Wednesday-  the guy across the way started up at 0600. The night was not windy and was clear and dry (no dewfall) so packing 
my things didn’t require much dryout time.  I headed into Atlantic City briefly before getting on the road to Lander for fuel.

Breakfast

Atlantic City. Another mining town in the vicinity of South Pass

Amazing geology on the way to Lander

The stretch from Lander to Rawlins I think epitomizes the Oregon Trail ordeal. There are pillow-lava hills and ridges around the area 
and the famous Split Rock landmark to see but by and large it’s an enormous sagebrush flat to cross.  Jeffrey City is a derelict roadside 
town. Muddy Gap is a notch in the hills and with the steady strong wind blowing it’s something of an ordeal to cross on a motorcycle 
even if the temperature is relatively pleasant.  Near Muddy Gap I was hit with a shockingly strong sudden wind gust from the side that 
blew me about 1/3 across my lane to the left. Fortunately I’d been hanging to the right side of the lane as it was a gentle left curve.

Split Rock - a trailmarker on the Oregon Trail visible for 50 miles or so

At Rawlins I stopped for fuel and lunch. It was starting to get hot. From there I jumped on I-80 and headed east to Wolcott where I 
picked up WY 130 and headed south down the wide valley between distant mountain ridges.  At Saratoga I continued south on 
WY 230 to Riverside then WY 230 to the southeast up over the hill and into Colorado where the road turned into CO 125 then 
arrived at Walden.

Road between Wolcott goes to Saratoga then Encampment then to Walden

I refueled in Walden and looked at the clouds hanging over the mountains between Walden and home.  They didn’t look too thick 
but a few seemed to have veils of rain under them.

So I headed for home on the familiar road. 

Cameron Pass on CO 14. Downhill to home from here.

Along the way there were a very few splats of water on my face shield but the road wasn’t wet and it was actually a dry run over the 
mountains following behind the storms – if any.  I was feeling good and skilled so kept the speed up thru the corners and danced with 
the road  down to US 287 at Ted’s Place.  A bit south on US 287 I turned back into the hills to ride around Horsetooth Reservoir 
rather than beat my way in traffic thru town.   I refueled and called my friends the Jones’  to swing by for post-trip pictures.

Horsetooth Reservoir

I got there and the rain almost started so it was a short picture session.

Final picture on the trip

Home safe.   

I was definitely using the sides of my tires as my rear tire shows a lighter colored middle strip of what I presume is harder wearing 
material next to the sides. The sides have worn such that there is a ridge between the center strip and the sides.  Not sure if picture 
will show it.  Tire is still good for many miles.

Avon Trailrider tire. Lighter material in the middle is harder. There is a mild ridge between the inner and outer material since I rode on the sides of my tires quite a bit.

Stats:

Miles travelled-  2235

Engine run hours-  51.7

Gas burned-  46.3 gal

MPG-  48.3

Equipment failures- one inflatable pillow.

Injuries- none

Animals harmed – none though the ground squirrels were playing games of chicken by dashing across the road sometimes.

 
Other somewhat related thoughts-

Going to Alaska would require a good 2 week test run which might be long enough to find all the gear and ritual issues that would
have to be worked out to sit in the seat that long. My seat is too hard for that long a trip, one brand of soft earplugs turned out to 
be uncomfortably hard after about 4 hrs - among other issues.

Reserved signs on NFS sites might not be valid. Ask the campground hosts before quitting assuming that a campground is full.

Last Modified: 11/14/2020