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1.START-END EAST: jct Wy377 - I80 service rd 2.profile turns right from CR18 onto CR 15 Nine Mile Rd 3.TOP, CR15 Nine Mile Rd s(u), 7130ft 4.profile continues straight onto CR17, while CR15 turns right 5.main road makes right turn at this low point 6.road to Freighter's Gap turns off north here 7.TOP, CR17 Chilton Rd, 7400ft 8.START-END WEST: jct with turnoff signed "small Tri Territory Loop"

Approaches

From West. Soon after Nine Mile Rd has split off to pursue its northward course towards Oregon Buttes, CR17 Chilton Rd makes a drastic change in direction and heads straight westward. That change of directions marks the low point between two shallow summits Nine Mile Rd s(u) , and Chilton Rd s(u).

The austere landscape is dominated by South Table Mtn, a mesa with a simple geometric shape, that changes little as you approach it. Along the way are several intersection with ridable tracks, but the only one that promises to be a relatively uncomplicated ride is Freighter Gap Rd, also part of the sometimes not-very-clearly- signed "Tri Territory Loop". The surface on that road is also in excellent condition, if it wasn't for that small problem of crossing a deep sand drift a short distance past branching off CR17 (as of July 25). For a bicycle that's not a problem, but it does explain why on a subsequent ride on that excellent road I only say a single other vehicle, a jeep.

Back to CR17, a small shallow climb leads over several false summits to a gap between North Table Mtn and a vast dune area on a flank of Steamboat Mtn, which with 8683ft seems t be the highest thing around in the wider vicinity. But not so fast. That too is a false summit. It leads to a bowl embedded between these mesa forms, and then another shallow climb, that is just a few feet higher.

From East. (described downwards). The west side of the divide has a more severe and stark appearance to it. Its defining feature is Boar's Tusk, a kind of last remaining tooth in the mouth of the dessert. At the bottom of the small descent the road surface deteriorates. What has been a perfectly smooth and hard gravel surface now becomes, first in stretches, your typical Wyoming chatterboard, infected with severe washboard, and periodic spasms of sand, that are impossible to see before you hit them.

At a junction a mysterious sign points north, stating "short Tri Territory Loop". Actually this is beyond the end of the profile. But it is worth noting that this road becomes extremely sandy before reaching pavement near Farson. I never did make it all the way through. The other option, staying on CR17 with a large southern detour, stays sandy for miles but then improves. But these things change periodically, as the presence of a roadgrader can attest to.