stratslingr77
Well-known member
Damn...that looks like a great time! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
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The better late than never WYBDR ride report
- Thread starter N4teTheGreat
- Start date
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Do it, also, the CABDR is a good one in the fall, one of these guys from this trip did it with me three years back early October and we had great weather, only downside was shorter days.
Awesome stuff so far.
The bell rung rider had to be scary. Glad he could carry on.
Love the cigars...
Yeah, he kept repeating the same tasks, checking on his bike, taking a piss, fumbling with his gear. He later told me that when I first came up to him he knew he was on a ride, but didn't know where.
I had my InReach and we had cell service there, but it occurred to me that aside for calling for help and managing shock, I didn't really know what to do if a head injury turned serious.
I like the cigars too, I wasn't really expecting the guys to smoke so many of 'em so I ran out earlier than expected. Not exactly a lot of places to stock up on cigars in western Wyoming...
It was pretty awesome, posting about it makes me wish I was back out riding instead of in the middle of a work week
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Elk Mountain
Given the relatively short distance on section two we got into Elk Mountain at a respectable early hour. Given we had a 3 bedroom house and a BBQ for the night I was pretty happy about that. I serviced my chain right away and then made a b-line for the shower. The gal that ran the cabins had the whole place booked up and by the amount of motorcycles I saw I think it was all ADV riders doing the BDR.
The "cabin" we rented
This was the original house on the property which now has a number of cabins for rent along with a fluffy welcoming committee
As I mentioned, a number of bikes (I didn't get shots of all of them) parked and we noticed some familiar KTMs as the Georgia crew was staying here as well.
What you can't see in this pic is that the KTM in the background has been hoisted up on some logs and is having a little surgery done, something about a melted rear brake caliper as I recall. They'd had parts overnighted and were in the process of fixing things. I believe they found some other issues during the work (missing bolts or something?) but managed to get the bike all buttoned up and beat us getting on the road the next day.
We had stocked up on food at a local market as we were told the hotel might not be open for dinner but it turns out the KTM crew convinced them. They also dressed up in slacks and button down shirts
I guess it was a pretty nice hotel
While they had their (early in my opinion) dinner, we had beers and hot dogs for a late lunch, the mosquitoes had us for their meal, I put on pants.
One of the guys went down for a nap, and me and my other buddy realized we didn't have enough beer to make it to bedtime and set out to find a local market, which we happily were able to do. We also saw a sign noting that mosquito fogging was happening this week and got a taste of the local politics
While picking up beer I also gave in and added a little weight to my saddle bags
The KTM crew cam back from dinner and stopped by to chat, we offered a few of our beers and compared notes and then they were off to get ready for tomorrow, as it was dusk, we decided it was time to prep dinner and it was a pretty good dinner at that
We enjoyed the meal and some beers afterwards and eventually found our way to bed. Nice thing about having the house was being able to make coffee and breakfast before heading out the next morning which saved us some time.
Given the relatively short distance on section two we got into Elk Mountain at a respectable early hour. Given we had a 3 bedroom house and a BBQ for the night I was pretty happy about that. I serviced my chain right away and then made a b-line for the shower. The gal that ran the cabins had the whole place booked up and by the amount of motorcycles I saw I think it was all ADV riders doing the BDR.
The "cabin" we rented
This was the original house on the property which now has a number of cabins for rent along with a fluffy welcoming committee
As I mentioned, a number of bikes (I didn't get shots of all of them) parked and we noticed some familiar KTMs as the Georgia crew was staying here as well.
What you can't see in this pic is that the KTM in the background has been hoisted up on some logs and is having a little surgery done, something about a melted rear brake caliper as I recall. They'd had parts overnighted and were in the process of fixing things. I believe they found some other issues during the work (missing bolts or something?) but managed to get the bike all buttoned up and beat us getting on the road the next day.
We had stocked up on food at a local market as we were told the hotel might not be open for dinner but it turns out the KTM crew convinced them. They also dressed up in slacks and button down shirts
I guess it was a pretty nice hotel
While they had their (early in my opinion) dinner, we had beers and hot dogs for a late lunch, the mosquitoes had us for their meal, I put on pants.
