MOTORCYCLE CAMPING TRIP PREPARATION
copyright 1998 by Thomas Jamrog

You only get one chance. Maybe you have been there? Someone you care for
a great deal agrees to head off on a motorcycle camping trip with you and
you want to do everything in your limited power to make it fun, safe, and
comfortable for them. You don't want to ruin their entry into the two wheeled good life.
Last year my 21 year old son, Lincoln, secured his motorcycle driver's
license. He, his mother and younger motorcycling brother Arlo were all
invited to join me on a motorcycling trip from Maine to Montana this summer. I'd get the bikes somehow. When the cards were played out, there were just the two of us left at the table, with two weeks to cover over 7,000 miles, and fit in an agenda that had to include fly fishing, hiking, and mountain biking.
The planning stage for any extended motorcycle camping trip is where you
hope to uncover glitches in your gear, motorcycles, or itinerary. As our
departure date of July 3 approached I discovered a major problem. I am a true believer in the religion of computer mapping programs, and my Automap print out put us at 500 miles a day with no rest days. I had planned too many miles and not enough time. Montana looked to be too ambitious a destination unless I wanted to grind an offspring into the dust and likely put motorcycle camping into the "I tried that with dad, and forget it. It was too hard, tiring, and crazy" place on his one-time no-more experience shelf.
Life is full of surprises and a co-worker jump started the Montana
trip back to life with this offer, " You and Lincoln can do Montana in two
weeks, no problem. Use my trailer. With two of you driving, you should
be able to head off early in the morning and be within striking distance the next day if you keep the vehicle moving all night. Switch off the driving, and take
turns sleeping on the floor of your Caravan. I've done it before several times.
In less than 40 hours you should be close to the Rockies." Bingo. Montana was back on the circuit. We loaded up my BMW R1100 GS and a Kawasaki KLR 650 and off we went.
One phone call to a BMW Motorcycle Owners of America club Samaritan put
the Caravan and trailer safely in Duane Linder's yard. When we arrived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at 4 PM the next day, Duane walked out to greet us, handed me the keys to his car, and said "Pick up some food and drink for the barbecue with the Autobahn Society. You're the featured guests." Our arrival coincided with Duane's annual BMW motorcycle club picnic. Camping was put off for one more day, as Duane insisted that we sleep in his house, with a spare bedroom ready for each of us.
Camping is what we planned for, and time spent in trip preparation makes all the difference between travel success and a daily string of regular headaches. Motorcycle camping is really backpacking on two wheels. Read backpacking magazines and camping supply catalogs to keep up with new gear. Those of you with Internet access can dial up Gearfinder (http://www.gearfinder.com) to find the equipment that meets your needs and your budget. Motorcycle camping preparation is much easier than backpacking, because motorcyclists don't have to carry everything on their backs, and can generally do fine with less expensive, heavier items.
Lincoln and I used the themes of food, shelter and clothing as a means of organizing our gear.
FOOD: I enjoy a touring schedule that gives me a hot drink in the morning while breaking camp, a midmorning breakfast eaten in a diner, a quick tank bag lunch, and then a fireside supper savored while unwinding from a day on the highway. Food expenses on a motorcycle tour are not a concern. You need to spend money to eat at home. Take the same cash and grab a shopping cart. Stick to the perimeter of the supermarket, where you can stock up on fresh fruit, vegetables, diced chicken, meats, and dairy products- the middle isles of the modern American supermarket are generally the wasteland of prepared foods, that may take less preparation but may not be as nourishing. On this trip, we were always close to civilization, and we stopped each afternoon to stock up on supper and the next day's breakfast and lunch items. Don't forget that a mountain stream makes a good cooler. Make sure you weight down the lighter items so they don't get washed away.
We brought a stove to cook on, fuel, pots and pans. For those of you who are intrigued by the possibility of exhaust pipe cookery, I'd recommend Manifold Destiny, a paperback by Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller ("The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!"). I regularly cook up hot dogs heading up to Prince Edward Island in Canada.
