Month: June 2025

Day off in Yellowstone!  Drove by a herd of bison and stopped to take a close look and take pictures.  They were very close to the road so we could get a good look.   There were maybe a hundred or so, they didn’t pay much attention to us lookiloos.  Not like cows who turn to stare at you as you ride past, these guys just didn’t give a hoot.  There were a couple of young calves horsing around and butting each other, cute little things.  The bison are not as large as I had expected, about the size of cattle, but big heads of course.   We saw our first bear, a small black bear eating something on the side of the road.  There hasn’t been any signs of bears other than that, again the park is very cautious about making sure that people put all foodstuffs in bear lockers and don’t leave anything out in the campground.  Now we have to find a moose! We toured the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which was pretty impressive.  There were two huge falls and the canyon was some 1000 ft deep, the river cutting into this soft yellow rock creating a multicolor fantasy land of steep rock faces, rock pinnacles with evergreens trying to grow along the slopes.   Yellowstone of course is a huge caldera of an ancient volcano that exploded some 600,000 years ago.  There are many steamy hot springs scattered throughout the park with the smell of sulfur in the air when you get close.  We saw several more herds of buffalo as we were driving around.  This is really a paradise on earth for them, now that they can no longer be hunted except occasionally for that bison-burger).  Plenty of grass to go around now that there are no longer millions of them.  Plenty of water with the many streams and rivers feeding the park.   Passed by a huge elk that was grazing not 100 yards off the road.  You can tell when there is wildlife to see because cars will be pulled over and people’s cameras out.  A ranger drove by with a loudspeaker trying to shoo people along, but people didn’t pay much attention. 

We went from the Grand Teton park to Yellowstone park today, a total of 42 miles and 1800 ft of ascent.  A leisurely day, enjoying the ride through the park.  We went clockwise from Grant Village to Madison, passing by many areas with Geyser activity including Old Faithful.  Unfortunately when we arrived at Old Faithful, it wasn’t scheduled to erupt for another hour and a half and we didn’t want to hang around, so we continued on.  There were a ton of people in the park, more than at Grand Teton park.  A lot of traffic, made me long for the days riding through the countryside in Ohio.  At Old Faithful there is a huge visitors center, and a very large lodge. A lot of people hanging around waiting for Old Faithful to spout again.  We did see our first bison! A herd of about 40, but they were maybe a quarter mile away.  Hoping to get some closeup looks tomorrow on our day off. Yes, we have ANOTHER day off tomorrow! Taking advantage of these beautiful places to hang out and view the sites before our push to Missoula Montana. 

Riding a bike in the park seems OK. The shoulders are narrow but cars seem to be bike cautious and give us room, though not much because there is a lot of traffic going the other way.  So it pays to be cautious and always have your lights on when riding here.  We are also staying more in groups, just in case someone has a problem. There is NO cell service.  The campsite at Madison is very nice, but no showers,no electricity and no cell service.  Fine with me!!  I can be disconnected from the world for a couple of days. 

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

We had to shuttle into the park using our van as they didn’t allow bikes to enter the park, so the van carried the bikes to Grant Village in the park and we biked to our campsite at the Madison Campground.

Here is today’s video

 A day off!  Enjoyed the beautiful weather here in the Grand Teton National Park.  In the low 40s in the morning, but bright blue sky warmed it up to the 70s in the afternoon.  Couldn’t ask for better weather.  Many of us went up to the lodge at Colter Bay for a “real” breakfast, early in the morning.   Me I got biscuits and gravy, hash browns and two eggs over easy.  Delicious way to start the day. In camp I have been having two hard boiled eggs, a bagel with cream cheese, a banana, and usually yoghurt with fruit.  So this was a nice little change!   After breakfast, Terence and I rented a kayak and went out on Jackson Lake searching for wildlife.  Alas there was none!  They are all sleeping by 9:30 in the morning.  What a perfect place for a moose, or a bear with her cubs- one could only imagine them there playing by the side of the lake as we paddled by!   We entered several small bays on the side of the lake where it was fairly shallow, beautiful and quiet with the evergreen trees and the glades reaching down to the lake bank and the backdrop of the Grand Teton mountain range to the West.   It was a bit of an exercise for our arms but at least our legs were getting a well earned rest!  The lodge had a great WiFi connection so I was able to update all entries to my blog and upload all my video to the cloud.  Took a shower by the General Store and by then it was time for dinner.   How time flies when you are relaxing!  Slept like a baby in the evening- it is SOOO quiet here and the evenings are very cool so very conducive to a good nights sleep!

