Wandering the WYTAT

[michaellmcc]

Day 0
In June-July, “Two Dogs” (sic) did a fantastic job of chronicling their ride on the Wyoming Trans America Trail (WYTAT) on ADVRider. Then in late August, on TWT (also on ADVRider), Texas’ own KsTeveM and KTMCarhart posted their WY dual-sport adventure ride story. Both report threads were very enjoyable and had great photos, so kudos to the riders!

Since norteamericanos are persona non grata at both Canadian and Mexican (not to mention almost every other country in the world) border crossings, I thought I may as well just ride to Wyoming. One of the “Dogs” on ADVRider invited me to “finish the ride and the report” after I teased them about hauling and riding 250cc bikes instead of big, heavy adventure bikes. But TEHO and all in good fun! I only wish I had a little bike to haul, and a truck and trailer to haul it, so’s I could drive all over the country and unload it to ride occasionally !

In order to wander the WYTAT, you have to get from Texas to Wyoming (or, in D’-Reel’s case, from Arizona to Wyoming). My trip from Austin to Afton will be 1,400-1,500 miles, give or take. We’ll meet in Colorado to ride a few passes, and once in Wyoming our ride will be a little different from those who traverse the state from east to west, like the wagon trains. We’re doing the WYTAT from west to east - as per Sam’s official GPX file – thus from mountains to the edge of the Great Plains. We could get turned around and go the wrong way, or upend one of our ginormous GS’s, or get caught on muddy, slick clay roads in the rain, or get a dose of the windy, cold weather that the Canadians regularly send down the plains …or all of the above.

Avoiding population centers is a given, so no problem doing what each state dictates re Covid19. Our longest stay will be in Wyoming, which is the USA’s least populous state.

Darrel, aka D’-Reel, is coming along for this ride. YMMV regarding how much stuff to take, but our “stuff” is limited to one [BIG] bike each, no truck or van or trailer or spare bike, just Ginormous GS’s with nothing Rok-strapped on and no spare parts or extra tubes/tires. We also elected to forego camping gear (which adds to the “stuff”), opting for a more sybaritic travel style this trip (not that there’ll be a lot of luxury available past Saratoga’s spa and resort - but we can still opt).

GS’s have taken us a lot of miles and I’ve only gotten D’-Reel in trouble a time or two…here he is taking his own personal “barca” across the Usumacinta River separating Guatemala and Mexico after I navigated to a “border crossing” without a bridge or customs…but we found a way to cross anyway .

And here “we” are, starting disassembly of my GS to dry things out after hitting one of the many submerged boulders and drowning it in a river (maybe the only river with water in Baja) along the Baja 1000 course. D’-Reel’s GS is resting alongside. He bounced off a [different] boulder and dumped it, but not on me and not in the water. Smart.

So we’re hoping for a low risk WYTAT, which looks pretty much like the almost-800-mile red “V” that’s overlaid on Wyoming in the map below:

My plan’s to ride from Austin to NW Wyoming in four days, enjoying the best of the Texas Panhandle (?), the upper right corner of New Mexico, some of the COBDR, and up to the starting point in Afton, Wyoming. The TAT runs SE from Afton to Baggs, then NE to Newcastle (another four days). Finally, meander home in about four days. That adds up to twelve days, but a little lagniappe turns it into two weeks. D’s plan from Phoenix to Colorado and back will be a little different. The beauty is that they’re our plans and we can change them if we feel like it: RHIP (retirement has its privileges)!

I’ve seen a certain amount of hand-wringing about packing for bike trips. It can be pretty simple on a BIG BIKE, whether heading for Baja, Central America, the Arctic, or anywhere else on this continent:

• Left pannier – clothes, shoes, iPad, maps.
• Right pannier – tool kit, air compressor, tubeless tire plug kit, pressure gauge, two SS steel water bottles, Leatherman, tow strap, JB Weld, snacks.
• Top case: Laptop, camera bag, electric jacket, spare gloves, cocktail kit, espresso machine (or appropriate miscellany). Drybag replaces the top case when it’s a camping trip.
• Tank bag: Phone, power cord, glasses, lens cleaning kit.

Finally, tires: Always tubeless Michelin Anakee Wild. No others will do.

And here’s the beast ready to roll:

It's a BIG BIKE:

Tomorrow, Day 1, will be cruising from Austin through the Panhandle to Canyon. Whoopee-tee-eye-o.