STOVES: Check out the Sierra Zip Stove. It is cheap, and runs on a AA battery. Since you burn small organic bits of stuff that you find around the campsite ( pine cones, wood chips, dried chunks of wood) you need no fuel bottle, hence no fuel costs or extra fuel canisters. A battery powers a computer fan that drives the air up into the body of the stove, creating a turbocharged oxygen effect. A move up in stove costs are the small white gas or multi fuel types by companies such as Peak 1 and MSR. They burn regular unleaded gas. Another advantage of carrying a small can of gas is for those of us who foolishl;y pass gas stops when nearing reserve. I ran out of gas on I-90 in South Dakota in the middle of nowhere, and dumping in a pint of white gas got me to the next gas station.
Those of you on a budget can carry a medium Teflon fry pan that can also boil water. For $35 or so more, you can purchase a nesting set of aluminum or stainless cookware. Put the cook set in a stuff sack for $6 more, and there will be less rubbing and clanging in the saddlebag. Don't forget the scrubbie, detergent, and paper towels for cleanup. We were in the habit of filling our canteens at the last gas stop of the day. It allows us the option to camp anywhere we wished, with water for cooking, cleanup, and breakfast ready at hand.
TENTS: Hanging in there and sleeping out is the stuff of tall tales, and I prefer it to sitting around a motel and watching TV. If the weather is good, you are in luck and may give yourself the experience of sleeping on the earth and perhaps witness shooting stars and full moon nights. If the weather turns nasty, at least you stockpile some bragging rights.
Tents are amazing structures- they last a long time, and do an excellent job of keeping you comfortable. Tents come in all levels of protection and size. One of the best places to find cheap camping supplies are the want ads. Up here in Maine is a statewide weekly called Uncle Henry's. You could outfit yourself for motorcycle camping from any week's ads in the Sporting Items section. Here's an example. This past week I bought a relatively new goose down parka, a set of high tech crampons for ice climbing, and a set of Gore-Tex knee length gaiters for $100. I use the gaiters over my Gore-Tex hikers when motorcycling in the rain. The parka is a current model that is priced at $170 at a camping outlet store. It packs into a ridiculously small stuff sack, just the thing for fall and spring camp outs.
Another family of good mid priced tents are Eureka's Timberline A frame models- dependable, simple, roomy, with reasonable weight and packing size. If you don't mind the extra bulk, then go for the 4 man size. Luxurious for one, good sized for two with the ability to bring in helmets, boots, etc. A great buy for a one person tent right now is L.L. Bean's Microlight, listing for $129. It is comfortable, packable, and weatherproof, and comes with a lifetime warrantee. Remember to seal the seams in any tent periodically. Don't forget to do the floor, if there is a seam running down the middle where water would migrate upward.
SLEEPING BAGS AND PADS: Find yourself a sleeping pad and a synthetic filled sleeping bag. Pads make you comfortable, and insulate you from the cold or wet ground. Cheap pads that work well are usually made of urethane foam. Stay away from air mattresses. They pack smaller, but require the extra step of pumping air into them, do not insulate you from the cold ground and are a hassle when they do eventually leak. Track down the combined foam and air products initially produced by Cascade Designs under the trade name Thermarest. These pads are well constructed with lifetime warrantee against leakage, and are inflated by atmospheric pressure through the twist of a valve. They come in different thicknesses and lengths. If you buy one of these inflatable foam mattresses, spend the cash and buy a protective stuff sack and a Cascade repair kit. Trust me. A flat Thermarest is not that comfortable to sleep on. I use an ultralight model that rolls up tiny that I also use backpacking , and have a full size one as well.
CLOTHING: Clothing for motorcycle camping will be slightly different from what you wear at home Purchase lightweight silk or polypropylene underwear. These products retain their insulative warmth when damp, dry very quickly and replace several sets of cotton t-shirts. Budget for an electric vest setup. A flick of the switch when you become cold while on the motorcycle is all it takes to drive heat into your body core, and a warm core temperature will help delay cold feet and hands, and contribute to your safety and awareness on the road.
EMERGENCY GEAR: Two additional emergency pouches come with me when camping on the motorcycle. In my tire repair kit is the factory BMW tubeless patch kit, extra (non-BMW) patch kit with string-type plugs, extra tire plugs, digital tire gauge, set of CO₂ canisters and a CO₂ tire inflator. A collapsible mountain bike pump puts 18 pounds of pressure in my rear tire, enough to get me rolling to a real pump. I have a few pair of rubber surgical gloves that I can use when handling oily or greasy parts so I don't end up wiping my hands all over my pants. All of these items fit into one of those zippered plastic bank deposit envelopes that are available at office supply stores.

