Roadtrip 2011 AZ, NM, CO, UT, WY, MT, ID

[flynrider]

   Trip complete!   This is about the 7th or 8th time I've made one of these summer tours up the Rockies (most have been longer trips), but this is the first time I've been able to convince anyone to go along with me.   My flying/camping buddies had motorcycles, so I challenged them to gear up and come along to see how things looked from the ground.   It was an interesting mix.  Two Nighthawks and two Harleys.



   As I get some pictures processed, I'll post more here.   The vital statistics were :  9 days of riding, 3,115 total miles, 7 nights camping and 1 motel night (couldn't find a campsite on Labor Day weekend).  Average mileage was 346 miles per day.   Fun content :off the scale   

  The trip map is here :  http://g.co/maps/9wzf

   Basically, we left Phoenix and headed to Durango, CO where we followed the western slope of the Rockies up through Wyoming and into Western Montana.   Then we cut over into Idaho on the superb U.S. Hwy 12 (stunning ride) and headed back south through central Idaho, Utah and back into AZ.  The highlight of the trip was (as usual) Hwy 12 through north central Idaho.  It was 150 miles of continuous curves in one of the most scenic canyons in Idaho.  We were able to ride the entire run from Lolo Hot Springs in MT to Kooskia, ID without having to pass a single car.  It was like going to biker heaven.

  I only had a few setbacks along the way.   At 1500 miles my right fork seal gave way.  Not the usual seepage that cruds up the tube a bit, but a steady drip of fork oil that blew back and made a mess of the pipes, engine, tank and my lower legs.  Just to even things up, the left fork seal blew in a similar fashion about 300 miles later.  I can't really complain as both seals were stock and had lasted more than 15 yrs. and 32K miles.

  The other issue was a giant bug.  I was riding with my faceshield up (I had noticed that it was actually quieter) and was depending on the windshield to catch most of the bugs.   Somewhere in Hell's Canyon (ID) at 70 mph, a giant black bug made it over the windshied and scored a direct hit on the left corner of my glasses.  It hit hard enough to distort the frame and the right side of the glasses slid forward and nearly out of the helmet.  Of course, when I put my head down they managed to catch the wind and fly right onto the highway at 70 mph.  I got slowed down, pulled onto the grassy shoulder and started walking back to see if there was anything to salvage.  Sadly, thin metal framed glasses don't do well in a high speed meeting with asphalt.  One lens was missing and the frames were bent at crazy angles.  Fortunately, I always carry a spare pair and we were on our way in 15 min.  I got away with just a small bruise on the corner of my eye.  The rest of the trip was made with the faceshield securely in the down position.  I couldn't really risk my last pair of glasses!

  As I get the pictures processed, I'll post more here.

[Falban]

 

[fishball]

What an adventure.  Looking forward to the photos.

[hangster2]

 

[roadrunner]

What a trip!   

[hockeyhawk]

Sounds like a great trip. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[fortyhourdays]

That is an amazing Photo.  The mountains are so beautiful and perfect that it almost looks like a painting.  Looking forward to seeing some more. 

[flynrider]

   Day 1 -    Our first day was spent getting out of the desert and up to Durango, CO.  Although we spent some quality time on the backroads in the AZ mounains northeast of Phoenix, the bulk of the day was spent crossing deserts in northeastern AZ and northwestern NM.   It was over 450 miles that first day and the guys and I were glad to find a nice campground on the edge of Durango.  It was a surprise to find out that the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge railroad ran through the campground just yards away.



  Day 2 -  I was eager to get on the road and start riding the twisty stretch of US 550 north to Silverton and Ouray, CO.

 This is a very scenic highway that cuts through the Rockies.  Much of it is cut right into the rock and there are 3 passes above 10,000 ft on the route.



  For comparison, this is a photo at the same place taken in 1989 on my old Kaw 750 twin.



  We stopped in scenic Silverton for breakfast at the Brown Bear Cafe, located in one of the many buildings dating back to the 1890s.  The food there was excellent!



  This ain't New York City!  A Rocky Mountain version of a Checker Cab.



