2/39 – Across the High Plains and into the Mountains: 28/29 Aug 2024

A not so early start, having taken time to bring the blog up to date. I thought I needed some supplies for Yellowstone as I had no idea what would be available there, so  visits to a camping store and a hardware store to get some freeze dried meals and some spare gas were in order. In the latter I was strongly advised not to go to YS without some bear spray, so another outdoor store was visited. Not at all sure I’ll need this, and the price of $65 made me thing a third time. In the end, however, I thought it was a bit like a helmet; you hope you never need it, but as it might just save your life, it is worth spending on.

All set, I left on Highway 20/26, heading west. This claimed a bit and soon I was in the middle of the high plains. Nothing in sight except grass and sand. You know you’re on a long straight road, I decided, when the vehicle in front of you is little bigger than a full stop, and I was on that road. It was boring!

Every road in the US, it seems, has a name, and this one was called the Sand Creek Massacre Highway, commemorating yet another dark episode in American colonial history. The other thing about this road was the metal silhouettes, depicting mostly cowboy scenes at the side. I discovered this is part of a project called 307 First which aims to ….. The one that really caught my attention was of a solitary cowboy by a campfire; I didn’t stop to take a picture of this and an online search turned up many other woks, but not this one.

US political scene: all persuasions, and had engaged with some. The thing that struck me, and I may have said this before, is that America is the land of the free, provided you are white, and you agree with my point of view, The right wing especially talk about personal freedom, but when you think of it, these are the people most likely to take your freedom away – abortion rights for example.

My aim after such a late start was to get to Lander where I was planning to camp for yje night, so I just kept on going, with only one short stop. The wind was strong, gusting to 40 mph according to the road signs, and this made riding quite a challenge.

I got there about 1530 and found the town park where there was a free campsite easily. I wandered around and chose my spot and put my tent up. Then it was off to refuel and buy some food – roast chicken, potato wedges and coleslaw from Safeway’s deli counter, yummy.

Having finished this I was sitting having my coffee when a lady walking he dog stopped to chat. A few minutes later Peter and Vivien Letz also stopped. They were on the way home from a 10-day hike in he Wind River Mountains. We had a long chat and ended up exchanging contact details, and I got a very generous offer to stay with them if ever I was in Salt Lake City, from where the best snow in the US is easily accessible for skiing.

Thurs 29 Aug 2024

The night in the camp was not too bad. Early on someone came around with what sounded like a giant fogger, and at 0530 someone started up a diesel motor with a tremendous roar. This continued to hunt at a lower intensity for the next hour and a half. So 7/10 for what was a basic campsite – toilets and water only. The night was OK, but the temperature in the morning was somewhere in the low single figures. Warmer clothing will have to be pulled out.

Today I continue my trek across the high plains and actually see the real peaks for the first time. I had visited Safeway the night before, so I breakfasted like a king on orange juice, strawberry yoghurt, and a ham and cheese croissant (!) washed down with some tea, just for a change.

There was still no word from Bend about my PIN, so I called the bank. The first girl put me on to a “specialist” and after about 20 minutes altogether, she salad all I could do was wait another day or two, and if it didn’t arrive, they would send another one. 🤬

So I set out to Hatchet Campsite, 180 miles away. The distance was misty and not too inviting; I later learned this was smoke. Most of the route was through Indian Reservation, so it was pretty bare. The road swept through the undulating prairie, which was dotted here and there with small herds of cows. I marvelled at the thought of what this would have looked like when there were thousands of bison roaming the grassland, and wondered, since it didn’t seem to be in use for anything else, why no-one had thought to try to re-populate with buffalo. Risk of TB infecting the cattle, as in Zimbabwe maybe? Then a little further I saw a huge a pile of hay bales, followed, once outside the reservation, by al lot more cows. Maybe he grass is mown for hay.

Whatever, I arrived in Dubois, pronounced Du-bo-iss apparently, where The Cowboy Café had been recommended. It was a sound recommendation; I had an enormous piece of rhubarb and raspberry pie, topped with a mountain of ice-cream.

Shortly after leaving Dubois, the road climbed to 2000m, (6 500 ft) I was delayed by works to control the forest fire that had raged for several weeks earlier. I was informed that the trees had been infected by a beetle, died and fallen over, so the powers that be had decided to let the fire burn in a controlled manner.

I arrived at Hatchet Campsite around mid-afternooon. This too is a basic site, but, being run by the forestry authority, costs $15 a night; if you want a fire you have to pay another $8 for a bundle of wood. Because of my PIN issues, getting cash was a problem, so having parted with 15 of my $65, I was reluctant to spend another $8 on what was really a non-essential. Since I was the only one here at this early hour, having armed myself with my recently acquired bear spray, I wandered around all the other sites and collected the partly burn wood left by previous campers 😂. I’m not really tight, honest!

The tent went up, I did a little adjustment on the carbs, dug out my leather jacket again and then set about dinner, a dehydrated chicken pasta dish. The carb adjustment was because I felt there had been a loss of power as I climbed. When I checked the spark plugs, they were too white, so I tweaked the carbs; will see if it has had any effect tomorrow.

While waiting for my pasta to rehydrate, I lit the fire using my cycled wood. I think this was very environmentally friendly of me; rather than using new wood, I am using stuff that everyone else would ignore, or scrape to the side as in all the fire pits I scavenged.    After a slowish start, I now have a very pleasant fire helping to keep the mossies away.

Dinner was all you would expect of a dehydrated meal. The packet says there ae two servings in it; I wouldn’t like to be sharing! Coffee by the fire and a short walk to admire the sunset, and it was bed time.

The place has many little squirrels which are not at all phased by human presence. Earlier I got within 6 feet of one and it just sat, looking at me.

Tomorrow I have a short ride to Yellowstone proper, so no need for a crack of dawn start. The night promises to be a chilly one, so maybe I should get my thermals out.