Day Four: Monday, July 23
Today was a day for “reveals.”
We left Gillette, Wyoming heading toward Red Lodge, Montana. Our first leg was 72 miles on the Interstate to Buffalo, Wyoming.
The landscape changed since the South Dakota border. It is no longer agricultural, but green landscape which looks to be pasture land. Our first reveal was coming around a bend and seeing the “front” (the outside of a mountain range) of Big Horn National Forest. It was fantastic, and we could see snow in the high elevations. Unfortunately, traveling warp speed down the interstate highway -- we could not take photos.
From Buffalo, we headed into the Big Horn National Forest.
Up the mountain, there were tall pines in such close proximity that they looked like corn. We reached the crest and took our first pic.
Our regret was that we could not take many pics from our bikes.
The terrain on the west side of the mountain is like a desert. It is different from Arizona in that there are no cacti. Yet it was dry scrub.
We crested a hill to our second reveal on the downhill, which was the town of Worland, Wyoming. It was like an oasis – a sea of green in a brown, drab desert of dark scrub.
From Worland, we turned north on our way to Red Lodge, Montana. On our right was desert, and on our left was the front of the Rockies. And in the valley was our third reveal – a ribbon of green. We loosely followed a river. And as in so much of the world, water brings life. The serpentine path of the river snaking through the desert brought with it green overgrowth that was shocking in its contrast. And everywhere there was water or irrigation, the desert bloomed.
The town of Red Lodge has history, including the Sundance Kid.
Even our hotel was historical.
After a Montana steak dinner, we ended our day.
We did 337 miles today, for a trip total of 1612 miles. Tomorrow is the Beartooth Scenic Byway and Yellowstone.
We left Gillette, Wyoming heading toward Red Lodge, Montana. Our first leg was 72 miles on the Interstate to Buffalo, Wyoming.
The landscape changed since the South Dakota border. It is no longer agricultural, but green landscape which looks to be pasture land. Our first reveal was coming around a bend and seeing the “front” (the outside of a mountain range) of Big Horn National Forest. It was fantastic, and we could see snow in the high elevations. Unfortunately, traveling warp speed down the interstate highway -- we could not take photos.
From Buffalo, we headed into the Big Horn National Forest.
Down the far side of the mountain were incredible cliffs ringing a stream.
Our regret was that we could not take many pics from our bikes.
The terrain on the west side of the mountain is like a desert. It is different from Arizona in that there are no cacti. Yet it was dry scrub.
We crested a hill to our second reveal on the downhill, which was the town of Worland, Wyoming. It was like an oasis – a sea of green in a brown, drab desert of dark scrub.
From Worland, we turned north on our way to Red Lodge, Montana. On our right was desert, and on our left was the front of the Rockies. And in the valley was our third reveal – a ribbon of green. We loosely followed a river. And as in so much of the world, water brings life. The serpentine path of the river snaking through the desert brought with it green overgrowth that was shocking in its contrast. And everywhere there was water or irrigation, the desert bloomed.
We encountered more roadwork. We were stopped in traffic, and could not see the impediment. But it was clear that a pilot truck had to lead cars through the road construction. I had that sinking feeling of more “loose gravel.” It turned out not to be bad. There was stone being place on the roadway by the road crew, and bikes were permitted to ride first before the cars (because of the dust cloud that was created) and we were also allowed to ride on the shoulder where there were no stones. We reached the other side unscathed.
We rounded the Beartooth mountains to our left, and drove into the town of Red Lodge – a biker hamlet of shops, bars and restaurants.
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