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Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - Frulk_imp - 09-11-2021

The past few summers the wife and I would normally vacation in Ireland or Scotland. Covid has disrupted that travel pattern going on 2 years now. Upside to that is I'm banking a ton of money as those trips occasionally involved the kids and their significant others that I was bankrolling.

Anyway, this year the wife had an opportunity to reconnect with a dear friend she hadn't seen since 1991 so her and the Iron Ogress (mother in law) took a vacation by themselves.

At almost the same time my best friend was coming back to Utah from Virginia to visit his kids and grandkids. He's retired and has plenty of time on his hands so we agreed before his arrival to take a weeklong, slow, unstressed trip through some mountain ranges while attending the annual Longmire Days Festival in Buffalo, Wy. Plan was on the way back to go through Yellowstone and spend a night in Jackson, Wy.

We had one other friend (for a total of 3 of us on the ride) on a 2020 Goldwing coming with us.

Cleaning/wiping down the CB the night before launch

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My friend wanted to ride the CB for the bulk of the trip with a plan to swap between it and the Road King on some stretches just for a change up.

Loading the bikes:

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We left last week on Wed AM and rolled east on I84 to Rock Springs Wy under a hot sun with very poor air quality from the fires in California. From there we headed north to the Farson Cut-off (original portion of the Oregon Trail) and then turned east again towards South Pass and Lander Wy.

NOTE: because of the poor air quality we took very few pictures and a couple on this thread were off the internets public domain to flesh out the pictorial

We stopped in Lander at what was at one time officially the oldest continuous Kawasaki Dealership in the USA and unofficially the oldest in the world. Stopped there to buy some chain wax for the CB and the owner sadly informed us they no longer carry Kawi because of something related to a Polaris Corp policy.

After a brief break we continued to head east out of Lander going through a couple of small western towns until we skirted the eastern shore of Boysen Reservoir and entered the Wind River Canyon where we were stopped for about 10 minutes due to road construction:

Taking a break while waiting for lane to open:

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After the lane opened back up we rode through a very scenic, deeply carved canyon until we arrived at our destination of Thermopolis, Wy for the night. It was a 370 mile day and we immediately soaked in the hot-springs and then went off to eat dinner at the One Eyed Buffalo Grill in town. Afterwards we hit the hay.

Thursday AM started out with another long soak in the public hot springs and a very light breakfast before we loaded up the bikes and headed towards Worland and then Ten Sleep. Ten sleep was named by natives as such because depending from where you started to get there it took ten sleeps (nights). Ascending the south western portion of the Big Horn Mts the views appear very 'Dolomite' like until you reach the upper plateau and begin to wind through wooded terrain towards Buffalo

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We made it to Buffalo early afternoon and stopped by the 'Longmire Day's festival HQ's on Main street for a couple of souvenirs. HQ in the picture background.

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We briefly walked around to stretch our legs and then made our way to the motel and got checked in and situated. We took the opportunity to walk over to a lounge close to us and were pleasantly surprised that it was somewhat upscale with very good AC going and huge overstuffed chairs to relax in. We were the only ones there. My friend ordered a round of the bottle shown and we sunk into the chairs as classic 60's country played in the background.

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The festival was very scaled back and we spent a total of three nights there which encompassed a day trip to Sheridan (60 miles there and back on interstate).

We left Buffalo Sunday AM and headed north once again to Sheridan to pick up my credit card at a business I left it at the day before. Thankfully it was a fly fishing shop that provided guides so they were open on Sundays before 9 AM. I picked the card up and we continued north to Ranchester were we picked up Hwy 14 and once again climbed back up the Big Horns, this time from the east heading west. Once again the air quality was extremely poor with limited visibility towards natural objects on the horizon.

Looking East towards the plains as we climb the Big Horns:

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Close to exiting the mts on the west side we came across a scenic stop and took a picture of this waterfall:

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Pressing on we made it to Grey Bull and stopped to eat a late lunch at a pretty decent Chinese restaurant. Cody Wy was our destination for the evening and the ride to the town was devoid of ANY scenically noteworthy points of interest. Along the way we were passed by two 1%'rs riding 85 mph side by side in the same lane. To their credit they were wearing helmets.

The historic Hotel Irma in Cody with our bikes out front for the night. At the far left end are some 1%'rs machines.

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After dinner I took a long shower while my two friends went down to the bar and imbibed a bit more than they probably should have.

Monday morning we sat in the hotels turn of the century dining room and wolfed down a huge breakfast before loading the bikes and heading towards the east entrance of Yellowstone. The ride through the park was a very relaxing one. Almost no traffic coming from the east. We were only behind a couple of RV's once or twice and for Labor Day weekend it just seemed like the crowds were very small and traffic exceptionally light.

