Last little leg.

I have no idea why I have been putting this off. I am sure people aren't waiting and reading anymore but I need to put this little bit back in.

We woke up at the campsite and my father was able to sleep well on MY air mattress and the one he brought deflated and made for a rough night. So enough I would be in a bed so no big deal. We got camp all packed up and hit the road. My dad lead for a bit and showed me a few things around Winthrop then I took over and made our way up in to the North Cascades National Park.

Now the wild thing was I have been in quite a few national parks and they always seemed like a circus. You waited in line to pay to get in then fought traffic albeit in the most beautiful places you will see. North Cascades National Park is none of those things. You just hop on HWY 20 and ride through it and it's just as beautiful and the rest of them.

There looked like a bit of clouds hanging around the mountain tops but we didn't expect to see a little bit of snow on the ride over the pass or for it to be 40 degrees. Needless to say I was freezing. I got all of my gear together thinking it was late summer and I will be riding through desert. It then rained off and on down the other side of the mountains. We stopped for a hotdog and when we did it absolutely poured rain. Luckily we didn't ride in the worst of it. From this point on knowing I would be done with the trip was a little surreal but it also seemed to drag on. Part of me wanted to just finish it because I was so close. The other part wanted to rest a few days and head out again. I knew that I needed to get on with the rest of my plans and get ready for school. Well if you are reading this there is going to be one more final post to put it all together. This really was a trip of a life time. But it wont be the last.

MT to WA, This post is out of order I apologize.

Today started about 400 miles ago. I am meeting my father in Wintrop tomorrow and wanted tomorrow to be an easy day so I poured on the throttle today. Lots of beautiful country. I thought at one point I was coming down out of the mountains but every corner I took around one mountain another one showed up! I few miles outside of Missula, MT I followed a river for about 100 miles so there was always something to look at on the road. I pretty much stopped to get gas, food, and my buns a rest for a few minuets. I was thankful that most of the labor day traffic was headed in the other direction.

On the ride I was trying to figure out what my total milage for the trip will be and that's one thing on this trip I wish I had done is keep and accurate account of the milage. On a guestimate I think it will be in the neighborhood of 8000 miles. Thats more miles than driving to the Atlantic coast and back, pretty wild stuff.

I was a little bit worried about finding a place to stay tonight. On the first try though I found a camp site. Its right on Lake Rosevelt (Columbia River) and it was practically empty. It's on a cove which is pretty much dried up so maybe that's the reason it's empty. Well I only have about 150 miles to Winthrop and I should make that by noon, easy.

Camp to Winthrop

Today I couldn't help but wake up early because in a few hours I knew I would be seeing a familure face. I was up and dawn and had to slow my self down so I wouldn't get on the road too early and end up waiting. So I was awake and stirring around so I decided to change my route then I found out that my Dad had left earlier than planned so I just flew right towards Winthrop. I was expecting a lot of traffic but was pretty much on my own until I got just out of Twisp, then it was a mad house. I finally made it to Winthrop and just I got into town I saw another 1200 gs and wasn't sure if it was my dad then I saw him a few feet from the bike so I slid the bike it through traffic and made it. We had lunch then went searching for a camp ground and again the first one we stopped at had a few spaces left so we set up the tent and dropped a few things off. We then headed further up the river and down a gravel road. We rode for several miles of gravel roads just exploring. Most of it my Dad has been on but in a truck. But I did fordge through my first river! Ok it was a concret gully and the water was only 2 inches deep but I went through it on the bike! We spent several hours just cruzing around then got back into town grabbed some beers and a few supplies and now we are just hanging out. It's finally nice to have some one at camp with you.

The trip isn't over quite yet but I still feel like I made a major milestone in the big picture. About 150 miles to go tomorrow then I will be home and ready to start the next chapter in what is called life...

Yellowstone NP to Hamilton, MT

I was surprise this morning to see not a cloud in the sky which really brightened my day. It was f-ing cold though. I put on almost every layer of clothing I had on to get out of the campsite. Also this morning I almost forgot my Camelback, I got about 4 miles down the road before I had to turn back and grab it. I am lucky that this whole trip thats the only thing I have almost forgotten. The road has been pretty straight and fast again, the highway speed is 70 MPH. It has been mostly rolling hills and farm land. Thankfully there is so much to see on the road and they have decided to chip and seal the road instead of just putting down road snakes. For those of you who don't know road snakes is the tar they put in the cracks of the road to preserve them. For a motorcycle they are spots of not much traction so you feel the front tire slip and grip along the corners where they have placed road snakes.

