Freedomflyer

Went for a short afternoon ride in an area we've ridden multiple times, only about 16 miles round trip, not sure how we've missed this particular trail/road bu got to see some new country. Part of it I guess is the forest service doesn't do the greatest job in keeping trails marked when a sign gets damaged or stolen. Kind of frustrating, I've made numerous trail number signs and taken a cordless drill along to replace missing signs.

We found several trails today that are just getting trashed from the Side x Sides  being allowed on the trails. Even though they are 50" machines it seems to be a different mentality of those driving them. They seem to think it needs to be a race to get to the top of the mountain, hammering the throttle through the switchbacks tearing the trail to shreds. 

The trail we found was not the smoothest that's for sure, quite rocky in fact but through an area that gave us some views we hadn't seen before.  Even discovered a little lake, had a few folks trying their hand at fly fishing, was too windy and weren't having a lot of success. Had a picnic dinner along the trail then headed for home. Was a nice time, we are supposed to get hammered with rain starting tomorrow.  Possibly 3 inches worth on Monday.  Certainly putting a damper on the long weekend,  but pretty common for us this time of year. If you notice,  the same rock wall is in the background,  we just kept getting higher and higher.

Wish to could've been with us Prov!!!!

Yikes

Interesting that I90 runs right by Bozeman and Belgrade here in Montana.

53° right now, high of 78° is all today.  Supposed to be similar til Sunday then 60% chance of rain with a high of 75°, Monday 90% chance of rain with high of 64°. Typical labor day weekend here, Always seems to rain and run the weekend. Looks like only possible day to ride would be Saturday.😕

🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮

Yikes!!!!🤯

No, rock containf some metals but we have a lot of rock and soil here that contain iron. Montana is known for all types of mining and different ores in the soil as well as highly valuable metals. We have some gems called yogo saffires that are native tothis area and are very expensive. There are chunks of rock around the ringing rocks where people have tried to take them, once removed from the pile it just becomes like any other rock. Sad folks can't just can't leave things alone. In fact the sign explaining about the rocks is even gone. Not sure if it is being replaced or someone just took it. That whole area is changing, someone opened up a side x side rental business right next to the exit and the trails are getting torn to shreds. They rent to tourists traveling through that.have no clue what they are doing and have no trail etiquette of any kind and are just rude. In fact we met a couple of sides one too wide for the trail we were on and some gal in a rented 4 place side x side, we moved off the trail to allow them to pass and she yelled at my brother to give her more room. Someone else has built a camp ground/cabin rental, just ruining the area. 

Here's some more

Sorry for the double post on pics 🫣🙄

Well, the long awaited day has come and unfortunately gone.

My buddy PROV showed up this last Friday from Minnesota with his wife. It was a sweet reunion and so grateful he made the long trek out with his bride. The time passed too quickly,  and was a great privilege to have them in our home. Our time on the trail on Saturday was amazing and the  weather couldn't have been more perfect. Where we chose to ride was perfect for his wife as she was a bit apprehensive. Fortunately my wife broke the ice quickly upon their arrival Friday afternoon so she was able to relax and not have to worry that she was going to be chopped to pieces by a family of axe murderers out on one of the trails somewhere. The next morning, along with my wife, my two sister-in-laws helped ease her into the company of our family. Thank you Vickie and Val!!!! The area we chose to ride is generally much smoother and less technical, but due to a good reason Friday night the was some washed out areas down the middle of some of the trails making things a bit more technical. Pretty sure our 570 Outlander Max made her riding experience more enjoyable, pleasant,  and much more relaxing for her. With the rain storm the previous night, we weren't sure what to expect on the trails on Saturday. Everyone invited showed up promptly and we left town at the exact scheduled time. We actually arrived at the trailhead an hour away, 10 min. earlier than expected, unloaded and were driving through our first 50" gate before 8 a.m. Much to the chagrin of my wife, (and brother, (he has a brand new '23 Outlander Max XT 850 with 28 miles on it) the first 3 miles were filled with a lot of puddles and an extremely muddy road. The meticulously cleaned machines were quickly and immediately dirty, flinging chunks and  lods 20 feet in front of each machine as we headed fire our first stop. Kind of weird for us to get rain this time of year, but was nice because it kept the dust curbed down on the trails for 90% of the day. We arrived at the ringing rocks,  (I know I've shared info about them before but here it goes again) they are a formation of rocks looking as if they were dumped into a huge pile by the world's largest imaginable mining truck. The way these rocks are sitting makes them look not only precarious, but as if they truly were piled by gigantic earth moving equipment or aliens. They look like any other granite boulder, but due to the way they are sitting, when struck with a hammer or metal object they sound like you are pounding on different chunks of metal. Only like 3 places in the world that these exist. One here, one in Pennsylvania, and one in Australia. Was great to see PROV, and my cousin who had never been there before climbing around like a couple of kids hitting the different rocks. It really does kind of bring out the kid in a person seeing them for the first time. 

