In my years of motorcycle adventures, one of the most awesome roads I’ve driven is Highway 212 over Montana’s Beartooth Pass. It’s one of the highest roadways in the lower 48 states with an elevation of around 10,950 ft. If you manage to get to the summit, it feels like the top of the world. The vistas are so gigantic and otherworldly, its kind of mind blowing. My riding partner and I had been trying to do Beartooth for 3 seasons, turned away each time by various obstacles; road work, slides, weather. But last season, in August 2007, we finally were able to complete the trip over this spectacular high mountain biway.

We left in the morning from Laurel, MT, stopped for a break in Red Lodge where we did one last weather check, and then headed south, and UP. Motorcycling at these elevations can be challenging (especially packed down with 2 weeks worth of gear), and requires quite a bit of "technical" riding (as it's called in the motorcycle world). Beartooth of course features many hairpins turns, the narrow roadway itself is in less than ideal shape because it gets hammered in the long winter months up there, and the weather can turn on you in the blink of an eye. The wind in particular, is a real concern because there’s absolutely nothing to protect you from it, and it blows with the fierceness unique to the high Rockies.

We proceeded with a mixture of excited anticipation and a certain amount of tension. (With motorcycling {speaking for myself only} it’s often a fine line between excitement and fear!) We knew things would have to go just right to be able to look back on the experience as a happy one. Fortunately, with few exceptions, the ride went very well that day, and we really felt like celebrating when we made the summit in bright sunshine with only a slight breeze.

This is the music of the Beartooth Pass crossing. It is full of anticipation, tension, a bit of foreboding, excitement and wonder. The music keeps moving because on this ride, practically touching the heavens, WE had to keep moving. Even the stop at the top was just long enough for a few photos, as we didn’t want to press our luck, and still had many miles to go before the topography would ease up a bit.

Very special thanks to Drakonis for his detailed critique last week, which – as with “Angel Convention,” made this piece much better than it would’ve been otherwise. Also, thanks to Kassia for the extra consult re:volume normalization, using Audacity, and for noticing a few percussion sounds that needed tweaking. And finally, be careful with volume - this song starts out small, but after throwing in the kitchen sink, it doesn’t end that way!