Eastern Montana Outing

August 7, 2025

I have a couple weeks where I have to dog sit our pet while my wife is dog sitting elsewhere so lung or overnight rides are out for a few weeks.  That's don't mean no riding, I just have to limit myself to 5-6 hours away.  Keith and I talked about a day ride a couple weeks ago and once our busy schedules had a coinciding free day, we marked it for a day ride.

To start the day off, I did go on a hike with Bart the Dog nice and early.  It was beautiful, though windy, out.  We did a mile and 3/4 at Zimmerman Park.

After that I got the bike out, got it ready to go, and then met Keith a bit before 9am at the MSU-Billings parking lot.  I'd sent him the proposed route and we chatted a bit and then got on our way.

We took Hwy 312 east and stopped at Pompey's Pillar for a break and a photo.

From there we rode the frontage road which parallels I-94 off and on.  It's a fine ride through ranch and farmland.

At the turnoff for Custer we headed west to pick up Pease Bottom Road.

I've ridden this many times and while it is paved, it can be rough in spots.  Within the first couple miles we encountered cattle on the road.

The condition of the road deteriorated after that.  What used to be a game of dodging pot holes is now one of just hanging on.  It looks like the country milled the road, ran a grader over it, and then followed with oil.  The rough marks from the tracks on the grader are still felt.

After a bit, we pulled over for a break.

After a few more rough miles, the road became smooth again.

We rode this to Hysham, the next stopping point on this excursion.

We parked at the Yucca Theater for a bit and to take some photos.

Hysham is a very small town.

Next, we headed east out of town, looking for the Sarpy Creek Road.  I'd seen this road on a map and checked Streetview that it was paved and, since I had not ridden it before, it would be something new to check out.  While the map represents it as mostly a straight ride, it is actually hilly with lots of sweeping curves.  The scenery is pure Eastern Montana with a Big Sky and land as far as the horizon.

We arrive in Hardin and Keith wanted to stop for gas.

When I moved to Montana 33 years ago I lived in Hardin for a few months before I got sort of settled in Billings.  The place I stayed was with my sister-in-law and my now-late brother-in-law.  He was the area veterinarian and had a nice place on a road that is now named for him.  When I lived there the road was gravel but a look online showed that it is now paved so we rode along it so I could take a photo of the house.

From there, it was a ride on Old 87 back to Billings.  It was uneventful and we were rewarded with the twisty roads are we entered into Lockwood.  

It was great ride and I covered 211 miles. 

To Beartooth Pass

July 31, 2025

With morning chores out of the way and nothing scheduled for the rest of the day I thought it might be a good day for a ride.  With all my travels I hadn't been up to the Beartooth Pass this season so it made a good destination.

I did a few fiddly things to the bike before getting sorted.  I had to adjust the front camera a little bit, check the air in the tires, and pack a lunch.  I headed out about 11am, stopping first at an ATM to replenish my dwindled supply of cash, and then out the standard route to Buffalo Trail to Laurel to Hwy 212.

The weather was great, cool, no wind, and clear skies.

After an uneventful ride to Red Lodge I stopped to have lunch in their city park.

The ride to Vista Point was pleasant.

I stopped to put on a sweatshirt under my mesh jacket as I knew it would chilly going to the top.

I was surprised how many motorcycles I saw on the road.  I'd expect it this time of year on the weekends but here in the middle of the week there were plenty.  Except for one BMW, all I saw were Harleys.  

At the top I stopped for the usual photo.

Those clouds to the west look a bit threatening so I didn't waste much time before heading back toward Red Lodge.

I stopped at Vista Point again to get a drink of water and as I was putting my water bottle away I felt the first drop.  Within a few minutes the rain fully arrived and it was heavy enough.  On the way down I saw other motorcycle pulled over and donning their rain gear.  I knew that I would eventually outrun and and that with the ride from Red Lodge to Billings I would get dried.

Not too far from Red Lodge traffic slowed to allow for a "goat drive."

In Joliet I stopped to get my sweatshirt off as it was plenty warm again.  That's the thing about the rides here, several clothing options are necessary to bring along.

I took the old Hwy 212 from Rockvale back to Laurel and then River Road back toward Billings where I rode the Shilo roundabouts to Rimrock Road and then back home.

It was a 192 mile day.