In another storage pouch I take along a flashlight, spare spark plugs, socket set, bulb kit, duct tape, ShooGoo, cable ties, length of gasoline hose for emergency siphoning, a weather radio and spare fuel filter. An extra clutch cable curls against the bottom of the tank bag. For what it is worth I have in my wallet a current Motorcycle Roadside Assistance Plan card and a clean credit card with one of those golden glow limits.
CAMPGROUNDS: On the Montana trip, we took advantage of the more civilized amenities like swimming pools, hot tubs, and telephones. If you are an American Motorcyclist Association Member (800-AMA-Join) , you get a 10 percent discount every time you stay at a KOA campground by presenting your $8 KOA Value Kard. Otherwise, use your AAA membership to request their free CampBooks, where they list details about campgrounds throughout the USA. One good practice at any campground is to request to see a few sites before you are assigned one by the office. Campground management is usually agreeable to allowing you to drive through the tent loop and scout out empty sites and come back to the office with your choice.
I highly recommend the Lonely Planet guidebooks. We had one for the Rocky Mountain States, and it consistently put us in restaurants and campgrounds that were good and cheap too. We used it to locate a superb free campground within city limits in Lovell, Wyoming.
One of the best places we camped was at Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Devil's Tower was a power spot. We made it into the KOA campground at the base of the mountain just as it was getting dark. We quickly set up our tent, ate, and anchored everything down just as the wind really picked up, blowing empty cans of Dinty Moore beef stew right off the picnic table. A tent at the adjacent site uprooted itself and made like tumbleweed. It was all too much: huge lightning /electrical discharges, stars shining and the close-to-full moon overhead, clouds blowing in all directions, the monolith right in front of us, and a free showing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind blaring off the wall of the office at 11:22 at night.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: Driving from the East allowed us to cover three of the most spectacular routes through the western mountains that any motorcyclist could hope to ride. First was Route 14 west through the Bighorns. You pick it up just north of Sheridan, in northeastern Wyoming. The road drops into Shell Canyon, with Grant Pass over 9,000 feet high. There were many switch backs, hairpin turns, and pastoral streams rolling down green grassy slopes. The air was cold up high but soon climbed into the 90's as we dropped down through villages such as Shell (population 50), and Emblem (population 5). On our return trip, we took alternate 14 back through Bear Lodge and the Medicine Wheel historic areas. The Bighorns ended up as the mountains that we both enjoyed the most.
We took Route 120 out of Cody to the Chief Joseph Highway ( Rt 296).
We were out by 8 A.M. so there was no one on the road. The main event was the bridge over the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River, running 300 feet in a dark deep rock-lined canyon below. A most amazing sign there erected by the US Forest Service says " Bridge for pedestrian and automotive use only" . It took a bit of thought to realize they probably meant no fishing, for those of us with 300 feet of line on our reels.
The Chief Joseph eventually intersects the Beartooth Highway. First we hung a left at the end of 212 to get to the start of the Beartooth highway up in Cooke City. Snow lined the sides of the twisties up high . The Beartooth puts you up above 10,000 feet elevation for 18 miles. Despite the many curves on the road, we were able to get up some speed. Most of the time we were doubling the posted speed limit signs at the turns, except for the 20 MPH signs on the downhill side of the highway. The highway is 68 exciting miles long. Save your money, take out your calendar, and carve out a three week vacation slot featuring this highway. It is that unique and awe inspiring.
Back on I-90 west of Columbus, we saw a couple of notable sights. One
was a two man crew staked out in the center of two lanes of 80-90 mph traffic with only a "Survey Crew " sign with a single orange cone in front. A short while later a Driver's Education car Whipped by us at 85 m.p.h.
In Bozeman it was time for the KOA discount card again. We settled in and walked over to soak in the Bozeman Hot Springs. The hot springs are inside an old building with a 1950 's flair. Most of the interior was taken up by a big swimming pool filled with tepid water. At the end of the pool are 5 smaller pools with varying temperatures of water. The hottest and smallest one is set at 104 scorching degrees. The coldest one was very much so. We spent about an hour moving from one tub to another before we walked back to the icy stream at the rear of our campsite where we fished out a a couple of Trippel Belgian Style ales that we nursed to bed as we watched lightning flash over the range above the Big Sky ski area.
