MIKE HALL, Adventure Sports, Travel, Overlanding, Backcountry, Avalanche, Snowmobile, Snowmobiling, Snowboard, Snowboarding, Sledboarding, Winter Fat Tire Mountain Biking, Mountain Biking, Ski Patrol, Motorcycle, BMW Adventure Motorcycling, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Jackman, Maine

Friday, October 15, 2021

Mountain Bike Flashback to 1992 & Yesterday

1992, I was racing every week. This particular race was at the Buck Hill venue. The day was extremely hot and humid. I remember hydrating and staying indoors in the the cool townhouse I was living in. Keeping my body cool and waiting as long as I could till I did my warmup ride. It was a good game plan because I finished top 10, I believe 6th place overall. 

Made the cover of the Metro Section of the newspaper... 

At the time Jeff Hall was out in Colorado racing with Scott Hebel in the Colorado Mountain Bike Races. I traveled the following week to meet up with Jeff and Scott. We were members of the Diamond Back Racing Team. I met them in Winter Park, Colorado. At 9700 feet high in the Rocky Mountains, it was a crash course in racing and living at high altitude. Heck of an adventure. 
I returned to the Minnesota River Bottoms this week. Took a break after the Montana adventure. I have been recovering and organizing my gear. Preparing for the season change to colder weather. 

Good to get out on an evening mountain bike ride into the dark of night.

Ride on!
 

Saturday, October 09, 2021

Montana Adventure / Four Wheel Camper Base Camp

National Forest Campground camping on this trip make for a good base camp. The new Ford F-350 is really coming together with my Four Wheel Camper. The 6.2 gas motor with the 10 speed transmission is a very good combination. Climbs the mountains like a power goat... Haha! 

The rough backcountry vehicle of choice on the trip was the Kawasaki KLX 300. It’s a very capable backcountry Moto. The single track trails and forest roads led me into some incredible mountain terrain. 



Sweet single track 
Shadow rider followed me through the mountains.
Crazy Mountains, Montana 
Cooke City 
My view in Cooke City Campground.

Ride on!
 

Thursday, October 07, 2021

Montana Backcountry with Four Wheel Camper and Kawasaki KLX 300

Open sky Montana ranch land.

It was a bit of a last minute decision to travel to Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is where I purchased the FWC back in March of 2020. I contacted the FWC dealer and he told me that if I could get out to Bozeman the next day that he could get the wiring connection done. So I pulled an overnight drive of 1100 miles/14 hours.

I needed to have my Four Wheel Camper wired to my new pickup, my 2021 F-350. I have the 160 watts of solar on the roof to charge my duel batteries in the camper. With the wiring connected to the truck, now I have the running lights on the camper plus the batteries are being charged as I drive, which keeps them fully charged. So that was the start of my 11 day Montana adventure.
Good exploring the Bridger Mountains on the KLX.
Put in a good 101 mile day on the Moto towards the Crazy Mountains, Met Thunder Jack, a mountain man from many decades ago.
Plenty of range cattle wondering the mountains.
Pure black cow moose crossing a field after emerging from a creek bottom.
Eyeing me up as I travel the ranch road on the Moto.
The only vehicle on the remote ranch road...
A fellow in the campground told me about this single track that climbed through the forest and dropped into a high plateau.
Met up with ole Smoky the Bear outside the Bridger Range.

Tools of the backcountry, The Kawasaki is the perfect vehicle for exploring the upper mountain trails. 

This was a good 11 day trip to Montana with good weather, some good trail information from some local folks. The Kawasaki KLX 300 is the goat for the mountain roads & trails.

Ride on!