State 6 of 50  

    Wyoming

Capital: Cheyenne

Population: 253,000 (ranked 10th of 50 states)

Area: 494,000 km² (ranked 50th of 50 states)

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Ride Report

This state: 1,568 kms     Journey to date: 7,897 kms

Scroll down below the route map for this state's ride report and photos

Ride Report

Phew. That was Wyoming. 1,500 kms of scenery overload and roads motorcyclists can only dream about. 

The first assault was on the joint National Parks of Grand Teton and Yellowstone. It took a day to travel the loop road through the Parks, mainly because I kept pulling over for photos plus the speed limit is a max 45 mph. That means traffic just tootles through and if you want to get anywhere fast you probably shouldn't be in the Parks. Entering the Tetons at Jackson Hole, the beauty of this park became evident form the ranger station booth where you pay $20 for a 7 day pass to both parks. I'll let the photos speak for themselves below. I camped that night at Canyon Village where there is a massive campground which stretches for miles into the woods. You can't freedom camp in these parks as bits of you are likely to be found in various bears' stomachs the next morning. In Yellowstone you generally stick to the road called the Grand Loop which takes in all parts plus the hugely touristed Old Faithful. But you have to go there if not to get the fridge magnet. The overheating problem on my bike caused a few rests to let the engine cool down as pootling along in 2nd/3rd gear without a cooling fan made things tricky.

I exited Yellowstone at the eastern entrance and headed for the highlights of Wyoming, namely the famous Chief Joseph and Beartooth Highways. The road to Cody swept through a forest fire zone. Cody is the rodeo capital of the world and named after Buffalo Bill. The Chief Joseph Highway was stunning and provided jaw-dropping switchbacks. The Beartooth took me up into the permafrost and I have no idea how high the highway went but there were stakes on each side of the road to mark it in winter. Again, check out the photos.. they speak for themselves. I was so preoccupied with the riding that it got to dusk and I was in the middle of nowhere with no idea of what to do for the night. Then a deer bounded out in front of the bike, at the time doing about 120 km/h in a rural open grassland area near Belfry. At this time I'm back in Montana. The near miss was a sobering moment and riding at dusk is seemingly not a good idea. The next town was Lovell and I tried to look at a campsite down by the Bighorn River but got beaten back by swarms of mozzies. Rode back into town & tried a motel. It was going to be $86 and when I was about to see if I could get a discount for not using the sheets they pointed out there was a free town campground. This turned out to be a patch of waste ground by the Amtrak line (1 train per hour and the drivers have nothing to do but sound the airhorn) and a ditch full of frogs. I was the only one there. At midnight a pickup truck pulled in & shone lights into the tent. I was about to make hand shadows involving fingers and then they went away. A good reason to stick to organised campsites with wireless, showers and other people.

Today I've done a good few miles in unbelievable heat, firstly over the Bighorn Pass and then up to the Little Bighorn National Monument to view the place of Custer's last stand. I did about 50 miles of I90 interstate and can conclude that if you want to get somewhere fast get on an interstate. $5 got me into Little Bighorn and it was quite moving to look over the grassy knoll where Custer and his men got slaughtered. I must research the background more when I get home.  

Finally it was time to get to business and stop mucking about like a tourist. A long hot fast ride down US212 has put me in Gillette for the night. This time their local campground called Crazy Woman's Campground. I was served by a lady who could well be the said crazy woman. I'm typing this out using their free wireless. Just had my first shower for 3 days & socks are airing on a nearby bush. Tomorrow I get the new cooling fan installed which will make things easier. 

The final chapter in Wyoming is to go past Devil's Tower, that odd upturned cup mountain that featured in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, before making a beeline for Mt Rushmore & the Black Hills, including the obligatory visit to Sturgis and Deadwood.

I felt myself dehydrating today for the first time. My Camelbak got lost back in Washington when I rode off with my pannier lid open & it dropped out. Therefore I'm relying on refilling a water bottle at each fuel up. It's not proving enough so I've got two large water bottles now. The heat is going to be an issue in the next few states as the Dakotas and Minnesota are flat. Early starts and rests at midday are the solution.