One of the guys went down for a nap, and me and my other buddy realized we didn't have enough beer to make it to bedtime and set out to find a local market, which we happily were able to do. We also saw a sign noting that mosquito fogging was happening this week and got a taste of the local politics
While picking up beer I also gave in and added a little weight to my saddle bags
The KTM crew cam back from dinner and stopped by to chat, we offered a few of our beers and compared notes and then they were off to get ready for tomorrow, as it was dusk, we decided it was time to prep dinner and it was a pretty good dinner at that
We enjoyed the meal and some beers afterwards and eventually found our way to bed. Nice thing about having the house was being able to make coffee and breakfast before heading out the next morning which saved us some time.
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Section 3: Elk Mtn to Alcova
Section 3 started with a pretty fast dirt road that took us up into the arid hills, though several gates and to the abandoned mining town of Carbon, there are a few rocky foundations left, along with the cemetery
It was pretty toasty so we didn't hang out too long before moving along. There was a long paved stretch which was scenic, but one I was glad to be done with. The timing was good as well as a certain head first crash prone buddy's hand guard lost abd bolt and came loose. So, quick hydration break while he removed the dangly bits
After that the road headed out towards the Shirley Mountains. The road was, as described on the BDR site, wide and fast, and also entertainingly rocky, I was very much enjoying it and hustling up the rocky uphill sections.
Views weren't half bad either
I took a wrong turn and had to circle back for a sidebar to a view so I got a quick video of me enjoying some rocks
Shortly afterwards I was having a lovely time straffing corners and bouncing through rocky sections, then I came around a bend saw a big erosion ditch and decided to take an outside line, which would have been great if I hadn't put the front wheel in the soft sandy shoulder, then noticed the dropoff past the shoulder, looked where I didn't want to go while getting on the brakes.
I've crashed on mountain bikes but I usually have time to get my hands out in front of me, this was a pretty abrupt introduction to the ground with my left hand getting crushed under my chest with a rather notable cracking sound.
Bike nap #2 (#1 was an uneventful lowside around a dirt corner on the first day which I failed to capture)
I got the bike upright after taking a picture and checked for damage of which there was none. My left had kinda hurt, so I decided to have a seat and give it a few minutes.
Little bruising on the knuckles, but nothing obviously wrong
Hand still hurt after sitting for a bit, but everything seemed to work so after waiting for a hulking logging truck to roll buy I headed back on my way, albeit a little more tentatively. A few turns later we came upon the KTM guys again. Their group was parked with a few guys working on a 990 which apparently had a broken fuel pump. We offered help but they had things covered and apparently a farm truck had offered to haul the bike out if there were still there on his way back so after a quick chat, off we went.
Things continued to be very scenic
My photo stops meant I'd lose my position in the front but it was a good opportunity to capture shots of the guys
Still scenic
Sometimes you get a cool drift
And sometimes you don't
The next day when we checked air pressure while gassing up we all realized we'd never set pressures once getting to altitude, my tires where at around 25 PSI, so, maybe this drop can be forgiven...
After nearly 160 miles, much of it in 90 degree temps I was ready to get to Alcova however the road we were on ended up being closed as a section was gone while they replaced a culvert. The detour took us back where we came from about 6 miles, so, I would have appreciated some signage earlier on.
The detour ended up being a scenic twisty section of pavement so it wasn't a bad way to wrap up the day all told.
Section 3 started with a pretty fast dirt road that took us up into the arid hills, though several gates and to the abandoned mining town of Carbon, there are a few rocky foundations left, along with the cemetery
It was pretty toasty so we didn't hang out too long before moving along. There was a long paved stretch which was scenic, but one I was glad to be done with. The timing was good as well as a certain head first crash prone buddy's hand guard lost abd bolt and came loose. So, quick hydration break while he removed the dangly bits
After that the road headed out towards the Shirley Mountains. The road was, as described on the BDR site, wide and fast, and also entertainingly rocky, I was very much enjoying it and hustling up the rocky uphill sections.
