A Ride to Molt and Laurel

October 17, 2021

The weather today looked fantastic.  A great day to take off on a long ride BUT, I have an art history assignment that is going to take some time to finish up, have to pick my wife up from the airport, and then attend a Run Turkey Run planning meeting.  I have to take advantage of the weather but which toy gets to go?

I decide on the motorcycle and got it out from where it’s been sitting awaiting the snow to clear and the weather to improve.  It had gas and the tire pressures were good so I headed west on Rimrocks Road and headed out of town.  

Going up the big hill after leaving Echo Canyon was pretty windy but it seemed to calm down a little once I was on the road straight in to Molt.  I stopped at the end of the pavement for a few photos.

I turned around and headed back east a few miles and turned on Buffalo Trail Road and headed south.  Just a mile or two along the way I pulled over for another couple pictures.

Buffalo Trail is a nice curvy road that descends through a broad canyon (or is it a valley) past some ranchettes.  

After it exits the rimrocks it continues south to the city of Laurel.  Just as it gets to town it goes past the Yellowstone National Cemetery.  I pulled in for a look.  I’d been here once before but I remember it was in the pouring rain so this time I took my time to look around.  It’s small but really well-done.  I suppose I could end up here, collecting my final veterans benefit, but I’m not sure that I want to spend eternity in Montana. 

I continued south and went through Laurel and turned east on Thiel Road and followed it to Duck Creek.  I am more than familiar with this road as it is the location of the State Games’ 5K, 10K, and half-marathon race courses.  My wife and I mark the mile splits on the road every year before the race so I know every turn and bump along the way.  I headed north and caught Shilo Road back home.

It was a 63-mile ride.

Oil change

October 8, 2021

After last Tuesday’s ride the odometer clicked over 12,000-miles meaning it was time for my next oil change. My last change was 3,400-miles ago when I was in Pittsburgh, PA.

I’d ordered oil and filters online so I had them ready.  I took the bike out for a short ride to warm it up and then drained the crankcase.  While that takes its time I undo one end of the lower fairing so I can wrap it in aluminum foil.  This keeps oil from spilling on it when I remove the filter.  The foil is then easily discarded and the cleanup is negligible.  

The bike takes 4.23 quarts of oil.  I use Yamalube because that is what the manufacturer recommends and as long as the bike is in warranty, I’ll stick to that.

The Hysham, Forsyth, Roundup Loop

October 5, 2021

Another Tuesday means another 7 miles run in the morning.  It was Jerry, Shelley, and me this time doing the Myers trail loop.  It’s pretty dark at 6:30am and this is our last morning doing this as we’ll switch to afternoons next week.  I felt pretty good considering I got my Covid booster shot yesterday and we finished the 7.29-mile loop in 1 hour, 41 minutes.

The weather today is looking great, in the upper-80s but coming up is a drop in temperature and a possibility of snow in a week so I want to get in another ride while I have a chance.  I decided to grab two more courthouse photos, hitting both Treasure and Rosebud counties and then riding Hwy 12 from Forsyth to Roundup, a route I haven’t been on before in any vehicle.

I gassed up the bike and headed out a little after 11am, taking Hwy 312 out of Billings, through the east end of Yellowstone County.  It’s a nice, 2-line ride through farmland with very little traffic.  I stopped just outside the Pompey’s Pillar National Monument for this photo, framing the rock between the two signs.

Here’s looking the other way.

From here I take the frontage road for 25 miles to Custer, MT where I turn north and cross the Yellowstone River on Musselshell Trail Road.  Just a half mile up that road I turn right onto Pease Bottom Road.  The last time I rode this, a few months ago, it had some serious potholes but it appears that they’ve been working on getting most of them patched.  The road winds through more farmland and past, or through, the occasional rimrocks.

Fall colors are making an appearance.

It is a really nice ride.

I pulled into Hysham and found the courthouse.  Very utilitarian.

I shot a few more photos as I headed out of town.

I turned onto Hwy 311 and headed east to Forsyth, MT, the seat of Rosebud county.  It’s a 55-mile ride an a good 2-lane road through flat farmland.  The courthouse is worth the drive.

I didn’t stick around long and went back through town to catch Hwy 12 which would take me to Roundup.  This is US 12 which goes all the way to the Pacific Coast, ending somewhere in Washington.  From the looks of the map, much of its route looks more interesting that the next 100 miles I will be riding on.  

Here, the road is flat, with the occasional hill, and its treeless view shows the expanse and remoteness of this part of the state.  One upside is that it follows the route of the now-defunct Milwaukee Road railroad which can be seen just to the south of the highway.  The rails and ties are gone but the earth work that supported them is still there.

I made stop just outside Ingomar for a drink and a few photos.  There isn’t much to the town and I didn’t want to ride down the quarter-mile of loose gravel to see it.  The sign pretty much explains it.

