Section 8 is a mere 40 miles, but it is an out and back essentially; so you have to plan for at least 80 before you get back to Burgess Junction. You can skip some of the dirt by going down 14 on pavement if you want. Scott and I did not take that route. We were here for the dirt and it was great.
The route terminus is at the Crow Reservation in Montana. I was both excited and a little sad because the 80 miles was gonna fly by and then it was back to reality.
The roads start out easy and we knew this because of their 2 digit markings.
Quickly the road climbed into the backcountry.
Still easy riding. We were the first out this way. No tracks were in front. The rain yesterday kept the dust down.
Somewhere out there is the end.
Why is the road still so easy??
Mostly a westward track over the small passes.
Scott continued to indulge me with my often repeated stops to drink it in.
Sometimes as you would climb, the only thing you could see was the sky as it met the horizon. It seems novel, but it doesn’t work like that back home.
Only a few miles out of Burgess Jct, snow was still holding on. This close to the lodge/resort there are tons of people remote camping. I can totally see why this is a mecca for boondockers. .
Riding to the horizon is something special. .
Just when you think you’re pretty special, the world reminds you ain’t. In the distance a lone female is out running with her dog.
I guess I will just believe she is a super marathoner or something.
Back to the horizon.
The trail got smaller and progressively more steep and more rugged. Nothing phases Scott. I thanked him many times for riding along and doing it the hard way with shuffling his truck and bike back and forth between sections. His only response was a minimally sarcastic “Yeah, your welcome, Just take me out and make me ride my motorcycle”.
To the horizon shall we go.
I know the Top of the World Highway is over by Beartooth, but this is the off road version. We seem to be at the top here.
But the horizon is not ready to give in yet.
We gotta drop down onto 14 for a short pavement ride.
Pavement is often not appreciated on a BDR, but if you know 14, it’s some of the best in the US.
The pullouts and overlooks here are amazing, even from the pavement.
Right off the pavement, a few miles in, we got into a bunch of traffic.
Not sure of the protocol, so we just lag behind until a real cowboy comes up and tells us to “Ease on through, we are pushing them up the road anyway.”
So we got to “participate” in a cattle drive. The Bon Jovi lyric “Steel Horse Cowboys” from Wanted Dead or Alive came to mind albeit fleetingly. Lol. The dogs were amazing to watch work. They were magical in handling their duty.
Back up in the hills. The Horizon Ride continues.
The Washington guys took the pavement and are coming back from the terminus.
Scott and I say our farewells to the guys. They are a great guys who I will always appreciate for taking in a “Stray”
Scott and I had a little more to go.
It seemed like the ridges just kept coming.
One more maybe? The anticipation was real.
Another one? I had seen the sign plenty of times in others’ reports, it has to be close.
But it’s not. One more ridge.
I guess it’s down there.
Hidden away, much like our historic treatment of the Native Americans.
Helmets required in Montana says the GPS.
As a former History teacher, being this close to the reservation was a little weird knowing all that happened to push them here. Now, I’m not a snowflake that doesn’t understand how countries are conquers and that is as historic as time itself. I guess you can’t pull the teacher out of person even if I am not still teaching. It’s just a part of the inquisitive nature of education. Not a political statement or issue. Certainly not for here.
The gate was open and there were tracks from a side by side leading onto the Reservation.
The difference from one side of the fence to the other means “so much”, but the flowers were just as beautiful on both sides.
I wish the side by side driver would have come back to have a chat.
The phone location must have been off a little.
I kept up the practice of picking up a few stones from each place along the trip. It’s a thing I have been doing for years and I will explain more later.
I coerced Scott to take a couple selfies to confirm our completion of the BDR.
Then it was back toward Burgess Jct.
The ride back was not a let down at all. Going back I think I heard Scott say something the BMW guys say “You haven’t ridden a road until you’ve ridden it both ways”. Seems true in this case.
Got back to pick up the truck and we quickly loaded up both bikes in Scott’s truck. A few hours and we were at Big John’s. His wonderful wife made cookies and send me a healthy ziploc baggy full. John made me a great brisket wrap too.
I sent him this picture. I would like to say that the cookies made it to Rapid City, but that would be false.
It’s 1,052 miles home. You can figure out they didn’t last long. .
I pulled over somewhere in Minnesota and got a few hours sleep. The weather was good enough to just blow up the air mattress and sleep next to the bike in the bed of the truck.
I got home the next day and pulled together my rock collection. One for each section starting in the top left with the Red Desert BDRX. Bridger Peak section 1 and so on, you get the idea.
I put them in my rock garden at the front of the house.
All the rocks by the hosta are from trips.
I stopped by Sam’s club and bought my wife flowers and a couple Tomahawks. I think she was more appreciative of the ribeyes.
I have been gone for over a week, but this makes it all better.
I sifted through all the pics and started thinking about all the memories we just created.
I will wrap a few more details soon. I just want to again thanks John, Scott, and all the Washington & Canadian guys. It was a bucket list trip and I learned so much for the next trip.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
