Riding Solo 13 - Riding into the Absaroka Range

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It's another awesome morning on the road .

We're up here in Montana , been on the road for a couple of weeks now , got a couple more weeks to go .

And today we're going to head down from this forest lake up in the mountains north of Livingston .

We're going to take this rocky road out of here and get back on the pavement .

And then we're going to head south .

We're going to go through big timber , we're going to go through Red Lodge and we're going to go on the bare tooth highway .

So I'm looking forward to a really good day of riding .

We're going to see some things along the way and then we're going to find another great place to camp tonight doing a little bit of work at the office here .

I do have a laptop with me because I need to back up media along the way .

I need to transfer files from my cameras and continue to keep those memory cards free of space so I can shoot more .

So I've got this little rugged case for my memory cards and whenever I shoot a memory card , I'll take one of these that's labeled up to know that it's ready to be shot and then once it's filled , I'll put it in here the other way around so that I know that there's media on this and I shouldn't shoot on that one until I back it up .

And after I back it up on the computer , then I'll flip it around .

So it's ready to go .

The point is , is that I really need to be organized with my media so that I don't record over anything along the way and lose footage that I don't want to lose .

So ready to go is when you can see the label already used and needs to be backed up is turned this way , this is my external hard drive .

It's just a basic USB hard drive , it's two terabytes and I can back up all of the media that I shoot from my cameras , my helmet camera , my drone , all that media gets backed up every now and then onto this hard drive .

I get my fair share of the alone time I always have and I really appreciate that .

And I know that there's a lot of people out there that don't get that and wish they could get more of it .

But for whatever reason , there's always something that seems to be standing in the way of that .

And I just feel like on some level , if it's that important to you , you really have to find a way to make it happen .

Then it is important .

It's important for all of us .

It's important to have this kind of experience of solitude because the benefits that you reap are so great .

It gives you a time and an opportunity and a chance to really put things in perspective .

And I have a business and I have a job and a relationship and all of those things .

But it's still really important to be able to carve out time in our lives , to commune with nature , to be in solitude .

And I'm so thankful to have a life and live in a country in a society , in a lifestyle that I've created , that gives me opportunity to experience that kind of thing on a regular basis .

So this fellow here , he goes by the name of Thunder Jack and he's one of those old mountain men , those fur trappers that cross through this part of America .

Those guys were rugged survivalists .

They knew how to survive out here in this kind of place .

They were marksmen and horsemen , naturalists .

But this valley here was named by Captain William Clark part of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 18 oh six .

It's the Shields River Valley .

I just had to stop here to take a quick photo of these mountains behind me .

That's the direction I'm headed into and it's just so gorgeous .

This has got to be one of the most beautiful stretches I've ridden on so far .

Look at that .

There goes some sandhill cranes .

What a magical place here .

I'm like north of Yellowstone .

I'm gonna be going through Red Lodge tomorrow .

So kind of on the border of Wyoming and we're going to keep riding and try to find a place to camp .

Well , this is yet again another beautiful free campsite here in Montana on this river .

I don't even know the name of it , but it sure is beautiful .

We ride into this valley .

We're in the Abs Mountains here in southern Montana , north of Red Lodge .

And you know , at the end of the day , I just look on the map and try to find the nearest National Forest that I can ride up into .

Throw my hammock up in the tree and hopefully find a river .

And I lucked out on all accounts tonight with such a beautiful ride coming up here this evening and now the sun's going down , these peaks are all around at the raging river and I've got my little fire box stove going here with some , some Brussels sprouts and olive oil and salt and pepper .

I'm gonna cook some Pono pepper corn chowder , add some pepperonis into the mix .

It should be a pretty good little meal today .

And then tomorrow we'll head down to Red Lodge and go across Bear Tooth Pass .

I think that's going to be pretty cool .

And then we'll be in Wyoming .

Looks like we're just about ready to throw some food .

On here .

We got a nice little bed of coals going in this , this little fire box here .

Sure is working out good .

Oh , yeah , these are gonna be good .

Well , it's probably getting a little bit dark to continue filming .

So I'm just going to concentrate on cooking dinner and we'll see you guys a little bit later .

I'm going to finish my meal here by the river .

Have a good night sleep in the Hammock and then we'll check you all out in the morning .