Suzanne's Blog: Day 6 - Deadwood, SD to Loveland, CO

Last day of the first leg of my trip... I made plans to meet my dad in Scottsbluff, NE at noon, so I left Deadwood at 7:30 intending to take a pretty direct route south through Custer. But in looking at the map one last time, I noticed that Needles Highway intersected with route 385 twice and realized that I could check that road out on the way. Eight years ago I had met my dad and stepmom in Spearfish and we rode to Loveland this way, taking Iron Mountain Highway instead, but I knew Needles was a similar type of road and wanted to try it. It couldn't add that much time to my trip, right? Well, it turned out to be a very challenging road with many sharp switchbacks, climbs, descents, and loop overs, not to mention the wildlife. It was slow going but gorgeous and exhilarating and scary at the same time. You know it's going to be a bit of a challenge when there are signs posted saying Motorcyclists Use Extreme Caution! I saw some mountain goats near Cathedral Spires, a mule deer doe and her still-spotted fawn, and later, going through part of the Custer State Park wildlife loop, several herds of bison with multiple young calves, numerous prairie dogs, many on sentry duty, and a coyote. Needles added more time to my trip than I had expected, and I was late meeting my dad in Nebraska, but it was worth it!

After a quick lunch, dad and I rode to Scotts Bluff National Monument. These huge bluffs jutting out of the ground were landmarks for the pioneers traveling west and the pony express rode through Mitchell's Pass at Scotts Bluff as well. The bluff sits over 4600 feet above sea level and rises 800 feet above the North Platte River, with geologic strata exposed providing insight into the conditions 33 to 22 million years ago. For $3, the National Park Service will let you drive the winding road up to the top of the bluff so you can look down on the city of Scottsbluff and the surrounding North Platte River valley. After a quick selfie, we headed back down and made for Loveland, running into a thunderstorm in southern Wyoming. Luckily we just skirted the south edge of it and then turned south towards Cheyenne, putting safe distance between us and the lightning that was visible in the distance. We passed some pronghorn antelope on the way, and made it into Loveland just after 6:00. After 2770 miles, I was finally going to get a day where I didn't have to sit on the bike! On Tuesday we leave for Wyoming again, heading to Grand Tetons National Park, followed by Yellowstone. Stay tuned!