Episode 042 - Top 10 Bucket-List Motorcycle Roads West of the Mississippi
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[00:00:00] Todd, what did the biker say after riding the million dollar highway? I don't know. I feel like a million bucks. I don't know. Just don't ask about the gas prices.
Ready? Yeah. All right, uh, All right, uh, today we're gonna kind of do a top 10 bucket list of all roads west of the Mississippi. I think there might be 12, but who's counting? There's too many good ones. Yeah, there's a lot of good ones.
The Lonest Road in American
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So, if we start out,~ um,~ in Nevada, this is the road they call the loneliest road. And it runs from Nevada to Carson City and then to the Utah border.
So if you think of that area. ~Um, ~so it's kind of known mostly I guess for the, the scene in Forrest Gump when he stops running. Oh yeah. Uh, it's kind of that, it looks, you're kind of up on a hill and you kind of look down. And that's kind of the iconic [00:01:00] photo video shot,~ um,~ is right there. ~Um, ~so apparently life magazine in 1986 dubbed this the loneliest road in America.
And so, so that's why they call it that. And I think it's mostly just because it's literally out in the middle of nowhere. I think,~ um,~ there's just not much going on there. So, you know, magazines do what they did and just make names for things. So, right. ~Um, ~no cell phone service, probably not. ~Um, ~the interesting thing though is, is it's part of us 50, which actually runs from, from east to west coast or from coast to coast.
Uh, so it starts in ocean city, Maryland. And then all the way to Sacramento, California. So the reason it makes our best word bucket list roads to me, I mean, I think it's just, it is kind of fun sometimes to come across those bucket list, uh, or roads that have been kind of iconic. So yeah, that would be a cool one to write.
I think
Arkansas's Pig Tail - Highway 23
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the next road I had on the list, Todd is Ozarks [00:02:00] pig trail. That would be a highway 23 in Arkansas. Northwest to north central, like Arkansas. Lots of trees, lots of tight curves and hills. And I actually think I've wrote a portion of this. ~Um, ~I think I looked on my Google timeline and in 2017 we were in the neighborhood.
I don't think we maybe wrote the whole thing, but I think there was a, there was like three of us that paired off on one of our rides. And we went this way and went to it. So I feel like i've been on the road in in the car Okay, I don't know that i've ridden the motorcycle there, but I think i've been on the okay part of the pig trail Yeah, and it gets its name I think mostly because it's you know, it kind of just iconically you got arkansas razorbacks.
Those are pigs It's got curly things. I think that's just kind of you know, curly tails. So I think that's kind of Why it's called that as well.
Three Sisters - Texas
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So then we go to a road, or a set of roads in this case, called the [00:03:00] Three Sisters in Texas. So this would be Texas Hill Country,~ um,~ which is South and west of Dallas a couple hundred miles.
I don't know if you've ever heard of hill country there They kind of call it Texas's tale of the dragon So if you think about it, it's three three sisters or three roads RR 335 336 and 337 and so I was curious about why our are and so I looked it up It's not a highway. In Texas, it's called a ranch road.
A ranch road? I was thinking rural route. No, I know. That's, that's, that's Iowa. Okay. But,~ um,~ if you can imagine kind of a pseudo figure eight where maybe the, maybe a, a laid down B. That's kind of how these, these work. ~Um, ~but, because they kind of all intertwine these three roads with each other. So, ~um, ~I've never been there.
It sounds, I would love to get to Hill Country, Texas sometime. Mm hmm. ~Um, ~You know as with many of the roads that we'll talk about today for us living in Iowa This is [00:04:00] probably the farthest we might be able to go on a trip on a five day on a five day That's kind of our standard, you know five days ~um, ~but apparently each road kind of has its own character, but it's very uh, it's very ~um, ~tale of the dragon esque, ~um ~But this is one I've always heard of that.
I've heard a lot about people talk about this Yeah, three sisters roads and one has real tight curves. Yep. One is like real rugged landscapes Yeah, and then just all the views I think I think I've heard great things about hill country as well And yeah, and you know, of course you have all the Texas things like cattle and you know Kind of that kind of thing to see ranchers out Yeah, I know that there is a boatload of wild boar out there and that would not be something you want to hit.