Views weren't half bad either
I took a wrong turn and had to circle back for a sidebar to a view so I got a quick video of me enjoying some rocks
Shortly afterwards I was having a lovely time straffing corners and bouncing through rocky sections, then I came around a bend saw a big erosion ditch and decided to take an outside line, which would have been great if I hadn't put the front wheel in the soft sandy shoulder, then noticed the dropoff past the shoulder, looked where I didn't want to go while getting on the brakes.
I've crashed on mountain bikes but I usually have time to get my hands out in front of me, this was a pretty abrupt introduction to the ground with my left hand getting crushed under my chest with a rather notable cracking sound.
Bike nap #2 (#1 was an uneventful lowside around a dirt corner on the first day which I failed to capture)
I got the bike upright after taking a picture and checked for damage of which there was none. My left had kinda hurt, so I decided to have a seat and give it a few minutes.
Little bruising on the knuckles, but nothing obviously wrong
Hand still hurt after sitting for a bit, but everything seemed to work so after waiting for a hulking logging truck to roll buy I headed back on my way, albeit a little more tentatively. A few turns later we came upon the KTM guys again. Their group was parked with a few guys working on a 990 which apparently had a broken fuel pump. We offered help but they had things covered and apparently a farm truck had offered to haul the bike out if there were still there on his way back so after a quick chat, off we went.
Things continued to be very scenic
My photo stops meant I'd lose my position in the front but it was a good opportunity to capture shots of the guys
Still scenic
Sometimes you get a cool drift
And sometimes you don't
The next day when we checked air pressure while gassing up we all realized we'd never set pressures once getting to altitude, my tires where at around 25 PSI, so, maybe this drop can be forgiven...
After nearly 160 miles, much of it in 90 degree temps I was ready to get to Alcova however the road we were on ended up being closed as a section was gone while they replaced a culvert. The detour took us back where we came from about 6 miles, so, I would have appreciated some signage earlier on.
The detour ended up being a scenic twisty section of pavement so it wasn't a bad way to wrap up the day all told.
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Alcova
Alcova is basically a gas station with an adjacent RV campground and some cabins for rent. I'm sure people like somewhere nearby, but I didn't see where. It's quite popular for fishing apparently, floating the river or the reservoir. It was also hot as all get out.
We settled into our Cabin which thankfully had AC, less ideally, the bedroom appeared very small, and lacking it's own AC.
Convenient helmet storage
After showering I set to the important work of getting beer, and then aligning the forks on the DRZ as I'd noticed things were a bit tweaked once we hit pavement. Happily everything snapped back in line without much effort. I did notice my hand would throb pretty aggressively if I didn't keep it elevated, but things still appeared to be working.
On offer for dinner was Pizza, so we ordered two pies and got more beer. It was fantastic. Things cooled off at sunset so we sat outside to enjoy the weather. I knew the KTM group was staying here and not seeing them yet was a bit concerning.
Sunset was pretty though
The KTM group showed up right before dark, all of them. Turns out two of the group had ridden 40 miles each way to get a fuel pump from napa auto parts which they'd then installed on the side of the dirt road and finished the ride. I was suitably impressed as they headed off to a bar a 1/2 down the road to grab dinner.
A few beers later we decided we needed to see that bar as well, I mean, it was only just down the road. Right as we were about to hop on our bikes a ride on a KTM shows up, I initially thought he was part of their group, but he was not.
Turns out the guy had left Bakersfield (I think) that day and was shooting to be in Idaho for that Revzilla ADV Fest the next day. He was also almost out of gas and said the gas station was closed. Lucky for him we had our reserves and we dumped all of that into his tank. In return he joined us at the bar and bought us a few rounds. The KTM group was on their way out right as we arrived, if you sensing a theme, it's basically, they were sensible, we were not generally.
