Old faithful

16th June.  Pinedale, WY to Big Sky, MT

Grand Tetons, WY

Cold start to the day at only 46deg F (8 degC), so in went the liner and on went the winter gloves.  The road heading into Hoback River was another ripper.  The views were stunning with steep pine covered mountains rising out of the valley I was travelling through.  The road followed a creek that turned into a river that flowed quite fast.  I wished there was a place where I could stop to take a photo.  It seems to be the case quite often that the most picturesque areas don't have any turn off areas to stop to take pics.  There must be a lot snow here in winter as all the houses have a steep pitch to the roofs.

Saw a big sign on the side of the road advising of Elk and Big Game in the area.  Sure enough I saw a moose off to the side of the road.  I thought the Elk was big back at Grand Canyon.. this thing was massive.

Up until now, the roads had been very quiet, which surprised me as the countryside here is fantastic.  That all changed as I turned onto the road into Jackson.  Jackson is an incredibly popular holiday spot and is packed to the gills.

The best part of Jackson, in my view anyway, is the road out of it as it's not long before the Grand Tetons come into view.  This mountain range just comes out of nowhere - no foothills, just pure mountain straight out of the ground (or water, in the case of Jenny Lake).  I don't think I could get sick of staring at the view of them.  On one of the tourist roads through the national park I followed a couple on a bike for a while.  The trees are very close to the road, so all I can see ahead is the road, trees, and a very thin strip of sky.  Following the bike in front of me is an eagle of some sort - almost following the road just as we are.  It was pretty cool for a minute or more.

Next up come Yellowstone National Park.  There's a bit of a queue to get through the pay station.  My impressions of Yellowstone this time around are way better than last time.  5 years ago, the trees seemed to be suffering from a disease of some sort and didn't look healthy at all.  Very different this time around, so the park seemed much more inviting this time around.

Always a danger around this park are the Bison Jams.  Whenever there are bison near the road, everything comes to a grinding halt and traffic drops to a crawl.  5 years ago it wasn't so bad as I wasn't here in the peak season (late August), so the jams weren't too bad.  This time around it was different.  I didn't get any photos.

I see the signs for Old Faithful and decided I'd better check it out this time.  5 years ago I had just missed the last time it erupted (or whatever it does) and would have had to wait another hour and didn't have the time.  Today I only had to wait 30 mins.

Gotta say it, didn't think it was worth the wait.  Especially seeing as I thought I was about to get dumped on with a storm.  In the background there was thunder and lightning and I was sure I was in for it.  So I was pretty keen to get away after Old Faithful did it's thing.  Unfortunately, it was like the final siren going off at the footy and nearly everyone headed for the car park at the same time.  Yep, another bumper to bumper traffic jam to get out of the area.

I had  about 60 miles to get to my overnight stop in Big Sky and had a few showers on the way.  Big Sky is beautiful.  The road follows the valley, so once again, I'm following a stream/river surrounded by mountains.

That night at the bar I was talking to the barmaid and when she heard I had come from West Yellowstone she asked did I have any trouble getting here.  I looked at her weirdly and said No, it's only 50 miles directly north - follow your nose type of stuff for an hour or so.  She said she had been talking to these ladies a few nights ago who were following a GPS and it sent them on a 4 hour trip for the same journey.  Paper maps are awesome!

Anyway, the beers were nice, they had a good range of single malts and great food.  Another pretty decent day - well, the end of the day was good!

near Hoback, WY

Grand Teton, WY

Grand Teton, WY

You guessed it, Grand Teton, WY

near Jenny Lake, Grand Teton, WY - love seeing these on a motorbike

Old Faithful, Yellowstone, WY

Miles today - 278
Total miles - 3496

Heaven

15th June.  Grand Junction, CO to Pinedale, WY

Ashley National Forest, UT (I think?)

A bright cool morning to start the day.  I would go through 3 states today, from Colorado, nip into Utah for a while, then into Wyoming.  Just out of a town called Loma in Colorado I started in on some hills that were just fantastic.  I don't think I've been  happier on a bike.  I was entering some pine forests, and boy, was it nice to see green again.  Some twisties as I started to climb over a mountain range, before dropping down into some grazing land on the other side.  Came across some farmers herding cattle along the road.

Throughout the day I would move between views of green pine trees, to rocky views, to bare grey/sand hills and then back to vast grazing lands. Passed through a town called Dinosaur which was having it's first day without rain for a week.

