torrey was established in the 1880s by Mormon settlers, and was initially known as Youngtown, after John Willard Young. He’s one of the few individuals to have been an apostle of the LDS Church and a member of the First Presidency without ever having been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Gotta love Mormon trivia!
The town of Torrey was named after one of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, Col. Jay Torrey.
Torrey is tonight’s destination. After a thrilling 123-mile ride on Highway 12, arriving here is almost anticlimactic.
The view descending Highway 12 toward Torrey. Photo also not taken today.
The biggest excitement here is conjuring up the past, thinking of Butch Cassidy, whose boyhood home was not far from here, and Zane Grey, author best known for adventure novels like Riders of the Purple Sage, who often visited Torrey.
Me, I’m parking the bike at the Red Sands Hotel, grabbing a quick bite, and preparing to press on tomorrow toward the Lesser/Murr homestead in Colorado.
***
Day Seventeen Summary: One of America’s top five motorcycle roads, the second-most beautiful highway in the world. Life’s good.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Cedar City to Torrey.
I’m on my way home.
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Build a Monument to Paranoia.”
Goal Achieved: On August 13, 1961, construction begins on the Berlin Wall in East Germany. The Wall falls 28 years later, on Nov. 9, 1989. East Germany officially referred to the Wall as the “Anti-Fascist Protective Wall,” implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were considered fascists by German Democratic Republic propaganda.
Building the Berlin Wall in 1961.
What’s on your bucket list?
***
A postscript: Dave and Scott are in Kingman, Arizona, tonight, cooling off before riding through a blast furnace tomorrow on their way home to Orange County. Here are a few photos, showing their day on the road.
Dave found some red rocks, too. These were in Nevada. (photo by Scott)
Dave and Scott cool off at a convenience store en route to Kingman, Arizona. Dave’s method of cooling off: an ice cream sandwich.
The Red Brigade, three beautiful Harleys, resting comfortably overnight at the Holiday Inn Express in Springville, Utah, where we spent the night Friday. (photo by Scott)
Mormons who live by the “Word of Wisdom” don’t smoke, don’t drink coke, alcohol, or coffee – and eat meat in moderation. Apparently, this sort of lifestyle modification is good for you.
Some years ago, a study of 10,000 LDS Church members in California concluded that those who follow the Word of Wisdom have death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases about half that of the general population.
We should begin our last full day in Utah the way bikers usually do: a strong cup of coffee, chicken fried steak, eggs and hash browns piled high on our breakfast plates.
Breakfast, according to the Harley Word of Wisdom.
Let’s call it the Harley Word of Wisdom.
Leaving Springville, US Highway 89 takes us south through Thistle and Birdseye, skirting the west side of the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Soon we roll through Ephraim, home of Snow College, one of the oldest junior colleges west of the Mississippi.
Next stop on US-89: Gunnison, named in honor of John Gunnison, a US Army officer who surveyed the area for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. Gunnison is also where you’ll find the Central Utah Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison that houses up to 1,125 felons.
In Salina, at Holly’s Pantry.
Gassing up in Salina. Another 50 mpg tankful on the author’s Harley.
Salina had a quaint War Memorial, honoring those men and women from the area who served in major wars.
The last city of note before joining Interstate 70 is Salina. Salina’s first permanent settlers moved into the area in 1864 at the direction of LDS church leadership. The settlers – about 30 families – found abundant salt deposits nearby, so they named the area Salina.
In Marysvale, along US-89, stopping for a break and refreshments.
Ice cream sandwich in Marysville.
Same ice cream sandwich. Still yummy. (photo by Scott)
Found a cool covered wagon in Marysvale.
One more at the covered wagon.
We pass by Richfield, birthplace of Jake Garn, former Salt Lake City Mayor who was later elected to three terms in the US Senate. Garn is a Mormon who graduated from the University of Utah (yay!) and became the first member of Congress to fly in space.
The space shuttle Discovery on one of its 39 missions. In 1985, Jake Garn flew on one of those missions, experiencing severe space sickness.
In 1985, he flew on a five-day mission on the space shuttle Discovery. Garn experienced severe space sickness, whose symptoms range from mild nausea and disorientation to vomiting and intense discomfort. He became so sick in space that NASA jokingly referred to the “Garn Scale” to measure reactions to space sickness; a “One Garn” is the highest possible level of sickness. Apparently, most astronauts get perhaps “one-tenth Garn,” if that. Garn turns 85 in October.
***
After 33 miles of interstate riding, we exit I-70 in Sevier and climb back onto US Highway 89 for another 60 miles, passing Piute State Park and Piute Reservoir. The park and reservoir are named for the Native Americans who once dominated this area. The Utah state legislature changed the original spelling from Paiute to Piute.
Ugh! Rain on the way, so we put on rain gear on US Hwy 89.
All set for riding in the rain!
Let’s ride!
Soon we arrive in the city of Panguitch, population 1,500. Panguitch is a Paiute Native American word meaning “Big Fish.” The city is named for the plentiful fish found in nearby lakes, filled with some of the larges rainbow trout in Utah. Major events in Panguitch include the Annual Quilt Walk Festival, held in the spring, and the Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally, held in June.
Not much happening in Panguitch at the moment, though its proximity to Utah’s red rock country and Bryce Canyon National Park brings tourists to Panguitch and gives the city life.
Panguitch selfie.
In Panguitch, we turn west on Utah Highway 143 and head toward Cedar Breaks National Monument. We’re riding through Dixie National Forest, past Panguitch Lake, a high alpine lake sitting at 8,400 feet.
We follow UT-143 until it runs into the tiny town of Brian Head, elevation 9,800 feet. Brian Head calls itself the “Highest Resort Town in America.”
Mountain biking is one of many summer activities at Brian Head Ski Resort.
Here, we find the Brian Head Ski Resort, the largest in Southern Utah. Day passes are only $45. In the summer, Brian Head offers mountain biking, zip lining, avalanche tubing, disc golf, and family-friendly hiking trails.
Its rock formations are similar to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park. Cedar Breaks includes a natural geologic amphitheater that’s a half-mile deep. Elevation along the rim of the amphitheater is above 10,000 feet. In fact, the road reaches 10,626 feet above sea level, and is Utah’s second-highest paved road. Cedar Breaks, which has been a national monument since 1933, receives nearly 800,000 visitors each year.
***
Leaving Cedar Breaks, we turn west and follow beautiful Cedar Canyon for 18 miles til reaching tonight’s destination: Cedar City, elevation 5,846 feet, located on the western edge of the Markagunt Plateau. Cedar City was settled in 1851 by Mormon pioneers, sent there to build an iron works, because of the vast iron and coal resources only ten miles from town.
Riding Cedar Canyon, as seen from Dave’s bike.
Cedar City is a tourism gateway to nearby Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and of course, Cedar Breaks National Monument – which we visited less than an hour ago.
It’s a charming city where you’ll find Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire, the Utah Summer Games, the Neil Simon Theatre Festival, the Frontier Folk Festival, and the Groovefest Music Festival. No wonder it’s called “Festival City.”
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is one of many reasons Cedar City is called “Festival City.”
The city of nearly 30,000 is named after the abundant local trees, which are actually junipers, not cedar. Easy mistake to make.
Scott Donaldson, a third of what remains of Team Sturgis, is quite familiar with Cedar City. His son, Kyle, played football here for Southern Utah University. Kyle was the starting strong side tackle for the Thunderbirds in 2013 when they won the Big Sky Conference title and advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. In his playing days, Kyle was a 6’4”, 323-pound monster, bench pressing 440 pounds and squatting 650 – and also scoring several scholar-athlete awards. “He’s not just a football bonehead,” says his proud Dad.
That’s Kyle, in the middle, red jersey,, blocking #94 .
Clearly a product of good genes, Kyle received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice – and today is an operator at Kittyhawk Products, a Southern California company that specializes in heat treating parts for applications ranging from aerospace to racing engine blocks.
Term of the day, and fancy name for heat treating: Hot Isostatic Pressing.
You’re welcome.
Oh … some great new about Kyle: he’ll soon be putting his Criminal Justice degree to good use. He’s been hired by the Santa Ana Police Department, and will begin his training to become a police officer in September. A Milennial doing good for the ‘hood 👍👍👍
***
Day Sixteen Summary: Following the Word of Wisdom (sort of), barfing with Senator Garn, confusion with trees.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Springville to Cedar City.
We’re on our way home.
Vroom, vroom.
***
It was pouring rain when we were ready to ride to dinner, so we got smart (and safe) and took a cab. (photo by Scott)
Dinner at Charlie’s Southern BBQ in Cedar City. (photo by Scott)
Yum! (photo by Scott)
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Make a Lot of People Happy.”
Goal Achieved: On August 12, 1955, President Eisenhower raises the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour. When the US set its first minimum wage in 1938, it was 25 cents an hour. Today minimum wage proponents argue for $15 an hour.
President Eisenhower is the first president to raise the minimum wage to $1 an hour.
What’s on your bucket list?
***
A fun activity toward the end of each trip is the receipt party, where we figure out who owes who for the trip. It’s an exercise in elementary arithmetic, and three grown men with college degrees barely could figure it out.
Receipt party. Woo-hoo! A computer, Excel, a pile of receipts, and someone ends up with a pile of money.
Breakfast in West Yellowstone. Guess who ordered (and ate) this?
The third person at the table had this sorry looking breakfast. Guess who?
Does this help answer your questions?
We leave West Yellowstone, just ahead of busloads of tourists doing the same thing we are today: visiting Old Faithful.
The west entrance to Yellowstone National Park is on the outskirts of town. Soon, Yellowstone Avenue transitions to US Highway 191, and we are in the park, riding east toward the Wyoming state line.
Within a mile, we cross into Wyoming. Ninety-six percent of Yellowstone National Park is in Wyoming. The rest is in Montana (three percent) and Idaho (one percent).
We cruse eastward along the banks of the Madison River. The river, which is a fly-fishing mecca, was named in 1805 by Meriwether Lewis of Lewis-and-Clark fame. He named the river after then-Secretary of State James Madison, who four years later succeeded Thomas Jefferson as President.
Fly fishing in the Madison River.
The Madison River has great fishing for rainbow and brown trout. Within Yellowstone National Park, the river is fly fishing only. All fishing in the park is catch-and-release. Fishing is a hugely popular activity within the park. More than 50,000 park fishing permits are issued annually. Yellowstone has hundreds of miles of fishable creeks, streams, rivers and lakes. The cutthroat trout is Wyoming’s state fish.
Soon we pass Mount Haynes, 8,218 feet up in the Gallatin Mountain Range. Mount Haynes is named in honor of Frank Haynes, the first official park photographer.
The next mountain of note is 7,549-foot National Park Mountain, at the confluence of the Madison River and the Firehole River. National Park Mountain is just west of Madison Junction, where we turn south and follow the Firehole River for the next 15 minutes. Temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 86 degrees F, with elevated levels of boron and arsenic. Despite the seemingly hostile environment, brown and rainbow trout live and spawn in the Firehole River.
Firehole River: it’s smokin’ hot!
Early trappers named it the Firehole for the steam that makes it appear to be smoking, as if on fire. The steam, of course, is a result of the river flowing through several significant geyser basins in the park.
Scott waits patiently for Old Faithful to erupt.
He’s not the only one waiting for the show to begin.
One of those geyser basins is the Upper Geyser Basin, which contains the world-famous Old Faithful – the first geyser in the park to receive a name. It’s faithful, for sure, erupting every 44 to 125 minutes, 365 days a year. The reliability of Old Faithful can be attributed to the fact that it’s not connected to any other thermal features of the Upper Geyser Basin.
Each eruption shoots up to 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of up to 185 feet. The eruptions generally last from a minute and a-half to five minutes.