Big Horn Trip -Video Review

 July 25, 2025

Now that I think I have the ability to post longer videos here via YouTube, I'll include the ones I made from my recent ride and camping in the Big Horn mountains.  Each video is just what the camera captured.  I've done some editing but feel free to fast forward.

We start off with the ride out of Billings.

The ride up to Five Spring Fall Campground,

The ride down from Five Springs.

The ride up Hwy 14A.

Touring the Bald Mountain campground.

Riding in the clouds.

Through the forest.

Passing the logging truck.

From Dayton to home. 

Recent Ride and New Technology

 July 25, 2025

In a previous entry I mention that I had a new dash cam for my motorcycle so I thought I'd make a separate posting about it and how I use it and the workflow I'm developing to put videos online.  I've written about ir previously here so I won't go into the ordering and installation here.

After initial installation and testing it was really time for a test ride.  I decided to do an overnight in the Big Horn mountains which I wrote about here and here.  I just let the camera run for the two days and figured I'd sort it all out when I got back.

The first challenge is how to get the video segments from the SD card to wherever I want them.  There are three options:

1 - remove the SD card and read it on a computer

2 - attach a USB cable to the head unit and transfer it that way

3 - use an app to do the transfer

Options 1 and 2 both required removal of a small cover in the bottom of the head unit.  The two screws are REALLY TINY and difficult to handle.  That's what I did after this short trip, but not again.  The app is the way to go but it requires the motorcycle ignition to be on and therefore, could be running down the battery.

To solve that issue, I made up an extra patch cord, spliced it to the unit's power cable near where they plug into the power block.  On the end of that cable I have a 2-pole SAE connector that I can plug into the battery tender port on the bike.  This way I can power up the unit without turning one the bike.

The next issue are the videos themselves.  Like most or all dashcams, instead of continuous recording, it records shows segments of a minute of two each, saving each one with a time and date stamp in its file name.  With two cameras it record two files, one with the suffix F and the other with R.  The only issue is that they are in the TS format, one that is not readily compatible with editing software or online posting apps.  

The easiest solution is to copy all the files to folder on my desktop iMac and convert the ones I want into mp4 files using the application called Handbrake.  It can do single files or selections of file.  It works great.

However, iHandbrake is not available for the iPad which is what I use when on the road.  Instead I can use VLC (VideoLAN) but can only do one file at a time.

After returning home, this is the workflow I have figured out.

1 - transfer all the files to my iMac

2 - Select the files I want to convert and load them into a cue in Handbrak.  These resulting mp4 files will be saved to their own folder.

3 - drag the converted files into iMovie and go through the regular editing process which can include the insertion of title, music, or whatever.

4 - load the file into my YouTube channel

5- post them on this blog

This bluffing software only allows small video, less that a minute, so I have to cut them down to insert directly.  However, if I load a bigger video into YouTune, I can use a link to it to include it in this blog.

That's it.  A fair amount of work using multiple apps to get the job do but it does work and everything, other than the hardware is free so what the heck, why not.

The ride home

July 23, 2025

The was a pretty heavy thunderstorm during the night with lots of lightning and rain.  I enjoyed it.  I woke just before 5am and read for a bit before getting outside.  I was surprised how little water was on the tent for all the rain I had heard.

I got things started and sat down to finish yesterday’s blog entry while I ate my oatmeal and had some cocoa.  Unlike the lower campground, up here there is cell service.  It’s not fast but it gets the job done.

I was able to read a KTVQ story about the semi that went off Hwy 14A not too far from where I am camping.  That accounts for the road closure I’d seen yesterday.  A few miles from where I turned for the campground, a semi going in the other direction was hauling something but I couldn’t tell what it was other than it was blue.  I guess that was the cab of the truck.  The article mentioned that road should be open.

I got things loaded up and was on the road by 8am.  I stopped fro a photo on my way down the hill.

I’m not taking many photos as I am hoping that the new dashcam while capture enough.

I rode up 14A and it is a steep and curvy ride.  The road is in pretty good shape.  Near the top I encountered some livestock on the road.

I pulled over to check out the scenery.

More cattle.

The clouds descended and the temperature dropped.  A few times I had to really slow down because I couldn’t see much ahead.  When I came to the Bald Mountain campground I turned in to have a look.  It was pretty well occupied.  I stopped near the entrance and put on a sweatshirt and got out my cold weather gloves.  It was chilly, upper-50s and felt moist.