  Much to my surprise, I spotted this NH750 while walking down the street.  I wonder how often there are 3 Nighthawks parked on Main street in Silverton?



  The stretch between Silverton and Ouray is called the Million Dollar Highway.  Reportedly because it cost a million dollars per mile when it was completed in 1924. That was a huge sum in those days.  Most of this stretch is carved directly out of the sides of the granite peaks, with steep drop offs and plenty of twisties.  Fortunately, this ride was late enough in August that the prime vacation season was over (kids in school).  It can get pretty hairy in the middle of July.

  One of the interesting features was this tunnel blasted out of the rock. It allows a creek to run under the road without benefit of a bridge.  Right behind me the creek dropped about 100 ft. in an amazing waterfall (couldn't get a good pic of that without going over myself!)



  After an invigorating ride, we stopped for ice cream in the picturesque mountain town of Ouray.




  After descending into flatter country, we made our way to the town of Fruita, outside of Grand Junction.  From there we took SR139 north, headed for our overnight stop in Vernal, UT.   I'd forgotten how cool this highway is.  It winds through mountain valleys that are virtually uninhabited, except for a few ranches.  Then it climbs hard to Douglas Pass, high above the valley.  Here's the view from Douglas Pass looking back the way we came



That's all I have for today.  More to come...

[fishball]

That's great so far.  Some truly spectacular scenery.  The cab photo cracks me up.

[hppants]

I'm seeing my dream ride right before my very eyes.   

More please!!

[gammer]

Fun content :off the scale

 
Great pics!

[skramer360]

The pics are great. How did the carburated bikes run at the high elevations?

[luckylindy]

More, more...Looks like a great trip.

[flynrider]

The pics are great. How did the carburated bikes run at the high elevations?

   I could hardly tell the difference at altitude. It ran great.  The old 750 twin always had a rough time up there.  Around 10K ft. it was noticably sluggish.  Not so for the Nighthawk.

[WingNut]

Lord, pictures like this really make me miss CO... Course that could make for an excellent ride, Seattle to Denver 

[flynrider]

  Got some more pics edited and uploaded.   Here we go!

 Day 3 -  We left Vernal, UT heading north on US191, a nice twisty road that took us through the Ashley National Forest, then on to Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  Our destination for the day was Hoback Jct., WY, just south of Jackson and Teton National Park.

  Here's a cool suspension bridge that spans an arm of the reservoir



  A few miles later we came upon the dam.



  Outside of Rock Springs we hit I-80 westbound for a few miles, then picked up WY372 to get us to US189 North. 

  Rest stop along US189 at the Fontonelle Reservoir



  The ride through southwestern WY was not the most exciting leg.  It's mostly high desert and straight roads.  I kept promising the guys it would get much better very soon, which it did.  The last 60 or so miles into Hoback Jct. were worth the wait.

  At the Hoback KOA we got this 5 bed cabin for the same price as two camping spots.



  Best of all, this was our back yard.



  Day 4 - In the morning we made our way to Teton Village to ride the aerial tramway to the top of the mountain. It was a little pricey at $29 (used to be $19), but it's a unique ride and the view from the top is amazing. 

  Here's the view from the bottom.  The tram goes to the top of that mountain.



  Almost to the top.  That's glacial ice below.



  It was pretty cool to be at eye level with the Teton peaks.



   Afterwards, we picked up WY22 and headed over Teton pass, enroute to West Yellowstone, MT. This road wins the prize for steepness.  On the West side of the Tetons the grade is in excess of 10%. Yaaahoo!  From our camp in West Yellowstone, we took a local ride along the Madison river up to Earquake Lake (created by a 7.5 earthquake in 1959).

  At a refreshment stop along the Madison, I noticed this lazy hawk.  Instead of flying, it found a convenient perch over the river where it could sit and wait for a fish to come along.




  This is the landslide on Sheep Mountain that slid into the Madison River, forming a natural dam.  Earthquake Lake soon came into existence behind the dam.  When the earth shook back in August of '59, there was a Forest Service campground at the bottom of this canyon.  Although the death toll was 27, about a dozen bodies couldn't be recovered and still rest under tons of rock at the bottom of the canyon.



