Nebraska, Ponca State Park

Yellowstone Road Trip -- Day 7:  One more stop, I turn south off the interstate to the country roads and a small state park in Nebraska.  Ponca State Park, just outside of Sioux City is a hidden gem overlooking the Missouri River.

Missouri River

Even with a $5 entrance fee, Ponca State Park is worth a visit.  The park sits atop towering bluffs with the park roads winding from the bluff top to the river's edge.

Restored riparian wetlands

The Army Corp of Engineers has reversed the years of flood control here.  They removed the wing dams to allow the river to return to its natural state of sand bars and meandering backwater channels. 

Following the jeep trails, I wandered through the wetlands spooking an enormous Bald Eagle and many delightful swarms of butterflies.

The park roads feature some fun climbs and descents

The perfect spot for lunch!

Finished with the last ride of the road trip, I loaded the bike and went looking for a large cup of coffee.  Next stop, home -- only 8 hours away.

State:	Nebraska
Date:	2014-08-13
Route:	Park loop road and jeep trails
Distance:	10 miles

South Dakota, George S. Mikelson Trail, Black Hills

Yellowstone Road Trip -- Day 6:  After a detour to the Fetterman Memorial, I arrive in the Black Hills around 1 pm.  The George S. Michelson Trail is a rails-to-trails project with the first six miles opened in 1991.  It now runs over 100 miles through the heart of South Dakota's Black Hills.

The trail follows the old Burlington Northern right-of-way.

I drive to the nearest trail head in a panic, "You're wasting the day -- get going!" I tell myself.  As I'm unloading my bike, a squall line passes over giving everything a quick rinse.  As a concession, I add rain gear to my backpack and jump on the bike.  Showers or not, we are riding today.

High in the Black Hills

Soon the sky clears, and I am climbing steadily 1,200 ft. to the trail's high point of about 6,200 ft.  This trail is special and deserves more than a day, but a day is all I have so I press on as fast as I can.

Deer crossing

"Ride, ride, ride, gonna let it ride" -- my version of the BTO song.

The elevation profile of today's ride is a long climb and then a long descent.  As I ride further and further down, I can't help think that every foot down is a foot I will have to climb back up on the return trip.

The first of four tunnels

The perfect spot for lunch!

One of many bridges

"God bless biking" at mile marker 85

After a quick lunch, I reverse course.  Again I climb to the trail's summit and then a 13-mile glide back to the van.  I barely turned the crank on the way down, but my hands are cramping from the effort of hanging on.  Sweet!

More deer

Next stop, Wall, SD.

State:	South Dakota
Date:	2014-08-13
Route:	Kirk trail head to mile marker 85
Distance:	40 miles

Wyoming, Fetterman Battlefield

Yellowstone Road Trip -- Day 6:  Sometimes you find a second wind driving through the night and I managed to drive 400 miles to Sheridan, Wyoming the previous evening.  Today, I have another long drive to ride the Black Hills, but after 30 miles, I am drawn to the sign "Fetterman Battlefield Monument" and exit Interstate 90 to explore.  Just a few miles off the Interstate is a lonely but handsome memorial for a small group of US Calvary that were ambushed and wiped out by the Red Cloud's Sioux. 

Fetterman Memorial

"There were no survivors."

Recently politically-correct signage has been added to point out that "there were no survivors" is not accurate as the Native Americans survived.  I agree that the monument is one-sided in its view point, but if we want to be even-handed, let's add a monument for the Sioux, slightly taller, that reads, "We kicked their asses.  There were no survivors!"

For bikers looking for a break from interstate driving, I recommend parking at Fort Phil Kearney (there is a small entrance fee) and then riding to the monument.  I rode the interpretive trail on my mountain bike and then rode the access road down to the fort.  I don't know if the interpretive trail is bike-legal.  The local cattle certainly didn't think so as they scattered at the sight of me and my bike.

Cattle running off, lowing and making quite a fuss.  The local rancher is probably wondering what's got into the herd.

You can still see the wagon wheels ruts of the Bozeman Trail

A dead end road, the only other visitor was a guy "walking" his dog by driving his pickup along the shoulder while his dog ran along side in the grass.

