2020
Wyoming TAT
2 Dogs Adventure Ride

This ride is a about me (BigDog) and my buddy Mark Boesch (Hairlip Dog) Riding what was
new to us----the Wyoming TAT (Trans America Trail).
This is a somewhat new addition to Sam Correro's trails he's laid out for all to enjoy.
Maybe a jillion people have ridden this---but the only story I could find of it was a guy
in a Jeep doing it------------so we had to go and see for ourselves.
It was done late June and early July, 2020.

 

 

I Hauled me and my Honda 250 rally to Newcastle, Wyoming where we would start our ride.
It took me 2 days to get up there from Illinois and on the way I found a nice place
to camp for the nite. Mark was coming down from Montana and had an easy one day drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe my favorite picture of the ride----but I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
The ride West from Newcastle is about 800 miles long-------but then you have to ride back---we found another way to do that.
Me and Mark are pretty familiar with Wyoming----but 95% of this ride was where we'd never ridden.

 

 

 

I had just bought this klim full mesh jacket-------expecting hot weather.
The zipper in my 17 year old First Gear Jacket had finally failed me.
We spent the first nite in the Lodge in Newcastle, Wy and they let us leave our trucks there.

 

 

 

 

Our first day was awesome------seems we spent much of the ride herding cattle and avoiding
what Mark called "Speedgoats"---------antelope. We saw thousands of each.
Mark was riding his Yamaha WR250R--which was flawless the whole ride.
We had decided to leave our big bikes at home. It was a good choice.

 

There Was a Mudhole---the only one of the trip----------This is HLDogs Video

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical road closure you'll find riding stuff like this.
You could ride to the right around it--------or thru the barrier--I rode over the bridge
thru the barriers and it didn't fall in.
Another barrier later on bit us squarely in the ass.

 

 

 

 

When you ride with Mark----there is always plenty of "Wiley Wallaby" black licorice.

 

 

 

Most of this ride was spent at 6 to 8 thousand ft. of elevation which kept things
nice and cool. As you can see we use a lot of wolfmans products. We both had Wolfman
expedition bags on our bikes. My tankbag and tail bag were wolfman also.

 

 

 

 

Pretty much open range the whole ride.

 

 

 

 

 

I was running a Kenda K270 on the rear of my bike-------it had some miles on it before we
started this ride. It held up well after 1,400 more miles. I'll keep it there for a while longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As both of us are getting up in the years---this kind of ride is to our liking.
I got bored with single track years ago---now I'm too old to ride it if I wanted too.

 

 

 

One rancher out here is all we saw all day. He stopped to chat----said his ranch is 150,000 acres and I
find it hard to wrap my head around that. I think the ranch had worked out well for him---made lots
of money with the cattle ranch----then they found lots of dinosaur bones on the ranch which brought
gazillions of dollars----------then a pipeline came thru---------more bazillions of dollars.
He was a happy guy---we thanked him for stopping and really enjoyed his story.
It's a public road and you'd think people might get irritated that you have the nerve to come down
this lonely road where you never see anybody----but he enjoyed our company. Nice guy.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course you always wonder-------what's over the hill ????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stuff we saw.

 

This was our route today-----Newcastle to Douglas, Wyoming
Sam has a route in South Dakota too--we were right there to ride it--------more on that later.

 

Short Video of Day 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like Day 2 is coming up.
We awake early get some breakfast and get to the riding.
Today----Douglas to Saratoga, Wyoming.

 

 

 

 

 

What a cool road to ride on.
A whole lot of the roads where more rutted than this---seems we never took pictures of them.
Hangin' on I guess.

 

 

 

 

We would pass thru Medicine Bow today.
But not the way the sign said to go.............heh, heh, heh.
Our route would be much longer.

 

 

 

 

We came upon a huge cattle drive----several cowboys driving the herd.
We slowly rode thru a few hundred cattle.
No pics but it's in the video's to follow.........I think this boy was with the cowboys
and waved at us as we rode by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure those are aspens.

 

 

 

 

We stopped and marveled at Sheep creek today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And by pure luck this couple stopped to chat.
A young couple------he hollers out at us "You riding the TAT".
We were flabbergasted !!!!!!!
Driving the TAT in this awesome underwater offroad Toyota rig------it was so neat.
They were so friendly----the only TAT travelelers we ran into---which surprised me.
We were running the track backwards so to speak---so hoped to run into riders.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know how the post office and UPS make any money delivering out here.

 

 

 

 

Nice campspot here-----the gravel here is not man made-------it's the natural terrain.
I know it doesn't look like it tho------the gravel ran on a ridge for miles before getting into
Medicine Bow.

d

 

 

 

 

 

HLDog Video

 

 

HLDog Video--------Rocky Divide

 

 

Remember I said I read story about a guy who did this route in a jeep ????
He did video's too----and I remember this old Mack truck in his video and I was on the lookout for it.
It's a cool old truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He commented in his video he would of like to have had that bulldog radiator cap but didn't want to take
it so others could enjoy it----------I would have liked to have it too----------but left it for others.
A bit down the road I ran in to 2 girls on a 4 wheeler and asked about the truck and what year it was.
They were young----and probably didn't care but said "Uncle Fred knows all about it" .........!!!!