Had another great stretch of twisties out of Vernon - I was basically racing a couple of petrol tankers that must drive this road often, because they weren't being slouches. Thankfully the roads were basically empty, other than in towns, so I made some great time.

I was headed to Pinedale in Wyoming, which I had visited the last time I was in the US.  I had ridden through a few light showers on the way in and saw some deer.  Later that evening, I heard on the news that there was a supercell (storm) on the Wyoming-Idaho border which is where I was headed.  I certainly hoped I wouldn't see anything like that.  The run into Pinedale was uneventful with some very open plains riding with the Rockies in the distance  Great view all around.  I stayed at a lakeside lodge in a small cabin - it was pretty cool.  Again, some tasty local beers went down with my meal.  Another great day.

Between Loma and Rangely, CO

Miles today - 400
Total miles - 3218

Bikes and beers

14th June.  Moab, UT to Grand Junction, CO

Colorado River Gorge, UT

I started off the morning by missing my turn off and thought I was going to be on interstate all day. Glad I double checked, because the correct road followed the Colorado river for a while which was just awesome.  The road was fantastic as it followed the gorge.  All along it were recreation areas where you could float boats.  Plenty of people in rafts and kayaks.  The day was spot on as well -  not a cloud in the sky.

I still ended up on an interstate - posted limit was 80 mph (130 kmh), so naturally, most people were doing 85-90 mph.  Now I don't know what kind of fuel economy a 5.7L V8 SUV gets doing 80 mph, but I know it's not going to be great - it's going to be even worse when they're towing a huge caravan as well (I think I only saw 3 or 4 'normal' sized caravans the entire time in the US).  Then you've got the motor homes that are towing an SUV (these weigh over 3 tonnes).  I'm glad I'm not buying the fuel - even at US prices.

I stopped in at "Starvin Arvin's" for lunch which is a mini-chain of diners in Colorado.  I sat at the counter and was witness to the banter between the cooks and the waitresses - it was pretty funny the way they carried on.  "I'm not gonna cook this meal again just coz you haven't picked it up for the past 4 hours" - it had been sitting for about 2 mins.  Anyway, I ordered a 'small' BLT which had the waitress confused as she didn't realise they had a small BLT - I don't know what a big one looked like, but the small was big enough for me.

I then head through the Colorado Monument (I still don't know how a Monument differs from a National Park? - it was cheaper though).  I've got to be honest. By now, I'm well and truly suffering from rock fatigue.  Don't get me wrong, the views are still fantastic, but my eyes are getting tired of looking at brown rock formations.

On the way up to the top of the monument, I passed a lot of push bikes, heading up and down.  Later on I find out that it's the first day (or second) of Ride the Rockies which is a seven day organised ride through the Colorado Rockies - better them than me.  Anyway, Grand Junction is just filthy with pushies.  Part of the main drag is being cordoned off for a mini-street party, complete with beer and food tents and a live band.  It was a pretty good atmosphere to walk through.  I found a seat in front of a pub, ordered a beer, ordered another, had some great calamari, and by the fourth beer was pretty happy with how the day went.  The weather was still in the 30's into the evening.  Later on as I was walking back to my hotel I was introduced to this bloke who didn't believe my beard was only 18 months old - He reckoned I must've been Nordic or something and he had an 'interesting' philosophy on life.  It didn't help he was three sheets to the wind.  All in all, it was a pretty decent day.

Colorado River, UT

Exiting Colorado river gorge, UT

Colorado Monument, CO

Miles today - 143
Total miles - 2818

More rocks!

13th June.  Bluff, UT to Moab, UT

Poor pic of Balancing Rock, Arches NP, UT

Today turned out to be not so much fun.  For whatever reason, I only got about 2 hours sleep and it was going to be another hot day - mid-30's by lunch and people everywhere.  So you can imagine how happy I was :)

It was a short trip from Bluff to Moab - only 130 miles or so.  Arches National Park is only 10 mins out of Moab, so off I went.  As usual, the visitor centre had a tonne of info about the area and how the rock formations were shaped by wind and weather.  On the way into the centre, I passed a bloke on crutches with one leg covered in plaster, the other in bandages.  He made a comment to me, and his wife, "Ahh, proper motorcycle pants - that would've been smart" :)

Riding through the park was another exercise in slow cooking.  There were, again, a tonne of people everywhere with bumper to bumper traffic in some places.  I have to remember never to visit the US in June/July again - especially the parks anyway - they're just way too busy for my liking.