Finally, the eruption begins. Those are the author’s shoes at bottom.
Yours truly, as the eruption is underway.
Ka-boom!
Before leaving West Yellowstone this morning, we checked a geyser timetable to reduce the chances of disappointment. We get to Old Faithful, and sure enough, it erupts, almost on cue.
Since you can’t be with us, the next best thing is to check the Old Faithful live webcam. You’re welcome.
People from all over the world come to Yellowstone to watch Old Faithful erupt. The park’s wildlife and scenery are well known today, but it was the unique thermal features that inspired Yellowstone to become the world’s first national park in 1872.
Old Faithful is one of nearly 500 geysers in Yellowstone – the greatest concentration of geysers in the world. Old Faithful is one of six geysers that park rangers can predict; its eruption pattern is so reliable that early developers built special viewing areas, lodging and concessions for visitors to watch eruptions.
Here, you can learn more about geysers at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, you can stay at the Old Faithful Inn, shop at the Old Faithful General Store, eat at the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria, or gas up at the Old Faithful Service Station.
***
We leave Old Faithful and continue east on Grand Loop Road, one of the park’s main thoroughfares. The road takes us over the Continental Divide, past Duck Lake, and to West Thumb, an arm of Yellowstone Lake. West Thumb is home to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, formed by a large volcanic explosion about 150,000 years ago.
The resulting collapsed volcano, called a caldera (“boiling pot” or cauldron), later filled with water, forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake. That extension is known as the West Thumb, which is about the same size as another famous volcanic caldera, Crater Lake in Oregon.
At West Thumb, the road turns south, and we soon pass Lewis Lake, named for Meriweather Lewis, commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Lewis River and the Snake River meet just north of the park’s South Entrance.
At Yellowstone National Park’s South Entrance.
Park entrance signs are popular photo spots.
Dave poses by the park entrance along the Snake River.
We leave Yellowstone National Park and follow the Snake River, soon crossing it as we head toward yet another National Park – Grand Teton.
The scenic road that connects Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park is called John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.
John D. Rockefeller and his wife, Abbey, on a boat in Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park — in 1931.
The 24,000-acre Rockefeller Memorial parkway was originally part of Teton National Forest, but was transferred to the National Park Service in the 1970s to create an unbroken connection between the two national parks.
Rockefeller was a conservationist and fabulously wealthy philanthropist who was instrumental in the creation and enlargement of a number of national parks, including Grand Teton. By the time Rockefeller died in 1937, his assets equaled 1.5 percent of America’s total economic output. To control an equivalent share today would require a net worth of more than $350 billion. He’s considered the wealthiest person in modern history. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil, which at its peak, had about 90 percent of the market for refined oil (kerosene) in the US. You gotta love a monopoly!
I’ll say this for Rockefeller: despite his great wealth, or perhaps because of it, he helped make the world a better place through his philanthropy – including purchasing and donating thousands of acres of land to the US National Parks system. Rockefeller serves as a shining example that becoming astonishingly rich doesn’t automatically make you a flaming a_ _ hole.
***
We take a break at the beautiful Jackson Lake Lodge, an awesome view of the Tetons in the distance.
My beverage had a nice view, too.
Even the beer had a nice view.
It’s not long before we find ourselves riding along the eastern shore of Jackson Lake, at 6,772 feet, one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the US. The lake is named after the Jackson Five, early mountain pioneers who later in life perfected their Motown sound. That’s a much better story than the truth, which is that it was named after David Edward “Davey” Jackson, a beaver trapper in the area in the late 1820s.
Seems everything around here is named after Davey – including the towns of Jackson and Jackson Hole, and Jackson Lake Lodge, which we pass, then turn east on Teton Park Road to take the extraordinarily scenic route to Jackson Hole.
Near the unincorporated town of Moose, we turn onto Moose Wilson Road, another breathtaking detour, and continue toward Jackson Hole. The road is lined with chokecherry and hawthorn bushes.
Jackson Hole, with a peak elevation of 10,450 feet, is known for its steep terrain and a vertical drop of 4,139 feet. With the Teton Range’s uniquely shaped peaks, it’s a spectacular setting for a ski area.
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. Saddle up!
If you’ve ever been to Jackson Hole, you probably stopped at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, which has been around for more than 125 years. Over the years, its stage has hosted – among others – Waylon Jennings, Glen Campbell, Tanya Tucker and Willie Nelson. The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar’s saddle barstools have been a signature item since 1973, the year I first visited the place. It’s a good place to grab a cold one on a hot day.
From Jackson Hole, it’s 70 miles to today’s destination: Afton, Wyoming.
We follow the Snake River south to Alpine Junction, and continue until we see the world’s largest arch made of elk antlers. The arch is made up of 3,011 elk antlers, spanning 75 feet across Afton’s Main Street.
Fifteen tons of elk antlers. Woo-hoo!
Elk antlers everywhere.
Good place to call it a day. How can you possibly improve on 15 tons of antlers?
***
Day Fourteen Summary: Two National Parks in one day, the predictability of Old Faithful, using your wealth to do good for the neighborhood.
Click here to see today’s complete route from West Yellowstone to Afton.
We’re on our way home.
Vroom, vroom.
We stayed at the Kodak Mountain Resort, Cabins 22 and 23, in Afton. Awesome accommodations … best kept lodging secret ever.
Chinese food tonight in Afton. Here, Dave eats healthy with a bowl of edamame.
Scott had the dinner special. Also a healthy treat.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Rename Your Company So Nobody Knows Who You Are or What You Do.”
Goal Achieved: On August 10, 2015, Google restructures itself, placing its search business and its research ventures into a holding company called “Alphabet.” Want to learn more about that? Just Google it.
With all due respect, what the Hell is Alphabet?
What’s on your bucket list?
***
As a postscript, Randy and his Kawasaki arrived at the bike’s parking spot in Poulsbo. Here in the photo below, he unloads it from his F-150. Don’t try this at home.
Still trying to figure out why Buffalo is called Buffalo.
So we leave, full of breakfast and confusion, and head west on US Highway 16, through Bighorn National Forest, riding the Cloud Peak Skyway.
We roll past beautiful Meadowlark Lake – population 8 and elevation 8,199. The lake is named for former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, who’s in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Half of that preceding sentence is true – the HOF part. Wyoming’s state bird is the Western Meadowlark. Seriously. Somewhere it is written that all states must have a city or town named after their state bird.
Scott and Dave relax in Ten Sleep, after a spectacular ride over the Cloud Peak Skyway between Buffalo and Ten Sleep.
As we descend out of the mountains, we arrive in the town of Ten Sleep, population 260. We’ve ridden about 60 miles since leaving Buffalo. Ten Sleep was an American Indian rest stop that got its name because it was ten days travel, or “Ten Sleeps,” from Fort Laramie, from Yellowstone National Park, and from the Stillwater River. Ten Sleep is home to Ten Sleep Brewing Company, a microbrewery whose tagline is “Good Beer for Good People.”
Ten Sleep Brewing Company: good beer for good people.
It’s a bit early in the day for beer, no matter how good it is for us, so we press on toward Worland, where we turn north on US Highway 20 toward Manderson. That’s where you’ll find the Hi Way Bar & Café.
Checking out tourist info in Greybull.
This one’s for you, Sarah! The author puts on SPF 50 sunscreen in Greybull. (photo by Scott)
In the town of Greybull, home to actor Wilford Brimley, we head west on US Highway 14.
Fifty miles later, we arrive in Cody, on the banks of the Shoshone River at the western edge of the Bighorn Basin. The city is named after William Frederick Cody – better known as Buffalo Bill – a scout, bison hunter and showman – and one of the most colorful figures of the American Old West.
At one time a rider for the Pony Express at age 14, he got the nickname “Buffalo Bill” when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. He’s purported to have killed 4,282 American bison (commonly known as buffalo) in an 18-month period in the late 1860s.
Buffalo Bill Cody. A legend in Cody, Wyoming.
The city of Cody’s primary industry is tourism, and the big deal in town is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a celebration of Buffalo Bill’s influence on western culture. The Buffalo Bill Center has five museums, including the Cody Firearms Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, the Draper Natural History Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, and the Buffalo Bill Museum, which chronicles the life of William F. Cody, for whom it’s named.
In Cody, the forecast is for rain for the next hour or two, so we put on our rain gear.
In Cody, ready for rain. We rode in the rain continuously from Cody to Yellowstone National Park. (photo by Dave)
***
Leaving Cody, we continue west on US Highway 14, passing Cedar Mountain, Buffalo Bill Reservoir and State Park, before rolling into Wapiti, 20 miles past Cody. Wapiti is named for the Cree Indian word for elk.
Yellowstone was the world’s first national park, established by Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S Grant in 1872. The park is known for its wildlife and geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful Geyser, which we will visit tomorrow.
Grizzly bears, wolves and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in the park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the US. More than 6,000 bison roam inside the park’s boundaries.
Bison in Yellowstone National Park: largest public bison herd in the US.
The bison’s resurgence in the park is a success story for nature lovers. After a mass slaughter of tens of millions of bison on the Great Plains in the late 1800s, conservationists brought about the nation’s first efforts to successfully recover a species teetering on the brink of extinction. While only 23 bison were left in Yellowstone in 1916, the herd today is thriving. In May 2016, the bison became America’s official national mammal, so named because of its historic, ecological, economical and cultural value.
With 4.5 million visitors in 2016, Yellowstone is the fourth-most visited National Park. Only Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite have more visitors. Yellowstone is huge – more than 2.2 million acres. You could spend weeks here exploring its natural beauty.
We have today and tomorrow. We’ll do a drive-by and hope for the best.
It’s cold and raining, and we’re still having a great time.
The Red Brigade pauses in Yellowstone.
From the park’s entrance, we continue west for 25 miles, riding along the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake. We turn north, hugging the Yellowstone River, at 678 miles, the longest undammed river in the continental US. Fifteen miles later, we arrive in Canyon Village, the civilized hub of the Park.
Warming up with chicken noodle soup at the Fishing Bridge General Store. It was a relief getting out of the rain — and the cold.
No ribs, no fries, no ice cream. Just a nice cup of chili🌶 . (photo by Dave)
Canyon Village gets its name from the nearby Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is about 20 miles long, 4,000 feet wide, and up to 1,200 feet deep. Artist Point, Lookout Point, Grand View, and Inspiration Point all provide breathtaking views of the canyon.
At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (photo by Dave)
Scott at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
After snapping photos and selfies galore, we turn west onto Norris Canyon Road, which takes us to the Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest and most changeable geyser basin in the park. The tallest active geyser in the world, reaching more than 300 feet, is Steamboat Geyser, located here in Norris Basin.
The Steamboat Geyser, in its “steam” phase.
Unlike the slightly smaller but much more famous Old Faithful Geyser, which we’ll visit tomorrow, Steamboat has an erratic and lengthy timetable between major eruptions. Sometimes, Steamboat Geyser goes more than a year between major eruptions. Since you couldn’t be here with us, the next best thing may be an online tour offered by the National Park Service.
The online tour is much quieter and less stinky than actually being here. The Norris Geyser Basin is one of the most thermally extreme environments on the planet, with temperatures measured as high as 459 F, 1,000 feet below the surface.
Throughout Yellowstone National Park, there are more than 10,000 hot springs and geysers. Tomorrow, we’ll visit the most famous – and predictable – of them all. Old Faithful.
But first, we’re tired and hungry, so we jump on US Highway 89 (sometimes called Grand Loop Road), then US Highway 191, and head for tonight’s destination, West Yellowstone, Montana – just outside the Park’s western entrance. Montana is the eighth of nine states we’ll visit on this trip.
