A High Desert Day

Cactus and sage

Dan did some looking online this week for new places to ride. Right "next door" to an area we have ridden several times, he spotted some roads we hadn't yet tried. So when we awoke to sunshine this morning, we took off for Belfrey, a tiny town near the Montana/Wyoming border.

Heart Mountain




Because it's there, my friend, because it's there.



We located the road we wanted and unloaded. We left the parking lot and immediately started gaining altitude. It wasn't long before we were looking back down into the valley and enjoying views of the mountains in all directions. After a short, dead-end spur, we found a road going the way we wanted. When we stopped after a while for a snack, we were back in the valley ~ the next valley over. Looking around, we noted some interesting trees and rocks along the ridgeline, so we had to climb up! (Dan assured me that the rattlers are starting to den up this time of year, so even if we spotted one, it would be "sluggish." Makes it easier to catch, he tells me. Hmmm... Comforting!) We scrambled our way to the top and were rewarded with really neat rock formations, trees, and views of the Pryors.


Can you spot the machines?

Then it was "on the road again." We crossed a main road and realized that we were in the area we had ridden before. So we rode there for a while. When we looped back to the main road, I was ready to call it a day. BUT... not so fast. We got relatively close to the truck without trouble, but then we just couldn't seem to find our way back down off of the ridge. We took wrong roads TWICE! (Good thing we have a GPS. It helps if you check it now and again!) We did beat the sunset back to the truck, but it was dark when we got home. At least I had ribs waiting for us in the crock pot. Yummy!