After a quick trip around the easily accessible viewing areas - great views by the way - I headed back to town, hoping to be able to check in to my hotel to get a shower and even a quick nap.  I was too early, and had to wait another 1.5 hours, so I went to the local tourist info to see what I could see.  I didn't see much.  I ended up laying down on a bench in front of the centre and closed my eyes 'for just a sec'.  I woke up about 30-40 mins later.

After checking into the hotel and having a shower, I went for a walk into town which was a km or so.  I have never seen so many Jeeps in one place.  There were Cherokees, Grand Cherokees, Wranglers, Rubicons.  Most were modified in some way.  There were also a heap of side-by-sides off-road vehicles which can be registered to drive on the road.  A few places in town were hiring them.  It would've been good to stay here for a few days so that I could hire one of these and explore some of the off-road parks around the place.  It was strange to see the contrast between the Harley rides (no helmets and minimal safety gear) and others such as adventure bike riders, and dirt-bike riders (full safety gear).  This is definitely an outdoor persons dream place - mountain biking, rock climbing, white water rafting/kayaking, dirtbikes, camping, hiking - it's all here.

Side-by-side

On the way into Moab, UT

Arches NP, UT

Park Avenue, Arches NP, UT

Miles today - 162
Total miles - 2675

Beep Beep!!

12th June.  Tusayan, AZ to Bluff, UT

Watchtower, Grand Canyon

So yesterday I mainly saw the western side of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, which turned out to be a good choice, as today I ended up seeing the western side on my way to Bluff in Utah.

Today was also the day that I discovered I had a panoramic function on my camera - there's nothing like testing out gear when you need it.

I stopped at a couple of viewing points of the canyon along the way.  The weather was, again, a bit on the warm side, but I'm not going to complain about warm weather.  The Watchtower is one of several places that were built in the 1930's to replicate an ancient structure.  It actually has a steel frame that is completely hidden by the stonework.  On the way out of the national park I saw some elk or deer on the side of the road.  Big bastards, would hate to hit one.

Went through a town called Tuba City - I don't know why, but the name intrigued me on the way into it.  It wasn't much of a city, rather a large town and appeared to have a large native American population.  All throughout the day, there were stalls on the side of the road where jewelery, pottery, blankets etc could be bought.  Most of the day I was in the Navajo Nation which has it's own government and laws.


On the way to Bluff, I went past Monument Valley National park and went in for a look.  This is a desert that has been 'used' in a lot of western movies and kinda looks like the scenery from the road runner cartoons.  Again, there were tours and hikes that could be done, but I just checked out the visitor centre and took some pics from the side of the road.  It turns out I had plenty of time today, but as usual, I kept moving.  I was nearly envious of the tour buses and their air conditioning.  It seems strange, but I saw a lot of familiar faces from the Grand Canyon yesterday.  I must have been shadowing a tour group.

Turned out to be a great day for riding, wide open vistas and terrific weather.  At one stage I was following a BMW adventure bike for about 50 miles and it felt good to be with another bike for a while.  Towards the end of the day, I encountered a section of road that had a tonne of patched cracks on the road.  Rather than patch the road entirely, only the cracks were re-sealed.  This was OK when the cracks crossed the road, it just felt like crossing small tram tracks, but when they followed the road, it was another story - especially around corners.  When the cracks followed the road, the bike became quite unstable -  to the point that I stopped twice to check that I didn't have a puncture, or that the wheel wasn't coming off (something I've had some experience of).  Both times I was OK, but it was a scary feeling for a bit.

Bluff is a very small town/village of only 300 or so, yet it has two motels and a couple of cafes.

Desert View, Grand Canyon, AZ

Monument Valley,  UT

Monument Valley, UT

Miles today - 240
Total miles - 2513

Hole-y sh!t

11th June.  Kingman, AZ to Tusayan, AZ

Grand Canyon, AZ

Warm day, again, today for the trip to Tusayan, which is a small village about 15 mins from the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.  Expecting 103 degF.  Thankfully it cooled down in the arvo for when I was wandering around the canyon.

Started off from Kingman on Route 66.  Saw a tonne of bikes on the road today - mostly Harley's, or cruisers.  Wasn't much of an interesting ride really.  Went through a few towns that are set up for tourists with kitschy attractions - well, I thought so anyway, and didn't bother stopping.