No, for sure. So yeah, I mean, I think that's something if you're in that neighborhood, that would be something really, I would, it would be fun to ride some of the iconic roads there.~ ~
Black Hills and Badlands Loops – South Dakota
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[00:05:00] ~Um, ~our next road, which I think is Black Hills. Yes, and I believe it's eight ish if we're counting, but my counting is not very good usually, so, uh,~ Um, ~Black Hills and Badlands.
So This is kind of a tough one to explain, because I don't think there's a road here, so we're kind of talking a collection of roads. Of course, this is in the Black Hills, the Badlands, that's in Western. Western South Dakota, so. ~Um, ~very much iconic American scenery, I guess. I mean, this is a place where not only Sturgis happens every year, but I think people just come to this area.
You know, Mount Rushmore, all these kind of,~ um,~ I don't know what you'd call it. Western kind of American ~Um, ~so the reason why,~ um,~ the black hills are called that is it's pine, deep, deep pine forests. So when you look at the hills, they look black, uh, because of all the pine. Dark green, yeah. Yeah, exactly. [00:06:00] And then the Badlands, that name came from the Native American tribes, early settlers, to basically describe this is, like, I don't know if you've seen the Badlands before.
Been there many times, yeah. It would be one of those things where you could probably start walking for a long ways and pretty soon end up on a dead end because it was so, like a cliff, you know, and so they said it's just terribly bad land to travel through. So that's kind of how that goes, but there's a few, uh, places there I think that you'd want to see.
Needles Highway. is South Dakota 87. ~Um, ~that is kind of a windy road that takes you through a lot of narrow tunnels that have been kind of taken out of the,~ um,~ out of the granite. And then just, uh, famously on that road and then is the Needles Eye Tunnel. And then the Iron Creek Tunnel. And so those are the, if you watch any videos of this, you'll see where bikes are just lined up to go through a tunnel that's almost, I mean a car fits through, but barely.
Sometimes you'll see these, like, tour buses driving through there and they're like [00:07:00] folding the mirrors in and the whole nine yards there, so. So you've got the Needles Highway and then Iron Mountain Road and that one is another great one. More tunnels. And that's kind of the one, if you've ever seen the picture of someone looking through the tunnel, and then you can see Mount Rushmore through it.
That's the Iron Mountain Road. ~Um, ~so that's, uh, US 16A. Been on that one many times. Yeah. And then Crazy Horse Memorial, the largest, uh, mountain carving. We've talked about that on other podcasts. Just a great, uh, landmark. One of my favorites. Yeah, Native American heritage and history. And then the last two pieces of this puzzle, I guess you would say, is Is Custer State Park.
And so that's kind of when you see people getting stupid and walking and trying to pet a Buffalo, that's what our bison, uh, that's the, uh, that's what you find there. Yeah. ~Um, ~every year, uh, Custer State Park, it happens like the last Friday of September. They have, they have, uh, the bison or they call it the Buffalo roundup.
Okay. [00:08:00] And it's where they bring the entire herd in and then they, you know, they, uh, bring them into pens so that they can, they kind of sort them out. They winterize them. They kind of winter. Yeah. I mean, they do vaccinations. They find out which ones are the new ones in the herd. They brand, uh, ones that need to be branded.
They sell a lot because I think what they need to do is they need to keep the herd at a certain number, right around 1300, 1400, because there's only so grazing land in the park. So, uh, if you ever get out there the last Friday of It's, it's quite a sight to see and next year the, we'll be the 60th anniversary of that.
Oh wow! Yeah. I think a buddy of mine from Solon goes out to that every year. He just really enjoys it. Yeah, I had some friends who were just there. That's why I know a little bit about it. Yeah. That's cool. And then just the Badlands National Park is part of that, and just such a dramatic, it is honestly like, if you could not have it have the same color as everything else, it would look like the moon if you haven't seen it before, just the most funky things standing in the air, [00:09:00] so.
I know this last, uh, early, late summer, we were, I wrote through there and I'd never seen it before. And it was, it was pretty amazing. Cool.
