Monday, May 19, 2014

Big Rocky Mountain Ride, Glacier to Denver

After leaving Many Glacier Lodge, where we had lunch and hiked a small trail, we headed back to Denver.  The first road we traversed was 89, heading south to Browning.  What a fantastic road for riding.  We will be bypassing this great road on the Cannonball, but can take it if losing 20 minutes doesn't matter.  I will take it if I am not near the top of the classification when we get there.  

From there we headed south to Great Falls for the night.  Nothing special there, but we did have dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Not bad.

The next day we headed south through the Lewis and Clark National Forest, through Big TImber and Red Lodge, where we had lunch.  Red Lodge is at the north end of the Beartooth Highway, that we took to the junction with the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.  Both were spectacular with smooth roads and wonderful views.  Beartooth was twistier and more elevation change, ending at the pass at around 11,000 feet.  Chief Joseph was faster with less elevation change but still terrific.  My brother says that these are his favorite motorcycle roads in the US.

We spent the night in Cody and headed south the next day to Fort Collins to end the trip.  The highlight of this leg was a spectacular canyon south of Thermapolis.  We finally got bad weather after this and rode through spotty rain all the way into Fort Collins.  We didn't mind because it was so good to that point.

After sending Drew off to Kansas, I rode around Nederland and the hills and canyons back to the motorcycle rental shop where I dropped it off.  I put 2750 miles on it in 8 days.  The owner of the shop was glad that I got it home in one piece.  I believe that he didn't have confidence in my riding ability, but I proved him wrong.
You never know what you will find on the roads


Red Lodge, Montana

At a stop on the Beartooth Highway

Another from that stop


Me at the Beartooth Pass

A bridge along the Chief Joseph Highway 
  
Another nice view

Drew in front, riding along the Chief Joseph Highway


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