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Yellowstone 11 – Interesting people

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The previous night I started looking for a campsite after the sun had set. Two motorcyclists offered me to share their spot at an already full campsite that I had found along the road but they also informed me of another campsite a little ahead which I decided to check out first. I found the second campsite a few minutes later and there was one spot left. I parked my bike in front of where I wanted to set up my tent so I could illuminate the spot with my lights which attracted all the mosquitoes in the US but once I had the tent up and a fire going they disappeared. I was the only one still up at this hour and I finally went to bed after midnight with a stomach full of grilled sausages.

The next morning the mosquitoes were merciless in the shade.

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As I started packing my things while having a little cereal breakfast I wanted to prepare my GoPro camera for the day but after searching every possible crack I still could not find it. I realized I must have lost it. Most likely the magnet mount I built for the metal panniers had come off on bumpy ground and I immediately had a suspicion where. The previous day about 10km back I had just reached level ground coming down the mountains when I suddenly felt a massive bump in the road. I hadn’t seen any obstacle on the road in my headlights so I just kept going after a quick stop to check the bike over.

I always have a red neon ribbon tied to the little camera so I would be able to spot it in cases I ever lost it. As I backtracked my way (which was easy because my GPS logged my previous path) I found the ribbon and the camera on the road. Luckily nobody had taken it home an no car had rolled over it.

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The cheap protective casing I had used had broken off the mount but the camera looked fine despite it smashing to the ground at 70km/h when I hit this pothole:

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I was fully expecting the camera to be broken internally and the previously recorded footage to be gone but when I came back to my campsite to check it the memory card the data was all there and even the camera worked like nothing had happened. This camera has taken a lot of abuse in the seven years I have had it and it’s truly indestructible.

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I glued the broken housing pieces together and by noon was finally on my way east into the park.

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Progress didn’t last long and the bikes handling showed me that it too needed attention. A chain adjustment was in order which I could do in the shade of a little tree which even had a chair ready for me.

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The job was quickly done and the handling improved noticeably.

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Back in the National Park I spotted a big herd of buffaloes grazing on a prairie.

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Further on I noticed cars stopping on the side of the road. A park ranger was there too along with three bears. A sow with two cubs. They were 200 meters away though so it was was only possible to see a few dark spots in the shadow of a tree. Everybody wanted to be closer like one lady who drove her flashy BMW into the ditch.

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Back at the center of the park I met a family again which I had had a nice chat with two days ago further Norther in the park. They admired the bike and were very interested in my trip. They had driven to the park from Colorado. I found it interesting that that many people including this family had come from quite far. Many of the license plates in the park were from all over the US, not just the adjacent states. Road trips are a big thing in the US and much more common than in Europe.

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Shortly after I met a fellow motorcyclist who traveled on his big BMW K1300GT and I finally had the opportunity to get some first hand feedback on the motorcycle jacked I have been planing to buy for a long time, the Klim Latitude Jacket he was wearing. He was very happy with it and recommended it highly. Unfortunately it has become so expensive recently that I decided to not buy it.

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Always hungry I decided to get instant noodles from the tiny convenience store there and I shared a table with an interesting group of people. There were two friendly and curious couples in their 60s who were travelling the West coast for few weeks. I had a great chat with them until they told me that they were Mormon missionaries. First I thought they were screwing with me because they had seemed so – normal. I don’t know what I expected Mormon missionaries to be like but apparently I at least expected them to be recognizable as crazy people from afar. Yet they seemed genuine, reasonable and friendly. Still I suddenly felt uncomfortable in their presence. They asked me if I knew anything about Mormons which I denied so they proceeded to tell me that all of them had lived abroad for many years doing their missionary work in South America and Africa. They had now left this work to their children who were just enthusiastic about it as them. It surprised me how baffled I was to experience these people as completely normal. They even went as far as offering me a place to stay once I reached Utah when I told them that it was my plan to also see Salt Lake City. They were excited to hear that I would have the chance to see all the big Mormon temples which Salt Lake City is know for because the church has it’s center there. I wanted to ask them to explain their religion to me but I felt it would be rude because I wasn’t sure I would be able to pretend I didn’t find it weird. After offering me some of their desert and me promising I would visit the Temple Square in Salt Lake City we parted ways and I eventually changed my heading from East to South to leave the park behind for the last time.