West Yellowstone is home to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, a non-profit wildlife park that provides a safe way to observe these creatures up close and personal. Wanna see what the bears are up to? Check out a live view, known as the Bear Habitat Webcam.
There are no panda bears here, but that would be an interesting tourist draw. Turns out more than half the tourists coming through West Yellowstone are from China. The tourism surge is being fueled by looser visa rules, rising middle class salaries, and a growing desire among the younger generation to explore the world.
Chinese visitors to Yellowstone have increased so dramatically in recent years that the park has hired three Mandarin-speaking interpretive rangers to help with communication. This trio of rangers tries to help with language and cultural barriers. In the 2016 summer season, a tourist from China was fined $1,000 for walking off a boardwalk in the park and collecting thermal water, apparently for medicinal purposes.
Stay on the boardwalk, to avoid hefty fines!
For many Chinese, the attraction to Yellowstone has to do with it being a natural place, without the severe pollution and big crowds found in larger Chinese cities. And, they get to see old American guys on Harleys pursuing their bucket list dreams.
Like a bad penny, Randy’s back. Here, he arrives home in Seattle after a two-day drive from a Rapid City, South Dakota. Randy made it home about the same time as Dave, Scott and Gary arrived in West Yellowstone.
***
Day Thirteen Summary: Channeling Meadowlark Lemon, honoring Buffalo Bill, seeing Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon, smelling the Park’s odiferous geothermal features.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Buffalo to West Yellowstone.
We’re on our way home.
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List item: “Do Something To Restore Faith in the Country.”
Goal Achieved: On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigns the presidency, and Vice President Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president. Nixon’s final words to the White House staff: “You are here to say goodbye to us, and we don’t have a good word for it in English – the best is au revoir. We’ll see you again.”
It wasn’t easy, but Gerald Ford restored faith in the presidency after Richard Nixon’s self-destruction.
Today’s blog post celebrates Dave and Gail Bowman’s 34th wedding anniversary. August 6, 1983 … truly a day to remember. The photo location is a preview of today’s ride.
We begin the day, as so many children do, by finding Nemo.
Children the world over have been finding Nemo since 2003, when the Pixar film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Finding Nemo is the most popular DVD of all time, with more than 41 million copies sold. In theaters worldwide, Finding Nemo grossed more than $940 million. That’s a lot of clownfish.
Finding Nemo: everyone’s favorite clownfish!
Today, we find Nemo by heading west out of Rapid City and turning onto Nemo Road. Nemo Road leads us, of course, to Nemo, South Dakota, a tiny town about midway between Rapid City and Deadwood. Nemo is home to the Nemo Guest Ranch, as well as large stands of birch and aspen trees.
Every February, Nemo hosts the Nemo 500 Outhouse Race and Chili Cook Off. In March, you can compete in Frozen Turkey Bowling at the Nemo Winter Games. Woo-hoo!
About as quickly as we find Nemo, we un-find it and continue west through the town of Roubaix, a community so small the US Census Bureau doesn’t monitor it. From Roubaix, it’s about eight miles on US Highway 385 to the charming town of Deadwood.
***
Main Street in Deadwood.
Once a boomtown during the Black Hills gold rush in the 1870s, Deadwood is named after the dead trees found in its gulch. Its population is only 1,270, but the place is hopping during Sturgis Rally Week.
Dave enjoys a hot dog for a mid-day snack in Deadwood.
This photo, also on Main Street in Deadwood, would be marked NSFW (not safe for work), except we don’t know anybody who’s still working.
The entire city of Deadwood is a National Historic Landmark. What you see in Deadwood today is a careful, accurate restoration of a town that once was a playpen for Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. The 1953 Warner Bros. movie musical Calamity Jane, starring Doris Day, was set in Deadwood.
Doris Day, as Calamity Jane.
Deadwood now has more than 80 places to gamble, a major driver for tourism. It’s said to be the largest historic restoration project in the US.
At Deadwood Harley Davidson, there were plenty of opportunities for retail therapy. Here are a few pics of our posse shopping there.
Jackie finds the perfect gift for herself. Purple, probably.
Dave, ever the fashion horse, had his eye on just the right tee-shirt to complete his outfit.
Gail shops for new Harley sunglasses. She shops, she scores!
In Deadwood, we turn west and south on US Highway14A, passing through Blacktail and Central City before riding along the Terry Peak Ski Area. Terry Peak is the place to ski and snowboard in the Black Hills. With a vertical rise of 1,053 feet, the area features 30 runs and three high-speed quad chairlifts. Terry Peak’s peak: 7,064 feet.
The road turns north at Cheyenne Crossing. Soon, we pass through Elmore and Savoy, then find ourselves in beautiful Spearfish Canyon. We ride the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, a 22-mile journey that leads us to Spearfish.
On this Scenic Byway, Bridal Veil Falls and Roughlock Falls are oft-photographed scenes along the way. Spearfish Canyon was the location for several scenes in the Oscar-winning movie, Dances With Wolves.
We stop at O’Neal Pass, and take the opportunity to snap a few pics.
The author and Mrs. Bowman at O’Neal Pass. Note her stylish new sunglasses.
Gail shows off her new iPhone case, purchased yesterday at Wal-Mart in Rapid City.
Bowman’s and Donaldsons along the roadside.
In need of a bathroom break, Gail and Jackie scamper up a hill in search of the perfect place to be one with nature.
Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway leads us, of course, to the city of Spearfish.
Spearfish got its name from Native Americans, who would spear fish in the creek at the mouth of what is now Spearfish Canyon. The city grew during the Black Hills Gold Rush, and became a supplier of food to the mining camps in the hills. In the 20th century, the history of Spearfish was closely tied to mining and tourism.
The city’s biggest claim to fame is a weather phenomenon that occurred on January 22, 1943. On that day, at about 7:30 am, the temperature in Spearfish was -4 F. A Chinook wind picked up speed rapidly, and two minutes later the temperature was +45 F. The 49-degree rise in two minutes set a world record that still stands. The sudden change in temperatures caused windows to crack and windshields to instantly frost over.
Today, the second-largest employer in town is Black Hills State University, home to more than 4,500 students – primarily pursuing degrees in education. The BHSU Yellow Jackets play in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and its rodeo teams are members of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
Black Hills State University student athlete Lane Rossow from Herreid, South Dakota, competes in a roping event for the Yellow Jackets during a 2016 intercollegiate rodeo.
An economic development postscript: Spearfish’s largest employer is Spearfish Regional Health, and its third-largest employer is, of course, Wal-Mart.
***
Leaving Spearfish, we hop on Interstate 90 West. Ten miles later, we cross into Wyoming, quickly passing by Beulah, population 33. Next town of note: Sundance, 20 miles down the road.
The author and Dave, in the road in front of Sundance Harley Davidson. (photo by Randy)
Sundance, population 1,182, is named for the Sun Dance ceremony practiced by several Native American tribes. The town is the primary setting for Lorelei James’ novels in her “Rough Riders” series of 16 books involving the fictional McKay family.
Sundance may be best known for providing a nickname for Harry Longabaugh. After his release from the town jail in 1888, Longabaugh acquired the moniker, “The Sundance Kid.”
You may know the rest of the story. Longabaugh was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, which performed the longest string of successful train and bank robberies in American history. Along with his girlfriend, Etta Place, and Cassidy, he fled to Argentina, then Bolivia – where they were apparently killed in a shootout made famous by the Hollywood film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Twenty-first century outlaws, like most of us who ride Harleys, still hang out in Sundance. They wear black and can be found at Deluxe Harley Davidson on Sundance’s Main Street.
***
Just past Sundance, we exit I-90 and turn west on US Highway 14. We are headed to the day’s primary destination: Devils Tower National Monument.
Devils Tower: close encounter with the real kind.
Devils Tower is a laccolithic butte rising dramatically 1,267 feet above the tree-lined Belle Fourche River. The tower itself stands 867 feet, from base to summit. Every year, about 400,000 tourists like us visit Devils Tower. About one percent of them, not like us, climb it.
Randy photobombing at Devils Tower.
The name Devil’s Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Col. Richard Dodge, when his interpreter speaking to Native Americans mis-interpreted the name to mean “Bad God’s Tower,” which then became Devil’s Tower. Following standard geographic naming conventions, the apostrophe was dropped and, voila, you have Devils Tower.
Devils Tower was called many other things in the years before non-Native Americans reached Wyoming. Tribes including the Arapaho, Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Lakota, and Shoshone all had cultural and geographical ties to it. And they all had their own names for the block of rock, too: Aloft on a Rock (Kiowa), Bear’s House (Cheyenne, Crow), Bear’s Lair (Cheyenne, Crow), Bear’s Lodge (Cheyenne, Lakota), and Grizzly Bear Lodge (Lakota).
Dave and Gary, pretty much seeing things eye to eye for a change. (photo by Randy)
The film used the igneous rock formation as a plot element and as the location of its climactic scenes. In the Close Encounters climax, several characters – who have been so unknowingly obsessed with the structure that they have sculpted it in mashed potatoes and repeatedly sketched it – descend on Devils Tower, where they greet a gargantuan alien mother ship. The movie’s release caused a huge increase in the number of visitors (and climbers) to the monument.
As we approach Devils Tower, it quickly becomes apparent this is no fantasy. Most years, it sees nearly a half-million visitors, almost as many as the Washington Monument.
A final pic before heading back to Rapid City.
In 1906, the two-square mile park surrounding the tower was proclaimed America’s first National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. The stone pillar is about 1,000 feet in diameter at the bottom, and 275 feet at the top, making it the premier rock climbing challenge in the Black Hills.
Today, hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rock walls of Devils Tower every summer. If you’re thinking of climbing it, here are some tips, courtesy of the National Park Service.
If you plan to climb above the boulder field, the Park Service requires you to register before the climb, and check in when you return. Your climbing permit is free.
A less thrilling, but more popular route, is to hike the popular Tower Trail, a paved 1.3-mile loop around the base of the formation. The loop starts at the Visitor Center. Sign us up. Table for Six.
***
Leaving Devils Tower, we begin the two-hour ride back to Rapid City.
We’re heading north and east on Wyoming Highway 24, which takes us through the town of Aladdin, a former coal mining settlement. Aladdin has a post office, a general store, and a population of 15.
In 2014, the entire town was for sale: $1.5 million would buy 30 acres and 15 buildings, including the general store, which does a brisk business serving travelers on the road between Devils Tower and Belle Fourche, South Dakota. According to my research department, it’s still for sale.
Best photo from Belle Fourche: this Wyoming cowboy, on his way home from Denver, where he’d just picked up this 10-week old kangaroo to take home to his ranch. Yes, that is a newborn roo!
Lacking the resources – even among the six of us – to buy the town, we press on toward Belle Fourche, French for “beautiful fork.” The town was named by French explorers who discovered the confluence of what are now the Belle Fourche and Redwater Rivers, and the Hay Creek.
The monument marking the geographic center of the USA.
Belle Fourche’s claim to fame: it’s the geographic center of the US. Close, anyway. In 1959, the US Coast and Geodetic Survey officially designated a point 20 miles north of Belle Fourche as the center of the nation. That honor belonged to Lebanon, Kansas, until Alaska and Hawaii became states.
Wyoming Highway 24 becomes State Highway 34 as we re-enter South Dakota. We continue on South Dakota Highway 34, until it merges with Interstate 90, which takes us the rest of the way into Rapid City.
Along the way, we pass Sturgis, tomorrow’s destination. We’re finally, almost, in Sturgis!
***
Day Ten Summary: Finding Nemo, spearing fish, in the shadow of the Sundance Kid, speaking of the Devil.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Rapid City to Devils Tower and back to Rapid City.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Have Your Number Retired Before Turning 50.”
