13,000 Miles in 30 Days - My Incredible Motorcycle Journey

Day 20 – Red Lodge Montana to Craig, Colorado

This day’s ride took the “long way” from Red Lodge, Montana to Cody, Wyoming. No matter which way one chooses to ride out of Red Lodge, its going to be a whole lotta fun on a motorcycle.

West of Bears Tooth Pass and about 10 miles east of the Wyoming / Montana border is the junction with Wyoming Highway 296, also known as Crandall Road, also known as the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (named after the Native American chief of the Nez Perce tribe), also known as the Sunlight Basin Road. The name, Sunlight Basin Road, comes from the 1940s when fur trappers noticed that the Sunlight Basin area filled with light, but was so remote that the only thing that could get into the valley throughout the year was sunlight – not to mention a substantial population of Grizzly bears and also wolves from nearby Yellowstone that have recently moved into the area – a little tidbit I borrowed from a local internet site! Whatever you call it, a rose by any other name is still a rose. This is a definitely a do-not-miss stretch of twistys and expansive scenic vistas. When one learns a little about the native American history of this place, it’s sure not hard to understand why anyone would fight so hard to keep it.

Wyoming’s Sunlight Basin:

Making my way across northern Wyoming on Highway 14, through Bighorn and Sheridan Counties and the Bighorn National Forest. Such an incredibly beautiful area of country – I’m still kicking myself for not taking more pictures along this route. One of my painful lessons learned which will not be repeated again on the next pass through this incredible country.

Heading south on Interstate 25 as far as Casper, I take a very windy Highway 220 and then Highway 287 south. At Rawlins, a brief Interstate romp on 80 west about 25 miles, when I stumble on to another pleasant surprise – Highway 789 south.

Some folks talk about how lonely Highway 50 across Nevada is – dubbed “the loneliest highway in the world”. Perhaps. Yet I doubt that there is a more desolate and lonely stretch of highway anywhere in America than the 90 mile stretch along Highway 789 between Interstate 80 in Wyoming and Craig, Colorado. There is nothing out here but a few cows, and that is no exaggeration. Make sure you have plenty of gas for this ride! A radar detector might also be a plus!

I pulled into Craig, Colorado that night with 8170 miles logged on the GPS since leaving home. I had traveled about 660 miles that day since leaving my friends’ house in Montana that morning – and some very windy miles at that. I was extremely happy to park it in Craig that night and soak up a few cold beers.