I rode across the the to top and passed Burgess Junction where I got on Hwy 14 and headed to Dayton.  The ride down is long and there are plenty of twists.  I got passed by a white SUV but before long I caught up when it was doing 15 MPH behind a logging truck.  The truck would not pull over and there wasn’t much opportunity to pass.  

Another motorcycle came up behind me and we did this slow tour for a bit until we had the opportunity to pass.  

He went first and the SUVfollwed and the me.

A ways up we ended up behind another logging truck.  I could see the road ahead was clear and so I went across the double line and passed the SUV and the truck.

The rest of the ride down to Dayton was uneventful.  I stopped for gas and set my navigation app to take me to Pryor on the back roads.

The ride took me to Wyola and then Lodge Grass.  Along the way I shot this photo.

The ride from Lodge Grass to St. average was on a rode I’d never been on before.  IT was well worth it.  It was just beautiful.  I stopped to change out my gloves along the way.

I encountered some more wildlife.

After St. X, I rode the rough road to Pryor.  It wasn’t as bad as I remembered it but there were a few heavy bumps in the last 10 miles, going over where there used to be cattle guards.

From Pryor I headed north and went into Billings on South Billings Blvd.

I got home just before 1pm, a 5 hour ride and 203 miles.

A quick overnighter

July 22, 2025

Since I have my new dashcam installed, and figured out how to utilize it, I thought a ride was in order.  Instead of a short ride near town, I decided to do an overnighter to my favorite nearby campground, Five Springs Falls.  This site in about 20 miles east of Lovell, Wyoming.  

I hit the road about 2pm.  My plan was to ride to Dayton, WY via Pryor, St. Xavier, and Lodge Grass and then across the Big Horn mountains via Hwy 14 but I got away too late so I headed direct to Lovell.  This is a ride I have done MANY times so I just settled in, rode the slab to Laurel, Hwy 212 to Rockvale, and the Hwy 310 south through Fromberg and Bridger.  Then the long ride toward Wyoming.  I stopped for a few photos while still in Montana.

Just before Frannie, WY, I stopped for a photo at the Montana Limestone mine.  It’s a big operation.

In Lovell, I stopped to top up my gas tank.  My bike takes 87 octane and it’s always easy to find, in fact, on my recent ride through the Midwest, sometimes it was the only grade available.  In Lovell, they had 85.  I couldn’t think of the last time I saw that.  I shot a photo, looking back through the town.

At the east end of town I veer left to take Hwy 14A toward the Big Horn mountains.  There was a sign there that indicated that the highway was closed 20 miles ahead?  High?  My navigation app tells me that the turn off for the campground is 20 miles ahead so I figure that it’s where 14A heads across the mountains where it is closed.  I went ahead and rode on.

I arrived at the turn off for the campground and hadn’t encountered any indication of closure ahead.  I stopped for a few photos and a history lesson about the road.

The road up is 3 miles and very narrow and curvy.  I hope that my dash cam caught that part of the ride.

The campground is BLM and fairly well developed.  There are two sites, the lower one in a canyon along a creek below the falls and the upper one, higher up in the mountains.  The sites are nice, with picnic tables, fire rings, and graveled ground with timber borders.  With my Interagency Pass I get half price so a site is $3.50 for the night.

I wanted to camp in the upper area so rode up to the top and saw that about half of the sites were already taken.  No problem, the last one up the hill, site #17, is open as everything is first come first served.  The site is a short walk-in.  I walked back down the hill and registered then unloaded the bike and set up my tent.

Now I write this blog entry and plan to take a hike before it gets dark.

The hike was great.  The road to this campsite is the “Old Hwy 14A” and just beyond my site the road ends at a gate.  On the other side of the gate the road continues as a trail that winds up through the mountain.  I followed it for about 20 minutes and instead of continuing on the old road bed it turned.  A sign pointed out the direction.

After a bit it started downhill through a heavily wooded area and at times I wasn’t sure which way the trail went.  As it was getting late, I turned around and walked back.

I fired up the stove and boiled water for my dinner, lasagne.  Then it was a bit of reading before I fell asleep.

It was about a 120 mile day.