The afternoon sun made it and endurance challenge to reach the scenic outposts scattered around the main road in full gear.

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Needless to say it was worth it.

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The scale alone was breathtaking.

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More wildlife next to the road.

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A last hellish reminder of the powerful forces working underneath the thin crust we live on.

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One last time I saw a few buffaloes in the park. This time there even was a calf.

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The sun was about to set as I headed further south looking for a place to spend the night.

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Yellowstone National Park

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One of the main reasons for me to return back to North America last year was my wish to explore the breathtakingly diverse landscapes of this continent. High up on my list was Yellowstone National Park. After a lot of hassle getting my gear together and the bike ready for a longer trip I was almost ready to set off to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.

 

Before leaving Vancouver in early July however the first challenge was to pack the bike. On a motorcycle there are several things to consider in regards to your travel luggage. One being the balance of the bike. The weight has to be distributed evenly which is particularly important at higher speeds, off road, in corners and during strong winds. And at normal speed. Yes and always. The next thing is of course the weight of the luggage. You have to leave things behind that you might consider essential. There simply ins’t enough room. However I actually like this aspect because it makes you realize and decide what you truly need and what you don’t. Not just on a journey but altogether. If you don’t need it on such a longer trip you probably don’t need it at all. I have reduced my kit to a bunch of mechanical tools, emergency medical equipment, camping gear, toiletries and the bare minimum of clothing. The only non essential equipment I always take with me is my camera gear.

The biggest issue with weight for me usually is the suspension travel. The suspension (essentially the big metal spring on the rear wheel) has to be capable of supporting the added weight without ever compressing fully. Not off road and especially not on road. Unfortunately the KLR doesn’t have a greatest of suspensions.

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I set the hardness from it’s original level 1 to the maximum 5. But the difference was barely noticeable.

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A few extra pieces of equipment like two 1.5 liter jerry cans (additional fuel) I had already discarded. The only thing non essential left was my camera equipment. My DSLR camera is heavy and together with additional lenses it added 10 pounds to my luggage. Because safety always goes first reluctantly I decided to leave my camera equipment at home too.

The final aspect of packing a motorcycle is ease of access to your gear on the road. Stopping on the way to get a small piece of your equipment out and back stowed away safely so you don’t lose it on the next bump may take 15 seconds in a car but 15 minutes on a bike. Every stop you make on the bike takes that into account. So things like Passport, rain cloths, extra layer for warmth, water.. go at the top. I find that this issue of accessibility is probably the most exhausting and draining part of travelling on a motorcycle.

After having found a setup that worked (so-so) I tested the suspension on last time by letting myself fall onto the saddle as hard as possible, set the GPS target to the US border and I was on my way to a new adventure.

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The weather was just semi great (=bad). It was already raining lightly and it was supposed to get worse. In anticipation of a wet first day I had already started the trip in my full rain gear and all warm layers just to be safe. Once you are caught in the rain there is no quickly slipping into another layer. It’s too late by then you’ll be wet.

The weather report promised heavy rain once I would cross the border.

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Luckily that didn’t prove to be true so after crossing the border I took a little break to take off my weather armor. It’s not the most comfortable feeling to be stuck in so many layers which really restrict your movement.

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All along the way I had kept a close eye on the suspension trying to get a feeling for how bad things really were. I had now done a few docents km and reached the conclusion that there still was some suspension travel left. So little that I would feel every bump but not too little to be overly concerned. In fact I became confident enough that I actually decided to turn around to go get my DSLR camera. Everybody who knows me knows that not having a camera is a real problem for me so I didn’t think about it twice. Luckily the border is quite close and I only lost two hours until I was back again in the US and on my way towards Seattle.

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Of course I was soon putting my rain gear back on because the weather started getting bad again.

Not a second too soon.

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When planing my trip the only thing that had worried me was whether the time frame I had for it was a little too early to have good weather throughout. Now it seemed like that was the case. But since there wasn’t any point in complaining I kept pushing on to get as far as I could across the mountain pass I was now on. It was the reason for the drastic change in weather. Within 20 minutes I had climbed from sea level to 1000m.

Luckily I didn’t need to stop for gas very often thanks to the KLR’s gigantic 23 liter fuel tank. The gas prices weren’t too inviting anyway.

