Tour de Wyoming VI

[Bob]

Nice ride and pics!

[byways]

Bob, a.k.a. Bob Bob, is so darned eloquent!

[N-Id-Jim]

what a great trip! thanks!

[BKMLWR]

nice pics and report
what was the dates of the trip?

[Mcgee]

Thanks for the ride! I'm from Wy orginally and it reminded me of home.

[GrizzLee]

[QUOTE=hayduke.klr07;19851315]
[\QUOTE]

I was born in Wyo. I remember this. I must have been 4 years old in the 60s. I faintly remeber that We crawled inside this pyramid with a road flare. As i recall, it was windy and out in the middle of nowhere... Just like a desert. My father has been long gone for 40 years now. Not too many years ago, I've told my mom, that when we lived in Wyoming, I recall as a little kid crawling around in a pyramid. My mother told me there was no such place in Wyo. and that I must have been dreaming.

Wow, this picture answered that questioned. I wasn't really sure if I dreamt it or not. I never knew about this monument until I read this report. We moved from wyo when I was 9 and I haver never returned.

I need to do a déjà vu road trip. Awesome how some pictures bring back remote childhood memories. I looked this up and sure enough there once was an entrance to the monument. So, it wasn't a dream.

Thanks for sharing.... Wow!!!

[hayduke.klr07]

Well crap, I didn't know a person had been able to get in there. Learn something new every day!

[hayduke.klr07]

Two tour’s ago brought us through this area already. We rode the Battle Mountain trail and thought we really ought to get back here. Well this year we managed to actually stay in the same location for two nights allowing us to ride Battle Mountain sans bags.
We head on out a remarkably early start (early for us anyway) and we head for Battle Mountain. We rode from the south to north last time. We opted for the north to south just to mix it up. Logging activity in the area caused a 30 mile detour that should have put an additional 2 miles on the odometer. You know, we are here to ride motocycles, so more miles more smiles, right? The good news is that we got to ride the road that makes you feel like you are riding in the Dakar and you are winning. This road brings you down into Saratoga. It was a pleasant surprise that we would get to ride it again!


From the north, Battle Mountain has a loose rocky dusty hill that we thought we would never end (too bad it did). I am no expert at off-road riding, but I would say that at least on a six-fity, it was a pretty gnarly road. Perhaps these photos don't look that gnarley but.....it is really good.




Then we come to this….


Some dude with WAY too much money will end up buying this piece. Either the trail will have to be vastly improved or everything will be helicoptered in. Either way, if there is a piece of property the USFS needs to buy this is it.

A tremendous ride all along this amazing ridge….


We finish up the trail and stop to recount how much frickin’ fun that was! We think, what a great place to enjoy one of the best beers on the planet, Dales Pale Ale. Drink some sometime: http://www.oskarblues.com/the-brews/dales-pale-ale

"Man we are some tough sons-of bitches blah, blah, blah" and then this guys comes walking out of the woods. His name is Jesse, he is from Portland and he is walking the Continental Divide Trail. Okay, we just rode a VERY small portion of the CDT and this guy is just about to enter Colorado at the end of September. Who is tough? He is planning on staying the night in Encampment and it would only seem logical that we give him a ride ‘cause that is where we are going. This guy was great. We told him to put on most of the warm clothing he had with him and hold on. Shep took him, Darryl took his pack, I took the photos.



Everything is better with cows around... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nk8-MqnHlw






Enjoyed a delicious beverage with him at the Mangy Moose (I think that was the name) said our good-byes, well wishes, and enjoyed a most beautiful ride back to camp. I could spend way more time in that county.




Had to plan for tomorrow, obviously. And drink more beer.... tomorrow the Difficulty Road. I have been waiting three years to ride this road. What a great name.

[byways]

Warms me heart to see that lumberjack looking at paper maps 'stead of a gps screen. But my gosh ... What has he done to the pages?

I just ordered one of these (the big one) to see if I can get more life out of my Benchmarks.