Goal Achieved: On August 6, 1989, the Boston Red Sox retire Carl Yastrzemski’s Number 8, two weeks before his 50th birthday. Yaz played his entire 23-year Hall-of-Fame career with the Red Sox, collecting 3,419 hits, 452 home runs, and making the All-Star team 18 times. He played 3,308 games for the Red Sox, more than any other player in history has played for a single team.
Gary and Randy are startled by something in Badlands National Park. Scary place Bad lands.
Rapid City’s Table for Six is on the move again.
Today’s destination: Wall Drug, with stops along the way in Badlands National Park.
On second thought, that’s a bit bass-ackwards. We’re visiting a National Park fergawdsakes, and making a stop at Wall Drug in beautiful Wall, South Dakota, on the way home. Because, well, you just have to.
Gail, in her new rain suit, all ready for the day’s ride. She calls the jacket her “space suit.”
***
We leave Rapid City and head southeast on South Dakota Highway 44, quickly rolling through Rapid Valley, Green Valley, past the Rapid City Regional Airport, and 73 miles later, we arrive in the tiny town of Interior, population 94.
Along the way, it was super windy, with crosswinds gusting up to 35 miles an hour. The riding was challenging, and not all of us made it to our original destination for the day. No problem … we just invented alternate destinations for part of the group, and said, “we’ll see you back at the barn.”
Randy waits on his bike to get served at a fancy dive bar in Interior, South Dakota.
If a person did steno work here in Interior, what would they be called? Wait for it …
Secretary of the Interior.
In Interior, the skies darkened before opening up and pouring rain all over town, and our bikes. Luckily, we went into another dive bar for an hour or so to wait out the storm.
We turn northeast on South Dakota Highway 377 and quickly enter Badlands National Park. State Highway 240, which becomes the Badlands National Park Scenic Loop, is on our left.
Why the name “Badlands?” The Lakota people were the first to call the area mako sica, or “land bad.” Extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain led to this name. In the early 1900s, French Canadian fur trappers called it les mauvais terres pour traverse, or “bad lands to travel through.”
Badlands National Park: les mauvais terres pour traverse.
It’s not so bad to travel through today on a Harley, so we join the loop, heading northwest through a labyrinth of sand buttes and spires that appear to come from another planet. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds.
Badlands National Park protects nearly a quarter of a million acres of land, including the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the US.
The author, taking a selfie in Badlands National Park … (photo by Randy)
… and the resulting photo.
The Badlands Wall is a 100-mile stretch of tiered cliffs, a huge natural barrier ridging the landscape, sculpted into pinnacles and gullies by the forces of water. National Geographic compares the Wall to an enormous stage set – colorful, dramatic, and not quite real. Water has been carving away at the cliffs for the past half million years or so, and even today, it continues to erode the cliffs an inch or more every year.
Soon, we arrive at the Panorama Point Overlook, one of the better vistas in the park. Pics or it didn’t happen? OK, so we pull over, snap some photos, and continue to the next overlook, at Conata Basin.
Actually, there are tons of overlooks on the Badlands Scenic Loop, few of them with names. From here, the Scenic Loop continues west for a few more miles, but we see signs for Wall Drug, so feeling the magnetic pull, we turn north and five minutes later arrive in Wall, South Dakota.
At Wall Drug. (photo by Randy)
Wall is named for the nearby steep Badlands, which we now have in our rear-view mirrors. The town is most famous for Wall Drug Store, which opened as a small pharmacy in 1931 and eventually developed into a large roadside tourist attraction.
Anyone who’s ever driven through South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming or other neighboring states, is familiar with the ubiquitous signs and billboards that remind you, “785 Miles to Wall Drug. Free Ice Water.” Most of the billboards are on a 650-mile stretch of Interstate 90 from Minnesota to Billings, Montana. At its peak in the 1960s, Wall Drug had more than 3,000 highway signs!
Inside Wall Drug, Randy and his “date.” He’s getting a little lonely after a week on the road.
Wall Drug struggled for years until the owner’s wife thought of advertising – and offering – free ice water to parched travelers heading to the newly opened Mount Rushmore monument 60 miles to the west. To this day, tourists like us still drink the free ice water, though it’s no longer the main attraction.
Thirsty? Free ice water at Wall Drug may help.
Besides the free ice water, Wall Drug also has a cowboy-themed shopping mall, western art museum, a chapel and an 80-foot apatosaurus – a dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period.
To give you a sense of Americans’ twisted sense of travel priorities, more than two million visitors cruise through Wall Drug each year. Less than one million visit Badlands National Park.
Gary’s bike, in front of Wall Drug. There were a lot of other Harleys there, too.
***
From Wall Drug, we hop on Interstate 90, and ride the 54 boring miles back to Rapid City.
We’re nearly back where the day began, but first we pass Ellsworth Air Force Base, home of the 28th Bomb Wing and the California-built B-1B bomber. Ellsworth is one of only two hosts to the B-1B; the other is Dyess AFB in Texas.
Ellsworth was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base. It was later named in honor of Brigadier General Richard Ellsworth, who was killed when his RB-36 bomber crashed during a 1953 training flight in Newfoundland.
Over the years, Ellsworth has hosted various missile systems (Nike, Titan, Minuteman) and the B-52 Bomber. Today, the base’s population of 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
Next to the base is the South Dakota Air and Space Museum (Free!), rated by Trip Advisor as #7 of 66 things to do in Rapid City.
Number one on our list is a relaxing dinner, so what’s left of our roving Table for Six exits the Interstate, begins happy hour, and contemplates tomorrow. Devils Tower, anyone?
No dinner pics tonight, but because you’ve all been so good today while we’ve been on the road, here are a few bonus breakfast photos:
The author, with Ronald Reagan, while we wait for a table at Tally’s Silver Spoon in downtown Rapid City.
Yum! More than one of these plates showed up at our table. Guess who did NOT have chicken fried steak for breakfast?
Dig in, big fella!
Table for six, at Tally’s Silver Spoon.
***
Day Nine Summary: Going to the Wall, seeing some bad lands, free ice water at – where else? – Wall Drug.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Rapid City to Badlands National Park and back.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Write and Record a Hit Song”
Goal Achieved: On August 5, 1967 singer-songwriter Bobby Gentry from Chickasaw County, Mississippi, releases her only hit, “Ode to Billie Joe.” The song is a first-person narrative about the day Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. “Ode to Billie Joe” was the No. 3 song for all of 1967, behind only “The Letter” (by the Box Tops) and “To Sir With Love” (by Lulu).
Bobby Gentry, writer and singer of “Ode to Billie Joe.”
What’s on your bucket list?
***
Bonus pic: Scott in semi-shock after visiting the tattoo parlor at Black Hills Harley Davidson in Rapid City? Got Ink?
OK, Scott. Where’s the tat? Don’t make us hunt for it. (photo by Dave)
Found a Colorado state flag in South Dakota! (photo by Dave)
This morning, our Table for Six hits the road.
We won’t be alone.
Half a million riders from all over the country are gathering for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which officially begins on Monday.
Riders have dispersed throughout the region, from Rapid City to Deadwood to Spearfish. Even Belle Fourche.
They’re overnighting in hotel rooms, rental houses, and campgrounds. The lodging runs the gamut, from luxurious to seedy, and everything in between.
But it’s not about the beds. It’s all about the bikes.
So off we go. Four bikers, and a Table For Six.
Table for three. Ice cream snack. Why not? (photo by Scott, who apparently eschews ice cream)
***
We begin by heading south out of Rapid City on US Highway 16, also called Mount Rushmore Road. Soon, we pass by nearby two critter-themed parks, Reptile Gardens and Bear Country USA.
Reptile Gardens is said to be the world’s largest reptile zoo. You can be creeped out by snakes, or you can pet a baby alligator. Reptile Gardens also has a botanical garden showcasing 50,000 flowers. Bear Country features the world’s largest collection of privately owned black bears.
Bear cubs frolicking at Bear Country USA.
Who owns bears, anyway?
Twenty minutes from Rapid City, we pass through the abandoned gold rush town of Rockerville. The town is dead, but somehow The Gaslight Restaurant manages to survive.
In Rockerville, we turn south on Rockerville Road. Soon, we’re on Playhouse Road, which if you follow it long enough, takes you to the Black Hills Playhouse, a performing arts theater in the Black Hills. Sponsored by the South Dakota Arts Council, the playhouse is now in its 72nd season.
We don’t make it to the playhouse, but we follow the road until it intersects with US Highway 16A, where we turn west and head for Mount Rushmore – eleven miles away.
Dave approaches one of the tiny rock tunnels on the Iron Mountain Highway. There’s only room for one vehicle at a time! (photo by Gail, Dave’s passenger)
This part of Highway 16A is known as Iron Mountain Road, a 17-mile stretch of paved paradise featuring more than 300 curves and 14 switchbacks. One of Iron Mountain Road’s unique features is the three “pigtail” bridges which spiral the rider back over the road they just went on in one massive sweeping turn.
Pigtail bridges and tunnels on Iron Mountain Road.
It also has one-lane rock tunnels that offer spectacular views of Mount Rushmore as you exit the tunnels. The tunnels were blasted through sheer granite walls when they were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Your speed seldom exceeds 20 miles an hour on Iron Mountain, all the better to make the leisurely ride utterly enjoyable. Before long, we turn off Highway 16A onto South Dakota Highway 244 for the 1.5-mile journey to Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Gail snaps a pic at Mount Rushmore.
The following sentence is for blog followers who’ve been living in a cave all their lives: Mount Rushmore is a sculpture carved into the granite face of the mountain, featuring 60-foot high carvings of four US Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. For perspective, the highest building in South Dakota is CenturyLink Tower in Sioux Falls. It’s a massive 11 stories and soars 174 feet into the sky!
Cute couple posing at Mount Rushmore.
Tourism is South Dakota’s second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state’s top tourist attraction. Nearly two and a half million visitors come here each year; it’s the 10th most visited national monument or memorial – the only ones seen by more tourists are in Washington DC or New York City. Sturgis rally week is a particularly crazy time at the Memorial.
Sitting down on the job? Not exactly. Dave has a keen eye for the perfect shot.
Work on the mountain took place between 1927 and 1941. The faces of the presidents were carved by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, between 1934 and 1939. The Borglums led a team of more than 400 workers on the sculpting project.
More than 90 percent of the memorial was carved using dynamite; the blasts removed about 450,000 tons of rock. Details were finished with jackhammers and hand chisels. The initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, but lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941, with faces only.
The author, somewhere in the Dakotas.
***
Our Table For Six leaves Mount Rushmore, continuing west on Highway 244. The highway takes us around 7,242-foot Black Elk Peak, the highest point in the US east of the Rockies. Atop Black Elk Peak is a stone fire tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The tower has a panoramic view of the Black Hills. The trail to the Black Elk Peak fire tower begins near Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.
We continue circling Black Elk Peak, turning south on South Dakota Highway 87, part of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway. The byway is a loop that includes a number of different roads snaking through the black Hills.
Norbeck proposed most of the roads that now make up the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway when he was a US Senator in the 1920s and ‘30s. Norbeck also served a term as South Dakota’s Governor, and is best remembered as “Mount Rushmore’s great political patron,” for promoting construction of the sculpture and securing federal funding for it.
Applying sunscreen, SPF 50, in Custer State Park. Please note my excellent new habits, Sarah. (photo by Randy)
Highway 87 next takes us past Sylvan Lake, and Sylvan Lake Lodge, known as the crown jewel of Custer State Park, which we’re now in. Custer is South Dakota’s largest state park, with more than 71,000 acres of hilly terrain and home to many wild animals – which we’ll see later today.
The Sylvan Lake Lodge sits in a serene spot suggested by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was once a stopping point for adventurers hoping to scale Harney Peak.