It was a tough day today. 70 miles and 4000 feet of ascent.  We climbed over Togwotee Pass at an elevation of 9,700 feet.  I think it was a bit easier than Cameron Pass. We had a slight headwind but the climbs didn’t seem quite as steep.   Over the morning the wind picked up and it was a Westerly wind so a headwind for us.  When we came down the other side we had a rather stiff headwind, making us pedal to go downhill!  I was only making maybe 21 mph going down some up to 6% grades!   And then after the downhill, the headwind continued on the flats so it was a tough second half of the day.  We all got into our campsite at Grand Teton National Park around 4 PM. 

The ride sure was spectacular- getting that first view of the Grand Tetons.  A beautiful clear blue sky, the Tetons were still snow covered and the valley below all green and verdant from the spring rains.  I swear it looked fake- like the mountains were a big post card picture hanging in the sky.  During the downhill run after the pass we were treated to this view for a long time, the mountains getting closer and closer.   The park itself is on the East end of the mountain range on the Eastern shore of Jackson Lake, so you get these spectacular views of the mountains with the lake and the pine forests in the foreground.   As you ride into the park it is just a fantasy land of green glades sprinkled with yellow flowers, surrounded by pine forest, with the mountains as a backdrop.   If I was a moose or a bear I would definitely want to live here!   But alas, we have yet to spot a moose or bear.  There are tons of signs with precautions against stopping to view wildlife, and using bear lockers for any food stuffs, but so far, no sightings!  

It was my turn to cook that evening, along with Theo.   We did mini meatloaf burgers with potato’s and green beans.   Didn’t cook the burgers all the way through, leaving some disgruntled folks, but Than recooked several of them and it was all good!  Got to bed rocked to sleep by guitar music and singing from the group next door. There are A LOT of people here in the park- very crowded.  That being said, I had a very good sleep and woke to complete silence! Nary a whisper- it was great.  No train whistles. Nothing.  There are bugs here, the first mosquitos we have encountered on the whole trip.   I imagine that will be the case as we continue into Yellowstone in the next several days.  

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is today’s video

Here is the link to today’s video

Lander to Dubois Wyoming today,a long 72 miles with 2800 ft of ascent, climbing from 5,300 ft to 6,900 ft.  A good day, starting off cool, light wind and getting into the low 70s.  We rode through the Wind River Indian Reservation, almost 2 million acres reserved mostly for the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes.  We passed Crowheart Butte- legend has it that this was the site of a fight to the death between the Shoshone leader Chief Washakie  and the Crow Chief Big Robber.  They chose to do this instead of having their warriors fight.  Chief Washakie won and supposedly cut out Chief Big Robber’s heart and ate it.  Maybe that is what Putin and Zelenskyy should do. Although Putin would have a good chance of winning-  after all he is a judo black belt.

We all got to Dubois fairly late, there were some good uphill climbs.  Timmie, Than and I stopped at the Dubois Museum of Military Vehicles, 5 miles before our campsite.  Timmie and I spent several hours there.  A HUGE collection of military vehicles from World War I to the Vietnam war.  It was all built by a millionaire lawyer.  It showcased the musket that fired the first shot in the Revolutionary war. Purportedly fired by John Simpson at the Battle of Bunker hill. The museum founder purchased it at auction for supposedly $940,000!   Simpson was courtmartialed as a result, because he was supposed to wait until he could see the white of the British soldiers eyes.  Anyway, Timmie and I got lost in this museum. It was organized as a maze within a huge building the size of a Walmart, with no exit signs anywhere.  Timmie started to get a bit antsy looking for a way out.  Finally we found someone who directed us to an exit.  There is only so much time one can spend looking at old military vehicles! 

We stayed at an RV park campsite which was nice, by a river.  Dan and Than cooked a great oriental noodle dish with a Greek salad. 