Wild Turkeys

State:	Wyoming
Date:	2014-08-13
Route:	Fetterman Battlefield Access Road and Interpretive Trail
Distance:	6 miles (with a nice hill climb)

Idaho / Montana, Red Rock Lake Wildlife Refuge

Yellowstone Road Trip -- Day 5: At last I was free to do some serious riding and today would be the featured ride of the whole road trip.  The RV park agreed to let me park for the day, so I jumped on my bike and headed up the Red Rock Pass.

Burning sunlight, let's get going!

Range land north of Henry's Lake

This horse appeared lost wandering along the road.

After all the warning signs, I see bear at last.  On Red Rock Road just below the pass, I rounded the bend and there it was rambling down the gravel road.  Admittedly, it was a smallish black bear, but still a thrill.  It paused long enough to check me out and for me to get a photo before it disappeared off to the side.  I paused long enough for the bear to put some distance between us and then rode on to the continental divide. 

A bear!

Free range cattle

Bear warning signs are as common here as no parking signs in Chicago.

Riding over the continental divide always suggests a herculean effort, but this was only a 1000 ft. elevation change.  

A friend of ours, Ruth Gray, shared her bicycle blog (www.ruthgraytravels.blogspot.com) and, what do you know, we were in the same place a year apart.

Montana!

OK, now I'm getting a little nervous.

This refuge is considered one of the wildest places in North America.

Very cool remote campus!

So after touring the small visitor center, I turn around.  But before I head back to Idaho, I decide to check out some potential single track.   

The map in the visitor's center shows the Odell Creek Trail runs several miles into the woods which might be the perfect spot for lunch.  I turn off the gravel road and immediately I'm riding a sliver of trail through dense underbrush.  "It's too hairy!" After a few feet I turn around and return to the road.

As soon I get the road, I turn around again.  "Come on, man! You've driven four days to get here."  And with that I turn around again and ride determinedly through the underbrush.  

Wham!  Whoa!  Endo!

After a 100 feet, I hit a hidden log and I endo over my handle bars landing on my back spread-eagled in the undergrowth with my bike perfectly balanced on its seat and handlebars.  Undamaged, I pick myself up and keep riding.  Soon the underbrush gives way to a nice piece of single track.  Riding on, I climb into the Centennial Mountains looking for a nice lunch spot.

The perfect spot for lunch!

Alone in the woods, I try to contemplate the meaning of life -- but mostly I'm thinking about bears.  Not smallish black bears that run at the first sight of me.  I'm thinking about Grizzly Bears.  Grizzly Bears that think what a mountain biker might need is a good gnawing.  Quietly I chew my turkey wrap keeping a careful watch and after a few handfuls of trail mix, I ride back down the trail.  Unlike the slow climb, now I am quickly descending, jumping rocks and flying through the turns with the speed sure to surprise all but the quickest of animals.  If I ride up on a Grizzly this way, it's sure get annoyed.  Unsure if it will warn or infuriate, I whistle loudly every few seconds until I reach the relative safety the of the road.

Upper Red Rock Lake

At one of the primitive campgrounds, I stop to get water where I find the following warning, "Caution Grizzly Bear in vicinity of Odell Creek Trail."  In my mind, I picture a large Grizzly Bear munching on some berries in the undergrowth while watching a brightly-clothed whistling biker riding by.  "That jackass might need a good gnawing," thinks the bear, but before it can decide the biker has disappeared down the trail. "OK, but next time, definitely gnawed."

Now you tell me!

Centennial Valley,MT

Heirloom cattle with an attitude

Over the pass, I fly down the road using all of my bike's shocks and knobs.  Back to the RV park, I load the bike into the Family Truckster and start the long drive back to Chicago.  Was it worth four days of driving for this day?  Hell Yea!

On the road again

Cowboys driving a herd of horses

Too much driving!

My route through Grizzly Bear country

State:	Idaho & Montana
Date:	2014-08-12
Route:	Henry's Lake to Red Rock Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center
Distance:	50 miles