Sylvan Lake: nice setting for a Bar Mitzvah.
Sylvan Lake is probably the most recognizable of the five Custer State Park lakes. It’s a favorite for photographers and artists, and a popular spot for weddings and other popular occasions (bar mitzvahs, anyone?).
This portion of Highway 87 is known as the Needles Highway, which also has three narrow rock tunnels that can only fit one car or motorcycle at a time.
On Needles Highway. Those are some of the Needles, in the background. (photo by Gail)
The Needles Highway is often found on lists of the top ten motorcycle rides in North America.
The road’s name – Needles Highway – comes from the needle-like granite formations that seem to pierce the horizon along the highway. The Needles are eroded granite pillars, towers and spires, popular with rock climbers, tourists, and dudes on Harleys.
Needles Highway. Great motoring adventure.
A portion of the Needles Highway is designated a National Natural Landmark, recognizing and encouraging the conservation of the natural history in the US. The National Natural Landmarks program recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private lands. The National Park Service administers the program, which includes around 600 landmark sites.
Bowmans and Donaldsons on Needles Highway.
Closer to home, Southern California examples of National Natural Landmarks include the Anza-Borrego Desert near the Salton Sea, and the Amboy Crater, near the ghost town of Amboy in San Bernardino County.
Back in the Black Hills, the Needles are one of 13 National Natural Landmarks in South Dakota, and were the original site proposed for the Mount Rushmore carvings. But sculptor Gutzon Borglum rejected the location because of the poor quality of the granite and the fact that the Needles were too thin to support the presidential sculptures.
The Needles attract about 300,000 people every year. Make that 300,006 – including our Table for Six.
On Needles Highway.
***
In Custer State Park. (photo by Gail)
We continue south on Highway 87, and eventually turn east on Wildlife Loop Road, one of the highlights of Custer State Park. Wildlife Loop Road travels through 18 miles of open grasslands and pine-speckled hills that much of the park’s wildlife calls home.
On the Wildlife Loop Road, you might see bison, pronghorn, whitetail and mule deer, elk, coyotes, burros, prairie dogs, eagles, hawks, and a variety of other birds. That’s why it’s called Wildlife Loop Road. Traffic is congested and the pace is slow, rarely over 20 miles an hour. But what’s the hurry? We might come face-to-face with a buffalo.
Face-to-face with a buffalo herd. Now what?
The free-roaming buffalo herd in the park numbers about 1,300. Most safety guidelines suggest you stay in your vehicle when buffalo are approaching. Not exactly sure how that works on a Harley.
Buffalo, as seen from Randy’s bike.
We slowly follow Wildlife Loop Road through the park until it meets up with US Highway 16A near the State Game Lodge at Custer State Park Resort. The lodge, built in 1920 from native stone and timber, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It served as the summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, and was visited by President Eisenhower in 1953.
The view from Dave’s bike, in Custer State Park. (photo by Gail)
Now heading north on Highway 16A, we ride 10 miles, leaving the Wildlife Loop in our rearview mirror, and turn onto Playhouse Road again. After only four miles, we hang a left onto South Dakota Highway 40 for the short ride into the historic town of Keystone.
In Keystone, there are two distinct parts to the town – the “New” Keystone, a mile-long retail district along US Highway 16A, and the “Old” Keystone, the original gold mining settlement along east-flowing Battle Creek.
The author’s bike in Keystone. No, we did not stop for big beautiful BBQ buffalo ribs.
Keystone is only two miles from Mount Rushmore. If you’d rather your Presidents were carved out of wax instead of granite, Keystone has the National Presidential Wax Museum. Here, there are more than 100 life-size wax sculptures, clearly more than the number of presidents we’ve had (45).
In addition to the waxology, the museum has historical artifacts, including President Bill Clinton’s own red, white and blue saxophone, and Florida’s controversial ballot boxes from the 2000 presidential election (won by Al Gore).
From Keystone, it’s a 20-mile ride back to Rapid City, where our rolling Table for Six finds a real table for six. Dinner, drinks, and more fun in the Great Plains tomorrow.
Table for six. Dinner. (photo by our server)
***
Day Eight Summary: One hundred twenty five miles of Black Hills beauty, visiting Mount Rushmore, riding Iron Mountain, threading the Needles Highway and staring down a herd of buffalo.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Rapid City through the Black Hills and back to Rapid City.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Overcome Adversity (before doing something really stupid).”
Goal Achieved: On August 4, 2012, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius becomes the first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games, running the 400 meters at the London games. Known as the Blade Runner, his personal best in the 400 meters was a blazing 45.07 seconds. Less than a year after his Olympic appearance, he fatally shoots his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home. Following his murder conviction, Pistorius is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.
Oscar Pistorius, before doing something really stupid.
All hunky, all the time. Note the outerwear; it was a cold morning. Photo by Randy, who was wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops.
We leave Silverthorne and head north on Colorado Highway 9, riding toward Green Mountain Reservoir, which sits at an elevation of 7,950 feet.
The Green Mountain Dam was built between 1938 and 1942 by the Bureau of Reclamation. The dam and reservoir store water to benefit Colorado’s Western Slope, which is pretty much everything in the state west of the Continental Divide.
The reservoir’s lake is popular with fishermen, who catch rainbow trout, lake trout, brown trout, and kokanee. Green Mountain Reservoir empties into the Blue River, which we follow to the town of Kremmling, just north of the confluence of the Blue River and the Colorado River.
We arrive in Kremmling, elevation 7,313 feet, less than an hour after leaving Silverthorne. Like so many towns in the area, Kremmling was founded during the Colorado silver boom days. The original post office here was called Kinsey City, named after brothers Aaron and John Kinsey, who had a local ranch. The Kinsey City postmaster was Rudolph Kremmling, who ran the town’s general store. In 1895, the town was officially re-named Kremmling.
Kremmling sits at the intersection of Colorado Highway 9 and US Highway 40, once a main east-west route through Colorado.
US Highway 40. A good way to go.
Before the Interstate Highway System, US-40 once traversed the entire country, from San Francisco to New Jersey. Today, US-40’s western terminus is in Utah, not far from Park City, where we expect to be in nine or ten days.
We turn east in Kremmling onto US-40, which follows the Colorado River, running through the towns of Parshall and Hot Sulphur Springs, After passing through Hot Sulphur State Wildlife Area, we continue east on Highway 40, toward Granby, a mountain town 7,935 feet above sea level. Granby was founded in 1904, along the route of the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway. It was named after Granby Hillyer, a Denver lawyer who later served as the US Attorney for the area.
At Hot Sulphur Springs, we stop and visit with a group of riders from Geneva, Switzerland. (photo by Randy)
***
Just outside of Granby, we turn north on US Highway 34, and continue riding past Lake Granby, the third-largest body of water in Colorado, and home to the Lake Granby Yacht Club, established in 1902. At 8,280 feet, it’s recognized as the world’s highest-elevation yacht club. It’s a beautiful setting for a regatta.
Lake Granby. Nice place for a regatta.
Not far from Lake Granby are Shadow Mountain Lake and Grand Lake. A short segment of the Colorado River connects Lake Granby with Shadow Mountain Lake and Grand Lake.
Grand Lake is Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake, and is part of the headwaters of the Colorado River. That might explain why we’re now riding on the Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway.
Less than a mile north of Grand Lake, we arrive at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center, the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Off in the distance, about seven miles east of Grand Lake is the last 14er in the neighborhood, Longs Peak (14,255), the highest mountain in the park, and the northernmost 14er in the Rocky Mountains. On a clear day, you can see Longs Peak from many areas in the park. We can’t see it from here, but hope to catch a glimpse as we climb toward 12,000 feet in the park.
The mountain is named after Major Stephen Long, said to be the first to spot the Rocky Mountains on behalf of the US Government, in June 1820. A US Army explorer and topographical engineer, Long covered more than 25,000 miles in five expeditions.
If you’ve got the time, energy, and nerve, Longs Peak is hike-able, climb-able, scale-able. More than 20,000 people do it every year. Here are some things to consider before you head up the mountain.
Lightning over Longs Peak: one reason to think twice about heading up the mountain without a weather report.
But don’t try this at home; there have been more than 60 deaths on Longs Peak since the park opened in 1915. This may make you think again before you head up the mountain.
Our climb up the mountain, on Trail Ridge Road, comes with considerably less risk.
US Highway 34, also known as Trail Ridge Road, takes us to dizzying heights. With a maximum elevation of 12,183 feet near Fall River Pass, Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuously paved road in the U.S. A continuously paved road is one that doesn’t simply doesn’t end at a summit, resulting in a turnaround to head back down. The road is considered continuous because it, um, continues.
Randy posing on Trail Ridge Road.
***
Leaving Grand Lake, we soon arrive at Rocky Mountain National Park’s western entrance. The Kawuneeche Visitor Center is one of five within the park.
Last year, the National Parks system celebrated its 100th birthday, drawing more than 325 million visitors. With 4.5 million visitors in 2016, Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most visited national parks, right up there with Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina is by far the most visited park, with more than nine million visits a year.
From the Kawuneeche Visitor Center at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, Trail Ridge Road follows the North Fork of the Colorado River through the Kawuneeche Valley.
Gary’s Harley, above the tree line on Trail Ridge Road.
Trail Ridge Road is yet another of Colorado’s Scenic Byways, designated as an All-American Road, and is, of course, rated Difficult. It’s one of only 25 roads given the “All-American” designation by the US Department of Transportation. The San Juan Skyway, which we rode Monday, is another. These are considered “roads to the heart and soul of America,” and it’s easy to see why. In its announcement of the All-American roads, the Department of Transportation calls them “the roads less traveled … providing an exceptional traveling experience so recognized by travelers that they would make a drive along the highway a primary reason for their trip.”
Scott in selfie mode on Trail Ridge Road.
Trail Ridge Road runs 48 miles from Grand Lake to Estes Park. It took the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1929 to 1932 to build the road, because heavy snows kept them from working more than three months a year.
As you might guess, it’s closed during the winter. Trail Ridge Road usually opens in late May, and closes around Columbus Day in October, when the National Park Service gives up fighting the snow and turns the road back to Mother Nature for the winter.
National Park Service plow operators normally begin clearing the snow in mid-April, when crews from the west side of the park and crews from the east side of the park eventually meet at the Alpine Visitor Center – 11,796 feet above sea level. That Visitor Center is the highest in the National Park System. It’s not easy being a snowplow operator on this road; snowdrifts are often up to 22 feet deep.
Rocky Mountain National Park has more than 100 peaks above 10,000 feet. The 10ers are so common you almost don’t even notice them. The park has nearly 60 peaks above 12,000 feet.
Randy practices his photobombing skills at Milner Pass.
Sixteen miles into the park, after a series of steep switchbacks, we arrive at 10,759-foot Milliner Pass. It sits on the Continental Divide.
After Milliner Pass, the trees become increasingly weathered until we reach the tree line and see the rolling hills of short grass and wildflowers that make up the tundra. Eleven miles of Trail Ridge Road are above the tree line. Those same 11 miles are all above 11,000 feet.
Milliner Pass, I’m pretty sure, is named for a person who makes or sells women’s hats. You can look that up. Notable milliners include John Boyd, known for the famous pink tricorn hat worn by Diana, Princess of Wales.
Some of milliner John Boyd’s hats. He’s famous enough to have a Colorado pass named after him.
Blog disclosure: the previous paragraph exists solely to see if you’re paying any attention.
The pass is not Milliner, but Milner. Milner Pass is actually named for T.J. Milner, an early day civil engineer for railroads and streetcar lines in Colorado. Really.
Scott checks out a high alpine lake at Milner Pass.
