Date: 2007-05-22
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Miles today: 0.0

5-20-07Grand Teton National Park, Wy62 miles today2838 miles totalToday can best be described as hard.It started nicely with a good breakfast at Cowboy's Cafe in Dubois, Wy.We checked out of the motel and headed west...into headwinds at 7am.We had 30 miles of uphill riding to get to Togwotee Pass...the second highest point on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail at 9658 feet high.It was a nice day that started out in the 40's, but those danged headwinds. Normally the wind hasn't been kicking up for the first couple of hours in the morning, but they were blowing when we left town this morning.We stopped a couple hours later at Lava Mountain Cafe and got a couple sodas.The guy in the store said some people have been seeing a sow grizzly with 3 cubs on the other side of the pass.We headed on...up. Mrs Gorp got to the pass about 10 minutes before I did. She was ready to take my picture as I was huffing and puffing for the last few feet. :-))We stayed there for a short while, then put on jackets for the long ride down off the pass.The wind even made that downhill tough. It was blowing about 30mph right in our faces.I was going about 30mph when I spotted a moose off to my right. I couldn't stop fast enough, so when I did get stopped and turned around, I pedaled back uphill to get a couple pictures. Mrs Gorp got there and was able to stop in time because I was pointing towards the moose.That moose posed for us. She kept an eye on us, but just stood there and watched. That's the first moose I've ever seen in Wyoming. :-))I spotted a few mule deer off in the woods and saw quite a few hawks. Mrs Gorp spotted a coyote and got a nice picture of it. I got to see the tail end of it as it went out of sight.We stopped at Hatchet Lodge for a hamburger. I was beat after only 48 miles. We studied the maps to see what we could do. I knew I didn't feel like pedaling 81 miles today to our originally planned stop.I called Yellowstone Lodging and after about 30 minutes on hold, I secured the last premium room left at Old Faithful Lodge for tomorrow night.We rode on another 15 miles to make tomorrow's ride just a 60+ mile day to get to Old Faithful. The weather prediction is for higher winds out of the same direction and cold. Maybe even some snow in the next day or two.We got to Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park and we got a cabin for the night.It's a beautiful place with a panoramic view of the Teton Mountains.We had dinner and took more pictures of the mountains.There's not many days that I get as tired as I did today, but those danged headwinds really make me work to get where I'm going.I guess that in a way, it was good that we had such strong winds because now we are planning on taking an extra day in Yellowstone...and tomorrow night we get to stay near Old Faithful. :-))Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))5-21-07Old Faithfull InnOld Faithfull, Wy63 miles today2902 miles totalToday was one of those great days that end up sticking in your memory forever. :-))We woke up at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park and got ready for breakfast.We didn't know it at the time, but the 40 degree temperature would end up being the high for the day. :-))We had breakfast and finished packing up, then took off heading west.We passed by Coulter Bay Village, but nothing was open yet.We stopped at Flagg Ranch next and had some coffee to warm up. Flagg Ranch was our original destination, but because of the high winds yesterday, we stopped about 20 miles short of there.When we left there, we left Grand Teton National Park and rode in between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park for a few miles.It cost $12.00 per bicycle to get into Grand Teton yesterday. That receipt was good to get us into Yellowstone today.We were riding along Lewis Creek. I kept scanning the area for wildlife. I saw a bear about 200 yards away and turn the bike around to see it again.I pointed it out to Mrs Gorp when she caught up. It was a grizzly!!I took about 5 pictures and after checking those pictures out later, it looks like I got one nice picture of the bear.Mrs Gorp took a picture, but she forgot she still had her flash on. When she snapped the picture, the flash caught the bear's eye.He looked at us, then walked into some heavy brush.That was great!! :-))We headed on and it got colder and we started getting hit with ice pellets. It began slowly, but ended up getting real heavy and lasted for about 5 miles. The BB sized pellets stung my legs. Guess I should have put on long pants. :-))We rode out of that squall, but rode into a few more that weren't quite as heavy.I came riding down a hill pretty quick and spotted some elk off to my left, so I turned around and got a few photos of them. Their coats were pretty scraggly. I guess I would look kind of scraggly if I just spent a winter in Yellowstone. :-))We passed by Grant Village without stopping. We could see where the fire of 1988 had gone through. There were plenty of small trees growing in place of all the trees that had been burnt.From there, we headed up another mountain to cross the Continental Divide yet again.We saw Jay, a guy we had met yesterday at the lodge. He was just getting ready to climb that hill.He's riding from Colorado to Canada on a recumbent bike.We all rode up to the summit. We had a couple light squalls of snow come through.We flew down from that