Distance: 57 miles
Elevation: +5527 / -5889
Temperature: 50
We rolled out of Ten Sleep Rock Ranch at 6AM this morning, with a little drizzle and the threat of more rain to come.
Our biggest challenge right off the bat was climbing the pass through the Big Horn National Park. This was about a 23 mile climb, which, while gradual, was still 23 miles to the top, and for which we would be climbing over 5000 feet.
The road up took us through diverse terrain: dolomite rock faces (this likely being the draw for all of the rock climbers in our camp) that dated to the Ordovician period, and then changing to alpine forests and hills. The Ten Sleep Creek followed us for miles, and the sound of it enhanced the feel of being out in the wilderness. There were a few patches of snow off in the distance, and as some neared the top, the occasional drizzle transformed into something a bit more icy (and painful!). John met us halfway up the mountain to help us with ice and water before waiting for us again at the top.
As we neared the top, there were more and more snow fences to be seen, some stacked in a series of six or more, as a means of keeping the snow drifts off of the roads in the winter.
The biggest challenge in climbing, and then descending, was temperature regulation. It’s easy to heat up and sweat while climbing, but then when descending, your sweat turns to ice. Therefore, when we got to the top, many of us stripped off wet layers and put on warm layers to get us down the mountain.
From the top of the mountain, we went another 9.2 miles to the start of Crazy Woman Canyon. Yes, we chose this destination both for it’s name as well as the reported beauty of this location when we looked it up on line. It’s a 13ish mile stretch of gravel road that descends through a canyon of incredibly huge boulders, waterfalls, and a rushing creek that moves down the mountain. This stretch was a destination we had been excited about for months in advance, so it was tough to reach the start of the canyon with rain restarting and temperatures dropping into the mid 40s. Nevertheless, we pushed forward. Wow. It was hard. The road was soft sand mixed with large rocks, and the downhill was so steep that walking was the safest way to descend. After a mile, we realized that this was not going to work, and John suggested perhaps shuttling us back up to the main road to continue there toward Buffalo.
No sooner had we gotten the first group of bikes onto the back of John’s car, than a pickup truck pulled up and asked why we were leaving. We explained the situation of the road being too hard to make it safely, and the two women in the truck told us we would be missing the most beautiful part of the whole canyon if we didn’t keep going. Ultimately, the women convinced us to load our extra bikes and bodies into their truck, and they would shuttle us down, so that we wouldn’t miss anything. (Courage points go to Becky and Katherine who sat in the back of the truck holding onto bikes, while the rest of us were warm in the car/truck.) Merry, her dog Root Beer, and Candy gave us the full tour. Merry is a retired train conductor (!) who was doing this work back in the 70s when women weren’t in that field. She is working on a book, and I can’t wait to read it, since how inspiring for breaking into that kind of field!
Merry and Candy regaled us with stories about the region, their friendship, hobbies, families, and flora and fauna of the area. They had originally intended to bring a friend to the canyon today, but when the friend backed out, they decided to do it anyway, since they enjoy the scenery so much. And, they were totally right! The canyon was incredible, and I’m so glad we didn’t miss it! They thought a group of women cyclists was pretty cool, and we thought they were pretty cool, so none of us was any less “crazy” than the others! We shared pictures and a lot of laughs through the canyon.
According to our amazing tour guides, the name for Crazy Woman Canyon comes from the story of a woman who were traveling by covered wagon through Sioux territory. The husband and children were reportedly scalped in front of her, and then the woman was raped. Consequently, the woman went insane, and the canyon was thus named.
Here are the crazy women in the back of the truck, who braved the cold and apparently bonded extensively during the experience:
We parted with Merry and Candy at the end of the canyon’s gravel road in front of an old one-room school house with hugs and a photo in front of the sign for the Crazy Woman Canyon Road.
For the last ten miles, it was rain and a headwind as we headed into Buffalo. But, there wasn’t much traffic on the wet roads, and we heard Merry and Candy toot to us when we arrived in Buffalo. We rolled into town, took hot showers to warm up, put newspapers in our shoes, and Mary Jo and Becky went to the laundromat to wash and dry our clothes. Now to settle in for the evening for some good food and a night’s rest before we get up to head out tomorrow morning for Gillette!
Highlights:
1 We all made it up the pass!
2 Meeting Merry, Candy and Root Beer, and spending two hours making new friends!
3 John supporting us up the pass
Lowlights:
1 Rain
2 Cold
3 Headwind (of course)