Soon, we reach the Alpine Visitor Center, which is at 11,796 feet. Here’ we’re about two miles, and less than 400 vertical feet, from the highest point on Trail Ridge Road. It’s the highest Visitor Center in the National Parks system.
Sadly, the Alpine Visitor Center Center is closed for repairs, so we blow by it and head for the highest spot on Trail Ridge Road.
The view from Randy’s helmet. Note the gloves, or rather, glove. In a nod to the Michael Jackson one-glove look, Randy goes with the sequined glove on the right hand. #bikerstylin’
It would have been a good place to rest, grab something to drink and enjoy the sights from the rear deck, before continuing east for the 20-mile ride to the park’s east entrance near Estes Park.
The view from Dave’s helmet, above the tree line, on Trail Ridge Road. The bikes in the distance are Scott, Randy and Gary. The pic is a still from Dave’s GoPro video, which may be made into a movie someday.
From the Alpine Visitor Center, Trail Ridge Road climbs another 387 feet to its peak elevation of 12,183 feet. The highest point on the road is almost anti-climactic. There’s not even a sign marking the spot.
You hardly know you’re at the road’s apex. Not even time to think about altitude sickness, which fortunately, none of us experience.
Just below the highest point on Trail Ridge Road. Photo by Scott.
***
Now, we begin the gradual descent to Estes Park, a drop of about 4,600 feet. The town is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859, then moved his family there four years later.
Estes Park sits along the Big Thompson River, and adjoins Lake Estes. Its most famous landmark is the historic Stanley Hotel, which opened in 1909. The Big Thompson River is named for English fur trapper David Thompson, employed in 1810 by the Northwest Fur Company to explore the Rockies.
From Estes Park, we continue east on US Highway 34, winding our way along the Big Thompson River. We pass through the town of Drake, and 16 miles later, turn on Buckhorn Road. We’re heading north.
Waiting out a rain squall at a Bed and Breakfast along the Big Thompson River. We did not get a room. (photo by Scott)
Buckhorn Road becomes Stove Prairie Road, and in 20 miles, we arrive at Stove Prairie Landing, little more than a campground. Here, the road ends, as we arrive at Colorado Highway 14, aka Poudre Canyon Road, which follows the Poudre River. Poudre is French for powder.
The Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway runs along the Cache La Poudre River.
Highway 14 is known as the Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway (Difficult!), the last of Colorado’s Scenic Byways we’ll ride on this trip. We turn east on the Scenic Byway, and ride toward Fort Collins, Colorado’s fifth largest city and home to Colorado State University.
Colorado Highway 14 ends after 16 miles, when it becomes US Highway 287, which takes us to Terry Lake, a restricted member-only lake, like Lake Arrowhead in Southern California.
Heading for Wyoming.
At Terry Lake, we turn north on Colorado Highway 1, which, after 10 miles, leads us to Interstate 25. We hop on the interstate for the short ride to Wyoming, the sixth of nine states on our trip. Just east of Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, we cross into Wyoming and say goodbye to Colorado.
It’s my first visit to Wyoming since the late 1960s, when as a college student in Salt Lake City, I’d make the 80-mile drive to Evanston for beer we thought was better than you could get in Utah. Because of that, Evanston was, and still is, known as Wyoming’s Sin City.
Evanston has the closest liquor stores to Salt Lake City that aren’t owned and operated by the Utah state government (Utah Liquor Commission).
Evanston is in the far southwest corner of Wyoming. We are now 350 miles away, in the southeastern corner of the state, nearing Cheyenne, tonight’s destination.
***
Cheyenne, which sits at 6,062 feet, is Wyoming’s capital city. In all my Harley rides, this is the first time I’ve been to a state capital. At 146 feet tall, the State Capitol is the tallest building in the city.
This is not what you’d called a destination city. It’s a stopover from somewhere to somewhere else.
The city was named for the Native American Cheyenne nation, and is a term meaning “people of different speech” or “red talkers.” Cheyenne claims to be home of the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, Cheyenne Frontier Days, a nine-day event in late July with cowboying, concerts and Air Force flybys.
Cheyenne Frontier Days. Yee-Haw!
Frontier Days just wrapped up on Sunday; country music star Jason Aldean was the closing act.
Besides the rodeo, the biggest show in town is Francis E Warren Air Force Base, home to 90th Missile Wing. Warren is it’s the oldest continuously active military installation within the Air Force, established in 1867. Oddly enough, it’s an Air Force Base without a runway for fixed-wing aircraft.
The only conventional airfield ever located at F. E. Warren AFB was a single dirt strip. This field, never used by modern-day pilots, was made famous by World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker, who crashed his plane on the field and survived.
The Base’s claim to fame: it operates 150 land-based Minutemen III ICBM’s.
Yes, ICBM, as in Inter Continental Ballistic Missile. Range: more than 8,000 miles. Speed: more than 17,000 miles an hour (Mach 23). And, thermonuclear warheads, each said to have a capability of 475 kilotons of TNT, 30 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. End-of-the-world stuff. A good reminder of why it’s a really, really bad idea to let the current occupant of the White House anywhere near the nuclear codes (“If we have them, why can’t we use them?” #tweetyourwaytoarmaggedon).
An ICBM in a silo, waiting for launch. “If we have them, why can’t we use them?”
Warren Air Force Base’s 150 ICBMs comprise about one-third of the US’ land-based nuclear capability. The missiles sit in hardened silos scattered over a 9,600-square-mile area of eastern Wyoming, western Nebraska, and northern Colorado.
Tomorrow, Day Seven of our trip, is a big day. We’ll enter our seventh state – South Dakota. If that rings familiar, it’s because we’ll finally be on Sturgis’ doorstep. Woo-hoo!
Dinner at Don Reyes Family Kitchen. Good food, but not exactly standing room only. (photo by Randy)
Cheers! (photo by our server)
***
Day Six Summary: Two hundred forty miles, riding above the clouds, two more scenic byways (Difficult!), and no missile launches on our watch.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Silverthorne to Cheyenne.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Start an Awesome Tradition That Will be Appreciated for Years to Come.”
Goal Achieved: On August 2, 1873, the first trial run of a San Francisco cable car occurs on Clay Street between Kearny and Jones. The San Francisco cable cars are the world’s last remaining manually operated cable car system, with more than seven million riders annually.
A San Francisco cable car at the top of Hyde Street. What a great tradition!
Four biker studs, starting the day with a hearty breakfast. (photo by our server)
After three days of “transit” – long, mostly boring rides to get to where you really want to be – we are truly ready for some serious riding. Seriously awesome riding.
Leaving Durango, we head north on US Highway 550, which will take us all the way to Ouray, 70 miles to the north.
We’re on the San Juan Skyway, another of Colorado’s designated Scenic Byways. Eleven of Colorado’s 26 byways are designated as “America’s Byways,” giving Colorado more national designations (America’s Byways) than any other state. The Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways Program is a statewide partnership designed to provide recreational, educational and economic benefits to Coloradans and visitors. Sponsors include Colorado’s Departments of Tourism and Transportation.
These byways even have a motorcycle skill rating map, providing a useful tool to help riders decide whether they have the skills needed for these often-challenging roads. The “ride difficulty levels” are rated Easy, Moderate or Difficult.
Easy roads are suitable for beginning riders, with gradual grades and gentle curves. Difficult roads require advanced riding skills, have steep grades and sharp, technical turns.
San Juan Scenic Byway. Technical turns, and a thrill a minute!
The San Juan Scenic Byway, which we’re riding today, is rated Difficult. Over the next few days as we ride through Colorado, we’ll be on at least six more Scenic Byways rated Difficult: West Elk Loop, McClure Pass, Independence Pass, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Cache la Poudre Canyon.
Buckle up!
***
About 25 miles from Durango, we pass by the Durango Mountain Resort, sometimes known by its former name, Purgatory. The name Purgatory comes from Purgatory Creek, which runs through the area – and from Purgatory Flats, today the location of the ski area’s base. The ski resort’s base is at 8,793 feet; its peak is 10,822 feet.
Legend has it that the Purgatory name comes from miners who were trying to get from Durango to the prosperous mines in the Silverton area. They had to pay 50 cents to use the toll road. Miners who couldn’t afford the toll were stuck in the area, which became known as Purgatory Flats. They couldn’t afford to get up the mountain, but couldn’t see themselves quitting and going down, either. Now that’s purgatory.
***
On our way north, we see the spectacular nature of Colorado’s Rockies. With the exception of California’s Mount Whitney (14,505 feet), the Rockies have the highest peaks in mainland North America, the highest of which is Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet.
Colorado has more than 50 mountain summits that are 14,000 feet or higher. They’re known as the 14ers.
Reaching the summit of Capitol Peak (14,131 feet), the most dangerous of the 14ers.
A few miles to the east is Mount Eolus, at 14,083 feet – actually the 32nd-highest of the 14ers. Close by are Sunlight Peak (14,059 feet) and Windom Peak (14,082 feet). After a while, you almost become blasé about 13,000-foot peaks. Colorado has 637 of them, way too many to mention, but hugely impressive, nonetheless.
The Rockies are a haven for snow-addicted thrill seekers. Some have climbed all 54 of the 14ers. Chris Davenport thought that wasn’t difficult enough, so he decided to climb up, then ski down all the 14ers. If you’ve got the time, check out his adventure.
I’ll point out some of the 14ers as we ride near them in the next few days.
***
On Silverton’s main street. (photo by Scott)
We continue north on US-550 to Silverton, a former silver mining camp, now designated a National Historic Landmark District – and the only incorporated municipality in San Juan County.
Silverton, at 9,308 feet, is home to the world’s highest Harley Davidson store. The store draws quite a few Harley riders, including us. “They want the T-shirt,” said store owner Jeff Murray, “and the only way they can get it is to come to Silverton.”
Nearby Silverton Mountain, six miles from downtown Silverton, is Colorado’s highest and steepest ski area, with un-groomed, no-easy-way-down expert terrain only. With more than 400 inches of snow each year, the resort describes itself as “all thrills, no frills … deep and steep.”
Silverton Mountain. Not for the feint-of-heart.
It has one chairlift that begins at the base elevation of 10,400 feet, and rises to 12,300 feet. For the truly adventurous, which is pretty much everyone who comes here, the ski area includes skiing all the way up to 13,487 feet. To get there, you can hike. Or, take a helicopter.
Because of the unpatrolled and un-groomed nature of Silverton Mountain, skiers are required to have avalanche gear: a beacon, shovel and probe. The ski resort is open December through April, Thursday through Sunday. Lift tickets are $59 for the day. Or, you can get an all-day heli-skiing pass for $999, which includes six “drops”.
Breakfast burrito at the Brown Bear Cafe in Silverton.
***
From Silverton, the remaining 25 miles of US Highway 550 are quite a thrill. This road, part of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, is known as the Million Dollar Highway. It’s one of the most scenic roads in the US – and one of the most perilous, according to dangerousroads.org.
Million Dollar Highway. Better bring your “A” game.
The Million Dollar Highway has steep cliffs, narrow lanes, hairpin curves, and few guardrails. On a motorcycle, it’s a thrill ride and a truly sphincter-tightening experience. I’ve ridden the road four times now, each time like Grandpa would. That’s how I roll. The Million Dollar Highway gets a little less frightening every time you ride it. Or not.
That’s Randy on the left side of the double yellow line, apparently convinced he’s riding in England or Australia. Photo shot from Dave’s helmet-mounted GoPro camera.
Though the entire stretch from Silverton to Ouray earns the Million Dollar designation, it’s really the 12 miles from the summit of Red Mountain Pass through the Uncompahgre Gorge to Ouray, where the highway gets its reputation.