I was now looking for a camp site in the pouring rain and to my surprise I found one not too far off the main road after a kilometer of pothole filled dirt road. I wished I had already had my auxiliary lights installed to help me see in the dark. Especially because the heavy load on the rear of the bike lifted the angle of the regular lights. Of course the lights should be adjusted after packing the bike but I didn’t think about this before I left. I would have had to take the bike apart too and I didn’t have time for that on the trip. Especially not now.

The camp site I had found was not what a European would expect from a camp site. In Europe camp sites are usually fenced in, with facilities, probably a power outlet, maybe even a kitchen, and certainly somebody to welcome you and take your payment. Avoiding this was the reason I chose wild camping in Spain but to my delight there was no choice here. This camp site was just a road branching off in the forest and a hand full of clear spots marked with little numbers on wooden signs. You were supposed to take an envelop from a sign post at the ‘entrance’, providing your details, put the fee in it and deposit it in a letter box. Then you would just go and pick any spot and put up your tent. Very simple. I liked that. So I chose a spot -I was the only one there anyway-, put my bike in front of the particular space I wanted to put my tent on and started pitching it in the light cone of my headlight. It was still raining so I felt a bit miserable but having done this a few times before it only took 10 minutes to set it up and soon I was laying in my dry comfy sleeping bag falling asleep to the sound of the rain pattering on my tent.

Spain 20 – Gibraltar

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I rode through the night for two hours through what appeared like un-populated land on the GPS but the roads lead me through fenced grazing land with “no trespassing” signs. I was about to trespass until I found a little path that only went 30 meters away from the road and didn’t offer much cover but it had to do.

Surprisingly there were huge number of mosquitoes there so I used my mosquito head net and together with my biking clothing I didn’t get bitten a single time. (Maybe though it was actually because they were scared of me because I looked like a nightmare from a horror movie.)

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In the morning I saw that my location really wasn’t covered very well but like before nobody had noticed or cared about my presence.

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When I was searching for a camp spot I had to rely on the head light of my bike. It’s a strong light but centered on the road. It didn’t illuminate a big area and made the search difficult in the pitch dark night. To make the next search a bit more convenient I adjusted the angle of the headlights a bit so the light would go further ahead. A minor adjustment that did make a big difference.

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However it is still not ideal. I decided that I would get auxiliary lights for my next trip. A great side effect will obviously also be being more visible by other drivers on the road. According to accident statistics the big majority of accidents not caused by a motorcyclist himself are caused by the other driver not seeing the motorcyclist.

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My next stop would be yet another country. Gibraltar. Gibraltar is just a tiny spec on the coast of Spain and it is part of the UK. The official language is English and the currency British Pounds.

 

I was just under two hours away from Gibraltar and approached the border in the afternoon after having stocked up my supplies and filled up my tank.

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Contrary to what I had been told the border crossing went very fast without any waiting time whatsoever. I felt right at home with my British license plate.

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Gibraltar is basically just a big rock. There is very little space which makes for a very interesting dense city/country layout. The main road of the country that leads from the border to the center is shared between cars, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians – and planes. An airfield goes straight through the road. It’s not a little one either. It’s a full scale runway. When a plane is approaching or taking off traffic is closed until the last pedestrian has left the road (which sometimes takes a while) and then air traffic occupies the road for a few minutes.

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My trip to Gibraltar had one particular purpose. Seeing the monkeys of Gibraltar. The only place in Europe where monkeys are native in the wild. I was told that this is from a time when Africa was still connected to Spain. The monkeys live up on the rock so you have to either walk, drive or get the cable car to get to the top. Although as far as I know you can’t actually go all the way to the top.

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I chose the road which was not for the faint of heart. Very narrow and with a deep drop on one side it did however offer a great view.

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In fact the unique look and flair of these roads would be worthy of a Bond action sequence – which they were. In “The living Dailights” Bond (Timothy Dalton) is parachuting from a plane onto the mountain to find out that the training exercise he is part of took a deadly turn.

Parachuting over Gibraltar

(You can see the same mountains in the background as in my photo above)

Landing in tree

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Half way up the mountain I found what I was looking for.