 

 

HLDog Video --------"Cowboy Dog"

 

 

This was the view to the West right behind the truck.
That is Elk Mountain---and is the name of a very small town nearby.

 

 

The Cattle Drive
You'd think riding thru this------ one of them might knock you over---but they never touched us.
It was toally exciting.

 

 

 

Views like this just makes you want to ride--------and puts a smile on your face.
2 thumbs up !!!

 

 

 

We rode thru 15 miles of Logging

 

HLDog Video----------Dualsport Cattle Drive

 

 

 

2 ------$200 fines were avoided here. Barely.
A good 15 miles of Sam Correro's Wyoming TAT is closed till September. It's in the Medicine Bow
National forest and it's closed for logging by the forest service. This is the South end---the North end
sign where we entered wasn't across the road when we went by-------------so.......we went by.
The officer said they moved some equipment thru there and that's why the sign was was in the ditch.
He was nice but was going to give us tickets-----a verbal warning was all we got.
To route around this closure would have been monumental and we might have run out of gas.
He caught me taking this picture and laughed............."You want me to hand cuff him"........he asked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Short Video Of Day 2

 

 

 

 

A map of our route today-------been about 170 miles each of the last 2 days.

 

 

 

 

Day 3
Saratoga To Wamsutter

 

 

 

 

 

 

East out of Saratoga we go on Jack Creek road with the skies looking a little threatening.
It was really windy today---there were parts of our ride that followed the CDR and the famous
Forever West routes by Tony Huegal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I pulled this picture out of my Go Pro Video Camera.
Antelope don't like fences and will rarely jump them--this one did an about face right beside me.

 

Some lingering snow---not as cold as it looks.
Probably 8,000 ft. of elevation here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This road got rugged, rocky and rutted a lot of the way---not passable if wet we decided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped in Baggs, Wyoming to warm up a bit, get gas and get a snack where we met our most memorable
character---sorry no pic. He was a hoot and came out to talk motorsickles. Lots of questions and told
about some of his riding. He had a really bad crash once and was hurt pretty bad. Pulled his gloves off and
said his fingers were in his glove-----said "I hate when that happens". Yeah----me too !!!!
He had no fingers to speak of----still in his glove I guess.
Pretty happy guy tho and just laughed about it.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like salt----Mark said it was alkaline I believe.
Weird thing--------it got really hot here and once down the road it cooled off ????

 

 

 

 

Weather still looking kind of funky

 

 

 

This bridge got us out of there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Sampson---------go that away-------OK !!!

 

 

 

You can see Mark is carrying extra fuel under his left pannier rack-----I don't think we ever used it.

 

 

 

 

We both were running Garmin Montana GPS's------they were the same except-----Mark's was haunted.
I had a new Go Pro Hero black 8 camera on my chin and Mark had a cube version.
We both had chin mounts I'd seen another rider have----------Thanks "Itchy Boots"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short video of day 3

 

 

Todays route

 

 

 

 

Day 4
Wamsutter To Boulder, Wyoming

 

Headed North out of Wamsutter on Wansutter Crooks Gap Road.

 

 

 

 

 

It was getting much much colder and the weather looked more and more threatening--and you
could sense rain in the air. Neither one of us thought we'd get to where we wanted to be on this road.

 

HLDog Video------A Change in the weather.

 

 

 

 

And then it got really cold-----about 43° with the wind howling.
We put on everything we had and I was wishing I had my electric vest and had brought
a warmer jacket. I did have heated grips----Mark didn't, but he's warmer blooded than me.

 

 

 

We had to go up on that ledge and Mark put on some rain gear--------my jacket and pants
were already waterproof. We feared what was on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HLDogs Video

 

 

A long way from our destination yet. Not sure we knew where we were going.

 

 

 

The cold was all forgotten as I whipped out my point and shoot camera and started clicking one
picture after the other-----would I get the money shot ?????

 

 

 

 

Wait for it

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "MONEY" shot

 

HKDogs Video

 

 

 

My wife loves this picture

 

 

 

Right before we hit the highway to Farson's it started raining---------and still real cold and windy.
It was in Farson's after some pizza and talking to some locals about the weather we made a decision.
We weren't camping tonight and needed a motel---------there weren't any.
The TAT route ahead was a muddy mess we were told------we'd never make it.
We beat it to the Boulder Inn in Boulder, Wyoming for the nite and were so glad to get warm and
some good food---------the rain continued into the nite and all day the next day.
Time for some black and white Andy Griffith on TV---no way in hell were we going to watch the news.
Nothing but bad on there.

Ended up in Boulder, Wyoming at a motel that day

 

A Map of our ride today

 

A short Video of Day 4

 

Click for the rest of the story