A ways up the rode I passed the village of Melstone and from there it was on to Roundup.  I needed gas and stopped for a fill up and a snack.  I didn’t want to eat and drink at the station and remembered there was a city park at the Mussellshell River where I’d run a 5K race years ago so I rode there, parked, got out my stool, and took a break.

After the break it was back to Billings, a ride I’ve done quite a few times in the past 3-4 months.  

It was a good ride.  The weather was great, mid- to upper-80s and no wind.  277 miles total.

Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone Park

September 28, 2021

Wow, I’m posting this a bit over a week after I did the ride.  I’ve been busy, mostly with school homework for what I hope is my last semester of classes toward my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

On that Tuesday morning, September 28, I got up a did the usual Tuesday morning thing which is to run 7 miles or so with my friend Jerry.  We’ve been doing this weekly run for at least 15-years and it’s just part of our routines.  Here’s a couple photos from where we ran up Myers trail to the top of the rimrocks.

After the run, a shower, and breakfast, I got the bike packed and headed out, making my way to Laurel, MT.  There are lots of ways to get there.  There’s the interstate, which I usually avoid, the Buffalo Trail route on the far west end of town, the Duck Creek/River Road route, and one I hadn’t done before, the frontage road along I-90 to some side roads that end up meeting Hwy 212 at the Cenex refinery.  I took that just to be different.  It was fairly cool out and I was wearing the thermal liner inside my jacket and had on my full riding pants on over my Levis.  Summer gloves felt fine with the grip heaters on.

I headed south on Hwy 212 and when I got to Joliet I had to stop and remove that thermal liner.  It was starting to get warm out.  I made it to Red Lodge, went through town, and continued on until the Beartooth Highway sign where I pulled over for a photo.

From here it’s a beautiful ride up the twisties to the Vista Point.  Along the way I stopped for photos.

Being that it’s a Tuesday and past the big tourist season, there were very few other vehicles on the road.  This really is the best time to do this ride.  A couple photos at Vista Point.

This is my 5th time up the pass since last May and I’ve taken lots of photos and I know I will today but decided to try and stop at some places I’d hadn’t before.  This next bunch is from a spot that is massed with snowmobiles when the pass first opens in May.  It’s a large parking area and a good jumping off point for lots of activities.

There’s a nice lake down below.

The road going up to the pass looks inviting.  But the temperature has started to drop so I put my thermal liner back in my jacket.  It was about 57 degrees.

One can’t go to the pass without a photo next to the sign.

While getting up to the pass is a great ride, I think the ride down toward Cooke City is just as good if not better.

There’s a nice lake after exiting the twisties.

Just past Beartooth Lake there is a road construction project that’s been going on for quite a while.  On my past rides up they have it down to one lane and an automated signal letting vehicle through since the work takes place at night.  Today they are working during the day and are using a pilot car to shuttle groups through.  When I pulled up I’d just passed a sign that indicated there could be a 30-minute wait.  So, I parked, got out my Kindle, and read while I waited.

I got through the construction zone which was, luckily, very well-packed dirt and gravel, and somewhere past the turnoff to Cody, WY, the Chief Jospeh Highway, I pulled over for this photo with Pilot Peak in the background.

I made it to Cooke City and gassed up.

From there is was a short drive to the entrance to Yellowstone Park.

I went through the park entrance using my new Military Interagency Pass and started riding one of the most beautiful routes one can imagine.  As I mentioned before, it’s a weekday and post-season so there are very few cars on the road so I was able to cruise at the park speed limit of 45 mph without getting stuck behind the usual assortment of recreation vehicles. 

Most of the ride going west travels through the Lamar Valley and scenery is hard to capture in photos.

There were plenty of bison herds to be seen lounging in the open areas.

Like I said, the scenery….

At some point I encountered my first traffic backup of the day.  It turns out there was a herd of bison trying to decide which side of the road it wanted to graze on.  It took a while for cars to move and when it was my turn I rode very slowly with bison on either side of me less that 8-feet away.  No time for detailed pictures but I did snap these while I was stopped.

I rode the rest of the way to Mammoth, a small city inside the park, and stopped just long enough to grab a photo of some elk lounging on the lawn.

It was only a few more miles to the park’s north entrance and into the town of Gardiner.  This place is full of motels and restaurants, catering to the park visitors.  I found a ranger station that looked closed and pulled over, parked under a tree, and ate the sandwich I’d brought along.

After a rest I headed north into the Paradise Valley, a very nice ride.  I stopped at a rest area for a quick break and a photo.

The road goes north to Livingston and as I got closer the wind kicked up.  A lot.  Very heavy gusts from the west.  This is one of my least favorite riding conditions but with the miles I’ve got behind me now they are way less anxiety-producing.

I arrived in Livingston and the wind was still blowing, usual for this place, and I got my mapping app out and found my way to the county courthouse for another to add to my collection of the bike in front of county courthouses.

As courthouses go, this one isn’t much to look at.

I headed east out of town and with the wind to my back I decided to get on the interstate and ride it back to Billings.  Traffic was very light and I made it back without event.

359 miles for the day.