Wish I had've taken the time to take a photo of the sky - the clouds were amazing.  Hundreds of individual 'cotton bud' clouds.

Along the way, I came across a couple of series of signs.  In each series were 6 signs, each of which were spaced about 500m, or so.from each other.  They'd combine to make up a slogan on 5 of them, ending with a "Burma Shave" logo at the end.  An example was. "Don't Lose", "Your Head", "To Gain a Minute", "You Need Your Head", "Your Brains Are In It", "Burma Shave".  I reckon I saw about 4 or 5 of them.  Kept me entertained for a while.  I've since discovered that Burma Shave is an old company from the 40's or 50's that's been re-invigorated using the old slogans.

Burma Shave, Route 66

After Route 66, I hit the interstate, which was pretty boring.  The only good thing you can say about the interstates, is that they get you to where you're going - much like the Hume Hwy, only a bit quicker  - 75 mph, which means most people are doing 80+. (130 kmh)

Somewhere along the way I realised that I had moved from Pacific Standard time into Mountain time.  I think it must've been yesterday when I entered Arizona, but I only worked it out when I was checking into my hotel today.  So I've gained an hour - I think?

There's a shuttle bus that runs from Tusayan into the Grand Canyon village, so I jumped on to it to see what I could see.  They have a pretty good series of different shuttle buses that run different routes every 10-15 mins along the southern rim of the canyon.  According to a film I watched at the visitor centre, they get around 5 million visitors a year into the canyon.  From what I could see, they do it pretty well too.

Now, I've seen a stack of photo's and videos of the Grand Canyon, but it's one of those things you really have to see in order to gain any kind of appreciation for the sheer scale of the place - it's bloody huge.  Not only does this country have awesome mountains, they have bloody big holes as well.  My photographic skills don't do it any justice at all.

Grand Canyon, AZ

I couldn't help but think of the explorers who discovered this place.  Can you imagine coming across this on horseback, with wagons in tow?  I reckon I would've just sat down and cried.  It would've made for one helluva detour.  It's 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep.  It's another one of those places where it would've been great to have at least 3 or 4 days, rather than one, to explore properly.  There's a stack of hikes, 4WD tours, flyovers, river trips - you name it, you can do it.

Miles today - 184
Total miles - 2273

What a dam nice view.. or should that be a nice dam view??

10th June. Las Vegas, NV to Kingman, AZ

Today was a quick day, just 117 miles in quite warm weather, mainly on the interstate.  I paid a quick visit to the strip again from some brekky, and another wander around.  The place looks very different early in the morning, very subdued.  I headed off around lunch, which meant gearing up in some warm weather - and it only got warmer in stop-start traffic as I tried to exit Vegas.  I think they were heading for 100 degF.

On the way to Kingman, I see the signs for Hoover Dam and think I'd better have a dam look.  It wasn't much fun, as the traffic is bumper to bumper off the highway.  There's a security inspection prior to riding into the dam area, which basically involved just stopping in front of a 'guard' and then being waved through.  About the only vehicles being stopped were RVs.  I guess they thought that you can't pack enough explosives on a bike, or in a car, to do any damage to the dam?  There were about 4 or 5 police vehicles at different points throughout the dam area, so I guess they do take security kinda seriously.

I didn't get a dam tour (and didn't ask the dam guide any dam questions - apologies to Vegas Vacation) as there were too many dam people for my liking, and also because I was bloody hot and uncomfortable.  There's one problem with touring on a motorcycle, well maybe more than one, but stopping while dressed in full gear when it's 90-100 is just no fun.  None.  Zero.  And I don't think I was going to enjoy wandering around on a tour in my riding gear.  I rode up to a vantage point and had a look around, but pretty much rode out straight away - I didn't even bother with any photos.  I was pretty happy to be in the wind again, despite it still being quite warm.

Even though I've seen it before, I still can't get used to seeing motorcycle riders without helmets.  I guess I just don't understand the desire not to wear one - I feel naked on a bike without my gloves, let alone without a helmet.  Some of them do make a concession to head gear and are at least wearing a bandana!  Of course, a lot of them complement this with more safety gear such as t-shirt, shorts, and thongs.

As I enter Kingman I see a few signs that point out that I'm now on the original Route 66, which I'll be on for a little while tomorrow.

Miles today - 117
Total miles - 2206