We left ringing rocks and got onto some sandy, winding, twisting trails through some Rocky Mountain Juniper trees loaded with Truck sized boulders. Driving up and over a final little rise, we dropped down into a beautiful little park full of Quaking Aspens and a few Pine trees. Took a bathroom and butt break there, then upon leaving, immediately dropped into some old growth pine, a great shaded area to drive through. One of the pictures shows the sun shining through  the trees in that area. From there we worked our way down through the trees to the bottom of a draw where it ended up at a large rock formation and a creek bottom. Taking another visiting break. We explored a bit and crossed the creek to an old mine entrance that we had found on a previous ride. Would love to know what was mined there, guessing gold as it was fairly close to the creek. So maybe somebody did some Placer mining and found some deposits so decided to dig into the hillside. Very cool area. Followed the creek out to one of the main roads and made our way up to another trail with a totally different landscape. It opens up and allows a view of some distant mountains with she and Rocky Mountain Junipers in the foreground. We then dropped back down into another draw with another creek with a bridge almost big enough to get our six machines on. We crossed the bridge and made our way to a shaded area for some lunch. After lunch headed to one of our favorite areas to take new comers which is a culvert that goes under the interstate to an area that overlooks the road and the whole Pipestone riding area. Took another break and visited then decided it was time to drive the last hour back to the trucks. Only got up to about 80° and the trail never did totally dry out so made the ride rather pleasant. Was only a total of about 28 miles but I think it was a good choice for PROVS wife, she said she enjoyed it and might even come back out.😁 Just as long as she doesn't have to go over the Beartooth highway again.😂 It really is beautiful but was a bit much for her vertigo, she wasn't feeling too good by the time they reached the top, I felt bad for her. All in all was a wonderful,  but too short of visit, with our friends. We are looking forward to growing our friendship and more future adventures. Thanks PROV, and Mrs. PROV, for sharing part of your vacation with us. 

On Sun we took another ride, this one in my wifes car, and toured the valley showing a couple of projects that I'm writing on for work, then a scenic dive on some back mountain highways. Was another great day of visiting  and fellowship.

And believe or not. ALL 6 Can Ams made it back without a hitch😁

Well, as a matter of fact a certain member from Northern Minnesota is here right now,  heading out on a ride tomorrow. Going to be a great day, had a nice refreshing cooling rain this evening, 62° right now, supposed to be 53° tomorrow morning at 7, then slowly warm up to high 70's low 80s, then back down to 55° tomorrow night. 

PROV is the only one whose taken me up on my offer. Had a great time last year, so came back for more.

On 8/18/2023 at 10:23 AM, Fishfiles said:

70 years ago in Missouri History   Have you ever seen the Springfield city seal and wondered why there is a snake on it? The snake is a call back to an event that occurred seventy years ago. On August 15th, 1953 a Springfield resident killed a strange looking snake, which a local science teacher later determined to be a Indian cobra. Over the next few weeks, there would be more reports of cobras on the loose. Despite the heat, people shut themselves tightly indoors while groups would patrol through town armed primarily with hoes to hunt for cobras. They even affixed a speaker to a truck and played snake charmer music while they followed behind hoping to lure out the reclusive reptile. Ultimately eleven snakes were killed or caught, and by the first freeze in October everyone was able to breathe a little easier knowing the cobras would not survive the cold.

