Lush green ranch just before entering the canyon into the Little Bighorn National Forrest.

It turned out to be pretty cold and nasty, and rained most of day. But not to worry, I had already ridden through snow, rain and cold on this trip and I was ready for it.  I remembered driving through them somewhere when I was a kid, but it had been so long that I really didn’t remember much.  So when we finally started into the mountains, I was in for a good surprise.  It was more beautiful than I had remembered.  That’s always better than the other way around.  And I’ve been there and done that too!

Just before we started into the Little Bighorns on Hwy 14, the landscape became very lush and green, with mountains looming ahead of us in the distance.  I knew we had to ride through the mountains at some point.  So, as I rode along, I tried to see if I could see any tell tail signs of where the road might go into the mountains.  At first it seemed like it was a futile attempt.  But then, way out ahead of me and to my left, I started to see what looked like a canyon cutting into the mountains.  Aha!  That had to be it.  I kept my eye on that canyon as I rode along.

Heading into the canyon, entrance to the Little Bighorn National Forrest.

Well, as it turns out, I was right.  In spite of the fact that it was raining and cold enough that it could almost have been snow instead of rain, and the clouds were low, it was absolutely beautiful.  As we headed into the canyon the view became almost breath taking.  The canyon walls were beautiful colored and rose almost straight up for hundreds of feet above us.  The clouds were actually low enough that I could not see the top of the canyon wall.

There was a small river rushing to the left of the windy Hwy 14. As we continued to climb through the canyon, and up higher into the mountains, the temperature began to drop.  I was warm enough in my riding suit, but I was a little concerned about slick roads if it began to freeze with all the rain on the road, and the possibility of it snowing.

Shell Falls - Bighorn National Forrest, WY

After taking pics of everyone with Shell Falls in the background, we headed on East towards Mt. Rushmore.  By the time we got to the summit, it was snowing lightly.  I was still warm, but was wishing that I had some heated gloves.

Me standing in front of Shell Falls on Hwy 14, WY.

Coming down the East side of the Little Big Horns, WY

The next point of interest was Sturgis, SD.  I often get asked if I have even ridden my bike to Sturgis.  Until this trip I had to tell them no.  Well, now I have.  But unfortunately, it was not during the rally.    But hey, I did ride my bike there as apposed to the majority of the bikes that get towed there.  So, I didn’t feel quite as bad at the fact that I had missed the rally.

Mt. Rushmore.

Our next stop was Mt. Rushmore.  You know how you have childhood memories of things, and then when you see them again as an adult, they just don’t hold up to your memories?  Well, that was Mt. Rushmore for me.  It was a spectacular sight, and learning how the sculpting was planned and carried out was quite fascinating.  And probably the highlight of being there on that particular day was the fact that I got to meet the last living worker that helped with the sculpting of Mt. Rushmore, Mr. Nick Clifford.

Me and Nick Clifford, the only man that helped in the sculpting of Mt. Rushmore that is still living.

After leaving Keystone and Mt. Rushmore, we once again headed East again and went as far as Rapid City, SD where we stopped for the night.  As we pulled off the freeway an into town the thunderstorm that had been looming ahead, finally cut loose its torrents or rain.  By the time we got into town, there was about a foot of water on the sides of the street and I had to ride in the left lane of the 4 lane street to keep my feet out of the water!  Almost 500 miles from where we started this morning, I had ridden through valleys, canyons, mountains, rain, sleet, snow and ended the day with getting poured on by a thunderstorm.  Oh, and I even saw my first live moose in the wild today.  Maybe tomorrow will be a nicer day.