Hells Canyon Scenic Byway - Oregon/Idaho
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~ Um, ~the next interesting road, so this would be hopefully number seven, if my counting is correct, is Hell's Canyon scenic byway, which I mean, that alone is almost an oxymoron, right?
Like Hell's Canyon and scenic, but, but this is right along the Oregon Idaho border and that follows the snake So,~ um, ~and why would you want to ride this? It's really America's deepest Canyon, which I had no idea. And again, I haven't seen this one yet, but I didn't realize that the Grand Canyon wasn't the deepest Canyon, right?
I always thought that, uh, that was the deepest, like a mile deep or something. Right. Yeah. So this is actually the, the, the, uh, it's named because of hell's Canyon. And that is carved by the Snake River and it is deeper than the Grand Canyon. So, and this place just doesn't even look real. I think like one of the cool way, [00:10:00] reasons you might want to go see there.
It just doesn't look real. I mean, it's like, are you kidding me? Like, so I think it's, you know, clearly not as grand as the Grand Canyon, but I think it's, well, it clearly is deeper. So yeah, that's kind of cool. I was thinking, uh, when you mentioned that, I remember in the 1970s watching Evel Knievel attempt to jump the Snake River.
Didn't make it, but it was cool. Maybe we could try it next time we're out. No? Hmm. Seems like a good idea. Yeah.
Mount Lemmon Scenic Byway - Arizona
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~ Um, ~in Arizona then, if we're,~ um,~ one called Mount Lemon Scenic Byway. ~Um, ~so this would be near Tuscan.~ Um, ~or Tucson, sorry. So, it's a wild ride, and they go through, in just, it's not a long ride, but it's 30 miles long, but it goes through five different climate zones.
And apparently, this was named for a botanist from the 1880s, who actually summited [00:11:00] it on horseback. So, ~um, ~with the ride going from desert to kind of alpine area, it's just one of the most scenic areas in,~ um,~ Arizona. And as you know, in Arizona,~ Um,~ you know, there's quite a vast, it's desert, but there's so many different, uh, latitudes at times, which I think make it, make it super interesting.
Altitudes? Both. Both of those.
Oh my gosh.
Highway 12 (Lolo Pass) = Idaho/Montana
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And then we've got one,~ um,~ Highway 12 called Lolo Pass. And that's right on the Idaho Montana border. ~Um, ~I have, I drove right by it but didn't go to it when we went out west, but uh, this is kind of cool because it follows along the path of Lewis and Clark, which is kind of an interesting, uh, little nugget.
And the reason why it's called Lolo Pass, and this could get ugly here soon, but actually when, uh, French trappers were there,~ Um,~ they were trying to call it, the, the past of, was [00:12:00] named Nux lul chk wuh. And so, somehow, the French translated that into Lolo. So, it just, I don't know, some of these places where, uh, Lewis and Clark have been to me just seems so interesting to think about.
We drive over these roads and think, oh my gosh, this would be so difficult terrain, you know, and then these people did it. No roads, no nothing. They were taking, you know, horses and well, and canoes that were like stretched animal hide. Yeah. So,~ um, ~another interesting road here. This is,~ um,~ one that's out in,~ um,~ Colorado.
San Juan Skyway - Colorado
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Number five, the San Juan Skyway. So this goes through the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. ~Um, ~they call it the San Juan Skyway, and it's really kind of just like, a lot of this area, have you been to this area, Colorado, before, in the Southwest? No, no, I haven't been down that far. It's kind of like memory, or you know, like, history has kind of forgotten it, so, you know, it's kind of still pseudo Old West.
~Um, ~it's in the [00:13:00] San Juan Mountains. Near towns of O'Rea and Telluride is kind of the area, a lot of mining had been done in that area. Yeah. Kind of just Western movie ish,~ um,~ and you're kind of looking, looking back on the, uh, the Rockies in that way. So yeah, a neat area out there.
Going-to-the-Sun Road – Montana
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And then the next road we're talking about is going to the Sun Road in Montana.
That's near Glacier National Park.~ Um, ~and it's just not,~ um,~ you know, not only you're looking at Grand Glacier, which is just amazing. It just. The,~ um,~ very, a lot of waterfalls because everything's coming, the glaciers are coming down and just big cliff, you know, cliff turn, cliff hanging style turns.
