Skipping Little Big Horn Battlefield
and gaining the Bighorn National Forest Canyon
09/19/2009 - 09/20/2009
Joe:
I feel good waking up in my own little cabin in the tiny loft. It’s nice and warm and I’m thinking that I can’t believe that we could tell the owner that we’re trying to save money and he gave us this for $36 when rooms were $100. He said we could get the deal if we use our sleeping bag as a sheet because he hadn’t setup this cabin. Everyone wants to help if you need it and you’re willing to ask. Oh, yeah. You have to be really nice too. It reminds me of a person Dan Millman (author of Peaceful Warrior) once met. This women decided that she would keep walking until given a ride or shelter for free, and she would not eat or drink anything until it was given. To some, this may sound irresponsible and selfish, but it teaches a lot about interdependence, compassion, and love. I hope that soon we will have things in order and we’ll have more opportunities to help others the way we’ve been helped (you wouldn’t believe how many times).
It’s only a little cool in the morning air on the mountain. Totally refreshing. When I look back at the pictures they never come close to comparing to being here. I guess that’s why people actually travel even though they can see it all on the internet. When you look at the pictures try to feel the effortless speed of flying through it: Floating and being totally in the scene and passing though it at the same time. When you pass through it there is a brief moment where you cut through to the heart of the scene and it’s so sharp and so sudden. You should watch the Kiwi Bird youtube video to give you an idea about how great it is to fly.
The trees are spread in sparse lines and distant forests that turn into crashing waves as we speed past them. The land at the top of the mountain is open and reveals distant peaks. We come down from the lazy curves around the top of the mountain and it’s time for some crazy twists and crazy sights.
At one point I see a canyon almost out of the corner of my eye and I cut through and feel it. I knew this was the spot. I had to stop. We turn around and slowly climb back up to a little pull-off.
Oh…my…god. It was perfect. We climb over the guard rail and into the thick golden brown underbrush to a rock that overlooks the jagged canyon.
Over top of the canyon are rolling hills of grass that lead up to trees and peaks of rocky cliffs. The variety of the scene was awesome. As we get closer we see a rushing river that has slowly cut this canyon out of the hillside.
The thing that first attracted me to the spot was the beautiful way the parallel canyon was joined by a really jagged canyon straight ahead. I see a rock farther down our side that truly juts out on a cliff’s edge overlooking the scene. I scramble down the rocks and weeds and trees to the spot that sits right against a clump of brilliant colored evergreens.
I notice that the two intersecting canyons are caused by intersecting rivers. Vanessa and I both meditate for a while. She is up by the first rock and I was on the cliff. We both separately decided to do the bliss chi gong. It was so calm and peaceful. I could just here the rushing rapids. We tape the dragon animal exercise from my spot and say our good-byes to my (still) favorite spot of the trip.
I point out to V the way the layers of rock aren’t just horizontal, but crisscross and curve all over the place.
On the bike we feel refreshed, but we need to move to get to Yellowstone and then V’s doctor’s appointment in Denver. The bike carves beautifully around the mountain as we see more amazing sights over the guardrail and cliffs. We drop down into the canyon and drive along the river that we adored so much earlier.
We leave bighorn and hit some flat farmland with the occasional awesome rock formation.
How would you like to have that rock in your backyard.
Then we stopped at a cool general store and restaurant. Friendly older people were sitting on rocking chairs on the front porch. We go inside and shop. V buys Brittany a great B-day present and we were only going to get some little snacks and keep moving. But...they had a good salad bar and one plate was only $3.95. I spent about 15 minutes stacking and balancing a ton of stuff on it and we ate healthy.
We rode off into the sunset on our steel horse, a stallion named Perp(short for purple).
So close to yellowstone we drive into the night a bit planning on sneaking into one of their campgrounds and passing out. We're still in a hurry because of the doc appointment. I start to have an ominous feeling. This is a bad idea. We are passing between high cliffs and there is a heavy cloud cover so it's very dark. The wind is cold and hard. I ask V if we should go back to the last town. She agrees. I slow to a stop on the empty dark roadway. I pull a U-turn and I hit it a little hard. A sudden gust of wind blows me right over. We both manage to gently set the bike down on its side, but now we're stuck in the middle of the road at night. V gets on the far side and steps on the peg with all her weight while pulling the handlebar with her good hand. I get underneath and lift as the bike lurches up unsteadily. It dumps gas on my hand and we get off the road and cool down while cleaning off my hand.
NO U-TURNS AT NIGHT.
We pass out in an RV park.
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