Our destination was the Missoula, Montana fair grounds where the International BMW Motorcycle Rally was in full swing. We set up camp for three nights in a grassy area in one of the quieter sections. It rained every afternoon, but the brief downpours cleared the air and dropped the heat for decent night's sleeping conditions. We split our meals between shelling money to the food vendors, and cooking up suppers of a can of chili and beans heated up on the camp stoves. Cleanup was easy, with a water spigot right nearby.
I was disappointed that there weren't any local rides or GS rides advertised for groups. So we made up our own.
I recommend stopping by the local United States Forest Service office if you are interested in exploring back country roads, or finding wilderness campsites . We shelled out four dollars to pick up a map of the roads in the Lolo National Forest area. A ranger spent time highlighting a route that put us on a half-day loop over gravel roads through Lolo Pass. We reached it by heading south on Route 93 out of Missoula to the town of Lolo, where we turned left on Route 12. Seven miles out was Fire Road 451. We were enjoying the scenery until we ran into the back of large herd of cows and calves that were being pushed up the road by a group on horses and ATV's. I asked a guy on an ATV at the back of the herd how long they were going to push the animals and he said, "Two days". It looked bad, possibly a turn around. I asked if there was any way we could get by and he had no problem with us heading up the right side of the herd and pushing the animals from in front of us. I nudged a few, and we were free.The road climbed high into the Bitterroot range and then dipped into Idaho, before passing through Lolo and Granite Passes and then back onto Rt. 12.
Running through the narrow gravel roads was mostly fun. W e did come head to head with one loaded logging truck that forced Lincoln right into the ditch. He kept the bike upright, and I needed to veer into the ditch to allow the truck to pass. The fragrances of the forest were pronounced. There was a strong smell of citronella in the air. A huge blackened thunder storm could dumped some light rain on us, not enough to put on my rain suit.
We spent one day exploring the area around Glacier National Park. Flathead Lake is the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi. We were there just at the start of the harvest of fat, mahogany-red cherries that we saw hanging off the trees on the innumerable orchards on the east side of the lake. I ate a two pounds of Raniers and reds that I bought at a roadside stand for $5.
Many motorcycles went whipping past us while we were cruising north at 85 mph. Several were going by at well over 100 mph. Montana has only a posted 65 mph speed limit at night. Daytime speed is guided by signs that state "Prudent and Reasonable speeds" A state trooper waved as he passed us when we were doing 85.
We did the Going-to -the-Sun Road after we paid our $5 each to enter Glacier National Park. It is a very impressive road, even with battling slow driving conditions due to RV's plus the gawk factor. I did the road two years ago , and was able to anticipate some of the featured attractions, like the Weeping Wall and a waterfall that passes just under the road. The uplift from the wind lifts the water back up onto the road for a free shower.
There is a huge feeling to the land and sky in the park. I saw a glacier that I did not see in 1996. Maybe there was not much snow then, but a glacier does not come and go from year to year.
One real problem was the terrible wind on the way back. We really began to notice it at the eastern tip of the park at St. Mary's where we stopped to eat some food. Downright unfriendly stop. No picnic tables there (understandable due to dense grizzly and black bear population) , but a sign "No Food or Drinks Inside" on the door of the so-called guest facilities leaves one little option. We hunkered down in the lee side of the building escaping the increasingly strong wind that blew a substantially dense bagel right off my bike seat.
We headed back down 89, using the Rt. 49 cutoff to head back west on Route 2 to West Glacier, for the rerun back to Missoula. I became scared after I passed a car on Rt 2. After I swung back into the right lane, I was pushed by the wind into the shoulder, lined with a long stretch of loose gravel. I wrestled with the bike to grunt it back into the center of the right lane. We spent a couple of hours hunkered over the bikes and fighting the wind. I was exhausted. Later Lincoln told me he had been running the KLR flat out with the wind holding his speed to 60 at best.
Our stop for the night was The Green Thumb B&B in Florence, 20 miles south
of Missoula on Rt. 93 . We were given an apartment downstairs in a ranch style house sited on a slight rise just over the Bitterroot River. Out host, David Archer, is an experienced fisherman, who has guided in the past. He publishes "Cricks, Creeks, and Rivers- Western Montana's Fishing Guide" and we rented float boats from him for the next day's fishing.
