Wherever I May Roam: Day 8

On the agenda today was the Beartooth Pass, something I was looking forward but also had some anxiety about. It's no secret that I have a fear of heights, so riding a road like this means I will have to work with myself. The ride down to the park from Livingston almost felt like a commute this morning, almost. The scenery here kind of looks different every day, depending on weather. It was a little warmer this morning, mostly overcast.

Once in the park, I head east on the north section of the north loop. The only part of the figure 8 grand loop I haven't ridden now is the eastern section of the north loop. I made the turn onto highway 212, heading east to Cooke City. A light rain fell as I made the ride out of the park, with lots of buffalo grazing in the flats to my right. Every time it rains I'm glad for my gear. I stay dry and warm, which makes it so much nicer to ride in inclement weather.

I topped off the tank in Cooke City, and was beginning to have my doubts as to the condition of the pass. I figured if its raining at the bottom, it could be bad at the top. Regardless, I wasn't about to turn around now, and much to my delight the sun burst forth only a couple miles east of Cooke City. As I passed the turn south to Cody, the climb immediately began.

To try and describe the feeling of going to the top of the world is pretty tough, let's just say I suddenly felt very small! The views are incredible as one makes the climb, a person can see for miles around. By the time I got to the Long Lake bridge construction zone a few flakes of snow began coming down. Only a few minutes ago the sun was shining, but I guess when you're this high up the weather changes quickly. After getting through the construction zone the snowfall became heavier, and there were times where vision was restricted to only a few bike lengths. The visor on my helmet kept gathering snow, as did the windscreen on the bike. Thankfully the road only got wet, not slippery (trust me, I checked on every short section of straight road on the way up the switchbacks).

A few times the thought of turning around crossed my mind, but by now I was over halfway across the road, and I really didn't want to wimp out and not finish. If there were any signs at the highest elevation I didn't see them, which was a little disappointing. A picture withe sign and the bike would have been cool.

There were a lot of cars, more than I thought there would be, but not a lot of motorcycles up on the pass. The smart ones probably wait for a nice day, but I may never be back, so it was now or never. It felt almost eerie as I made what would be the final climb up the switchbacks, a very strange feeling to be at almost 11,000 feet on a motorcycle. The clouds/fog lifted a little as I began to make the descent, and I was floored by how far down it was beside the road. There is no picture in the world that can even begin to convey how I felt there.

I didn't descend too far when just like that, the air temperature began to climb and the snow on my helmet and windscreen quickly melted. By the time I reached Rock Creek Vista, the sun was peaking out, suggesting I would descend from 9190 feet to 6400 feet at Red Lodge with a full view. I stopped at the vista for a bathroom break, and to warm up a little. I was warm throughout, except for my hands. A gentleman there told me it had been 31 degrees (-0.5 C) at the top.

It's strange how small the world is sometimes. A man noticed my Alberta plates, and asked where I was from. Turns out he has relatives living in my hometown! He and his wife were from Winnipeg, and are staying just down the street from me here in Livingston. It was a great random meeting, and for a moment I felt like I wasn't nearly as far from home as it sometimes feels.

The ride down to Red Lodge was simply awesome! The sun was out and I was able to see everything, and for some reason being able to see more made me feel much more at ease. There was an exuberant fist pump when I came out of the final hairpin turn, a great feeling to have been able to complete the journey. I dreamt of this ride often over the winter, when I first discovered it existed.

My plan was to head down to the south point of the Chief Joseph Highway, and then return north on that. It was already after 2:30, and after a stop in Red Lodge I decided against my original plan. Doing that would have got me back to the hotel much too late, and I wanted some time to get ready to leave tomorrow.

I ended up making my way up to I-90 at Laurel, and then rode the 100 miles back to Livingston. The weather is supposed to be much nicer tomorrow, so I will probably take the Chief Joseph highway down to Cody, and then start making my way east to the Black Hills in South Dakota.

A few calculations tonight showed me that I've ridden 977km in the last two days, on top of all the sight seeing. I didn't think it was even close to that many. That puts my total at 3634km in the 8 days so far, including the one day I spent in Red Deer. Anyway, here's a few pictures from today. Turns out most of the good ones are on the camera and not the phone, and since I can't transfer, you're stuck with the bad ones:) On a day like today I really wish I would have bought a GoPro camera.

Looking west in Cooke City