Turns out the guy works for Nelson Rigg, which I somehow missed when looking at his bike initially. He was gonna be running their booth / tent / whatever at the Revzilla event. Nice guy, seemed like a cool gig, he was doing some crazy mileage though. After a second round he was debating a cabin at the bar, but it sounded a bit like a shed so he passed and headed to Casper instead. We headed back to our cabin and called it a night. Once the snoring started I quickly moved to the couch, right next to the AC unit and had a rather nice night of sleep.
Night night bikes
Alcova is basically a gas station with an adjacent RV campground and some cabins for rent. I'm sure people like somewhere nearby, but I didn't see where. It's quite popular for fishing apparently, floating the river or the reservoir. It was also hot as all get out.
We settled into our Cabin which thankfully had AC, less ideally, the bedroom appeared very small, and lacking it's own AC.
Convenient helmet storage
After showering I set to the important work of getting beer, and then aligning the forks on the DRZ as I'd noticed things were a bit tweaked once we hit pavement. Happily everything snapped back in line without much effort. I did notice my hand would throb pretty aggressively if I didn't keep it elevated, but things still appeared to be working.
On offer for dinner was Pizza, so we ordered two pies and got more beer. It was fantastic. Things cooled off at sunset so we sat outside to enjoy the weather. I knew the KTM group was staying here and not seeing them yet was a bit concerning.
Sunset was pretty though
The KTM group showed up right before dark, all of them. Turns out two of the group had ridden 40 miles each way to get a fuel pump from napa auto parts which they'd then installed on the side of the dirt road and finished the ride. I was suitably impressed as they headed off to a bar a 1/2 down the road to grab dinner.
A few beers later we decided we needed to see that bar as well, I mean, it was only just down the road. Right as we were about to hop on our bikes a ride on a KTM shows up, I initially thought he was part of their group, but he was not.
Turns out the guy had left Bakersfield (I think) that day and was shooting to be in Idaho for that Revzilla ADV Fest the next day. He was also almost out of gas and said the gas station was closed. Lucky for him we had our reserves and we dumped all of that into his tank. In return he joined us at the bar and bought us a few rounds. The KTM group was on their way out right as we arrived, if you sensing a theme, it's basically, they were sensible, we were not generally.
Turns out the guy works for Nelson Rigg, which I somehow missed when looking at his bike initially. He was gonna be running their booth / tent / whatever at the Revzilla event. Nice guy, seemed like a cool gig, he was doing some crazy mileage though. After a second round he was debating a cabin at the bar, but it sounded a bit like a shed so he passed and headed to Casper instead. We headed back to our cabin and called it a night. Once the snoring started I quickly moved to the couch, right next to the AC unit and had a rather nice night of sleep.
Night night bikes
stratslingr77
Well-known member
That guy on the KTM looks like Kyle Bradshaw...he's fashioned himself a niche as a tire guru on YouTube
MTERK
Give me Backroads!
2nd that about Kyle Bradshaw. I just watched latest video and he had that bike in it. Great guy. Used to be in Livermore.
Great Adventure Nate! Thanks for bringing us along!
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Checked YouTube, that's him! He was definitely filming when he rolled up on us, I think my buddy found a photo of us on his instagram or something. He was fun to chat with and I was impressed with the mileage he was putting down.
Fun fact, we got the gas station to gas up the next morning and noticed a big sign "Open 24 hours". So either he missed it in the dark, or wanted to add some drama to his video
Given the miles he'd done, I'd have been pretty bleary-eyed myself.
Fun fact, we got the gas station to gas up the next morning and noticed a big sign "Open 24 hours". So either he missed it in the dark, or wanted to add some drama to his video
Given the miles he'd done, I'd have been pretty bleary-eyed myself.
SRAD600
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2003
- Location
- Claremont, California
- Moto(s)
- broken one's
- Name
- Eldrick
- BARF perks
- AMA #3347697
I'm along for the ride, looks like you all had fun!
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Glad y'all are enjoying, I'm having fun remembering what we did while putting up these posts!
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Section 4: Alcova to Atlantic City
This one sounded like a big day, first section was a remote 148 mile stretch so we made sure we had spare gas leaving Alcova. This was also the day I checked my tire pressure and realized I'd been running in the mids 20s so far. I guess I should be impressed I didn't do worse? I dropped the tired down to a more reasonable 18psi and sliding the rear around got a lot easier to control.
