honky tonkin'

September 11, 2018 — Utah → Idaho

I picked up a couple liters of oil from Renegade Sports this morning and joined back with the TAT. The day started off easily enough, riding through flat farmland on dirt and gravel. The trail runs north from Tremonton through Pocatello Valley, skirts just east of the Curlew National Grassland, and then continues through Arbon Valley. Throughout the morning, a heavy haze hung in the valleys, obscuring the mountains to the east and west.

After lunch in American Falls, the route follows a rough dirt road into Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve for some excellent riding. The road starts out with lots of deep ruts but soon smooths out and becomes super fun, twisty two track. Small rifts appeared at the roadside and weird hills poked up far off on the horizon. A sign indicated that this section passes over the Great Rift of Idaho, though I couldn't see much of anything where it did. Roads for numerous mines and, more rarely, wells wound and disappeared into the endless grassland. The air was still very hazy, and Big Southern Butte was barely visible to the north. It was a good 60 or so miles without seeing much of anything, but I enjoyed it greatly, and found it to be one of my favorite sections of the TAT.

At the gas station in Arco, I met another TAT rider, Peter, who rode up while I was refueling. He had finished his ride about a week ago and was on his way back home to Arizona. We decided to find a camping spot together and trade stories. He also had a few tips for me along the route through Idaho and Oregon.