I spend a lot of time looking skyward in Wyoming.

I wake up and make a final lap around Sturgis. This place will look very different in three weeks when it’s flooded with 500,000 Harleys. It seems like the locals are enjoying the quiet before the storm.

[downtown Sturgis]

I jump on the highway for a short ride to the Wyoming border. Just over the border I stop at a state visitors center where I’m able to get a bunch of great maps. The friendly woman at the desk has a number of recommendations for motorcyclists which she is very enthusiastic to share with me.

[forever west]

With maps in hand, I decide to take a detour north to check out the rock climbing mecca- Devils Tower. On the way, I pass through the small town of Hulett, WY where I find this great storefront clad in antlers. The route is a beautiful winding road and the views of the Tower from afar are pretty spectacular. The formation rises 1280 feet above the Belle Fourche River and in 1906 became the first National Monument.

[fine art in Hulett, WY]

[Devils Tower]

[wishing I could try to climb it]

I continue on route 16 through beautiful countryside. The landscape is great, but the sky is incredible. The variation and density of the clouds is particularly unusual. The tower theme also continues along the way.

[clouds over route 16]

[Wyoming plains]

[more amazing clouds]

[tower used for loading feed onto train cars]

[colorful towers]

At 4:36 in the afternoon, in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, I hit my momentous 8000th mile of the journey. My pretrip planning suggested that this would be the milage of the entire lap. I’m very glad the plan didn’t work out.

[8000 miles]

 
As I continue west, the big white clouds I have been enamored with all day suddenly become a dark grey ceiling. I can see a massive storm from afar that appears to be either right in my path, or just south of the road I plan to take over the mountain. I decide to take my chances with getting wet and go for it. I get light rain for about 20 minutes, but I can see it pouring off in the distance. Suddenly I’m on the other side of the storm looking back at it from the mountain.

[partly cloudy skies]

[same storm from the other side]

[posing with the storm I miraculously avoided]

The road and views up and into Big Horn National Park are incredible. Once in the park, I find a great campsite down a long dirt road, next to a babbling brook. I’m sleeping in the hammock tonight and not taking out an insurance policy by setting up the tent. As the sun sets the temperature drops pretty quickly. We’ll see how this goes.

[on the mountain pass to Big Horn]

[Big Horn summit]

[camp for the evening]