Cliffside roads, yeah. Yeah. And, uh, Logan Pass, but named this because of the going to the sun mountain. And one of the reasons why this would be cool, because you can cross the continental divide,~ um,~ in that area, so.
Million Dollar Highway (US-550) – Colorado
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The Million Dollar Highway is also one we had on here, which is US [00:14:00] 550 in Colorado. So. So, that's between Silverton and Oray, Colorado, and uh, just, I think this one's pretty much without guardrails, so you're kind of traversing the mountain without guardrails,~ um,~ so.
Some say they named it because it cost a million dollars per mile to,~ um,~ to build, and that's the story I'd heard, but also, just million, million dollar views. Yeah, yeah as well. So well, I think Silverton too has the That train that goes between Silverton and Durango. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I think that's their narrow gauge train like 45 mile run Yeah, yeah, you can take like day long or five hour round trips on it for a hundred bucks or so.
That's cool Yeah Yeah, that's one. That's my bucket. One of my bucket list things is to go ride that Durango Silverton train. Yeah, well you could ride the motorcycle out. There you go. And then, uh, hang out and, uh, hit the, hit the train. The five, the five hour round trip train ride. Yep. Then you could rest , [00:15:00] drive back the next day, you know.
Oh, .
Beartooth Highway (US-212) – Montana/Wyoming
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So our number two road, uh, bucket list for the west is Bear Tooth Highway US two 12. So. Sometimes you'll see a lot of pictures of Beartooth and it has snow most of the year. And it only opens for a few, a few, a few,~ um,~ Weeks or months? Months. Not even months. I think you're probably right. It's more like weeks.
But that goes from Red Lodge, Montana. To then kind of the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. It's about 11, almost 11, 000 feet when you get up to the summit. ~Um, ~so, and that's on Beartooth Mountain. ~Um, ~and they call it that because of the, the mountain looks kind of like a tooth of a bear. But kind of the best part about it is when you get to that summit you really have a three, I mean, it's, it's one of the highest points in that area.
So you're really getting a 360 view of everything there. For And then the road that we kind of have at the top or bottom, I don't know which one you say have the bucket list number one.
Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) – California
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[00:16:00] Yeah. And it happens to be number one, Todd, the Pacific Coast Highway, California one. And every time you see anything, I think about a California motorcycle or convertible convertible.
It's PC one. Uh, uh, yeah. California coast. ~Um, ~it really just, that describes it, right? The Pacific Coast Highway just calls it, it's, it's right along the Pacific, nonstop views of like ocean coastline. It's just what you think of when you, when they say that, you know. They're leaving, leaving town and we're getting out of here and then you see them riding on a movie, you know, it's always that.
~Um, ~and the big thing there is there's a big Bixby Creek Bridge, which is kind of, when you see that picture, I mean, everybody's seen it a million times, even if you didn't or not,~ um,~ so. I've, I've, uh, driven in a car. Oh, have you? Yeah, on Pacific Coast Highway 1. Uh, unfortunately it was really foggy that day.
I think that's not uncommon. Yeah. That there's a lot of [00:17:00] fog, uh, along the way. So, uh, while there were sometimes we could, there were some great views, a lot of times it was just fog. Fog, you couldn't really see a whole lot. Yeah. And so for me, I think getting to peace, the Pacific Coast Highway, and I think for me, maybe,~ um,~ the three sisters are the two that I would probably pick out as the ones that I'd kind of really try to look to do.
~Um, ~next. Mm-Hmm. . But what about, what are your thoughts? I, I wanna go out to like Colorado. Mm-Hmm. , uh, west. ~Um. ~You know, I've been out there in the car many, many times, and I just really want to ride those roads, and I want to get back to Crazy Horse, and, uh, so that's, that's my big draw there. I want to go to, to Silverton, I want to ride the train there, so, yeah, I'm looking at Colorado maybe as, as my next bucket list item.
When I think of Colorado, too, I think of driving out there, and they, like, a lot of their two lane roads are all 65 mile an hour two lane roads, and I think, When driving those in the car in the past, it's, it's always felt like this was a road made for a motorcycle. Like I think so much of Colorado's roads are like perfect for motorcycle [00:18:00] riding, just because they're just tight, but yet sweeping roads that just seem to go forever.