The Million Dollar Highway goes over three mountain passes: Coal Bank Pass (10,640 feet), Molas Pass (10,970 feet), and Red Mountain Pass (11,018 feet).
It’s unclear exactly where the Million Dollar Highway gets its name. Locals disagree as to whether it is named for the millions of dollars of gold, silver and other minerals extracted from these mountains, the cost of building the road (reputed to be a million dollars a mile), or for the spectacular views.
Another one from Dave’s perspective, on the Million Dollar Highway. Note the gorge on the left the picture is awesome, but doesn’t convey the sphincter-tightening nature of the road.
***
Riding north from Silverton, we pass through the ghost town of Ironton. At one time, Ironton was a major transportation junction between Red Mountain and Ouray, in addition to having some of its own mines. Ironton sits at 9,756 feet, and is about two-thirds of the way from Silverton to Ouray.
Ironton: Not much here anymore, but it sure is beautiful.
In the winter, Ironton has cross country ski trails and hiking trails leading to beautiful vistas. In mining’s heyday, it was home to many miners who worked in the mines above town on the slopes of Red Mountain. In the late 1800s, two trains arrived daily in Ironton, coming from Silverton.
Ironton’s mines made their wealth from silver and lead, and eventually from gold. From Ironton, it’s only eight miles on US Highway 550 before we get to Ouray.
We arrive in Ouray with a sense of exhilaration and survival.
Exhale.
Scott shoots a selfie on Ouray’s Main Street — Highway 550.
Ouray, which sits at 7,792 feet, is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful mountain towns imaginable.
Ouray is called the “Little Switzerland” of Colorado for good reason.
Named after Chief Ouray of the Ute Indian Tribe, Ouray was originally established by miners chasing silver and gold in the surrounding mountains. Prospectors arrived here in 1875. At the height of its mining boom, Ouray had more than 30 active mines.
All of Ouray’s Main Street is registered as a National Historic District. Several buildings are listed on the National Register or Historic Places.
Today’s Ouray economy is based entirely on tourism. Ouray bills itself as the “Switzerland of America,” because of its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by steep mountains. Much of the tourism is focused on ice climbing, mountain biking, hiking and off-roading in the San Juan Mountains.
The author, hiding under a hanging plant on Main Street in Ouray. Sarah: note the SPF 50 sun sleeves. #stylingrider (photo by Randy)
Ouray is considered the winter ice-climbing capital of the U.S. It has the world’s first ice climbing park, expanding on previously popular natural falls, with dozens of frozen waterfalls from 80 to 200 feet high along more than a mile of the Uncompahgre Gorge. The Ouray Ice Park’s slogan: “Get Your Axe in Gear!”
Get your axe in gear, at the Ouray Ice Park.
Ouray is also a popular destination for motorcyclists, as it marks the beginning (or end) of the Million Dollar Highway.
Randy enjoys a cup of chocolate carmel swirl ice cream before leaving Ouray.
***
We leave Ouray and continue north on US Highway 550. In 10 miles, we come to the town of Ridgway, which sits just below 7,000 feet. Ridgway was featured in the John Wayne movie, True Grit, and other western movies including How the West Was Won, and Tribute to a Bad Man.
One other thing about Ridgway: the Grammy Award trophy is manufactured here by Billings Artworks. The trophies are all hand-made, assembled and plated on site. The Gramophone trophy – Grammy for short – has been awarded nearly 8,000 times since the first Grammy Awards ceremony in 1959, and every single one of those Grammies was made here in Ridgway. Click here to read more about the Ridgway workshop that works all year long to produce the precious trophies.
Ridgeway is also known for having the only stoplight in Ouray County – at the intersection of US Highway 550 and Colorado Highway 62.
We stop at the light, then continue north toward Montrose, another 27 miles down the road. The city was incorporated in 1882, and named after Sir Walter Scott’s novel, A Legend of Montrose.
Montrose sits at 5,806 feet above sea level, and is considered a gateway to many spectacular areas in the Rockies. If you have time in Montrose, you can visit the Museum of the Mountain West, the Ute Indian Museum, or the Russell Stover Candy Factory.
You can also head east out of town and visit a nearby National Park, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. That’s our plan.
Dave risks life and limb, taking a selfie on the edge of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison gorge. Not for the faint of heart.
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is only about 11 miles northeast of Montrose. To get there, we ride east on US Highway 50 for 6 miles, North on Colorado Highway 347 for 5 miles, and we arrive at the Park’s visitor center.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It’s a long way to the bottom.
The park gets its name (“Black Canyon”) because parts of the Gunnison River gorge receive only 33 minutes of sunlight a day. As a result, it’s often shrouded in shadow, causing the rocky walls to appear black. The steepness of its walls makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate the canyon, which is known for crumbling rock and dizzying heights. It’s a haven for rock climbers. Experts only.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison. (photo by Scott)
The main attraction in the park is the scenic drive along the canyon’s south rim, which we explore for the next hour.
***
After staring at the canyon walls, we press on, riding east on US Highway 50 toward Gunnison.
Gunnison was named in honor of Captain John Gunnison, a US Army officer who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. The city is home to Western State Colorado University, originally founded as the Colorado State Normal School for Children in 1901. A normal school is one created to train high school graduates to be teachers; its purpose is to establish teaching standards, or norms – thus the word “normal.”
But we never quite get to Gunnison. About 25 miles west of town, we reach the Blue Mesa Reservoir – along the Gunnison River – and take a detour.
The Blue Mesa Reservoir is the largest body of water entirely in Colorado.
A productive fishing day on the Blue Mesa Reservoir.
With 96 miles of shoreline, it’s the largest lake trout and kokanee salmon fishery in the US. It was the first large dam built along the Gunnison River.
At Blue Mesa Reservoir. Peace, Out.
When we arrive at the west end of the Blue Mesa Reservoir, we turn onto Colorado Highway 92, a twisty mountain road that snakes along the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. There are gorgeous views at seemingly every turn. We’ll be on Highway 92 for the next 52 miles.
Highway 92 is part of the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway (Difficult!) and is considered among the best motorcycle rides in Colorado, right up there with the Million Dollar Highway.
We peer down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River from a different perspective than what we saw earlier today. We’re now riding along the north rim. In the park a few hours ago, we rode along the south rim.
The road begins to straighten as it takes us past Gould Reservoir, Crawford Reservoir, and Crawford State Park – before we arrive in the town of Crawford.
It’s a tiny ranch town, perhaps best known for its resident rocker, Joe Cocker, who owned a 240-acre ranch here until his death in 2014. Called Mad Dog Ranch, it has a European-style, seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 15,873 square-foot home with a turret at the entrance.
Mad Dog Ranch is named after Cocker’s 1970 album, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. The ranch, if you care to visit it, is at 43405 Cottonwood Creek Road, about three miles east of Crawford.
Joe Cocker, rocking Woodstock.
At the time of his death nearly three years ago, Cocker had the place on the market for $7.85 million. With no buyers coming forward for several years, his estate tried unsuccessfully to sell it at auction. Earlier this year, it was on the market again. Asking price: $4,950,000. I scoured the internet far and wide, unable to find out conclusively if anyone had bought the property. Good news for you: it may still be available.
***
We continue north on Highway 92 for another 11 miles until we reach the town of Hotchkiss, our destination for the night. Hotchkiss calls itself the “Friendliest Town Around.”
Hotchkiss. Seriously?
It’s a town whose population is less than 1,000 – but it has the aptly named Hotchkiss Inn, and the awesome Zach’s BBQ for dinner. Sounds like a great place to park the bikes and get ready for tomorrow.
We’ll call it a day, despite our disappointment that Zach’s is closed on Monday’s. Boo-hoo.
Dinner at Tucker’s in Hotchkiss.. Two pizzas, a calzone, and (for Randy) chicken fried steak. Nobody is thrown under the dinner 🚌 bus. (photo by our server)
***
Day Four Summary: Two hundred fifty five miles, a million-dollar highway, seeing our first 14ers, and surviving one of the most dangerous roads in the world. We are awesome!
Click here to see today’s complete route from Durango to Hotchkiss.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Take a Memorable Journey.”
Goal Achieved: On July 31, 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts take a three-hour ride on the moon in the Lunar Roving Vehicle, covering more than 17 miles. Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission to the moon, quite a trip in itself – lasting more than 12 days, and covering about 477,000 miles. Apollo 15 made 74 orbits around the moon – totaling 1,264,137 miles – while astronauts David Scott and James Irwin were on the moon.
Rain! All decked out in rain gear, ready to leave Flagstaff. Fortunately, bad weather only lasted 30 minutes or so, then it got hot again.
As I wake up this morning in Flagstaff, I think about the day’s ride. Three hundred ten miles, through hot, lonely, windswept, godforsaken deserts – hours and hours of nothingness on our way to the Rocky Mountains, one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on Earth.
Contemplating the ride ahead, I recall my first thoughts about a bucket list motorcycle trip. It began in Homer, Alaska, in July 2011.
Homer is known as the halibut fishing capital of the world, and the home of Tom Bodett – famous for his Motel 6 commercials: “We’ll leave the light on for you.”
It’s also called the “end of the road,” since Homer is where Alaska’s Route 1 comes to an abrupt halt, 538 miles from its beginning in Tok.
This small city on the Kenai Peninsula is where my idea for a bucket list ride began to crystallize six years ago. Walking through town, on a cold, rainy morning, we met three men and a woman on BMW motorcycles with Quebec (Canada) license plates. All were in their 60s, wearing soaked raingear and grinning ear to ear.
From Quebec, to Homer. Living large! (photo by John T)
Sarah and I stopped to chat with them, curious if they had their bikes shipped out west, or how they otherwise arrived in Homer. They were French-speaking native Quebecois, from Quebec City, about 165 miles northeast of Montreal, and 4,500 miles from Homer.
Their English was very broken, and yet, we had no difficulty understanding why they were in Homer.
Turns out several months earlier, one of the men in the group was diagnosed with some sort of end-stage cancer. Rather than just giving up on life, he decided to live. Really live.
He convinced his friends to join him in a ride from Quebec to the end of the earth, which they considered to be the northern reaches of Alaska. They had been on the road for something like six weeks, having the time of their lives, seemingly cheating death along the way. Hearing their story was an inspiration.
At the time, I had been on several week-long Harley rides, including two trips to Lake Tahoe and back. I thought I was pretty adventurous, but their ride made me realize what a slacker I really was. Hearing about their journey gave me the idea to, one day, ride to Alaska, or in Alaska, or somewhere quite far away.
I often wonder what happened to them.
Was there a miracle cure? Did they reach the Arctic Circle?
***
We leave Flagstaff, and the few remaining traces of Route 66 soon fade into oblivion. It’s a sad end to a great highway.
Route 66: riding into the sunset.
In the absence of Route 66, we’re on US Highway 89 for the next 48 miles. Highway 89 is a major north-south route, stretching for more than 1,250 miles. The southern section begins in Flagstaff and runs nearly 850 miles to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern section runs from the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park to the US-Canadian border in Montana.
Highway 89 is sometimes called the National Park Highway, as it links seven National Parks across the Mountain West. Sunset magazine calls it the greatest road on earth.
Because we’ll visit so many National Parks and National Monuments on this trip, you may wonder, what’s the difference? It can be quite confusing.
Colorado National Monument. Awesome!
Best I can tell, a National Monument is designated by the sole authority of the President of the United States, using powers conveyed by the Antiquities Act of 1906. The President can set aside for protection “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” by the stroke of his or her pen.
A National Park is designated by an act of Congress. National Parks predominantly feature large expanses of America’s most unique and treasured lands.
The primary difference between National Parks and National Monuments is the reason for preserving the land. National Parks are protected due to their scenic, inspirational, education and recreational value. National Monuments have objects of historical, cultural and/or scientific interest.