I was pleased upon waking up to find that my hand was no worse than yesterday, a little stiff starting out, but not so painful as to impact the ride, it would just let me know it was on bumps or when operating the clutch.
Starting out we were pretty quickly back on dirt and the weather, and views was perfect.
There was a "deep sand" section on this route which I was bracing for, as the deep sand section on the CABDR was as advertised. We took a quick break by this interesting looking cattle herding thing... yeah I don't know how cowing work is done, but it does produces tasty things to eat.
We me two guys from Seattle who were doing the BDR on their CRF250Ls, I chatted with them for a bit before they headed off, nice guys, we'd see them a few more times along the route.
The sand two track wasn't bad on the DRZ as long as momentum was maintained, so not too many pictures. I stopped at a gate to wait for everyone and take some pics.
While I was waiting two guys rolled up on a KTM and Africa Twin. Turns out they'd ridden all the was from Tennessee or thereabouts to then ride this route. They mentioned they really wished they were on their dual-sports today and that this section was wearing them down. I was just impressed that they rode to and from somewhere that far.
Everyone showed up, aside from the Seattle guys, but they'd told me their pace was sight seeing so no worries there. Closed up the gate and off we went. Shortly after that I had a wild horse sighting and managed to get a picture. This sort of sighting would turn out not to be all that rare.
I'm being dragged to brunch now, more on this later...
This one sounded like a big day, first section was a remote 148 mile stretch so we made sure we had spare gas leaving Alcova. This was also the day I checked my tire pressure and realized I'd been running in the mids 20s so far. I guess I should be impressed I didn't do worse? I dropped the tired down to a more reasonable 18psi and sliding the rear around got a lot easier to control.
I was pleased upon waking up to find that my hand was no worse than yesterday, a little stiff starting out, but not so painful as to impact the ride, it would just let me know it was on bumps or when operating the clutch.
Starting out we were pretty quickly back on dirt and the weather, and views was perfect.
There was a "deep sand" section on this route which I was bracing for, as the deep sand section on the CABDR was as advertised. We took a quick break by this interesting looking cattle herding thing... yeah I don't know how cowing work is done, but it does produces tasty things to eat.
We me two guys from Seattle who were doing the BDR on their CRF250Ls, I chatted with them for a bit before they headed off, nice guys, we'd see them a few more times along the route.
The sand two track wasn't bad on the DRZ as long as momentum was maintained, so not too many pictures. I stopped at a gate to wait for everyone and take some pics.
While I was waiting two guys rolled up on a KTM and Africa Twin. Turns out they'd ridden all the was from Tennessee or thereabouts to then ride this route. They mentioned they really wished they were on their dual-sports today and that this section was wearing them down. I was just impressed that they rode to and from somewhere that far.
Everyone showed up, aside from the Seattle guys, but they'd told me their pace was sight seeing so no worries there. Closed up the gate and off we went. Shortly after that I had a wild horse sighting and managed to get a picture. This sort of sighting would turn out not to be all that rare.
I'm being dragged to brunch now, more on this later...
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
The road continued on into the distance and slowly started climbing in elevation headed towards something called Beaver Rim. It was a pretty fun road, rocky in placed rutted in places, sandy washes in places.
Only had one close call when I was lulled into complacency by a smooth section only crest a ridge and find a deep rut full of big rocks. I tried the brakes but the front just started sliding in the loose dirt. I hit the first big rock and go bounced off the pegs doing what I can the on bike spread eagles (legs straight and kicked out on either side of the bike) at the same time, going from standing to abruptly sitting resulted in a little extra throttle which resulted in me and the bike plowing through the remaining rocks and obstacles as if I meant to do that. Sweet.
When I got the ridge I was well ahead of the rest of my group and I was more than happy to take a break.
I had some time to myself before the guys finally caught up and it was kind of nice to just sit there and take it in.