Yeah. Elevation changes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to get to a tombstone as well. It's been a while since the tombstone.
This is a section we call the toolkit. We share motorcycle gear, gear review, and other riding tips.
Toolkit
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In the toolkit today, Todd, I thought, like, what better, you know, if it's a bucket list item, it's kind of the top of the pile, the thing that you want to kind of do. And you know, like, I think we haphazardly plan some of our trips. No. And they work out fine because, like, we're just kind of letting it flow, you know?
Yeah. Cool. But I think when I thought about these trips, I think this is more than maybe even a one year plan, right? Maybe this is like a, a multi year plan to get to really, like, what you would hate to do is get to a bucket list trip and then kind of feel like you kind of failed and didn't do your work.
So, so what I put in the toolkit, or what I have, and I know you've got some [00:19:00] items here too, but just great maps. I mean, like, I think you'd want to nail the maps on this one. You wouldn't want to try to figure it out as you go. Like there's going to be certain things that you want to do and then digging into some of these there's some great books ~um, ~some of the old national geographic books of just Guidebooks route details like get a hold of local people see what you can find the hidden gems Because those are the things I think you don't want to miss when you're hitting some of these things It's kind of probably a once in a lifetime trip Like I know if we get if I get to the pc highway It's going to be once right, right, you know, and and and I don't want to screw it up So I want to make sure that, you know, you're hitting it at the right time of day, even if you want certain photographs.
And like you said, like let's research that weather, make sure it's not foggy, any, you know, reduce the risk as much as possible. So that was a couple of things that I was thinking of. Yeah. And I, I always recommend if you can check a couple of forums,~ um,~ you know, like all the trip advisor type forums are great, but there's one specific to [00:20:00] motorcycles.
Yeah. Ask all those questions, you know, what are the places that I, Have to see what time do I need to see him, uh, anything I need to avoid or need to be warned about ahead of time. And then,~ um,~ and then kind of like you just said, kind of understand that local weather, but they will have that information.
Right. And if, You know, if you know that there's going to be a possibility on highway one fog, you know, try and give yourself at least a few days there so you can catch at least one or two days without fog. Yeah, that's a great point. And I would also add now because of, you know, I think it was Hurricane Helene, you know, one of,~ um,~ some of these places, you know, have weather, you know, I know it's some in the south right now.
You got to be sure, you know, yeah, some roads have damaged, they've been closed. They've been, you know, I know like this year was a year where some roads, they have construction, you know, I mean, when you're getting out to some of these areas, you know, summer is also some of the best time, especially when [00:21:00] we talk about the, the bare tooth passes and these high elevation ones.
They have a limited window to fix these roads. Uh, one example is we made a big loop around,~ um,~ Custer and went through Custer because when we were out west this year in Sturgis, there was construction on the main highways. I mean, they were gravel. They turned them to gravel and there's no options.
There's just not enough roads. You know, so just being thoughtful about that when you're planning, think ahead. You know checking as much as you possibly can on that ~Um, ~you had mentioned it kind of just at the moment when we when I was talking about that extra weather but you know looking out and really probably doing planning a little less than you would normally plan if we were going to do a Cannonball run style thing like if this is a bucket list Let's build it a little extra time in like let's take one more extra day so we don't have to quite push so hard because There's going to be other things I think that you've, uh, you've, you've seen that'll be good.
Yeah, I agree with that. And then like you, I think just [00:22:00] the forums are, you know, I hate, I have some older books from some of these travels and they're good, but they're also five years old now or more. And so I think using those as a kind of a preliminary look and then hitting the,~ um,~ hitting the forums and, and, you know, we're both part of Best Motorcycle Roads, uh, Motorcycle Roads and Trips Facebook group.
There's a couple of great ones out there that people are so helpful. And one, I mean, not all forms are helpful, but you know, some of them are very helpful and they'll just give you great tips. And I want to know the, the most current great places to eat as well. Yeah. Cause I mean, post COVID a lot of places closed and, you know, and so that's what your five year old book won't, not doing anything.
Yeah.
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