Spearfish/Red Lodge Fall 2016

Last week Jack and I took a quick trip out to Red Lodge, MT. We left after Jens' home game Sunday afternoon.

Jens and line mate Dom moving the puck up. Waving the flag in Kent Freeman arena. 

 After Jens' game we went south instead of west to catch Jon's game in Brookings, SD. Jack next to Jon's team bus that was back in action after a month of repairs.

Jon on the faceoff. After the game and a too short visit with Jon, we drove to Spearfish and arrived middle of the night.

  The next morning we rollerskied up the Spearfish canyon on a beautiful day that saw temps in the mid 60's. The road had been recently resurfaced and a nice wide shoulder. No traffic to speak of and gorgeous weather made for really nice skiing. It isn't often I want to continue a rollerski session but the morning was one of those days you could keep on going.

Before we skied, I got up while still in a daze from driving the night before and hit up the Tinton trail for a quick spin. The last two times, in the summer, I got stormed on and it was muddy the other time. Hard to believe mid November it was bone dry, almost dusty in spots with loose pine needles and super fast conditions. Great ride.

Heading up Spearfish canyon.

Before we rolled out of town, we stopped at one of the best pizza places I have been to. Dough Trader pizza.

I had been here two summers ago with Jon and had to stop here with Jack. I talked it up pretty good and with Jake being a pizza maker expert, he approved.

Heading to Red Lodge from Spearfish required new roads to travel on which is always interesting. I was most looking forward to driving over the mountains from Dayton to Lovell, WY. We caught the afterglow on the east side and just missed catching the sunset on the west side once we topped out over 9000ft. Dayton was around 4000ft so a nice climb up and definitely want to get back on this road.

Passing through Lovell at night and the local drug store.

Arrived to the historic Yodeler in Red Lodge for basecamp.

Yodeler famous for its steam baths which always feel great after a day of play in the mountains.

The next morning we geared up for another rollerski up the Beartooth highway. We were hoping to ski on snow but no snow at the gate so we had the rolling kind.

It was a bummer not to be skiing but the experience of skiing on the Beartooth highway up to almost 9000ft was an awesome experience. When we took off it was relatively nice but you could see the much talked about and anticipated storm rolling in. Since it wouldn't take as much time to get down as getting up, we were ready to turn around if conditions got really bad. The worst part was the wind and near the end the snow started to fall.

There were shaded sections that were glazed/iced over that were interesting getting across and required double poling.

After climbing about 5 miles and 1600 ft of elevation gain and the road getting icier, we decided to turn around.

Going down was crazy at first. The tail wind was 20-30mph and was giving us too much push down. We had to do a lot of step turning to get down safely.

Taking it easy through the glazed sections.

Made it down safely and went straight to Mas Tacos for the first time and enjoyed some awesome Mexican food.

Great stuff!

The folks in town were definitely restless, hoping snow and cold temps would come to make their opening day. Since we left, 15" of snow fell and good to see they will open.

The next day the storm was bearing down and dropped a few inches in town with a bit more at the Nordic center.

When we were skiing Jack goes "dad what is that" I look up and it was a big black wolf cutting through 50 yards away. About 2 minutes before two nice mule deer bucks were in front. We crossed the tracks a few more times and could tell it had left the area.

The skiing wasn't the best but no such thing as bad skiing. Was definitely more relaxing after the rollerski descent the day before.

Breaking trail.

Any day on snow is a great day!

The evening before I checked out a hiking/mountain biking trail I found on Strava and local hiking guide that was open to mountain bikers. It criss crossed the willow creek which runs up to Red Lodge mountain. Sweet mountain bike trail, wasn't able to get to the top as it got too dark.

Look forward to getting back here some day to check it out all the way to the top. Again, hard to believe mid November in the mountains dry and tacky trail.

After we skied I thought I would sneak in one more quick spin before hitting up the Red Lodge cafe and journey home. Snow higher up cut the ride short but the crisp fresh air was perfect before the smooth ride home. Great quick trip, always awesome to be in the mountains!