 

[Duke]

This is going to be good!

 

[bwdmax]

With you all the way...

 

[Windmill]

At least tomorrow starts off cooler in Texas.

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 1, Sep 2nd – Austin to Canyon – 479 mi

Today (Day 1) I was the wonderful Austin to Canyon via Brownwood, Sweetwater, Lubbock, etc. ride - about 500 miles. It was 81F at 7:00AM when I left Austin, then it cooled to the upper 60's-low 70's and stayed that way past Lubbock. I saw a low of 68F between Liberty Hill and Brownwood (with rain), but a high of only about 85F. Did. Not. Hit. 90. Can’t beat it for Texas! There was also a little light rain south of Snyder, but blue skies prevailed after Lubbock.

The mild weather made a boring ride kind of nice, but there’s still not a lot to recommend traveling this route in late summer/early fall…or any other time, for that matter. But I don’t want to offend anyone from the Panhandle. You just have to get past it to get to the Rockies. Lubbock does have a couple of redeeming features, namely the

Red Raiders and Buddy Holly.

I tend to photograph oddities and whatever strikes my fancy, but not a lot to target today. The photos may be uninteresting to those who don’t appreciate the Panhandle; beyond Lubbock, black and white better depict the true ambience of the South Plains.

A passle of Edsels in Mullin, Tx:

And the visage that critics of the day judged so ugly (heck, it was 1958-1959; almost all cars were fugly!):

Buddy, patron saint of Lubbock:

I’m partial to architectural relics, and in the case of the Panhandle, abandoned grain elevators along railroad sidings are classic. Some beg to be photographed, as do other sights along the way. Like the windmills on the South Plains, there are a bunch of different designs.

Pre-war (wood framing/metal siding) and post-war (slip-formed concrete) designs in Tulia:

Panhandle landscape:

Workhorses

A vairety of windmills:

Tomorrow - New Mexico and Colorado!

 

[bwdmax]

Nice pics. You guys with an eye for that stuff amaze me.

 

[michaellmcc]

Thanks for the compliment on the pics. Working with a new camera.

Day 2, Sept 3rd: Canyon to Buena Vista, CO - 415 mi

Time to gear up, head out, have a quick breakfast at Starbuck's in Amarillo (the GS homes in on them automatically).

First thing this morning the air in Canyon (elev. 3543’) sure felt different from Austin (elev. 489’), with 60F in Canyon and 80F in Austin around 7:00AM! And the skies all day were "severe clear", but with a big BUT: Wind from Dalhart to Raton. It was from the north and I was riding northeast, so it was on the starboard quarter, and resembled a "hold" like you'd see in the WWE: Arm ache - helmet lift - head twist...

A quick stop at the Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amarillo yielded a few photos. Then a couple of miles west and a great two-lane (RM2381/1061) to connect to US385 just south of Dalhart. These two RM's tracked through the breaks along the edge of the plains and through the Canadian River valley, so actually offered curves!

Today’s sights began with the half-buried Cadillacs, more farmland and silos of several descriptions, the transition to NM’s high plains and desert (including a quick shot of the Capulin volcano), and finally, the beginning of the mountains. Although I go out of my way to avoid interstate highways, a short jaunt on I-25 through Raton Pass is a welcome milestone when you’re coming from Texas…just don’t forget to turn left on the downhill side and leave I-25 for two-lane blacktop and mountains.

The other "but" relating to atmospheric conditions was haze in Colorado, thus not great for photos. But I got a few---

Cadillac Ranch:

Capulin Volcano:

I think it should have been Daenerys':

Panhandle Pete's been cruising the dusty plains a little too long:

The Old Church:

I think this is a PZL TS-11 Iskra Polish jet trainer, parked at a private airfield in CO:

Tomorrow we ride a couple of segments of the COBDR, ending up in Wyomin'!

 

[sandman]

Awesome ride .... keep the story coming.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

 

[duchess]

Danged impressive.

 

[KsTeveM]

Good stuff. How was the volcano? I've driven by there many times but always in a hurry.....but still curious.

 

[michaellmcc]

Stevo - I rode up to the park entry, saw that ANY vehicle (even a little motorcycle with one person) must pay $20 to drive up the cone, and turned around. I'm embarrassed and sorry...