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The Monkeys are used to people and come close if you are in their path. I had been told to be careful with my belongings as they are known to borrow tourists equipment they fancy. But I had no problem. I watched the monkeys for an hour and then kept going up as far as I could. The highest accessible point for non doubble-0 agents is the entrance of a cave system that was dug into the mountain centuries ago to fight against the Spanish and other threats in multiple battles.

The caves were not very tall.

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They had multiple window like openings to the face of the mountain where cannons were placed making it an ideal battle station position. From these holes in the walls you can see all of Gibraltar – and I am not even exaggerating. Spain begins roughly at the top half of the photo.

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You can see the main road intersecting the runway on the left. The busy field on the bottom is the cemetery. People of all religions are burried right beside each other for lack of space. Considering how tiny the country is there is a huge amount of football fields. I counted eight.

After visiting the caves I ate my dinner at the top and took in the beautiful view.

Exiting the country a little while later I regretted having filled up my tank before entering as everything turned out to be extremely cheap here. I think the taxes are a lot lower if there are any at all..

I was back in Spain and heading for Sevillia.

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Spain 3 – Heat

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The next day after packing my gear I set course for Barcelona. I skipped San Sebastian and the Pyrenees because they would have been a detour and would have taken at least two days to fully appreciate. I will be making another tour through France where I can include the border region.
This day I really started feeling the heat. It was bad. First when the temperature had climbed to around 30 degrees I thought: ‘That’s alright! At a certain speed you get the wind through the sleeves of the jacket and it feels just a tiny bit uncomfortable.’ I was suprised how quickly I got used to 30 degrees after having been sweating at 25 in London (with a ATGATT). 30 was nothing. Then came 34, 35. Water. I needed lots of it. I stopped at a ‘supermercado’ and stocked up my supplies. 4.5 Litres of water and lots of fruits. I am extremely glad I brought a camelback for my water supply. First I thought it might be overkill but it was a big, big relieve. Once I am in the sattel it is exhausting to get off. With the heat and the heavy cloths every step takes three times as long. I would not have beleaved it myself. It makes a huge difference.

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(Thanks for the heads up Fran!) Heading to Barcelona I crossed through Pamplona, where you can drive throug the narrow lanes of the old part of the city.

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In Pamplona though the heat started to get really bad. The dashboard termometer climbed from 36 to 39. At 36 the air starts becomming so warm that when it’s blowing in your face it doesn’t feel good, it makes it more exhausting to breath even at high speeds. The airflow thorugh the jacket was just enough to be able to feel the circulation but it was hot air. Better than noting but not comfortable. Still you can get used to it. At 39 however every step felt like a challenge. Not only I felt the heat. Also my bike. The engine started cutting out. At an intersection when the temperature had just reached 40 the engine just stopped and wouldn’t start again. This happened a few times but luckily it was never at an inconvenient spot. I rolled to a parking space and let the engine cool. Strangely I didn’t see any indication for anything overheating on the dash. After waiting half an hour and spending the time on drinking lots of water and eatig a can of fish (including the salty oil to get some salt back onto my body after sweating so much). I went on always switching the engine off when I had to stop. That worked well. Though when I got back onto the motorway within 20 minutes the engine cut out in sixth gear. I quickly hit the clutch and rolled to the hard shoulder. Luckily so far I have had all motorways almost completely to myself. Also luckily the engine had cut out right before a long downhill stretch of road. I rolled down the hill at over 60mph and right afterwards came an exit to a little dusty path which I comfortably rolled onto and stopped. I was exhausted. I needed the break as badly as the bike. I didn’t even want to get off the bike because it seemed such a big effort. But then sitting in direct sunlight was worse. Also usually you can sit on the bike with the side stand out but since the bike was so heavy it would be dangerously close to  tipping over. After twenty minutes of recovering the bike and I were ready to continue our trip.
The GPS wasn’t though. The heat was too great for my phone. As soon as I put it onto the handlebar mount it just powered off immediately. Also my GoPro camera on the handle bar frequently shut off. So it was back to paper maps and street signs. Luckily being forced to look at the big backup map that I had brought with me I discovered that I was close to a huge lake. The prospect of going for a swim was a heavenly one. My plan of getting to Barcelona in on day was an illusion considering the circumstances. I had barely managed to cover two hours distance of the 5 hours I had scheduled for reaching Barcelona. After a short 10 minute ride I could see the lake. What a sight. It wasn’t only the prospect of actually getting to jump into the refreshing cool water but it actually looked fanyastic too. A bright calm turquoise plane surrounded by yellow sandy rocks and beaches with saturated green trees. I could not have hoped for a more idyllic resting place. Since it was already past five and I had decided I was not going to push on to Barcelona I wanted to make camp at the lake. After passing through a little old village which for me was the first hint of Sergio Leone – wester movie look (which is something i am looking for in Spain) I inspected every little path on the road circling the lake to find a camp site. Doing that cost me my last bit of strength that I had left. I had to climb some rocky terrain and little hills to see if they would make for a good campsite and I had been wearing my full gear throughout trying to save time in case the current one was not a good spot. Finally, the fourth try was successful. I found a little flat patch of grass in a little forest in between the lake and the road. When I returned to my bike after finding my campsite I stared taking off my gear but I could barely stand upright, I had to lean onto my bike and didn’t move a muscle for a few minutes.