summit, only to climb to Craig Pass...about the 8th time we crossed the Continental Divide.Mrs Gorp got up there about 10 minutes after I did, so I did what she did to me yesterday. I got my camera out and took some pictures of her struggling up the last few feet.I forget what I said, but I got "the look" again. Ha!! :-))I was rolling down that hill at about 35mph when a coyote with a heavy coat of fur came running right in front of me. I had to brake hard to stop. I was past him by about 30 yards by the time I stopped, so I rode back uphill and looked into the woods to get a picture of him.I ended up getting 2 really nice shots of that bugger.I rode on and saw a CDT sign, so I rode back uphill and took a picture of that. That's one trail I hope to walk someday soon.I was riding down the hill heading towards Old Faithfull. I noticed the skies getting really dark again. I thought we turned away from them, but a heavy squall came with very heavy snow.The wind was blowing so hard and the snow hitting me so hard that I found out later that Mrs Gorp was screaming just behind me. She thought her face was bleeding from being hit so hard.We pulled onto the road to Old Faithfull and after another half mile, we pulled up to the Inn.Mrs Gorp was near hypothermic, so she went inside to get warm.I was still wearing my shorts and a windshirt. My fingers were numb, but I had to get some picture of Old Faithfull with it snowing, so I walked out there and took some photos.I came back and checked in, then we rolled our bikes through the lodge to our room.It ended up snowing quite a while.We had a dinner buffet with a guy carving from a whole roasted leg of bison. I ate too much. :-))We walked around the geysers after dinner for about an hour, then when I got back to the room, I crashed. My tummy was sooooo full. :-))I loved every minute of today!!Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))5-22-07West Yellowstone, Mt33 miles today2935 miles totalToday was a fun day and a very easy day. :-))I woke up and looked outside the window at Old Faithfull Inn. It was snowing. :-))I walked all the way to the lobby to get some coffee. They said that they didn't put coffee makers in the rooms because it's an old wood building and they're afraid of fires.I heard one guy coming out of the dining room saying how good the breakfast buffet was.I took Mrs Gorp a cup of coffee and informed her I was hungry. :-))That breakfast buffet was good. I even ate lots of fresh fruit they had. I am going to be so healthy!!Mrs Gorp wasn't sure about the ride today, but I re-assured her that we've rode through worse back in the beginning of this trek.I went out to Old Faithfull one more time and got a few more pictures of it erupting.We checked out at 10:30am. We were trying to let the snow die down some before we left, but it just kept snowing.We headed west towards West Yellowstone...our destination for tonight. It was only about 30 miles away and sets us up on the town schedule we had before. We just spent an extra day in Yellowstone National Park...and that wasn't a bad thing. :-))There were lots of geysers along today's route. Way more than we've seen so far.We were heading slightly downhill, following Firehole River. I kept stopping to take pictures of the steaming geysers. We started running into lots of buffalo. We got closer to them than I really wanted to on the bikes. We rode by some buffalo that were only about 20 yards away.I made sure it looked like we were staying away and they just watched us ride by.We also rode by quite a few elk. Most of the elk were on the far side of the river and the buffalo were on our side of the river.The snow let up for about 40 minutes, but came back again for the last half of the ride.We stopped at the heated bathrooms at Madison Campground. That thawed out my toes...the only thing on me that was chilly.We turned and followed the Madison River that went almost into West Yellowstone.There were some buffalo in the road. I got a picture of Mrs Gorp riding towards them...just in case it was the last picture I ever took of her. ;-))We rode on the far side of a car that had stopped and felt safer with the car between us and the buffalo.We were riding along and saw an eastbound rider coming. His name was Steve and he was riding a recumbent bike. We stopped and talked for a while. He's the first eastbound rider that we've seen that actually was doing the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. He started in Florence, Or about 27 days ago.The snow kept coming down and Mrs Gorp was getting cold, so she rode on. I followed about 5 minutes later.I saw a huge bald eagle in a nest near the road. He was sitting on a branch watching everything below.I caught up to Mrs Gorp at the Montana border. That's right...we're in Montana now!! Yippee!! :-))It was still snowing, so we stopped just long enough for pictures at the sign, then we rode on.Mrs Gorp stopped when she saw a yellow bellied marmot. I got to see him when he stopped on some rocks.We rode into West Yellowstone and Mrs Gorp had a new set of brake pads put on her bike at the local bike shop.Turns out Les at the bike shop has been there for about 40 years. He showed us some of the old registers from the early Trans Am Trail back in 1976.He checked out my brakes, but said they were OK. I figured they would be OK because I don't use those things very often. :-))It was 28 degrees and snowing when we rode into town at about 1:30pm.Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))