What a difference four days off the bike made! I feel much better even though the end of the ride today was a bit challenging. The first 40 miles were relatively easy, partially because I had a nice push from a tailwind for a good part of the way. It was also relatively flat, with a couple of reasonable uphills. It took me quite a while to ride the distance today because I had to keep stopping to take pictures. My ride started with the Tetons in the distance, but they kept getting closer. I'm afraid that I have quite a few duplicate pictures. I'd take a picture, ride a bit further, decide there was a better shot, and stop again. Early in the day I saw a herd of elk off to the side of the road. They were too far away for pictures, but close enough that I could watch them for a while as I rode.
The last 16 miles were tougher. The wind changed directions so it was directly in my face. I knew I was going to have to pay for that tailwind at some point. The clouds finally rolled in, and the temperature started to drop. It was probably only in the 60s most of the day (70s in the sun), but once the sun was obscured the temperature dropped pretty quickly to the low to mid 50s. And the hills reappeared with a pretty long 6% climb. Maybe it only seemed long because it was the end of the day - I think it was probably several miles. There was a downhill after the up, and I had to stop to add some clothing layers before I flew down that last hill.
It is incredibly beautiful here. The Tetons just hang over the landscape and can be seen from the road through much of the park. It wasn't until that last climb after Colter Bay that the jagged peaks finally disappeared, and were replaced by rounded hills. The park newspaper describes the creation of the Tetons as follows: "The Tetons owe their existence to movement along a fault found where the mountains meet the valley. Starting about 13 million years ago, movement with massive earthquakes occurred about every thousand years or so along the fault. The mountain block uplifted on the west side of the fault while the valley block dropped down east of the fault. Today the mountains ride more than a mile above Jackson Hole, with total displacement of 30,000 feed along the fault. Ice performed the sculpting and carving of the Tetons." I think it's the existence of the fault line and the corresponding uplift and drop that makes these mountains so impressive.
I was happily taking pictures of the mountains when Graham from Maryland pulled up. He asked me to take a picture of him, and I asked him to return the favor. That's the one negative of traveling alone - there's often no one to take pictures of you in some of these really cool locations. Graham and I talked for a while. He's been out in Colorado running a youth camp for the summer, and he's now doing some sightseeing on his way back home. He's a musician and was listening to his demo CD in the car as he drove. He asked what kind of work I do, and I told him I was laid off back in May, but that I work in the software / high tech industry. I also told him that I've been doing this kind of work since the mid-70s - to which he said "that's not possible, you would have been 5 years old". Of course I told him that I'm 50, which totally surprised him. I still get a kick out of seeing peoples reactions (and their disbelief) when I tell them how old I am.
I stopped at the convenience store at Signal Mountain Lodge for a snack, and I met a cycling couple from the Netherlands who were also heading north and west. We talked for a while. I thought we might end up in the same place tonight, but I haven't seen them here. They were thinking about trying to get to Grant Village (Yellowstone). Maybe they made it there - it was too far for me today.
Then I stopped at Colter Bay Village to get a late lunch. The snack stuff just doesn't cut it after a while. I met 2 southbound cyclists there, both men, one from Minnesota, and one from the Netherlands. The guy from Minnesota started riding in Missoula and is heading south to Capital Reef National Park in Utah, and then to Las Vegas. The Netherlands native started riding in Washington, DC, followed a northern route to Yellowstone, and is now heading to Los Angeles. After that he's going to New Zealand. He said he was going to try to find work for 2 to 3 months, then do a 3 month tour there. (That's one of my dreams too, but I think I'm going to have to wait a while for that one. I have a feeling that when I finish this trek I'm going to be ready to head home!) They hooked up and started riding together (for a while at least) when they realized they were headed in the same direction. The guy from the Netherlands told me he used an organization called Servas to arrange to stay in people's homes every 10 days or so. I'm going to have to look into that for my next trip. I know there's also a "warm showers list" that does the same thing - you volunteer to allow people to stay at your house, and you get the same hospitality in return.
I started the day thinking I would camp at Colter Bay, which is in the park, and right on Jackson Lake. I arrived there at about 2 and decided to press on after a stop for a late lunch. Tomorrow is going to be a hard ride because I will be crossing two mountain passes. Rather than have a short ride today and a long hard one tomorrow I figured I'd be better off putting in some more miles today. I finished the day at Flagg Ranch campground, which is between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. No room at the lodge, which is what I expected - so I'm camping tonight. It's a private campground - $23 instead of the $4 or $5 I would have paid for a hiker/biker site at Colter Bay - still pretty cheap in the overall scheme of things. And they have great hot showers. That felt really good after rolling in here a little bit chilled. It's been going down into the high 30s at night here, so I imagine it will be pretty hard pulling myself out of a warm sleeping bag in the morning!
The campground has metal bear boxes in all of the tent sites, which is a good thing since I don't have a hard-sided vehicle for storing food and toilet articles. This is bear country, and anything that has any odor to it all is supposed to be stashed where bears can't get to it! I've seen bear boxes in national parks both in the USA and Canada, but I've never seen them in private campgrounds before this.
I've been seeing tons of motorcyclists today - all on Harleys. I heard that the big 2-week Harley rally is going on in Sturgis, SD right now, and apparently quite of few of the riders take advantage of the time to explore the parks out here. Two of the folks I talked to this morning at the Moose Village store just inside the park thought that the motorcycle rally might have contributed to the lack of available motel rooms in Jackson. And no, South Dakota is not close to here!
No cell phone access tonight. That's to be expected, given that I'm in the middle of no where in the mountains. I've been amazed with the access I've had so far on the trip. There have only been a few days with no service at all. There have been some times with lousy service, and then there was the state of Kansas. In Kansas, I could use the phone, but it went through some bizarre roaming network that wanted a credit card. Since I was sure that Verizon would also charge me, I figured I'd rather use my regular telephone credit card and a land line. But once I hit Colorado and Wyoming I was back in Verizon territory. Amazing - overall the coverage has been better than I expected it to be. Of course it's quite possible it will be bad for the rest of the trip. Only time will tell.
On to Yellowstone in the morning...