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After each little movement I took a break. I was completely exhausted. I deemed it unsafe to go swimming in that condition. Slowly I carried my dry bags and gear too my campsite and started setting up the tent. I almost emptied a 1.5 Litre bottle of water in one go before I started. Every single step felt unnecessary and too much effort.

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Finally, the tent was up and I was ready to go to the lake. I took another half hour break to get my strength back to be able to go for a swim. Stepping into the warm but refreshing water made it all worth it, the whole day.

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I swam for half an hour and enjoyed the solitude and quietness as the sun set.

After washing some of my cloths in the lake I climbed into my tent and fell asleep immediately. All in all it was fantastic day.

Gear Test – Vango Nemesis 200

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After getting the sprockets of the bike changed by the dealer and getting the bike checked over I felt safe riding the bike again. Apparently the clicking sound is normal according to the dealer. I will just have to take his word.

Finally I also had all the essential camping gear that I need for my future trips read so I wanted to give it a first test right away.

I rode to a little campsite close to London to stay one night.

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My tent is the Vango Nemesis 200 two persons tent. I am very happy with it. The best things about this tent are that you can put it up with the inner and outer layer simultaniously so you don’t get the inner layer wet in bad weather. Also since it is a geodesic design it stands on its own without any ropes. You can just pick it up as a whole and carry it somewhere else. Of course it can also be tied to the ground. It packs down to 40cm x 20cm and weighs close to 4kg. The hydrostatic head is 5000mm which should be perfectly fine for bad rainy, stormy UK weather.

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It’s got a lot of sotorrage room on both sides. Both of those seperated storage compartments can be folded away and have two openings each. Very handy.

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For somebody my size it is just big enough (6’3). My head and feet just about touch the edges. For two people of the same height I’d recommend the bigger (300/ three person tent) version of the tent.

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For my purposes I am very happy with the tent. It is exactly what I was looking for.

Bike Cover

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To avoid the bike rusting in the sunny UK weather I got a sturdy all weather cover. It’s called Oxford Stormex and from what I’ve read it’s supposed to be very good regarding dampness on the inside. Unfortunately it doesn’t cover the bike completely when I keep both panniers and the top box fitted to the bike. Probably because of the tall touring screen. But this is the largest size they have so it’ll have to work.

GPS solution

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My sophisticated GPS concoction. I’m using my phone with this fantastic navigation app from Nokia called HERE. It would be a good idea to get a dedicated GPS device but this budget solution actually works surprisingly well. Plastic bag: 50p, mount 5P, the thrill of not knowing when it will break on the road: priceless. The windshield actually keeps that relevant handle bar area almost completely dry on the road during the rain anyway. The biggest problem is making the USB connection to the 12V socket waterproof and vibration proof. Currently the USB adapter slips out of the cigarette lighter socket from time to time.

The bike

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My first motorcycle. A second hand, 2011 BMW F650GS. Contrary to what the name suggests it’s not 650ccm but 800ccm. I don’t know what went through BMWs minds when they came up with this genius name since there also is a true 650ccm (also -correctly- called 650GS) in their lineup. But they have since corrected the name and later versions of this bike are now called F700GS. No joke. Anyway this will be my (hopefully) reliable donkey for my trips.