Day 3, Sep 4th: Buena Vista to Baggs, WY

As usual, we had a fantastic, cool night in BV: 60F when we left this morning under clear skies. We had 70’s until noon, but it warmed up in the Yampa Valley and along the Little Snake River to the upper 80’s.

We headed north all day and our route took us on the Colorado BDR a couple of times. Our initial direction was a quick jog north toward Leadville, then east and over Weston Pass. Compared to last year, Weston’s characteristic embedded rocks were still there, although perhaps not quite as rough as last year. But there’s still a lot of hard hits and bouncing over the last couple of miles before the pass. After descending the east side and taking a quick ride through the historic railroad town of Como, we went up and over Boreas Pass (11,481’); I heard it called “boring-*** pass” by one Coloradan…but to someone from Texas, any dirt road mountain pass is good! Boreas Pass Road was once a railroad bed, so its slopes and curves are gradual. Neither of the passes are difficult and both are just very enjoyable rides. Gas in Breckenridge, then back on the road toward Steamboat.

At Steamboat Springs we turned north for the final leg of the COBDR, which led us to the Wyoming state line. Another wonderful ride – paved about half-way, then through Routt National Forest on gravel, with some two-track among the pines and aspens. After passing the beautiful Lodge and Spa at Three Forks Ranch, we soon hit the pavement and headed west toward Baggs, crossing back and forth across the state line on a little-used highway that parallels the Little Snake River.

We had a little excitement upon arriving at the motel in Baggs – my left side case was missing! I figured it had loosened and bounced off on the last section of gravel road, so we immediately hopped on the bikes to retrace our route. Best case would be to find it on the last section of rough gravel after passing the Lodge; worst case would be farther back (but the pavement had ended about 50 miles back, so it couldn’t have happened farther than that). We cruised back on the highway, turned off on the spur, then hit the gravel. We had traveled about 30 miles from town, when we spotted it in the grass beside the road. YES-S-S-S-S-S. One of the threaded connectors had backed out, causing one of two upper attachments on the case to disappear.

I've scratched my case on rocks and ground before, but always with the bike attached. This time the case took a short journey and scraped up its side, but it was structurally sound and had not popped open. We mounted it back on the bracket, tightened up the remaining upper clamp, and Rok strapped it in place. Great outcome! It goes without saying that I had gotten out too far in front of D for him to have seen it leave the bike, so maybe there’s one lesson, the other being to check the threaded connectors each morning. Some people never learn!

The weather forecast is going to cause us to modify our plans for the TAT. Riding all the way to Afton, then turning back and beginning the route SE and NE isn’t going to work. Monday night, Tuesday, and Tuesday night are going to be brutal in central and eastern wyoming. Low 20’s Monday night, freezing rain or snow Tuesday, low teens Tuesday night. Just not something we want to get caught in the middle of. If we stayed with our original plan we’d likely end up stranded in Medicine Bow or Douglas for a day or two and we’d prefer to avoid that. So the new plan is to ride the western half of the TAT in reverse, from Baggs to Afton, then head into Idaho where the weather will be milder. It’s the #$@% Great Plains and the weather the Canadians send down! We'll see what things look like mid-week and aim to get back to the eastern half of the TAT. Or not.

As I said earlier, it’s our plan and we can change it, so we have.

Didn’t take too many photos today.

The instigator:

The Co-conspirator:

Boreas Pass railroad relic:

Northern Colorado ranch - spa - resort. Middle of nowhere, but GS homes in like it was a Starbuck's. Rooms start at $1700 per night.

And the wayward side case back in place:

In accordance with the "new plan", we head "up" the western half of the TAT on Saturday

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 4, Sep 5th: Baggs to Pinedale

This is going to be short.

We started the TAT today, in the middle, and in reverse (as described in yesterday’s post, perfectly logical), meaning we rode leg 3, then leg 2. Around 170 miles.

It went something like this: Head north out of Baggs, turn west at the edge of town, hit the dirt, generally meander north, with a couple of eastern jogs thrown in.

Cross under I-80 in Wamsutter, continue north and trend northwest. End at WY 28 east of Farson.

Ride the highway to Pinedale for the night.

Roads alternated among several characteristics: Packed dirt, loose gravel overcoat, deep dried ruts, sand, loose red dirt. No issues or incidents (and my side case stayed on).

Most fun: Deep ruts and holes filled with sand and sand "stacked up" in the curves. Pick a line, then wonder what happend to it..."where's my line??"

Sunday – TAT leg 1 to Afton. Decide whether to stay overnight there or go into Idaho.