  On the way back towards West Yellowstone, we stopped at a local grass airstrip to enjoy the setting sun over Henry's Lake.



 Day 5 - We headed north out of West Yellowstone on US191 to Belgrade, where we were going to pick up I-90 Westbound.  Our destination was to be somewhere in the vicinity of Lolo, MT.  If you're ever riding this way, definitely take US191 over the seemingly shorter route on US287.   US191 is a spectacular bike road that winds through forest and steep canyons most of the way.  It was among the top 3 legs on the trip.

  Lunch stop in Three Forks, MT.  We often visit here by airplane.  The Three Forks Cafe serves excellent and huge burgers.



  We spent most of the afternoon on I-90 headed towards Missoula, MT.  Much as I hate interstate highways, this one was a pleasure.  It runs through some pretty amazing country.  At Missoula we picked up US12 westbound towards Lolo.  The plan was to camp near Lolo so we'd have the next day to enjoy US12 from Lolo to Kooskia, ID.  The highlight of the ride.

  We camped in the Lolo National Forest overnight.  This was Camp Nighthawk.  The Harleys stayed next door.



  Day 6 -  After packing up, we headed to Lolo Hot Springs for breakfast.  The plan for the day was to ride US12 to Kooskia, then start heading south for home through ID and UT.  The destination for the day was Cascade, ID.

  At Lolo Hot Springs, we found this giant building in the parking lot.  Locals informed us that it was some oil field equipment that Exxon was attempting to move across MT on this narrow twisty highway.  If you look at the door on the right side, you can get an idea of the size.  When this monster crossed the border from ID into MT, the stunned state police ordered them to park it and apply for permits (at least somebody had some sense).  When I saw it, it had already been sitting there for 4 months (with fulltime guards watching over it. Note the porta-johns). 



  Hwy 12 was all that I remembered.  Long, twisty, scenic and almost totally deserted.  Three of us posed for the camera.



  This pic gives you an idea of the steepness of the terrain.  It goes on like that for about 120 miles.



  Just outside of Kooskia, we stopped for a rest and a short hike across this foot bridge.



  This pic immortalizes the place in Hell's Canyon where my glasses met a giant bug. The glasses (and the bug) lost and ended up hitting the highway at 70 mph.  Thank goodness I always carry a spare pair.

 

  At the end of the day, we rolled into Cascade, ID and found this nice KOA at the edge of town.

 


  That's all I've got for now.  There's a few pics left covering the last legs through UT and AZ.  I'll get 'em loaded when I have some more time.

[drdubb]

Wow!!!!

[fishball]

Stunning!  I love the roads and terrain of HWY 12.

[hockeyhawk]

Awesome...... 

[skramer360]

We were just in Jackson Hole Wyoming at the end of last month dropping off my daughter for college. We stayed on the Idaho side and drove over the Teton pass 4 times in our car, it didn't like it very much  We did stop for a picture opportunity at the top. I don't want to jack your thread but maybe it will be nostalgic for you.

[flynrider]

...drove over the Teton pass 4 times in our car, it didn't like it very much 

  Of course not, you were in a car    Don't know if I'd want to do it 4 times though. 

  Great pic!   We were havig so much fun on a lot of these roads that we often forgot to stop for pics.

[flynrider]

    I realized I'm kinda short on pics for the last few days.   Between the 3 of us that had cameras, we weren't very prolific near the end of the trip.  I think we were getting tired.

Day 7 -

  No one was looking forward to this day.  At least not the later part, as the agenda was mostly I-84. We blasted out of Cascade, ID early and headed down SR55 toward Boise.  This a a great motocycle road that follows the Payette River through the mountains.  I have never seen so much whitewater.  It looks like it would be pretty scary, but the kayakers were loving it.

  We stopped at this little restaurant along the river in a place called Banks, ID.  The food was great and the back room looks out over the river.



  Once we hit Boise, it was interstate riding for the next few hundred miles.  Our destination was Coalville, UT on the east side of the Wasatch range.  Sadly, it wasn't the cool kind of interstate like they have in western MT.  This was a bleak ride across mostly desert.  I was having a hard time staying awake.  Thankfully there were periodic stops at rest areas to wake us up.  Since it was labor day weekend, road safety groups were serving free coffee.  Boy did that come in handy! 