David told us that in his 15 years as a guide, ninety-nine percent of his clients were driven, achievement oriented, alpha males with only two who were actually able to listen and learn. David was ecstatic when both Lincoln and I agreed that we would be pleased to have a good time seeing the outdoors, learn about fly fishing, and just maybe catch some trout.
We fished Diamond Lake where we caught a few brook trout. We caught them on the edges, mostly near submerged trees. Diamond lake was beautiful, with a snow capped peak just behind us, and a waterfall tracing across the face of it.
We decided to move on to fish below Superior (exit 47) on the lower Clark Fork River. David warned us that it was going to be hard fishing and it was. The water levels on all the rivers in western Montana this year were unusually high due to increased rainfall in June. The fast and dark water made it difficult for fish to hold steady and to see insects on the surface. The rapid current forced you to keep your boat pointed downstream so that you could always be aware of what was coming at you. We avoided bridge abutments, and the rare rapids near big rocks. The river was so high that there were no sand bars to fish from. I was initially frustrated because I could not manage to cast, fish, and correct the boat angle with my oars at the same time. We were aiming for placing our dry flies within one foot of the shore- the only place the fish could see the food landing on the water. Later in the day I was able to cast, by keeping a fixed line against my fly rod grip, while holding the left oar in my hand and making corrections to angle the boat to the shore. God help me if I would have caught a fish. I would have spun around and crashed for sure. David caught no fish and Lincoln caught one small trout.
The next day we pointed the motorcycles east and headed home. The thermometer on the instrument panel of my BMW read 116 degrees in the mid afternoon as we were rode through the Wyoming desert and watched the slow moving derricks pump oil from deep in the ground.
We pulled into Lovell, WY at about 5 pm with the temperature on the bank display reading 103 degrees. The land in northern Wyoming is dull muted green, grays, and shade of brown, all covered with a patina of dust or golden sunlight. They just don't get much rain. Back in Missoula, the yearly total is 14 inches of precipitation. Here in Lovell, they get about 10 inches a year, mostly through snowfall. We got 7 inches in Maine in on June 14th . It was the same day that I did 1022 miles in 19 and one-half hours to earn my membership in the Iron Butt Association.
We camped for free at the municipal campground off Quebec St. It was quiet, shady, with a clean free shower, and good water . We gambled and left the rainproof fly off the tent. I later learned that it is not uncommon for there to be no rainfall or cloudiness from May until October.
We detoured off I-90 to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hill National Forest in South Dakota. Impressive beginning to what will be the largest man made monument on earth. The 87 foot high head is complete and the 263 foot arm is roughed out. The grounds and buildings are kind of funky and home made. The slide show was moving, and I had tears in my eyes as I listened to the narration of Korzak Ziolkowski's dream of honoring the wounded spirit of Crazy Horse and all native Americans. The self-taught sculptor started carving the mountain in 1949 with $174. Korzak died in 1982, but his family has carried on the plan of work, twice turning down ten million dollars in potential federal funding. I believe in the project and think that the family is moving ahead with the plan to finish the mountain several generation in the future.
We finally reached our Caravan and trailer in Sioux Falls and decided to load up and head home, nonstop. Spirits were high. We put over 3,400 miles on the bikes, and climbed aboard our cocoon of familiar hardware as we careened back through farmland and corn stalk after cornstalk. Motorcycling was done, and we resigned ourselves to a red-eyed haul with our sleeping bag, pads, flashlights, canteens, and camping tools serving us well in a completely different context.
On our way home I asked Lincoln if he was up for doing it again. He said, "Yeah, I can't wait. I want to see the southwest and the west coast. I know what to pack and what to bring now. People are more willing to talk to you when you are on a motorcycle. Every time we stopped, people were always friendly and not afraid to ask questions. When I drive from Maine to New York in a car, no one talks to me. Every other motorcyclist we met was super friendly. It's one big unofficial club. I liked that every one talked to me when I was on the motorcycle. "
"You can see so much more on a motorcycle. On the Chief Joseph and the Beartooth Highways you get behind some RV's that would be hard to pass with a car, and you can easily burn them with the bikes. I never got tired of cranking corner after corner. When we first went into the Bighorns, I was laughing all of the time inside my helmet. It was so much fun."
Chalk up another member in our big unofficial club.