Wandering Wyoming on 2 wheels

Greg@RME

Adventurer
I was invited on a ride with Cody and a handful of his riding buddies, destination... scenic parts of Wyoming. We had 2 riders (Tyler and Drew) on BMW GS1200's, 2 on BMW GS800's (Cody and Jeremy) and myself on my KTM 990 Adventure. Cody and I met up in Vernal, UT and headed up North past Flaming Gorge looking for a campsite. We ended up finding some great high-country with amazing lakes and streams all around. We setup camp, dropped our bags and went out exploring the dirt roads around the area. That evening we cleaned up in the COLD lake and had soup in a can for dinner, heated up over the campfire.

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The following day we rode to Green River, WY where we met up with the other riders, 2 from SLC (Tyler and Jeremy) and 1 from Denver (Drew). We loaded up on some food and made a plan, heading out towards the historical mining town of Atlantic City. It was getting late, so we took a quick tour of the town wishing we had more time to spend in the bar there. We headed up into the mountains North of Atlantic City by way of Louis Lakes Road... the temps were very nice up high, but the mosquitoes were insane! We ended up camping a little lower for less bugs, finding a great campsite just as the sun set. The night was cold, despite it being late June and 100 degrees back at home! I had frost on my seat that morning!

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The next morning we ride down thru Sinks Canyon, into Lander for breakfast and gas then rode into the Wind River Indian Reservation and mountains, by way of Dubois and then Union Pass. The Wind River mountains were amazing, they were new to me and I was very impressed! We rode a lot of high-mountain dirt roads, explored side roads and lakes and enjoyed the cool weather and scenery. The road was good, but it had it's share of loose gravel and one of the big GS's found a loose corner and really put it's crash bars to use, smashing it into the cylinder head. We continued to explore, working our way towards the mind-blowing scenery of the Green River Lakes. The campground at the Green River Lakes was empty and looked great, until we stopped and were completely mobbed by 28 million mosquitoes! We camped a couple miles from the lakes and it was much better. We made plans to setup a base camp for 2 nights, do some exploring w/o bags and have some fun on the big bikes.

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Greg@RME

Adventurer
The following day we explored more backroads and worked our way over to Pinedale for gas and lunch. After the stop in Pinedale, we headed back towards camp and went out looking for more dirt roads with a little more challenge... and we found it! One GS800 got swapped in a bog! We broke out a length of paracord and with a little work, we had the bike freed in about 15 min. Later that day on the way back I was pushing my 990 Adventure pretty hard on a rocky road and pinch-flatted a front tire, then realized my tools and tubes were back at camp! The guys ran back to camp with impressive time and I proceeded to swap in a new tube. That evening we relaxed around the fire with a little (a lot??) booze and watched a great sunset over the river.

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The next morning we packed up camp, left the Green River Lakes headed back to Pinedale for breakfast... but not before we found another flat, this time on Cody's GS800, courtesy of a big nail! Out came the tools and another spare tube and we went to work. Eventually we made it into town, then to the Wrangler Cafe for an amazing late-breakfast. From there we rode to Jackson for a proper shower, bed, amazing dinner and late-night fun and hanging out with a group of Canadians that were also out riding. The GS1200 that got dropped had developed a minor oil leak from the valve cover and we decided to investigate at the hotel in Jackson. It turned out to be a torn gasket between the valve cover and cyl head, surrounding the spark plug hole. The easiest solution was to try super gluing the tear.

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Venison Tenderloin dinner at 'Gather' in Jackson... it was AMAZING!!

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The next morning we headed out of Jackson (after stopping to buy a couple more tubes!) riding along the Snake River towards Alpine... out destination was the amazing 100 miles of dirt along the Grey's River Road. We had planned to camp 2 more nights, but my now my back was really causing me pain and discomfort. I was having a hard time enjoying the ride and by Noon, I decided I was going to leave for home early. We said our goodbyes and I headed out ahead of the group, stopping for the amazing sites along the way! I ran into a curious Antelope on the way out and some amazing wild flowers!

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In the end over 6 days of riding, I had 1,500 miles on the odometer and guessing I would say 500 of that was in the dirt. It was a great ride, loved exploring the mountains and dirt roads of Wyoming. The ugly, windy parts of the state are easily made up my the beautiful, scenic and mind-blowing mountains! I was happy to get invited for a ride along with these guys, we all had some challenging moments and everyone kept level heads and a helpful outlook, despite the difficult moments. I'd ride with this group any time!
 

mph

Expedition Leader
killer ride...great pics...you got to see some of the best of Wyoming! Congrats!
 

Greg@RME

Adventurer
Wow. Those are some great pictures.

Thanks, they're actually from a phone! :Wow1:

Samsung Galaxy S6 and it does take some amazing pics.... I love the manual control option, not as adjustable as my DSLR but you can manipulate the images pretty well. The selective focus is fun too, as you see. I took my DSLR, but only got it out a couple times.
 

Greg@RME

Adventurer
Excellent. WY is a gem for sure...

Absolutely! I was very impressed with what I saw... thanks Roger!


Nice pics and write up.

Don't suppose you have GPS tracks that you'd be willing to share..?

Thanks! Unfortunately my dinosaur of a Garmin Zumo didn't track much of the ride for some reason. The best parts of the ride were Union Pass and Grey's River road... I would suggest you spend some time with a map and plan out your own adventure using that information. :)


Wow! That looks like a lot of fun. Beautiful pics too.

Appreciate it, it was an absolute hoot!
 

unkamonkey

Explorer
I never went to Flaming Gorge until around 15 years ago. A couple times. I rode around on my old XT 550 and in a matter of hours you are in a totally different terrain in that area. It rained and we never caught any fish. Just more adventures.
 

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