Still taking it in
Continuing to take it in...
Those rocks look weird... where are those guys?
After a long enough time that I sent a message on my InReach the guys showed up. I assume I was just much faster than them. It would only be later when I was looking at our shared album I'd see they stopped for some important business
Nerds.
Obviously they wanted to take a break and get photos when they got to the ridge so, I took more pictures.
Artsy moment
Happy bike
And of course a selfie
We continued long the the road and it eventually turned away from the rim and meandered through pasture land. Cows and their leavings abounded.
I don't think I'm good at cow selfies, but I wasn't willing to see how close they'd let me get.
Plenty more wide open Wyoming views along the way.
The road widened up but apparently required caution...
And we were on the home stretch to Atlantic City
The last bit was really fun, a wide rocky road with lots of twists and turns that were easy and fun to hammer through. I didn't stop for pictures again until we pulled into Atlantic City
Only had one close call when I was lulled into complacency by a smooth section only crest a ridge and find a deep rut full of big rocks. I tried the brakes but the front just started sliding in the loose dirt. I hit the first big rock and go bounced off the pegs doing what I can the on bike spread eagles (legs straight and kicked out on either side of the bike) at the same time, going from standing to abruptly sitting resulted in a little extra throttle which resulted in me and the bike plowing through the remaining rocks and obstacles as if I meant to do that. Sweet.
When I got the ridge I was well ahead of the rest of my group and I was more than happy to take a break.
I had some time to myself before the guys finally caught up and it was kind of nice to just sit there and take it in.
Still taking it in
Continuing to take it in...
Those rocks look weird... where are those guys?
After a long enough time that I sent a message on my InReach the guys showed up. I assume I was just much faster than them. It would only be later when I was looking at our shared album I'd see they stopped for some important business
Nerds.
Obviously they wanted to take a break and get photos when they got to the ridge so, I took more pictures.
Artsy moment
Happy bike
And of course a selfie
We continued long the the road and it eventually turned away from the rim and meandered through pasture land. Cows and their leavings abounded.
I don't think I'm good at cow selfies, but I wasn't willing to see how close they'd let me get.
Plenty more wide open Wyoming views along the way.
The road widened up but apparently required caution...
And we were on the home stretch to Atlantic City
The last bit was really fun, a wide rocky road with lots of twists and turns that were easy and fun to hammer through. I didn't stop for pictures again until we pulled into Atlantic City
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2002
- Location
- Menlo Park, Ca.
- Moto(s)
- Keep me rocking life
- Name
- Budman
- BARF perks
- AMA Life Member #203453
Love the pic of Atlantic City Mercantile....
Carry on please.
Carry on please.
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Love the pic of Atlantic City Mercantile....
Carry on please.
Thanks guys!
N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Louis Lake Lodge
We stopped in at Miners Grbustake for a drink and a meal as we were about 30 minutes from our stay for the night at Louis Lake Lodge (I referred to it as "Lois" which the Gal who owned the place found amusing).
The couple that ran the place had about as much character as the bar and were really fun to chat with, food was good as well!
She and her husband owned and ran the place and had moved out here from somewhere in Northern Cali (my memory fails me) after falling in love with the place on a moto road trip years ago. She mentioned they were looking to get out of the place at some point and scale back as they were both getting towards retirement now, seemed to be a fairly common theme along our route, people aging out of their businesses and putting them up for sale. I had my moments where I thought it things were different it'd be an interesting move.
Meal was an open face steak sandwich which I failed to take a picture of, but it was excellent. The guys from Seattle showed up while we were finishing up along with another guy on a very nice look Tenere 700 who they'd met along the way.
At this point I came to learn that a lodge in Wyoming is not the fancy resort it sounds like. Luckily the place had food to go so we bought some chef boyarde ravioli cans as a bunch of snacks and beer and hustled off after realizing check-in "ended" in an hour.
I hit reserve as we started to climb up to the lodge and ran dry about 100 yards from the driveway, no worries, my buddy with the WR had gone with the Safari tank for this trip, so worst case I'd just siphon some of his gas if I needed it. The folks running the lodge instead sold me a gallon from they had for the various motors one needs to maintain a lodge in the forest.
