Friday, July 2, 2010

JH->Tetons->YNP->MT

Casey got home from dropping her car at the shop and said, "All the roads out of Jackson are closed! You'll have to stay another day!" I think we both believed her for a 1/2 a second. Fortunately, we had not trouble getting out this time. On our ride past Teton Village, we stopped for 15 minutes and watched the parasailers taking off from the top of the tram and coasting down. It was quite a show. While we feel like we got out fill of Jackson Hole, there is so much that we missed out on. Whitewater rafting, hiking, parasailing, and climbing the Grand. There's also all the winter sports. Oh did I mention that Casey, our host, spends 3 weeks every summer on the boats that "Deadliest Catch" is filmed on? She's is quite the talented woman.

So we rode thru Grand Teton NP which I said was without a doubt the most beautiful ride I'd ever been on. As you might guess, it only got better. I rode thru most of the park without Lee because he snuck thru the park so he wouldn't have to pay. This turned out to be a fruitless effort because he still had to pay once we got to Yellowstone. The climb in Yellowstone was just as beautiful as it was challenging. Lee, the mountain goat, climbed ahead of me as he so easily always do. It was no big deal since the campground at Lewis Lake was only about 10 miles from the park entrance. However, I began to freak out a bit when I got to the campground and couldn't find him after to loops thru the whole area. Turns out he was sitting on the dock by the lake... probably the most obvious place to look. I had already started to frantically ask other campers with if they had seen him.

So we scouted a campsite and immediately began to be dinner for all 15,000 mosquitoes in the immediate area. Before setting up camp, we decided to go clean up in the lake. The sign said, "Life expectancy in the water is very limited." So, we ran in and out as fast as we could. They were not lying. A couple that was moving to Davis, CA witnessed the foolishness. At least we were fresh. Turns out the girl, Amanda, was from NC! We had been looking for NC license plates to no avail. Though we hadn't realized, we had run into this couple when we were bear gazing just before entering YNP. The great thing about all the tourists is that you won't miss any wildlife because they will all show you where it is by the dead stare. The bad thing about all the tourists is all the tourists. Back to Amanda, and her future fiance, Dave... after chatting for a bit, they invited us up to feast on Buffalo and Elk bratwursts. As we were approaching their camp, Amanda shouted, "We're engaged!" Turns out that Dave had proposed to her between the time we had last seen them and that moment. Yet, they were excited to share their evening and grub with us. It was quite a treat not just to eat their brats but to share in their evening. They had known each other for something like 12 years but had only begun dating a year or so ago. They said that it would have never worked between the 2 of them when they first met but now they are soulmates. Timing is everything. Oh yeah, we saw 1 bald eagle, a momma and baby grizzly, and a moose that day. Jackson Lake is amazing. We hit a record speed for the trip so far of 52mph dropping down from the Tetons.

We rode 82 miles from Jackson to Lewis Lake, Yellowstone NP.

We woke at 9:30 and left camp at 11:15. Wow, late start! We took our time as we were planning on a really short day. We stopped at one lake area near Grant Village just to kill time. Turns out is was the West Thumb Geyser Basin. I have a horrible memory but this is one place that I clearly remember visiting when I was young. Lots of really cool, small geysers. Oh yeah, and Twin Geysers... they're 201 °F!

We went to Old Faithful, yes, we did the tourist thing. I walked in the Gift Shop/Restaurant and some strange woman walked up to me and said, "You must be Luke!" I had never seen this woman before in my life. How are you supposed to respond? The confusion on my face prompted her to clarify that she is my sister's friend. Ginelle had sent her an email 2 days prior letting her know that I'd be passing through. What are the chances? She said, "Bikes clothes, you look like Ginelle, you must be Luke!" We lounged in their rockers, eating lunch, drinking coffee, and being in no rush whatsoever. We made our way over to Old Faithful eventually and only had to wait 2 minutes for it to erupt. That was fortunate because I don't think I could have convinced to Lee to wait for long. Today was no doubt one of the most beautiful rides I have ever been on. It is immensely refreshing to see that places like this exist. On our way out, we saw another bald eagle... a fat bald eagle at that. It was a beautiful and relatively stress free ride into Montana. On yeah...
There was one stressful moment to speak of... We were pushing pedals hard downhill with a crosswind and heavy traffic. Lee motioned with his hand that there was debris ahead in the road. With the crosswind pushing against us, a woman in an over sized SUV within arms reach rolled down her window and yelled, "You're going 35 mph!" Wow, really woman? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much danger you're putting us in right now? Foolish. I guess she didn't noticed the wind from her tank and assumed we would be just as impervious to it as she was.


65 miles from Lewis Lake, Yellowstone NP to West Yellowstone, MT.

We crossed the Continental Divide 3 times today. Climbing in YNP is challenging. We passed 2 other tourers who were carrying next to NO gear. It made us a little squeamish. I guess when you're in your 50's and have American Express that's just how you roll.

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