  We made it into Coalville (and off the interstate) just before dark.  After searching every campground in the area, we gave up and forked over for a motel that night.  Camping on major holiday weekends can get a little iffy.  The campgrounds we did find had tents occupying every square foot, with kids and dogs running everywhere.  They looked more like nylon slums than campgrounds.  Fortunately, the local Marriott was able to hook us up.   By the way, if you're ever passing through Coalville, stop by for some great mexican food at a place downtown calle Polar King (I think it used to be an ice crem shop).  Very tasty.

  Day 8 -  This was not a real ambitious day.  The plan was to ride south through Utah, far enough so that we could finish up in Phoenix the following day.  Our target for the day was Panguitch, UT.   We got an early start, since we didn't have to tear down and pack camping gear.  The days ride down US89 was great. The views kept alternating between desert and moutains.  By days end we'd only ridden about 260 miles (our shortest day).  We set up camp at the KOA on the south end of Panguitch.



  Day 9 - This was the last day.  We planned to continue south on US89 to Flagstaff, where we'd hop I-17 for the last 2 hours home.  Right about lunch time, we rolled up to the Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back Lake Powell.



  This really cool bridge crosses Glen Canyon just downstream of the dam.



  At page, just a few miles from the dam, we stopped to gas up and load up on fluids.  The temperature was in the mid 90s, so this is where I employed my evaporative cooling technique by thoroughly soaking a flannel shirt and putting in on just before we left.   I was cool as a cucumber as we rode across the desert.  The only problem was resoaking the shirt about every 30 min.  The fricion lock on the throttle helped, but getting a big bottle of water out of the saddlebag at highway speeds was tricky.  I really need to get some kind of cup holder.

  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  It was hot as hell when we rolled down out of the mountains into Phoenix, but that's to be expected.

  Aftermath -  When I rolled into my driveway, I realized that the bike was a mess.  Since both fork seals had let loose halfway through the trip, they had been slinging fork oil all over the bike for 1500 miles.  I've never seen my bike looking so nasty.

  This is what 3,100 miles worth of bugs looks like :



  This is the right fork seal.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the type of seal failure that just weeps a little fluid.





  It slung fork oil all over the hot pipes.



  The rest of the engine didn't fare to well either.



  It even covered the gas tank.  Note the discoloration on the word "Honda".



  This is what my pants looked like after riding behind those bleeding forks for two days.




  Last weekend, I finally had time to give the bike a good scrubbing.  That's not a figure of speech.  I literally scrubbed the bike with engine cleaner for 2 and a half hours.  In the end, she's mostly back to her normal self.

Before


After



  I was really glad to get home after nine days on the road, but I enjoyed every minute of this trip. It was definitely an interesting experience to have other riders along, having done similar rides about 7 times on my own.  On the one hand, making decisions about where to go and what to do is more cumbersome, but on the other hand, it's pretty cool to have your buddies with you to share such a cool experience.  I'm still kind of conflicted on whether or not we should turn these into regular group trips.  The guys have already told me that they're in favor of dropping one of our backcountry flying/camping trips and turning it into a bike roadtrip.  I'm going to have to mull that over for awhile.

  If you're still here after all this time, thanks for taking a look.  I hope you enjoyed it.

[fishball]

Great trip, loved the report.  Did you cross the Glen Canyon Dam bridge?  Makes me a bit nervous just looking at it.

[marriedman]

Wow, what a fantastic road trip! I know someday I will get to that level of adventurer, but it is still a little ways off. Until then, I will continue to live vicariously through reports like this one.

Oh, and good job cleaning her up. She carried you all that way, she definitely deserved the extra attention at the end.

[flynrider]

Did you cross the Glen Canyon Dam bridge?  Makes me a bit nervous just looking at it.

We sure did. If you want to get to Arizona, you've got to cross the Colorado River somewhere  It's not really that bad when you're on the bridge.  It's pretty wide with pedestrian walkways next to the road.

This is the kind of bridge that makes me nervous.