Exotic pet dealer Reo Mowrer was the prime suspect behind the released cobras, however in 1988 it was revealed that a 14 year old boy named Carl Barnett was the culprit. He had worked over the summer collecting black snakes for Mowrer in exchange for an exotic fish, but the fish died shortly after he got it home. When Mowrer refused to compensate him, Barnett decided to get even. He saw a crate of snakes which he had assumed were the black snakes he had caught and set them free, thus unwittingly starting a months-long scare that would be remembered in Springfield history for decades to come.

 

YIKES!!!

We had 3 accidents here within the last 3 weeks. Not ATV related but very sad just the same. 17 year old girl (only child) driving home in a Ford fusion a 20 yr old girl driving a 3/4 ton truck crossed the center line hit her head on and killed her. Girl in pick up.was life flighted to Billings 2 hrs away. Still in critical condition.

A woman who has been in trouble and had multiple drug-related arrests pulled out in front of a motorcycle  and the guy on the bike died, she and the guy with her ran. Thankfully they found the truck in a storage unit and tracked her and the guy down.

This one turned my stomach. Guy was pulling a trailer and something didn't feel right, he stopped to check things out backed up, pulled forward, backed up again. His 5 year old daughter had gotten out of the back seat of the truck on the other side, when he got back i he didn't notice she was gone and when he backed up the 2nd time ran her over and killed her. Not sure how you recover mentally from that.

Same thing, in a heart beat!

63° and cool rained this afternoon,  supposed to rain tomorrow and be cool for the next 5 days or so. 

Nope,  in the yellow plaid shirt holding the backpack with the dog. It's been hot but cools down nicely in the evenings.

A few more, was a fun trail. 

2 hours ago, riverc said:

How is the weather here it's been raining and getting in the 90's for highs.

We've been camping since Thursday and had some sort of rain 🌧 each day, High's of mid 80s cooling to mid 40s at night. Not sure what it's been at home.

Went camping with some friends this weekend and was able to explore a new trail that we will for sure visit again. It's a bit further to drive,(30 min) but is in an area that is open year round on BLM land. Easy and smooth to ride and just another great option to take new riders. It's off of an area called Sheep Mountain Road and about 100 miles(90 min.) from home. Not a huge ride, 22 mile or so loop with some criss crossing trails within, so with an early start could make a decent day of it without feeling a lot of pressure to ride and get home. Not the most scenic but enjoyable nonetheless.  Great rock formations as well.

Over run with them, Fish and  Game are trying to figure out how to take care of the problem. You'd think they would've learned, they have done the same thing with the Wolves and the Grizzlies. 😉

Would  highly recommend getting to it before they pull it out of theaters.

That is a powerful film, tough to watch bit worth it.

Well we do have billygoats here Ingurss I've never seen the skull of one before. We have antelope and they look like this, but never seen a billygoat skull.

Not a clue! Looks like nothing from my neck of the woods.

I saw it was pants right away, do not feel sorry for that person at all. We see it every year, the Park just had its first goring last week. Some woman from out of state. Too close trying to take a selfie. Every park visitor is told at the entrance to stay away from the wildlife, plus given a ton of park literature warning the same thing. A lot of people think because they're in the park that they're domesticated. Those things are huge, was retrieving a cow elk I shot one time on Ted Turners ranch when he allowed people to hunt cows and I went in after it after dark and came to a gate and got out to open it. When I walked back around to my driver's door there was a Bull Buffalo standing by my 85 Toyota 4 wheeldrive pickup. The hump on its back was well above the cab of my pick up and well above my head and I'm 6'2". You would not catch me near one of those things on purpose.