Badlands Ural: Big Foot

 

I entered the park for the second time that day on Canata Basin Road.  There was a picnic area just before the junction with the main Badlands Loop, but otherwise not much of note.

Turning generally east towards the majority of the visitor services, I soon encountered a group of about half a dozen bighorn sheep!  For some reason, they all turned their backsides to me.  Probably didn't want to squint into the low-hanging sun.

No, I didn't risk getting off the bike there (wildlife is so unpredictable), but found another more scenic spot for a photo shoot.

The lighting wasn't nearly as good this way, but why not?

Less than ten miles from Canata Basin, you come to Big Foot Pass.  But just before that is Big Foot Road.  Now Sasquatch is also known as Bigfoot (one word).  So I assume that Big Foot (two words) is referring to something else entirely - but I have no idea what (or who).

By this time it was late in the afternoon.  There were quite a few clouds, but the good weather was holding.  There is still a large portion of the park to the east, but this was another road that I'd passed several times in the car and had wanted to check out.

It should be another unpaved route out of The Badlands, this time to the north.

And as expected, I crossed the boundary after less than a mile of well-maintained gravel.

There are at least a couple more unpaved roads into the park, but they'd have to wait for my next visit.  I have an annual pass (and it's only an hour away) - so there's really no reason not to take multiple trips.  Each season here has its own unique qualities to experience.

It was still five miles farther to Interstate 90, but soon I spotted an overpass at the top of a gentle rise.  

Motoring up the on-ramp, I prepared myself for an adventure of a vastly different sort - riding the Ural on the freeway!

Badlands Ural: Sheep Mountain

 

Immediately after turning off the highway onto Sheep Mountain Road, I came nose to nose with the Ural's most sinister nemesis.  It doesn't look so bad in the photo (it never does), but these washboards were some of the worst I've ever encountered!

The combination of stiff, short-travel suspension and the fact that none of the Ural's three wheels are lined up side to side make for an extremely rough ride on washboarded gravel.  That's right, the sidecar wheel is off-set a little forward of the bike's rear wheel.  I don't know why.  So each tire is bumping over a hump at different times.  Any speed over about 5 mph and I can barely hold on to the bars!

The scenery was incredible though.  So assuming a snail's pace was hardly a waste of time.

The overlook was only four or five miles up, so I'd get there - eventually.  I guessed that once I got off the valley floor, the surface would get better...

And it did.  Significantly better, in fact.

And then it got worse again.  But at least here I could thread my way between the worst lines and maintain a sufficient climbing pace.  The road wound to the top of the plateau through this steep-walled canyon.  Very Indiana Jones like!

There's a large parking area at the high point and views of the surrounding badlands in every direction.  Oh and yes, there is a sidecar motorcycle in one of the Indiana Jones movies.

But it's not as cool as mine!

It's always fascinating to me when I come across a vista this encompassing and can't see another living soul anywhere.  I suppose there's probably someone on the farthest darkened ridges, but you get the idea.  In that moment, this was all a gift for my eyes only!  It will never be exactly the same for anyone else - ever.  Yet, at the same time (to the casual observer anyway), the big picture likely hasn't changed for hundreds of years.

I chewed on that for a bit.  And you know I was serious, because I even took off my helmet for the occasion.  And cause Mom appreciates a selfie now and then.

I walked along the edge of the escarpment (but not too close) to get a better look at the road ahead.  According to my map, it continued for a couple more miles.  But it was in pretty rough shape.  Deciding to head back down and leave time to explore other regions of the park, I took one last photo - and returned to the bike.

On this flat part, before it drops into the canyon, visitors had effectively widened the road into the grass to get around the washboards.  I followed suit, as it was much easier on my back.  Would be better for the road and the grasslands if the Park Service would do some maintenance.

Here's that same canyon from the top looking down.  It's like a whole 'nother road!

I made it back to the highway and took 44 another ten miles east to the Canata Basin Road.  It begins outside the park (to the south), but according to the sign, I would cross the boundary in seven miles.  I'd noted Canata's north end junction on previous visits to The Badlands by car, but had never explored it.  So far, so good - no washboards!

That was a straight, but relatively high-speed seven-mile gravel stretch.  Ural and I both thoroughly enjoyed it.  The blacktop began as I entered this more heavily visited area of the park.  But don't worry, I'll find another unpaved road for my exit!