The Lodge
We had rooms in the Lodge which had electricity and hot water and some college kid who was the "host" and I think may have been hired specifically for our stay to keep an eye on us. When we got there he was cooking dinner in shorts and a t-shirt but later came out of his room very cowboyed up. We figured he had a date or something, but naw, he just hung out in the lodge all night
Two of us decided to go check out the lake while our other buddy caught a nap (these naps made me suspect he was still feeling that header a bit, so I was glad he could get some rest).
We got back and warmed up dinner as the lodge had a nice well stocked kitchen and cracked open some beers to enjoy the evening, the lodge had a firepit and all the firewood you could want so I was excited to get a fire going.
Which I did, with the help of some gas and a napkin.
Right about the time it got dark it started to rain so we retreated to the porch and watched the fire fight for life valiantly. The rain would pass and return again before things finally cleared up, the fire prevailed (with a little gas to wake it up) and we were able to enjoy the rest of the night in surprisingly nice rooms considering the cost of our stay.
We stopped in at Miners Grbustake for a drink and a meal as we were about 30 minutes from our stay for the night at Louis Lake Lodge (I referred to it as "Lois" which the Gal who owned the place found amusing).
The couple that ran the place had about as much character as the bar and were really fun to chat with, food was good as well!
She and her husband owned and ran the place and had moved out here from somewhere in Northern Cali (my memory fails me) after falling in love with the place on a moto road trip years ago. She mentioned they were looking to get out of the place at some point and scale back as they were both getting towards retirement now, seemed to be a fairly common theme along our route, people aging out of their businesses and putting them up for sale. I had my moments where I thought it things were different it'd be an interesting move.
Meal was an open face steak sandwich which I failed to take a picture of, but it was excellent. The guys from Seattle showed up while we were finishing up along with another guy on a very nice look Tenere 700 who they'd met along the way.
At this point I came to learn that a lodge in Wyoming is not the fancy resort it sounds like. Luckily the place had food to go so we bought some chef boyarde ravioli cans as a bunch of snacks and beer and hustled off after realizing check-in "ended" in an hour.
I hit reserve as we started to climb up to the lodge and ran dry about 100 yards from the driveway, no worries, my buddy with the WR had gone with the Safari tank for this trip, so worst case I'd just siphon some of his gas if I needed it. The folks running the lodge instead sold me a gallon from they had for the various motors one needs to maintain a lodge in the forest.
The Lodge
We had rooms in the Lodge which had electricity and hot water and some college kid who was the "host" and I think may have been hired specifically for our stay to keep an eye on us. When we got there he was cooking dinner in shorts and a t-shirt but later came out of his room very cowboyed up. We figured he had a date or something, but naw, he just hung out in the lodge all night
Two of us decided to go check out the lake while our other buddy caught a nap (these naps made me suspect he was still feeling that header a bit, so I was glad he could get some rest).
We got back and warmed up dinner as the lodge had a nice well stocked kitchen and cracked open some beers to enjoy the evening, the lodge had a firepit and all the firewood you could want so I was excited to get a fire going.
Which I did, with the help of some gas and a napkin.
Right about the time it got dark it started to rain so we retreated to the porch and watched the fire fight for life valiantly. The rain would pass and return again before things finally cleared up, the fire prevailed (with a little gas to wake it up) and we were able to enjoy the rest of the night in surprisingly nice rooms considering the cost of our stay.
These are both places I would like to visit someday
http://minersgrubstakedredge.com/
https://louislake.com/
http://minersgrubstakedredge.com/
https://louislake.com/
bikewanker
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2006
- Location
- Eastern Sierras
- Moto(s)
- FJ-09, TR-650x2, Rapid Taxi RR, Tiger 1050, ZX-6r, '81 1002 F
- Name
- chris
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- AMA #: 178394
Good reading of two wheeled fun!
Thank you
Thank you
cal scott
Wookie
Enjoying the read. Thanks for sharing.