Along the north shore of Yellowstone Lake.

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We pressed south out of the park to Moran Junction, turned south and started to pick up traffic all the way to the grand Teton Nat Park Viewpoint turn out. I didn't adjust this picture for anything and it shows just how bad the air for the California fires is even this far east

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It was stop and go traffic into Jackson. It always confounds me why people find this town so enticing. It's crowded, expensive, always under construction etc. etc. Must be because its close to the parks. We rented a cozy stand alone log cabin for the evening, cleaned up and ate dinner at Bubba's BBQ before heading back and sitting on the porch for a couple of hours sipping Irish peated single malt whiskey (Connemara), listening to Johnny Cash on the blue tooth speaker while getting caught up on messages from our families. We went to bed around 9 PM.

Bikes by the cabin in Jackson:

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Our porch:

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We got up Tuesday AM to a balmy 32 degrees and waited a couple of hours after breakfast for the temps to climb. We launched south towards Alpine Wy in 45 degrees and made slow progress out of Jackson as there was once again a stretch of construction which entailed a lot of slow riding over gravel. We were able to clear Sage Junction and the ride along the Snake was stellar as the bikes ran strong in the cool mt air and the road had little traffic. We pressed south through Alpine and another strecth of gravel construction and then on to Afton, Cokeville and eventually Woodruff were we turned west over Monte cristo and rode high mt roads for many miles down into the Ogden Valley and back up over Snow Basin along Trappers Loop and on home.

I left a lot out. Almost no bugs for the entire trip. Surprisingly light traffic along the entire route considering it was Labor Day weekend. My buddy REALLY liked the CB. He came off an older Triumph Scrambler with the 880cc (?) motor and said the CB had a lot of power, more than he would ever need. He loved the torque down low and though all the gears. He spent a lot of time discussing that each night. Funny thing is he never asked to ride it when he lived in the area and had his Scrambler. there's more, much more that could be added but I'll leave it here. Was a really good trip with two of my best friends.

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - GoldOxide_imp - 09-11-2021

Wyoming is on my 'bucket list'.

Thanks for sharing the story Frulk.

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - LongRanger_imp - 09-11-2021

Great trip and excellent write-up — thanks for sharing! The light holiday traffic is a bit of a surprise but a good one at that. Too bad the wonderful vistas of the Tetons was obscured by the wildfire smoke. I agree with you about the questionable appeal of Jackson, WY — I am bewildered by the attraction of Estes Park, CO.

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - Frulk_imp - 09-11-2021

LongRanger: No doubt the pandemic has had an impact on the recreational travel patterns of all Americans. I was surprised to see very few motorcycles out on the road. For as good as the weather is/was (in spite of air quality) I would have expected to have seen many more riders out. The Yellowstone vehicle pull outs/offs were almost all empty or only had a vehicle or two on them the Monday AM we came through there. That was also surprising. That may be a sign of the pandemic (still) affecting overseas tourist travel.

Normally the traffic drops off around this time of the year because kids are back in school but again, many schools have yet to go back to in person teaching. Also, I REALLY did expect RV traffic to be very heavy in part because its a major federal holiday and the fact that according to the news RV sales have gone through the roof the past 18 months or so. I thought that overall RV traffic was very light.

I don't have metrics or data to draw from. Just general observations.

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - the Ferret - 09-11-2021

" the Iron Ogress "

ROFL

Looks like a great ride Frulk

My wife and I always take our out west trips in September after kids go back to school and are always pleasantly surprised by the lack of tourists. We have stayed at Yellowstone the last week of September and basically had the park to ourselves

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - emptysea - 09-12-2021

Great post! We were only able to dip our toes into Wyoming on our recent trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, but we will dive in deep soon if my wife has any say in the matter — and she does. Smile

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - Nachodaddy - 09-12-2021

Great story about a great ride. Thanks for the pictures - almost felt like I was there. Sure gives me the itch to get out on the road.

RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - GoldOxide_imp - 09-12-2021

(09-12-2021, 03:56 AM)Nachodaddy_imp Wrote: Great story about a great ride. Thanks for the pictures - almost felt like I was there. Sure gives me the itch to get out on the road.

Like your avatar Nachodaddy. Peaceful ...



Reminds me of a very old American Airlines poster I've got hangin' in the basement ...



RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - GoldOxide_imp - 09-12-2021

By chance today, a taste of my Wyoming bucket list:





RE: Riding through Wyoming with a few pics. - Nachodaddy - 09-13-2021

Like your avatar Nachodaddy. Peaceful ...
Reminds me of a very old American Airlines poster I've got hangin' in the basement ...
[/quote]

Thanks GoldOxide. What a great coincidence! It is peaceful. We need peaceful these days. I was lucky to find this picture. The giant saguaro is the symbol of this place.