A Centennial National Park Tour

I've taken vacation every year since 2010 for the express purpose of running in a multi-day rally. Two Ten'n'Tens, Two Iron Butt Rallies, and a Utah 1088 3-day rally.  This year, I didn't have a rally commitment, and decided to take a nice road trip by motorcycle.  This year would also be special because this time, Wendy would be joining me for the adventure!

The idea was to visit some of our great national parks.  I had the week before labor day reserved, and ran the idea past Wendy. Surprisingly, she was up for the trip.  She's taken a few weekend rides, but never anything lasting nine days.  Her only requests, that we avoid the heat and not ride too long each day.  With that in mind, I plotted a trip north.

Day One: Yosemite and Beyond

We packed very light, and were each able to fit everything we needed in our respective saddle bags. A bag on the trunk rack held liners, and other light gear for off the bike. The plan for the day was to travel through Yosemite, enroute to our first stop, Winnemucca, Nevada.

All was going well, or so I thought. Wendy had developed a migraine-like headache, and was not a happy camper.  We rested a while, overlooking the Yosemite valley from high above  on Tioga Pass. Things got a little better and we made our way down the pass into LeeVining, CA.

I've heard good things about the Whoa Nellie Deli, a food delight hidden in thee Mobil station.  We were not disappointed.

From there, bellies full, we headed across the Owens Valley towards Nevada. its very straight and flat out here, with Mono lake off to the right

We made a short stop to collect a Tour of honor location in Nevada. This one is in Hawthorne, One of the USA's largest Ammunition Storage Facilities.

Note the large artillery shells for decoration.

From ther, we headed north past Walker lake, to I-80, then East to Winnemucca.  It was  a little warmer than we like, but soon we were tucked in at the Holiday Inn Express and having Mexican for dinner.  Wendy's headache had subsided and we were fully air conditioned.

Day Two: Going to Jackson Wyoming

We hit the road about 8:30, heading east for a while. then north into Idaho.  We stopped for another Tour of honor location in Twin Falls.

There wasn't much more to say about this day except that it was hot and boring, and Wendy was questioning my judgement, until we headed up over Teton Pass.  What a magnificent view! As we dropped into the valley and passed the river, we knew things were going to be different from then on.

We checked in to the Antler Inn Motel, in downtown Jackson. It's a nice older motel, well kept and vintage.  After cleaning up and cooling off, we walked to Snake river brewing for a delicious dinner of beer, home-made pretzel and Pizza.

Day Three: Grand Tetons:
In the morning we breakfasted at the Silver dollar, in the old Wort hotel. We walked over to the park to see the Antler arches. These are  constructed of shed Elk antlers, collected by local boy scouts.

We came back later with the bike for a Tour of Honor site, located in the center of the park.

Now it was time to head north into Grand Tetons National Park. There are very few words that can capture the grandeur of the Tetons, so I'll let the pictures do their best.

We rode up through the park, and around the main lake. Saw some elk and a huge buck Mule deer.

Mother nature threw a wrench into our plan for the day - a huge forest fire was burning at the south entrance to our next stop, Yellowstone.  Unfortunately, we had to make a large detour back through Jackson, over into Idaho, and up to West Yellopwstone, where we'd spend the night.

Arriving at West Yellowstone, we had planned to stay at the Dude & Roundup Motel.  However, the motel wasn't anything like its pictures. We were the only residents, and it felt like the prelude to a slasher movie.  We quickly arranged a much nicer place in town, and checked in there.  We spent a nice evening shopping and having dinner.

Day 4: Yellowstone National Park
We planned to be off the bike today.  Instead, a tour bus picked us up at the hotel for an all day tour of Yellowstone National Park.  I highly recommend the big yellow bus tours.

 Our guide was amazing, and took us to many beautiful locations. At one point, huge Bison came down next to our bus.

The tourguides keep in touch by radio, and we got word of wolves somewhere ahead.  Sure enough, a white female wolf was feeding off a killed elk calf.  Her partner sat watch on the hill above.  Soon, we saw a brown dot making its way down the hill towards the wolves.  It was a grizzly!  They kept their distance fro us and each other, but it was a real treat to see nature up close.

We stopped to watch Old Faithful, and visited other geothermal areas around the park.  It was a great day, letting someone else find parking, while we enjoyed the scenery.

Day 5: on the way to Glacier National Park

We rode north up HWY 89 from Yellowstone, skirting the edges of the massive mountain range.  By late afternoon, we reached Browning, MT, in the center of the Blackfoot reservation.  The Holiday InnExpress was great, and we were glad to be ready for the next day's epic ride.

Day 6: Glacier National Park

Heading north, we entered the eastern entrance to the park. We started onto the Going to the Sun road.  The highway winds tenuously along the sharp mountainsides.  The views are breathtaking.  Eventually, we stopped at the visitor center at the pass.

It was an ideal day for the ride. The road winds its way along the sheer cliffs, with stunning views out over lakes and meadows below. The smoke from Yellowstone fires hadn't touched these skies.

We passed out of the park, following the river southwest towards Flathead lake. We headed further west, eventually stopping for the night in Ritzville. We stayed at the Bronco Inn. It is a family-owned Best Western and the staff and facilities were wonderful.

Day 7: We headed west along the Columbia river. We stopped at Multnomah Falls. We had a little rain long the way.

Our eventual evening stop was Seaside, Oregon at the Shilo Inn. There was scattered rain through the evening, but we enjoyed walking in town and exploring the shops, and the sunset into the Pacific.


Day 8: Rain greeted us for our morning start. The original plan was to travel down the coast, but it was quite foggy, and we needed to make better time. We switched our route to I-5. I was expecting a boring slab trip, but I-5 in Oregon was a beautiful winding ribbon through mountains and valleys, We saw elk, Paul Bunyan, Bigfoot and Babe, the blue ox as we traveled to my mom's place in Fortuna, CA It was good to see her, and to share stories and pictures from the trip.

Day 9 was a last run home to Fremont. We got off 101 to travel along the Avenue of the Giants in the best way there is, on a motorcycle. The cool air and woodsy smells are amazing.

We rolled into our garage, 3k miles later. Wendy's first real tour went well, and she still likes riding with me, so that is a win!  Where to next?