DAY RIDE: Yellowstone/Chief Joseph Scenic Highway

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Warchild

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Last weekend, I was staff for an Endurance Riding event known as the Good, Bad, & Ugly Rally, held in Big Sky, Montana.

After the riders departed the Start Line at 5am, staff was free to play themselves the rest of the day. Since it has been almost a decade since I have seen Beartooth Highway, Chief Joseph Highway and Yellowstone, I though I'd quickly map out a little day ride for me, starting/ending in Big Sky Meadow Village:

GBU_DayRide.jpg


Above is ~ 425 miles of motorcycling bliss.... Yellowstone National Park, Beartooh Pass Highway, Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, and the amazing decent into Cody, Wyoming before again riding through the heart of Yellowstone Park for the second time that day before returning to Big Sky!

Below, I am at the West Entrance to Yellowstone - despite the massive tourist numbers in mid-summer, this is still one of the finest motorcycling parks in the nation....

GBU_YNP.jpg


There are a LOT of buffaloes in Yellowstone..... best to ride gentle around these Bad Boyz... :blink:

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After departing the park at the Northeast Entrance, I decided to skip the heavy construction at the summit at Beartooth (with its 30-min pilot car waiting!), and went down the equally awe-inspiring Chief Joseph Scenic Highway:

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This road is simply beyond phenomenal in every way...... check out these summer colors:

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As you can clearly see, some of this Chief Joseph Scenic Highway has some serious technical curves and hairpins as it ascends:

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Here is Sunlight Bridge... one of the most awesome vistas in the country:

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After a stunningly fast descent into Cody, Wyoming, how could I *not* stop at the world-famous Silver Dollar Saloon in downtown Cody for an Angus burger.... doesn't get much more "western" than this!

silverDollarSaloon.jpg


While only 425 miles in length, this ride still took a hefty 10 hours to complete, primarily due to tourists, buffaloes, and the fact that I stopped often to take in the awesomeness of this part of the West.... :punk:

 
As you can clearly see, some of this Chief Joseph Scenic Highway has some serious technical curves and hairpins as it ascends:

1000pxchief_joseph_road_large.jpg
Great pictures! This one is my favorite! WOW!
I like this one to, I bagged it on the way home from Golden and did the Bear Tooth that day to.

Thanks Dale reminds me that I want to get back there!

 
I am heading out that direction and have not yet charted the path to California. Beartooth and Chief Joseph are high on the list of "do not miss". Did Beartooth last year, and would love to see the Chief Joseph which I passed and missed out on. Thanks for the motivation as we prepare to turn west again.

 
For those looking to the Chief Joseph this summer, you will find lots of fresh tar snakes on the section that is shown in the picture. This 7 or so miles is the only part with the tar and was not all that bad. I would recommend the part Dale skipped going over the pass and into Red Lodge. Lots of nice corners up that way and very manageable traffic.

 
WC: I think I saw you last weekend--I also rode Beartooth and Yellowstone sat and sun...

I was solo on a black FJR and remember a 'busa with touring gear going other direction. I saw about 5 FJR's--one guy was with a goldwing. We passed opposite directions saturday, then again sunday--apparently running a loop opposite directions.

Also stopped and talked to a guy from Seattle on an JFR, then saw 2 dark blue ones leaving Cooke City MT on Sunday both w/passengers.

The highlight for motorcycle sighting though was Saturday, trapped in traffic in Teton park crossing into Yellowstone. I got behind a guy on a Ducati and a girl on a ninja w/touring gear, Colorado plates. She was bent way over in that racebike position, long blond ponytail flapping out of her helmet. If you're stuck following, you could do a lot worse than keeping your eye on that! :D

 
WC: I think I saw you last weekend--I also rode Beartooth and Yellowstone sat and sun...

I was solo on a black FJR and remember a 'busa with touring gear going other direction.
Yep, I remember you..... I'll bet many/most of the FJRs you saw where from the Good, Bad & Ugly rally....

 
WC

Those are great photo's. What kind of camera are you using. Don't tell me it is a simple point and shoot. I was out there last September, both roads were the highlight of our trip...come to think of it, we were in Red Lodge at Subway at 6;30 and then in Clyde Park with a smashed up FJR aka WarchildLike Deer Hit hmmm right around 8:30pm

Willie

 
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WC

Those are great photo's. What kind of camera are you using. Don't tell me it is a simple point and shoot.
Not all of these are my photos... had to find the landscape-only photos on google. But for my photos (with the Busa)... yes, a point-n-shoot. It's an Olympus Stylus Tough model 1030SW... It's a quasi-decent camera.

 
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Thanks for sharing Dale.

The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway is unbelievably beautiful and scary fun at the same time.... The mark of a truly great motorcycle road! It is on my bucketlist of "must do rides". The closet I came was riding Bears Tooths pass last year in the middle of the night on the IB5000...

 
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Nice write-up and choice of roads, WC.

On that Sunday(24th), we rode from West Yellowstone out to Red Lodge via Beartooth, then back thru Beartooth to Chief Joseph and into Cody. It was a great day of riding. Here is mine from mid-late afternoon on Sunday:

IMG_1504.jpg


The tar snakes were plentiful on that side.

...then saw 2 dark blue ones leaving Cooke City MT on Sunday both w/passengers.
This may have been my friend and I. We were both 2-up on '05s. My wife and I were both wearing 'stiches, mine was Hi-viz/black and hers was just the opposite.

 
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