   That evening Mel, Simona and I went to the rodeo at Dubois Fairground, the first rodeo of the year!!    There were a lot of people there, don’t know where they all came from, certainly not from the tiny town of Dubois!  It was pretty cool, hadn’t been to a rodeo in a long time.  Of course they start out with the flag ceremonies.  A lady rode around the stadium with the American flag while they played the country song “God bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. I actually got tears in my eyes as she rode past us at breakneck speed with a huge American flag waving in the breeze.   They then had a prayer to start off the rodeo- ahhhhh, experiencing the real USA here in Dubois Wyoming! It was funny, the announcer was asking who was there from various states.  He asked who was there from California and there were some cheers, he responded “welcome to America!”    It was fun looking at all the people there, a lot of families with young kids wearing cowboy hats, a lot of teenagers hanging out.  There was a dance after the rodeo  and it was Friday night, undoubtedly many would be going dancing afterwards!   I kind of feel bad for the cattle in the show.  Although the bulls seemed to have fun throwing off their riders in a nanosecond.  I swear they were all off that bull in less than a second, except for one guy who managed to hang on for somewhere around 7 seconds.  He had won some championship last year and he was really good!   The barrel racing was cool.  They had women riders ride around 3 big barrels that were set up in the field, it was impressive how they could make their horse turn around a barrel and speed on to the next one. They would really fly!   Then they had the calf roping which was kind of sad.   Got to wonder what these animals think about all of this.  Seeing the herds of cattle along our ride peacefully munching on prairie grass, I would have to assume that is a better life than being transported to rodeo shows and being the object of all of these rodeo games.  

Got to sleep about 9:30- late for me but it was a good day!

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the video for the day

From Jeffrey City to the bigger town of Lander, population 8000.  62 miles and 1500 feet of ascent.  We actually are losing altitude, going from 6,300 ft to 5,300 ft in Lander. There was a terrific downhill run for 5 miles with incredible views for miles of rolling prairie.  No one, no towns for all of the 60 miles, just open prairie land. Beautiful.   We started seeing more cattle grazing on the prairie, and even the occasional wild horse which was cool.  It was really cold for most of the day, starting off in the 40s and staying cool until the afternoon, so we were all bundled up for the ride.   Not much wind, again lucking out, so the ride was in fact quite comfortable.  We stopped periodically, first at Sweetwater Station, where there was a gas station, and then at Johnny Behind the Rocks, about 45 miles into the ride, for a lunch break.  No place for a coffee and pastry, as when we were going through Missouri and Nebraska.  We are staying at Deb’s house in Lander. She lives there and was kind enough to host us for the night.  She and her husband have a beautiful timberframe house on 170 acres of land outside of Lander. Incredible views of the surrounding hills.  Must have great views of the stars at night. Unfortunately it is cloudy and forecast to rain tonight, but I will check this evening non the less.  

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the video for the day

Going from Rawlings to Jeffrey City Wyoming today.   A total of 69 miles and 1200 ft of elevation gain.  It started out really cold, in the 30s but fortunately it was sunny and wind was mild and over the course of the day it warmed up into the 60s, so it turned out to be a fantastic ride.   Everyone along the route was commenting to us how unusual it was to have no wind. Typically winds can be up to 40 mph, so we consider ourselves very fortunate.   The campsite where we stayed last night even had wind breakers set up in the tent area to block the wind, but last night it was calm and I slept like a baby.  We were riding today through some really desolate areas- with few signs of civilization other than fencing along the road to keep cattle from wandering on to the road.   From what I understand in talking with Deb, who lives in Wyoming and is riding with us, most of the land we are seeing is owned by the government and leased for cattle grazing by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management).  There were herds of cattle as we were going by, but not many.  There might be 50 or so cows in any given herd.   We stopped first at the Continental Divide, about 10 miles into the ride.  We are going to be traversing the Continental Divide several times as we make our way North and West, following the Rocky Mountains. Then stopped at Muddy Gap- not much there but a gas station with stuff to eat and drink.   We ate at picnic tables outside the station with two bikers from the Netherlands who are making their way across the US in 4 week increments (they are both still working).  10 miles further down the road we stopped at Split Rock- a huge rock outcropping that settlers used as a waypoint as they made their way out west along the Oregon Trail.  Beautiful spot out in the middle of nowhere.   Hard to imagine crossing this vast landscape in a covered wagon along dirt roads.  We sure have it easy biking along paved roads at 14 mph!   We reached Jeffrey City about 3 PM and are staying at the Jeffrey Community Church.  Not much else in the town other than a bar and a pottery place- the Monk King Bird Pottery.  We stopped in there and I chatted for a while with the potter, Byron Shelley. An interesting fellow.  He spend 140 days in prison for selling marijuana and offered for sale some of the drawings he did while in prison.   I bought one- very interesting abstract art.  I also bought a ceramic drinking cup that he made- very interesting creation with earth tones reminiscent of the desert.  The town only has 35 inhabitants.  Jeffrey City used to be a large uranium mining operation but shut down in the 1980s.  It is pretty much a ghost town now, but there is still some kind of uranium drilling operation going on there. We saw a lot of what looks to be drilling equipment there.  We stopped by the bar in town, had a beer and chatted with the bartender.  She said that their business is primarily serving the guys who work on the uranium drilling.  The church is set way off apart from the town- kind of all by itself. Made for some great photos!  The church is interesting in that it hosts bikers traveling across the country.  The bottom level has sleeping accomodations and the walls are covered with written mementos of everyone who has passed through and stayed here.   A lot of Adventure Cycling groups show up on the walls as well of hundreds of  other bikers.  

