23rd August
I took yesterday off, to give my left leg a bit of time to heal up. It’s still swollen and a variety of colours, but otherwise isn’t a snag. I chose my day off well – it hammered down with rain and blew a gale for most of the day.
Today I’m packed and on the road, fuelled (and jet-washed
) by 1000, heading for Red Lodge.
I ride north up highway 120, turning left onto the Chief Joseph Highway. I rode down this road back on 22nd April, when I encountered sleet showers at Dead Indian Pass – and a wild turkey on the way back down. Today, the weather is better – although it’s colder than I’ve recently been experiencing - and it’s getting windier, the higher I climb…
The Chief Joseph Highway is an excellent road to ride…
…although today, I keep coming across patches of gravel and small rocks which have been washed onto the road by yesterday’s rain. Eventually I reach Dead Indian Pass, which marks the top of a series of fantastic switchbacks, leading down into the steep-sided valley below…
I ride down, pummelled by winds which are funnelled by the valleys and change direction from one second to the next.
I stop for an early lunch at Clarks Fork where I meet a couple who have just travelled from Red Lodge, over the Bear Tooth Pass – my intended route. They tell me that it’s snowing up there, as well as being extremely windy. I dig out my heated gloves and jacket from the bottom of my pannier and, after lots of hot coffee, depart.
It’s cold – a new experience for me – and the top of the hills are tickling the bottom of some threatening looking clouds. I run into sleet flurries as I climb the long series of switchbacks leading to the West Summit…
…but no snow. There is fresh snow lightly covering the scrub on the verges, but the roads remain black. I ride carefully, severely buffeted by wind and determined to keep to the dry patches of road – at these temperatures, I’m not confident I won’t encounter ice.
It’s so windy that, even when I’m riding at 50-60 mph, I’m still overtaken by the shadows of clouds being blown in the same direction I’m travelling. It’s not an easy ride, but worth it for the views…
I eventually start the last, long descent towards Red Lodge…
…where, I’m disappointed to find, Hank’s Café is closed – this is the excellent little eatery where I met up with the Becker family on the 24th June. Ah, well – I’ll eat later. I ride along FR 308 to Belfry, then turn right along Montana 72 south. It’s a good, wide road – by the size and capacity of the drainage ditches either side, I guess they must expect some heavy rainfall (or melt water floods) here…
I re-enter Wyoming and, passing back through Cody, keep pressing south. There is a strong wind blowing - but it’s a tail wind - which makes for a comfortable ride, for the first time today. I reach Thermopolis at about 1600…
…and decide to stop there for the night. I check into the Elk Antler Motel – a Mom & Pop – it’s been a good day.
I took yesterday off, to give my left leg a bit of time to heal up. It’s still swollen and a variety of colours, but otherwise isn’t a snag. I chose my day off well – it hammered down with rain and blew a gale for most of the day.
Today I’m packed and on the road, fuelled (and jet-washed
) by 1000, heading for Red Lodge.
I ride north up highway 120, turning left onto the Chief Joseph Highway. I rode down this road back on 22nd April, when I encountered sleet showers at Dead Indian Pass – and a wild turkey on the way back down
. Today, the weather is better – although it’s colder than I’ve recently been experiencing - and it’s getting windier, the higher I climb…
The Chief Joseph Highway is an excellent road to ride…
…although today, I keep coming across patches of gravel and small rocks which have been washed onto the road by yesterday’s rain. Eventually I reach Dead Indian Pass, which marks the top of a series of fantastic switchbacks, leading down into the steep-sided valley below…
I ride down, pummelled by winds which are funnelled by the valleys and change direction from one second to the next.
I stop for an early lunch at Clarks Fork where I meet a couple who have just travelled from Red Lodge, over the Bear Tooth Pass – my intended route. They tell me that it’s snowing up there, as well as being extremely windy. I dig out my heated gloves and jacket from the bottom of my pannier and, after lots of hot coffee, depart.
It’s cold – a new experience for me
– and the top of the hills are tickling the bottom of some threatening looking clouds. I run into sleet flurries as I climb the long series of switchbacks leading to the West Summit…
…but no snow. There is fresh snow lightly covering the scrub on the verges, but the roads remain black. I ride carefully, severely buffeted by wind and determined to keep to the dry patches of road – at these temperatures, I’m not confident I won’t encounter ice.
It’s so windy that, even when I’m riding at 50-60 mph, I’m still overtaken by the shadows of clouds being blown in the same direction I’m travelling. It’s not an easy ride, but worth it for the views…
I eventually start the last, long descent towards Red Lodge…
…where, I’m disappointed to find, Hank’s Café is closed – this is the excellent little eatery where I met up with the Becker family on the 24th June. Ah, well – I’ll eat later. I ride along FR 308 to Belfry, then turn right along Montana 72 south. It’s a good, wide road – by the size and capacity of the drainage ditches either side, I guess they must expect some heavy rainfall (or melt water floods) here…
I re-enter Wyoming and, passing back through Cody, keep pressing south. There is a strong wind blowing - but it’s a tail wind - which makes for a comfortable ride, for the first time today. I reach Thermopolis at about 1600…
…and decide to stop there for the night. I check into the Elk Antler Motel – a Mom & Pop – it’s been a good day.
