FR401 Sage Creek Rd s(u)
This is one of Wyoming's many wide and windy unpaved
Continental Divide crossings, also a part of the Great
Divide mountain bike touring route. Four roads meet at the
top: Sage Creek Rd, Mc Carty Creek Rd and Deep Creek Rd
and Hydrology
road (and another track which really can't be called a
road). Hydrology Road is also rougher than the other
three, and hardly used at all. It goes just a little
higher and therefore has its own page.
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1.(mile00.0,7390ft)
START-END SOUTH-1: FR401 reaches a low point while
crossing east fork of Savery Creek
2.(mile06.3,7790ft)jct with Jack Creek Rd on right
3.(mile09.0,8100ft)TOP:highest point on FR401,
immediately before
4.(mile22.7,7140ft)jct with Miller Hill Rd on left
5.(mile25.9,7130ft)jct with Bridger Pass Rd on left
6.(mile32.3,7210ft)jct with BLM5420 Rim Lake Rd on
left
7.(mile39.1,6750ft)START-END NORTH: Rawlins: south
side of railroad bridge
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Approaches
From South-1. After reaching a low
point, coming down from the Wy70-FR801
Deep Creek summit, Deep Creek Rd starts climbing again and
quickly emerges from the forest. The continental divide is now
on the right, resembling in shape something like a gigantic
roof shingle with many imperfections.
During my ride in 2015 the road was being reworked into a
major high speed raceway through the high dessert, complete
with banked turns and hard medalled surface. The road rolls
along, so that it is difficult to tell without an altimeter,
weather overall I am gaining or loosing elevation with each
roll and climb repetition.
Approaching the top, the road shifts to the east and
presents a few nice vantage points on itself with the sage
receding into infinity behind it. The top has far views in all
major directions, including down direction Rawlins for the
first time. The town itself is still hidden behind a ridge.
The top is easy to miss, since there are no signs of any sort.
There are sandy tracks, branching off the summit, following
along the Continental Divide in each direction for miles. On
the north side this is signed as Hydrology
Road, while on the south side a rocky track, that is not
ridable follows the divide to meet up with Mc Carty Road.
From North. (described downwards)
A fast descend leads into a landscape of lips. Linear distant
lines of cliffs show off the large proportions of central
Wyoming. Several turnoffs to the left invite for more
exploration on a bicycle, even though I wonder if anybody has
actually ever ridden these roads, immediately adjacent to the
Great Divide touring route.
After the descend comes one of my favorite Wyoming camping
opportunities, Teton Reservoir, even if the Teton mountains
are in an entirely different corner of the state. From here
the profile climbs through a shallow gap in the set of cliffs,
that still separate me from Rawlins. After many miles of
solitude the town finally appears as a small collection of
rectangular buildings and parking lots lining I70. On first
appearance the core of the town appears picturesque and
historic. There is a larger, more modern big box store array
of gigantic parking lots two miles to the east.
The profile below shows the South-1
approach from above, with the South-2 approach, described
below
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1.(mile00.0,7390ft)
START-END SOUTH-1: FR401 reaches a low point
while crossing east fork of Savery Creek
2.(mile06.3,7790ft)jct with Jack Creek Rd on
right
3.(mile09.0,8100ft)TOP:highest point on FR401,
immediately before profile turns off onto
McCarty Canyon Rd
4.(mile11.7,7670ft)turnoff to Rawlins Reservoir
on right
5.(mile14.3,7950ft)intermediate summit on
McCarty Canyon Rd
6.(mile18.6,7390ft)jct with Miller Hill Rd on
right
7.(mile22.6,7310ft)intermediate low point
8.(mile37.5,7840ft)CR752-501 Brown's Hill s(u)
9.(mile45.8,6510ft)START-END SOUTH-2: Savery
North Rd ends on Wy70, and reaches a low point
after turning east.
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From
South2-2: Turning right onto Mc Carty Canyon Rd - CR573,
immediately north of the summit, a graveled road reaches
another low point at the turnoff to Rawlins Reservoir. From
here a short climb with less than 300ft elevation gain reaches
another high point on Mc Carty Canyon Road.
From here it is still a long ramble back to Savery. The first
section leads down a desolate shallow canyon. The rock layers
seem to descend with road, so that the scenery changes little
even though the bike rolls along over the rocks. Exiting the
canyon, the road passes the most distinctive landmark of the
ride, the old Mc Carty Ranch. Several intersections follow,
that combine a network of extremely isolated roads. The
profile heads for hard top as best as it can, by going south.
This involves what is technically another summit over CR753-501
Brown's Hill s(u), and the description continues there.
A Dayride with this point as intermediate summit
is on page: Wy70 Battle
Lake Pass Rd - FR801 Deep Creek Rd(sh)
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