Starting west on Leg 3:

Borrowing from Robert Earl Keen: The road goes on forever and the party never ends:

Second verse:

Soft colors:

 

[misterk]

Excellent
....
More please[emoji41]

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 5, Sep 6, WYTAT Day 2 (Leg 1)

That's a lot of numbers!

In a nutshell, we've completed the “left half” of the vee, or Legs 1-3, of the WYTAT. So we high-tailed it out of Wyoming and to Idaho Falls for the night. Weather-wise, it doesn’t look good at all for much of the upper mountain region; here we’ll be on the western edge of the front.

I guess we’ll have to cut the WYTAT sticker in half and call ourselves “HalfWY-TATers”.

Yesterday we did Leg 1 in reverse, from Farson to Afton – 70 miles of rolling sagebrush, then almost the same mileage through the mountains. Very enjoyable, and the roads were good, varying from gravel to packed dirt to some rough forest service roads. The start in Farson was a gravel road that showed us how “road maintenance” is done: Dump gravel. A lot of gravel. Come to think of it, even more gravel is better. It’s reminiscent of spring dumping season in the Northwest Territories and Alaska, where they apparently love to give bikers their money’s worth. Same here.

We had temperatures up into the high 80’s, but the clear blue sky had changed due to the coming cold front. A lot of dust in the air meant it was hazy all day long. Not very photogenic.

I only took one photo, a small herd of wild horses that actually stopped for us. Most of the time the mustangs break into a full gallop when we come into the picture, as previous riders have shown in their helmet cam videos. It does the heart good to see the horses, and pronghorn antelope as well, run across the prairie at speed. In many cases, their chosen route is parallel to us.

We’re taking a day off in Idaho Falls, then we’ll head south, exact course TBD. The worst of the cold front (snow, sub-freezing temps) tomorrow will extend through WY and CO, so staying to the west seems like a good idea. Interesting weather map below; this layer only shows temps, not snow or cold rain, but that’s enough to get us out of WY for now:

I guess all this means that we’ll have to postpone the second half of the WYTAT and ride in Utah instead. Dang.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

 

[JoToPe]

Awww, fall in WY. Must mean there’s Canadian wind blowing. Oh, wait - it’s always blowing in WY. More please.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 6, Tuesday, Sep 8

We rode from Idaho Falls to Selina UT in the wind - BIG wind, but not as big as the previous night (Monday). There were lots of remnants of the night before – downed power lines, fallen trees, branches everywhere, and overturned 18-wheelers. Although traversing Salt Lake City is never fun, we locked in the HOV lane and sailed through in record time; the strong tailwind helped a lot. It also helped the gas mileage – at one point I started a leg with 149 miles range, and 50 miles later still had the same range…

The day was all pavement and the impetus was to put some southerly miles on to get out of the margin of the cold front.

Day 7, Wednesday, Sep 9

We weren’t successful in getting out of the cold front, but at least the wind settled down a bit. We left Selina and headed west on I-70 for a few miles, then turned south on Gooseberry Road. It was supposed to be unpaved; I guess it's good news that it had been paved since the map was printed. Plus, it was heading due south. The bad news was that it was climbing and getting colder. Much colder. The temp dropped from 43 at Selina to 21 at the 10,000’ level on Gooseberry Rd, with packed snow on the road. We just took it easy and no problems. As we descended, it warmed back up to the 40’s.

After a short tour through Bryce Canyon, we took Cottonwood Rd through Grand Staircase – Escalante. It was about 45 miles of dirt through some glorious countryside, and up and down the plateau. Great ride. We then hit the highway and stopped in Page for the night.

Generally overcast and cool today, and the cloudy weather meant that the colors of the landscape largely were muted.

Old mill in the canyon:

Approaching the clouds near Mt Terrill (25F here):

Bryce Canyon:

Cottonwood Canyon Rd:

Cottonwood Canyon Rd:

Cottonwood Canyon Rd:

 

[Tourmeister]

After a short tour through Bryce Canyon, we took Cottonwood Rd through Grand Staircase – Escalante. It was about 45 miles of dirt through some glorious countryside, and up and down the plateau. Great ride. We then hit the highway and stopped in Page for the night.

Skutumpah Road down around the bottom of Bryce Canyon is a lot of fun as well. We started in Cannonville and headed South. We later dropped out at Glendale over on US 89. I was two up on my 1200 GS with my then 11 year old daughter. The weather and road were perfect and the scenery amazing. However, had it been wet...