That’s pretty much it.
There’s very, very little difference, other than the prestige conferred upon a Park, and the economic benefit to nearby communities because of the significantly higher number of visitors at National Parks, compared to National Monuments.
Yosemite National Park. Awesome, too.
Still confused? Here, here, here and here are some explanations you may find more enlightening. You choose.
***
Fifteen miles north of Flagstaff, we pass Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The Monument was created in 1930 to protect Sunset Crater, the dominant peak in the area.
In 1887, John Wesley Powell was the first modern-day explorer of the area. He named the mountain Sunset Peak because of its distinctive red-brown patches formed by oxidized iron and sulphur. Powell is best known for making the first passage through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River.
As we pass Sunset Crater, off to the distance to the west is Humphreys Peak. At 12,637 feet, it’s the highest point in Arizona. Humphreys Peak is the highest of a group of extinct volcanic peaks known as the San Francisco Peaks.
A few more miles north, and we ride past Wupatki National Monument, rich in Native American ruins. Here, ancient pueblos (villages) dot red rock outcroppings across miles of prairie. Wupatki is one of several sites preserving pueblos of ancient peoples. The pueblos all have a distinctive red color and were made from thin, flat blocks of the local Moenkopi sandstone.
Wupatki National Monument
All of the dwellings were built by the Anasazi and Sinagua Indians during the 12th and 13th centuries. You reach Wupatki National Monument on the same loop road that passes Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
***
In the parking lot at the Cameron Trading Post. Note the SPF 50 sun sleeves, Sarah!
Fifty miles after leaving Flagstaff, we arrive in Cameron, where you’ll find a gas station, restaurants, crafts stalls, and other tourist services for north-south traffic on Highway 89. In our case, the traffic (us) is northbound. Cameron, which sits at 4,200 feet, calls itself a trading post.
After a short hydration break, we continue north, then turn off on US Highway 160 toward Kayenta, 98 miles away. Highway 160 runs through the Navajo Nation, and is often called the Navajo Trail.
About ten miles before Kayenta is the turnoff from Highway 160 to Navajo National Monument, nine miles north on Arizona Highway 564. Navajo National Monument was created to preserve three cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people. These villages date from 1250 to 1300. Unlike many US Parks where a drive-by can soak in the view-worthy stuff, it’s a three-to-five-mile hike to the cliff dwellings – a tough slog on a late July day with temperatures well over 100 degrees.
So, we press on to Kayenta, the only municipal-style government within the Navajo Nation. Kayenta has three motels, three gas stations, a handful of fast-food restaurants, an Ace Hardware, and a Navajo Arts and Crafts store.
The Navajo Nation is huge, covering 27,425 square miles, much of it in northeastern Arizona, where we’ve been the past few hours. It’s the largest land area retained by a US Native American tribe, slightly larger than West Virginia.
Still on US Highway 160, 80 miles east of Kayenta, we briefly cross into New Mexico, then turn northwest on New Mexico Highway 597 before the road abruptly ends. The half-mile long highway is the second shortest in New Mexico.
It ends in a good place though, at the Four Corners Monument, marking the point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet – the third, fourth and fifth states on this trip. The monument is the only point in the US shared by four states, which is why this area is called the Four Corners region. Doh!
There’s a 45-minute wait in line, just to have your picture taken at the Four Corners Monument.
The Four Corners Monument, which attracts about 250,000 visitors each year, is maintained as a tourist attraction by the Navajo Nation. For a $5 admission fee, you can snap cheesy photos that’ll last a lifetime. Honestly, it’s little more than a photo op.
Hard to believe, but some people actually come here to cross it off their bucket lists. After taking photos and contorting your body to be in four states at once, you’ve done about all there is to do at Four Corners.
Was it worth the wait? Not really, but Scott took this photo anyway. I’m standing in Colorado, and those “goalposts” behind me are for flags. One has the Colorado flag, which is appropriate, since I’m now a Colorado resident. (photo by Scott)
As the only “quadripoint” in the US, it’s almost an accident of political geography. But is it in the correct place? Some cynics claim the Four Corners Monument is in the wrong spot.
And, this defense of the location, from the National Geodetic Survey.
You be the judge.
Canada’s Four Corners Point
Interestingly, Canada also has a four corners point, too. It’s where the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territories meet.
There’s a three-foot high aluminum obelisk marking this extremely remote location. It’s hundreds of miles from any road or railway. Next time you’re there, send me a selfie.
There’s only one international quadripoint. It’s in the middle of the Zambezi River in southern Africa, where Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana all touch.
Eagerly awaiting your photographs.
***
After snapping our own photos at the Four Corners Monument in the US, we saddle up and continue east on US Highway 160. We enter Colorado, and cross the San Juan River. In a few miles, we reach Chimney Rock National Monument, an archaeological site that’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. Former President Obama made it a National Monument on September 21, 2012.
The rock itself is over 535 million years old, and offers a 75-mile panorama of the local area.
At Chimney Rock is the intersection of US Highways 160 and 491. We turn north on 491, which is also a continuation of Highway 160. The numbering is a bit confusing, but there aren’t many roads out here, so it’s pretty obvious we’re on the right track toward our destination: Durango.
At Ute Mountain Casino, waiting for massive thunderstorms to blow over. We had our rain gear on shortly after the photo was shot.
We are now on the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, home to the Ute Mountain tribe. The Ute Mountain Tribe is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute Nation. As followers of this blog may recall, I’m a Ute, a proud graduate of the University of Utah (BS, Journalism, 1973). The name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe.
To our left along the roadway is the Ute Mountain Casino, motto: “This is Your Lucky Day!” Among the things to do here, if you can believe their marketing materials – Stay, Play, Eat Meet, Park and Shop. We’re now about 11 miles south of Cortez, Colorado.
One more at the Ute Mountain Casino. That’s me at the far left, with arms raised. Go Utes! (photo by Scott)
Not much in Cortez, but it does have a unique claim to fame: a U-2 reconnaissance airplane made an emergency nighttime forced landing here in 1959 after an engine flameout at 70,000 feet. The airport was the only one in the area with a runway whose lights were on overnight.
The monument covers 176,000 acres. It’s part of the National Landscape Conservation System – consisting of 32 million acres set aside by the Bureau of Land Management to conserve, protect and restore nationally significant landscapes. The Canyons of the Ancients has more than 6,000 archaeological sites representing Ancestral Puebloan and other Native American cultures.
On the west end of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is Hovenweep National Monument, which includes six groups of Ancestral Puebloan villages. Here, there’s evidence of hunter-gatherers as far back as 8,000 B.C. In 900 A.D., it’s believed that more than 2,500 people lived here.
The International Dark-Sky Association designated Hovenweep an International Dark Sky Park in 2014, making it a good place to stargaze – because there’s not much out here to get between you and the stars.
Hovenweep means “deserted valley” in the Ute language.
As you may have noticed, Arizona is a hotbed of National Monuments, primarily focused on archaeological preservation. You could spend weeks here just visiting the sites.
But we’ve been on the road for nearly 300 miles already today, so we push on, riding east on Highway 160. We pass our last National Park of the day, Mesa Verde National Park. It, too, protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the US, including 5,000 sites and 600 cliff dwellings. One of them, the Cliff Palace, is believed to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America, with more than 150 individual rooms and 20 kivas – rooms for religious rituals.
Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park
The Ancestral Pueblo people made it their home for more than 700 years, from 600 to 1300 A.D.
Mesa Verde National Park has been a World Heritage Site since 1978, recognized for its exceptional archaeological relevance.
Continuing east on Highway 160, we pass through the towns of Mancos and Hesperus, and before you can say Ancestral Puebloans again, we’re in Durango, today’s destination.
Durango is named after Durango, Mexico – which was named after Durango, Spain. All three Durangos are sister cities. The word Durango originates from the Basque word Urango, meaning “water town.” Durango sits on the Animas River at an elevation of 6,500 feet.
The city was founded in 1879 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. The railroad arrived in 1881, constructing a narrow gauge line to haul passengers and freight to Silverton – and to transport silver and gold ore from the San Juan Mountains. The historic train has been in continuous operation since 1882.
Thrilling train ride: Durango to Silverton
For $85, you can board in Durango for the 3 ½ hour, 45-mile ride to Silverton. There, you’ll relax for 30 minutes before the return trip begins. The train’s top speed is 18 miles an hour.
Durango is also home to the SnowDown Festival, a historic downtown district, and Fort Lewis College. My good friend, Curtis Smith, originally from Soldotna, Alaska, once attended Fort Lewis College, where he was a walk-on player on the golf team. Curtis, originally part of the annual Alaska golf invasion to La Quinta, now works for Shell as a PR executive in the Washington DC area.
It’s a beautiful setting for a college, a motorcycle ride, or a movie. Parts of the 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, were filmed north of town along the Animas River, and scenes from the 1991 film City Slickers were shot in Durango. Best line in City Slickers: “We’re lost but we’re making really good time.”
We made pretty good time today, and now it’s time for dinner, a drink, and a good night’s rest before tomorrow’s ride on one of the most famous motorcycle rides in the US.
***
But first, who do we bump into in Durango? My old friend, Randy Suhr. Bumping into old friends before dinner is getting to be a habit.
Followers of this blog will remember that I’ve ridden long-distance twice with Randy: in the Canadian Rockies in 2015, and last year on a tour of Utah’s National Parks. Here’s a little about Randy; if you already know him, feel free to skip ahead a few paragraphs.
Randy, at Athabasca Falls, in the Canadian Rockies.
Randy: After growing up in Republic, a tiny town 43 miles west of Kettle Falls, Washington., Randy found his way to Eastern Washington University in Cheney, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Radio and TV Management. Randy says his crowning achievement in Cheney was getting high with Arlo Guthrie. Seriously. Following graduation, he was hired by KOMO-TV in Seattle, in the shadow of the Space Needle. There, he worked in the production department and directed nightly newscasts. Randy often sat next to me in the control room and – incredibly – made me look like the genius I clearly wasn’t. Randy left KOMO in the mid-1980s to work at KNBC in Los Angeles, where the proximity to Hollywood allowed him pursue his dream of being a film director. After working on a number of films, Randy’s last 15 years in the entertainment business were spent primarily as a first assistant director on various TV sitcoms, including Everybody Loves Raymond and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Following his retirement in 2014, Randy and his wife, Jo, split their time between Phinney Ridge, near Seattle – and Poulsbo. Randy, who’ll be 64 next week, is riding his Kawasaki Vulcan 900, purchased just in time for this ride.
Randy, sneaking a beer at dinner tonight in Durango. Oh boy!
I haven’t seen Randy since we toured Utah’s National Parks last summer. Over dinner, we catch up, eat up, drink up, and talk about the ride ahead. It’s a get acquainted and get re-acquainted dinner. I’ve known Randy since 1983. I’ve known Dave since 2002. Randy and Dave have known each other since last year. And a few minutes ago, Scott and Randy met for the first time.
Team Sturgis is rolling.
***
Day Three Summary: Three hundred ten miles, four states, through desert, past mesas and mountains, archaeological sites, boatloads of national monuments, and all the while, riding with an inspiration that began in Homer, Alaska six years earlier.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Flagstaff to Durango.
We’re on our way to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
Dave having an appetizer before dinner. He thinks this photo is throwing him under the bus. What do you think?
***
Today in Bucket List History:
Bucket List Goal: “Do Something Great for the Country.”
Goal Achieved: On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Medicare bill, which goes into effect in 1966. Today, nearly 54 Americans receive Medicare benefits. (Full disclosure: I love Medicare!)
LBJ signs the Medicare Bill, 52 years ago. I love Medicare!
Riding With Gary 