Whoo - I think I am still decompressing and absorbing this latest trip. I kicked off 19 June and signed in to my next duty station on 19 July. I was on the move for the overwhelming majority of that time on my motorcycle. Catherine and the kids/young adults drove to Memphis - I'll let her tell that story if she wants. Suffice it to say, as of the 20th, they still aren't here.
I got a nice, early start to my trip. I had originally planned to ride around Mt. Rainier, but since Chinook and Cayuse passes were open, I took a chance. There was still plenty of snow at altitude, but the roads were clear.
I made my way through central and eastern Washington, to include a trip to Palouse Falls. I camped for the night at Field Springs State Park, which was a nice way to finish the day. There were a couple of RV'ers there, but they were quiet.
Next day I headed south and thoroughly enjoyed riding the Rattlesnake Grade through Washington and into Oregon. The road was amazing, switching from high desert into montane and sub-alpine terrain. I continued on through the Wallowa area and Hells Canyon. Both of those areas deserve more time to really explore!
However, I was on a schedule and needed to get to Idaho (Nampa - near Boise) for an off-road motorcycle course.
The course was two days of in the field instruction followed by a day of riding, really putting those lessons into practice. I am really pleased with how I did, only a couple of falls (deep sand, loose rock) - really only hurt feelings/pride! The course really paid for itself immediately after, and again here in Pennsylvania. The photo below is one that the instructor/school took - this was a very tame section, but still not to be underestimated on a 500# bike!
Part of the appeal to the trip for me was to put the course into action. We actually rode fairly close to the Leslie Gulch area for our instruction, but I had planned to go there camping. Once the course was done, I got up the next morning with a fully loaded bike and headed deep into the Owyhee wilderness for a night. They have these amazing volcanic tuff rocks/towers that I really wanted to experience first-hand.
I had the campground to myself, which was a treat. I got up close to midnight to photograph the Milky Way core coming up over the tuff. I am pretty pleased with how those turned out.
I was supposed to camp the next night at Seven Devil's campground in Idaho, but the campground wasn't open. The roads were cleared all the way to the top (9,000'ish feet) from snow, but downed trees kept the campground closed. I still wanted to see the lake, so I rode up to see it. It was a bit of a challenge to find, mostly because the trails to it were still covered in snow, and finding rocks to hop on (to spare the soft grasses and flowers) was time consuming...but totally worth it! I rode back down into 95*F temps and decided to find a hotel, with AC. The next morning I rode into Montana and spent a night weathering thunderstorms. I then made my way to Yellowstone National Park.
I camped at the Madison campground on the west side of Yellowstone. I got up to photograph the Milky Way and was treated to some pink airglow (northern lights?). The photo below captures the entire Milky Way arch - basically a 180* panorama!
I'll end with the bison story (well, the first one). As I was leaving Yellowstone, I got caught behind some dufus in a white car. He stopped to iPhone photograph a bison on the (driver's) side of the road, stopping over the double yellow line (meaning no one could get past him). He eventually moved on, but the bison decided to cross the road at the same time. It was just me and the bison - no car to protect me if he decided to charge. He stopped in my lane, swiveled his big fat head to stare at me for 15-30 seconds. I didn't make eye contact to avoid provoking a charge - which either worked or didn't - but he didn't charge. He eventually meandered into the meadow on the other side of the rode, and I was able to make an escape. I hope to never repeat such a situation again!
Cheers,
Marc
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