I haven't regretted much this trip, but there were two old mining towns I wish I had stopped at but didn't here in Montana. I kept riding and was trying to find a camp ground but I was pretty sore from the last few days so I decided to grab a hotel here in Hamilton and grabbed some food and now just going to look for the next route to bring me to Winthrop, WA to meet up with my Dad before the trip to Anacortes.

Grand Teton NP to Yellowstone NP

It was a very cold and wet start today. I slept a little longer hoping the rain would pass, but it did not. I spent the morning under some trees to keep dry until I got everything put away. Then I rode back into Jackson to supply up on a cup of joe and some gas then headed north towards Yellowstone. Couldn't really see much on the trip up the clouds were low enough to cover up all the peaks and the roads were wet so I was really concentrating. When I arrived at the Yellowstone Park gate there was a sign that said traction tires advised and was a little worried. I talked to the ranger and they said they had that up for people to be cautious but there was no snow on the pass. Needless to say I was really worried and took my time getting up to the pass but it turns out that it stayed right about 50 degrees and when I was just about to the pass the roads were all dry. I some how had forgotten that all the Yellowstone gysers and geothermal events are quite far into the park. But I made it to Old Faithful and didn't have to wait too long to see her go up. Then I walked around the gyser field and checked things out. They have a new HUGE visitors center up there now right next to the original lodge. They weather stayed good enough to enjoy myself but then I saw some clouds moving in and was in a bit of a hurry to get to camp and set up. Luckily not a drop of rain sence this morning. I got camp all set up and had some food then walked down to Firehole River and found some warm springs that dumped right out into the river and the whole river had little bubbles coming up from the bottom. When I was engrosed by mother nature she surprised me again. I hear what sounded like fat kids stomping down the hill to the river but I turned and looked and a bull Elk ran right between me and the camp. He crossed the river and went on his merry way. He was only about 20 yards away with those huge antlers. Well tomorrow looks like it will be dry all the clouds have moved on but then again thats what I said last night.

Jackson to Grand Teton National Park

I was foiled again this morning by the elusive Alpine slide. The day before was rain and today at 10 am they didn't open till 11, I could have waiting but thought it best to press on because the weather looked iffy. Well the weather looked iffy all day today and sans a few sprinkes here and there I have stayed pretty dry. After the failed alpine slide I made it a few miles outside of town to Teton Village where the world famous Jackson Hole Ski area is. I took the tram to the top of Rondevous Mountain. Man what a view. It was mostly broken up by the clouds running around the tops of the mountains but when you got to see through them the view is spectacular. It reminded me of the time I climbed Static Peak when I was at camp. The peaks are a few miles apart but taking the tram to the top at 10,400 feet or so is awesome. There is a new tram they built in 2008 and it can hold 100 people and climbs over 4000 vertical feet which in the winter time you can SHRED down it! I HAVE to come back and snowboard this mountain. 50% black dimond 40% blue runs and only 10% green. The Tram serves only black dimond runs. Back down in the village I picked up some more warm clothes and just walked around for a bit and tried to picture what it would look like with an average base snow of 80". After the Teton Village I rode into Teton National Park and rode around for a while checking out all the view areas and found a place to camp. This is the part it drizzled on me for. Then I headed out to the park determined to forget about the no tresspassing signs and go to the place where I went to camp. I got quite a bit down the road to a bridge that crossed the Gros Venture River and stopped and if this was a cartoon a big ? would have showed up above my head. Just pass the bridge I saw where the rodeo grounds USED to be and thought to myself "Keep the memories you have and don't ruin them with what is there now." I said to my self thats a great idea and turned around. I think my mind was telling me that I probably wouldn't like what I saw and be upset about it. Listen to youself, your mind knows what its doing. That's one of the best things that I have really found out about my self is my gut is pretty much always right and to listen to what it has to say. So after that I made my way back into the Park and grabbed one of the few campsites left and set up camp about 200 yards from Jenny Lake in the shadows of the great Teton Mountain range.

Jackson, WY

Today I woke up to near freezing conditions and put just about every layer I had on. I didn't bring much warm clothing because I was headed to the desert. Come to find out that up here at 6500 feet in late August it starts to get really cold at night but it stays in the 60's during the day. The cloud cover was pretty heavy and was supposed to rain so I thought I would grab a room in Jackson and just do the tourist thing. It did pour rain for the morning and then cleared up a bit. I just did laundry and hung out it was really nice to take a day off the bike. So after the whole tourist thing and laundry I went to see a movie. Before the movie I went into the Million Dollar Cowboy bar just because I can and the last time I was here was over 10 years ago. The place has saddles for bar stools but other than that its just a cowboy decorated bar. Today I am going to do a little more tourism and then find a spot to camp and fight the cold again. I do really want to check this place out in the winter and do some snowboarding on all the mountains you see here. Some day soon I will be back and see it during the wintertime.