The Tower 300 Adventure - Day 3
Continued from The Tower 300 Adventure Day 2
Day 3 began suddenly - our tucked away tree line that was so well hidden on a Friday night turned out to be right by a horde of parents dropping their kids off for a bus - on a Saturday!
I quickly woke Ardan & Tom and we packed up as discreetly as one can pack up hammocks, under quilts, sleeping bags, and clothes on to a bike. I’m unsure if the parents to the west of us and the police car to the east of us didn’t notice us, didn’t care, or didn’t get to us in time.
We rolled out of there and quickly headed to the first restaurant we could find for breakfast - The Red Rock Cafe. Their biscuits and gravy were fantastic. We also were not the first racers to have gone through there! The waitress wanted to know our names so she could follow us on trackleaders.
From there we started working our way out west on New Haven Road to curl our way in the general direction of Devils Tower.
After many miles of great conversation we spotted the odd looking feature on the horizon…
Our intricate plan for tackling the traversal of the tower hinged on one key element - ice cream. We found this sign at one of the shops right at the park entrance…
“1 SCOOP - 6$. 2 SCOOPS - 7$”
We opted for 2 scoops. Besides, we had earned a couple scoops of ice cream!
It turned out 2 was more like 7. Maybe the dollar sign was on the wrong number? Either way, it worked out in our favor. The ice cream did not survive long.
From there we rolled onward into the park. It was a fantastic September day, with more people trying to get into the park than probably live in the entire state. The queue to enter the park extended for some distance… but it did not extend to us! We casually peddled our way along the shoulder, leapfrogging the cars.
Finally, we parked our bikes and started the hike around the tower.
From there we turned back east and started working our way on Lytle Creek Road up towards Warren Peak. This climb was surprisingly pleasant and fairly uneventful.
We did pass a group of other bikepackers who we later found out had wandered over to the Bearlodge from Spearfish Canyon!
Eventually we made it up to Warren Peak. Ardan insisted on us going to the top of the watch tower. I can’t blame him! It took us about 200 miles to get here, we might as well go the extra few feet to get the best view we can.
From here we had a fun little ride down the ridge and onto some cow paths. And that one water bottle that tried to escape right at the start? It finally got free. We realized this after descending several hundred feet. Ardan turned around and started going back up to the peak to find the bottle. Tom & I convinced him to just let it go. Besides, if we hurried our way down we could still get to Subway before closing! The thought of a foot long sub had been ringing in our heads now for several hours.
There was an exceptionally obnoxious cow path on this section that I’m pretty sure went straight up the side of a cliff. I’m unsure how the cows managed to pull that off. Between grabbing on to trees with one hand and dragging our bikes with the other we got to the top. Then more cow paths down. And more up. And more down.
Eventually we got back to the trail we recognize from the Bearlodge classic. Climbing that at night was fantastic.
The trail then turned to head back down the mountain. There was a small stream right as we turned, and we ended up on the wrong side of it. Headed down hill for a few hundred feet until we realized our mistake. It was at this point that Tom hopped off his bike, threw it to the ground yelling “Goddamit Jason!”
I laughed, hard.
We climbed back up to the stream crossing and proceeded back down again, this time on the correct side. This was another mixture of cow paths, but at night. Descending was a blast. We shortly came to an odd fence crossing. It looked reasonable enough, but it was at this point that Tom’s rack mounts slipped lose and his rack fell off the back of his bike. He suggested we head on down to reach Subway, and he’d fix things up.
Ardan and I proceeded onward to the road. I briefly stopped to phone Subway, just to verify their hours. They confirmed 8:30, plenty of time.
Did you know the Sundance Subway is REALLY far to the east vs the rest of the town?
At about 8:15 we finally got there. I walked in, and promptly ordered 5 foot longs. The “Sandwich Artist®” stared at me a moment… “Are you the one who called earlier?” Yes sir. We are bikepacking and on the brink of starvation.
We got our sandwiches and devoured at least one of them each. Perfect, time for bed.
Wait, the nearest camp site is several miles back into town.
It was at this point that I was shaking pretty uncontrollably. Probably due to cold, or adrenaline, or sandwich high. Whatever the reason, we decided to instead grab a hotel room, since there was one right next to us.
They only had a room on a second floor, which meant hauling our bikes up a flight of stairs.
Ardan is a stickler for rules. Rule 1 - “Complete the entire route as provided in the GPX file, under your own power, and only your own power.” He insisted on bringing his bike up the stairs himself. He’s growing up, but when you see him trying to drag an awkward 55 pound bike up a flight of stairs, you realize he’s not yet fully grown. He managed to get it to the top, and we promptly crashed for the night.
Continued in The Tower 300 Adventure Day 4
Footnote
- We were not actually starving.