FR168 Freezeout Rd s(u) by Bicycle - Velo

Freezeout Rd is an interesting park like point on the easternmost ridge of the Bighorn Mountains above Dayton. This loop looked pretty straight forward on the map. But connecting Freeze out Rd with the town in front of the mountains, turned out to be not so straight forward as the map may lead to suspect.

1.(mile00.0,7470ft)START-END WEST:FR167 crosses Fool Creek
2.(mile00.9,7500ft)profile turns right on FR168
3.(mile03.8,7850ft)profile turns right on FR15
4.(mile05.0,8100ft)TOP: highest point on Freezeout Rd
5.(mile13.6,4560ft)route reaches land boundary near Amsden Creek
6.(mile18.5,3960ft)START-END EAST: Dayton

Approaches

From West. There are quite a few other nearby summit points in the Bighorn Range that are higher than this one. Therefor this approach looks fairly small ont he profile, and you have to cross another higher point to get here for a loop ride - in my case the Cutler Hill Summit. Then after continuing to Burgess Junction and turning right on FR15 you reach the starting point of the profile, a creek crossing on FR167.

US14 climbs up to Burgess Jct, with its elaborate closed visitor center and then turns onto FR15. This is a wide gravel road, that is not perfect for bicycling. So I turned off onto FR168 which looks like a short cut on the map and has a surface very agreeable for mountain biking. But this options has its own price. The track crosses a small stream and then climbs steeply back out of this peculiar ravine, to join FR15 again. This road climbs into a forest with good far views bordered by planar caprocks turned on edge, that border off grassy rangeland from wedges of forest. In my case the views were flattened by dense smoke. The road surface becomes much better as the road passes some of the most luxurious wild camping sites I have ever seen. And yes it really does feel remarkably cool to cold here. Approaching the top, the area is bordered by a row of low rocks on one side, giving it an intimate park like setting. The good dirt road simply makes a dead end loop here.

But the profile contines on a much rougher track, FR168 towards the highest hill in sight. But before reaching the highest point, the profile turns down the more traveled looking FR199 on the left. The summit point as I remember it, is right at the intersection. The gps however says, that it was before the intersection on FR168.

From East. There are some nicely bikable tracks on this side. However, following the route down all the way to Dayton on FR181 and whatever comes after it, this one of those routes, where I wonder if anybody has ever dragged a bicycle here before. The first descend is relatively benign and ends at what looks like a vacation home, but apparently is a cow camp - a very attractive cow camp, at least from the outside.

Climbing again from here towards the left on FR182, conditions become very rocky, and on my trip, I see that I am directly above a forest fire, but luckily a canyon separates me from it. The road's objective is to reach the Smith Creek drainage.

Here an extremely steep double track trail starts. The first part is too steep and rocky for riding. The second part is just plain too steep, except for a few short stretches. The view from this open meadow would be exceptional if it wasn't for the smoke. At the bottom, the trail becomes an awkward fenceline trail, that follows a private land boundary resembling the death zone fence along the old Berlin wall. Most of the trail is overgrown by high grass, but it is possible to follow it on a bike, and even ride much of it. At the end the track simple leads across a field to the Amsden wildlife area, where a couple of fire fighting officials telll me more about the fire currently being fought. I exit the closed off area on the Amsden Wildlife area access road to Dayton.