[K_N_Fodder]

Dudes -

Excellent RR, love the style and the pace. I grew up in Ten Sleep and explored pretty much every acre of our place on my 1983 CR80, but I've never ridden dual sports out of there and would love to. I think the Big Horns could be some great stuff. Funny that you hit Anong's in Laramie, the wife and I were poking around there in 2009 and had no idea what to expect. We were blown away... at least back then it was equal to or better than anything we had in Austin, TX... at over 20x the size of Laramie.

Next time you guys end up in Bend give me a yell.

Justin

[K_N_Fodder]

Originally Posted by byways

Warms me heart to see that lumberjack looking at paper maps 'stead of a gps screen. But my gosh ... What has he done to the pages?

I just ordered one of these (the big one) to see if I can get more life out of my Benchmarks.

Just saw somebody with these or something similar the other day... where did you find yours?

[Cowboy]

[QUOTE=THX_337;20544919]

Originally Posted by hayduke.klr07

[\QUOTE]

I was born in Wyo. I remember this. I must have been 4 years old in the 60s. I faintly remeber that We crawled inside this pyramid with a road flare. As i recall, it was windy and out in the middle of nowhere...

Originally Posted by hayduke.klr07

Well crap, I didn't know a person had been able to get in there. Learn something new every day!

Actually, you're both right. You can't get into the Ames Monument today, but you could back in the day. The state got worried about people crawling in and getting injured, so they built up a new terrace of sorts around the base, and piled several hundred tons of gravel in front of the entrance. (see all that nice grey gravel in tyhe photo?) There's no sign at all now that it was ever accessible.

THX_337 is also right about his memory of the wind. Ames Monument, and the 10,000 foot high plains around it, is one of the windiest spots on earth, particularly in winter. Within sight of Ames Monument, vehicles pulling light trailers blow off I-80 nearly every day in winter. The local towing business owners get rich from that wind!

[GrizzLee]

[QUOTE=Cowboy;20591400]

Originally Posted by THX_337

Actually, you're both right. You can't get into the Ames Monument today, but you could back in the day. The state got worried about people crawling in and getting injured, so they built up a new terrace of sorts around the base, and piled several hundred tons of gravel in front of the entrance. (see all that nice grey gravel in tyhe photo?) There's no sign at all now that it was ever accessible.

THX_337 is also right about his memory of the wind. Ames Monument, and the 10,000 foot high plains around it, is one of the windiest spots on earth, particularly in winter. Within sight of Ames Monument, vehicles pulling light trailers blow off I-80 nearly every day in winter. The local towing business owners get rich from that wind!

Yeah, I read somewhere they sealed the entrance. When I saw this thread, I looked up the monument and it is definently what we crawled into. I don't recall a monument sign our anything of the sorts when I was little. All I recall was this barren, windy, dusty place that looked like a scene from ancient Cairo in Egypt (of course I didin't know about the pyramids when I was that little). And yes, I know too well that parts of Wyoming being very windy. Another memory I have is sitting in the icy street and letting the wind push us like like curling stones while wating for the bus. Damn it was cold!!! No friggin trees where we lived. Just rock, wind and cold. I recall once, licking the ice off the chrome grill of my father's truck one winter and loosing a big chunk of my tongue as it froze instantly to it. I still recall going to the hospital afterwards as my tongue wouldn't stop bleeding. I recall crying profusly as I didn't want to get another shot. Those are all distant memories now. We moved to California when I was 9 years old. One other memory I had was a nightmare of sorts of the Lincoln Momument falling over onto our car. I don't know why, but, I was terrified of that statue as a kid. Looking at the pictures of it, I still think it is a pretty scary sculpture. I see there is a 4 lane hwy there. I recall the 2 lane hwy as a kid. I need to go back. I has been 40 years since I was in Wyoming. I wonder how much of the area I would remember. It would make for a neat motorcycle trip from that persective for me.