Wyoming Epic Bike Tour

Ride across the southern portion of the Bighorn Mountains today on the Cloud Peak Scenic Byway. It is the only road from which you can view 13,167 ft Cloud Peak – the highest peak in the Bighorns. Watch for rock climbers clinging to the walls in Ten Sleep Canyon as you head out of town this morning on your way to the 9,666-foot summit of Powder River Pass. Lush grasslands, river canyons, alpine meadows, crystal-clear lakes, glacier-hewn valleys, rolling hills and sheer mountain walls make for spectacular riding. Buffalo, Wyoming – our destination today – is tucked into the Bighorn’s eastern foothills. The town’s main street has more than a dozen historic buildings, including the Occidental Hotel where Owen Wister’s Virginian finally “got his man”. If history is your thing, try not to miss the impressive Jim Gatchell Museum, with over 15,000 artifacts from the American Old West. Stay at the Hampton Inn.

Bicycle north today on lightly traveled blue highways with the Bighorns on your left and big skies above. Ride past glittering Lake de Smet – which the Sioux believed to have magical healing powers – and on to Sheridan for lunch. This is where we will be spending tonight, so you have a choice. You can either tie up your trusty steed here for the day (after about 45 miles) and enjoy the afternoon in Sheridan – once home to gold miners, cattle rustlers, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Buffalo Bill Cody – or if you want to complete every inch of the riding, you can spur your mount on the last 20 miles to tiny Ranchester (pop. 1064), where we will start riding over the northern Bighorns in the morning. (Yes, we will shuttle you back to Sheridan!) Stay at the Sheridan Inn in the historic downtown where you can try on some cowboy boots, enjoy a variety of western museums, and slake your thirst at the legendary Mint Bar watering hole.

Point your steeds back to the west today and gear up (down?) for some climbing – or maybe a van boost – as we head back across the northern portion of Bighorn Mountains. Ride the Bighorn Scenic Byway to the town of Lovell – ‘Wyoming’s Rose City’ on the northwestern flanks of the range. The route tops out at about 9,500 feet, so plan for a breather at Crystal Creek Rest Area. Stay at the Horseshoe Bend Motel.

Bicycle generally northwest today. Follow the squiggly curves of Silver Tip Creek through Byron and north into Montana. Fields of corn, sugar beets and alfalfa are interspersed with tiny towns in this valley that lies between Yellowstone National Park and the Bighorn Range. Stay two nights at the Pollard Hotel in Red Lodge, Montana, a raucous 1890s coal town that is now a ‘Gateway to Yellowstone National Park.’

Polish your spurs and rest up your mounts in Red Lodge before another big day in the mountains tomorrow. Visit the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary for non-releasable wildlife (wildlife sightings guaranteed!), check out the depot and art galleries, hit up a local fly-fishing outfitter, or pick up a walking tour brochure at the Carbon County Museum and get the inside story on Red Lodge’s history. If you need to keep your legs moving, there are lonely highways to nowhere to explore, or you can sample a bit of tomorrow’s spectacular ride as an out and back from town. Lunch and dinner are on your own today.