If you go North of Bryce to a tiny town called Antimony, there is the Antimony Mercantile. It isn't much to look at, but the food was really good!

 

[michaellmcc]

Tourmeister - we started in Cannonville as well, just veered SE and hit the pavement on US 89 east of Kanab. I'm sure Sku...was just as fabulous as Cottonwood. It could easily have been done two-up - I've done worse with my wife on back. We did go through Antimony, but didn't stop.

It's all good!

 

[michaellmcc]

Day 8, Thurs, Sep 10

After an overnight in Page, we rode largely pavement through Monument Valley, then a little dirt up Moki Dugway, through Natural Bridges, then on to Monticello for the night. Moki Dugway is interesting and reminiscent of the Shafer Trail switchbacks. The dirt was little moist from overnight rains, but a grader was at work near the top.

Monument Valley:

Moki Dugway from the bottom - hard to see the road...

From the top:

 

[Kid2watch]

Great reporting.

 

[StromXTc]

Wiki sez...

The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport uranium ore from the "Happy Jack" mine in Fry Canyon to the processing mill in Mexican Hat. The State Road Commission added SR-261 to the state highway system in 1957, following its present alignment from SR-47 (now US-163) north of Mexican Hat to SR-95.[5]

 

[michaellmcc]

We left Monticello and headed for Moab on Friday morning. Got there via a backroad alongside snow-capped mountains, then entered the wonderful scenery of Canyonlands NP. Amazing how quickly the topography changes. First visited the southerly Canyonlands Visitor Center. We thought briefly about riding Elephant Road, until hearing from the Ranger about the 3-4' steps on the descent; truth be told, never really considered it. Other roads into Canyonlands were closed, some had sand and quicksand, etc., so we thought it best to head to Moab. A few sights along the way:

Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock near Monticello:

Canyonlands images:

Canyonlands (note the road):

Canyonlands (See that road? That's where we're going after descending the Shafer switchbacks.)

Another Canyonlands from Dead Horse Point:

View of the Shafer switchbacks (there's that long straight road again going off into the distance):

Two GS's in their element (bottom of Shafer switchbacks along Potash Rd):

The switchbacks are not too bad, just control your speed and don't get spooked by the soft, rocky, sandy, sharp corners!

At the bottom one branch comes in from the White Rim Rd, which we rode about three years ago. They both join Potash Rd back to Moab: About thirty miles of probably the roughest road I've ever ridden. Like part of the White Rim Rd, it runs on the "White Rim", which is a light-colored, exposed layer of rock along the top of the lower canyons. It's not loose rock, rather extremely rough, pock-marked, fissured, ledged rock. I'm amazed at what the GS will do in terms of absorbing hard hits and bumps and drop-offs and just staying the course. Happy to say neither of us had any incidents, although there were a couple of times I was puckered up going into a ledge on my chosen line; too late to reconsider or change, so just gas and go.

After getting back to Moab, showering, and having dinner, the exciting part of the trip was over. Now to head back to Austin.

Final thoughts about the Wyoming Trans America Trail:

* Isolated, yes, but not any more so than many other places we've ridden. The route passes through mining, ranching, and oil and gas areas, so it's not that far from other people. Having said that, we saw very, very few people until we were in the national forest on the last leg near Afton.
* The roads comprising the western half of the WYTAT are pretty good. Some have a heavy gravel coat, some are sandy in spots, some have deep dried ruts to dodge, many are just dirt and gravel. Not difficult if dry.
* Having lived in Wyoming for a few years, to me the big risk can be weather. Wet clay roads would be a significant barrier.
* Complacency, excess speed, unreliable motorcycle, discomfort with sandy roads, no cell service, etc could be risks to some riders.

And the last shot - the corner of SW Colorado this morning riding from Moab to Albuquerque on a glorious sunny, cool day:

Ride safe.
Mike

 

[Tourmeister]

Great report!

It really makes me want to get back out there! We did Elephant Canyon on smaller bikes. I think I could get my GS down it (going North), but I am not sure I'd want to try it going up (South). We ran Lockhart Basin from the very bottom all the way to the top and on in to Moab. We spent the week in Monticello, doing day rides out and back in all directions. White Rim was a highlight of the whole trip, but done on the KTM 530 and 450 EXCs.