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the video for the day

Short ride today from Saratoga to Rawlings Wyoming. COLD was the word for today. Started out in the 40s and seemed to get colder as we went along. IN JUNE!!! Where we stopped before getting on Rt 80, the lady at the gas station said yesterday it was in the 70s. After we got on Rt 80 it started warming up a bit and by the end of the ride it was in the low 60s, so tolerable. Yes we rode on Rt 80 for about 13 miles, a major interstate highway. I didn’t know that it was legal to ride bikes on an interstate, but apparently in Wyoming, if there are no other hard surface roads going in the same direction, it is legal. Fortunately the shoulder was very wide and very clean. We had a tailwind and the traffic wasn’t terrible so it was in fact a rather enjoyable experience! We stopped at the gas station right before getting on the freeway, for coffee and to warm up a bit. Then at the exit we stopped in the town of Sinclair which was an interesting experience. It is the location of a very large Sinclair refinery. In fact the town was built in 1924 specifically to service the refinery which was built in this location. There are remnants of the town still standing, including the large hotel/inn constructed in a Spanish adobe style, and the town bank. The bank is now a museum, filled with memorabilia of the old town- very interesting to see what it looked like in the 1920s. Even back then it was a very large oil refinery. The town was originally named Parco, for the Producers and Refinery Corporation that built and owned the refinery at first. It was later bought out by Sinclair. The refinery seems quite large- it has a capability of refining 94,000 barrels/day. Looking at Google, this doesn’t seem to be very much- some large refineries in the US can process up to 600,000 barrels/day.

We got in to Rawlings by early afternoon and were at the campsite, an RV campsite called Western Hills Campground by 2 PM. Rawlings is a much bigger town than Sinclair, 8000 people vs 363! Haven’t had a chance to explore it much, we rode through the town and there are several restaurants, bars and convenience stores- a regular midwestern small town. We have again the sweet sound of train horns as there is a major rail line which passes through here. The road paralleled it for a bit coming in to town. No spa tonight, but the shower facility here was excellent- plenty of hot water so we all could have a nice hot shower to warm up after this ride today. Looking to get in the 30s tonight so tomorrow’s ride will start out cold. Bundling up when I get in my sleeping bag tonight!

Riding from Walden Colorado to Saratoga Wyoming. Another state in the bag, only 4 more left: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon! But they are big…. 2300 miles done, about 1500 left- making progress. Seems like only last week we were leaving DC heading out on the C&O canal trail.

We continue to descend a bit in a valley between two mountain ranges. A total of 67 miles today with 2000 feet of elevation gain. There was one really big ascent mid-way through the ride which reminded us of the ascent to Cameron Pass the day before, but not too bad otherwise. We had tailwinds for a good part of the ride but some headwinds particularly in the latter part of the day. Weather was good- in the 70s with sunny skies turning mostly cloudy towards the end. Most of us stopped at the Colorado/Wyoming border about 22 miles in. Then at the 49 mile mark at Riverside. There was a nice cafe there. Timmie and I arrived at 11 AM and it opened only at 11:30, so we sat there and ate our lunch. When the main group showed up, they mostly just had coffee before continuing on. Wide open prairie land between two snow covered mountain ranges, looks like mostly used for grazing cattle although we saw few herds during our ride. Stunning landscape- check out the video.

We were treated to an invigorating experience at the Hobo Hot Springs in Saratoga, after our ride today. It is a public hot springs open to the public 24 hours/day every day! There are different pools with different temperature levels from 100 to 117 degrees. We chose the lower temperature pool which was still pretty hot! It was located next to the river, the North Platte, so after a dip in the hot pool you could go dunk yourself in the very cold river water, then do it again! There was also a pool next to the river which moderated the cold river water with some influx of hot spring water so it was a bit warmer. The place had shower rooms so you could shower off afterwards, something which is necessary because of the sulfur in the water. It was very relaxing! All my muscles seemed to melt away- the soreness in my quads which I typically have after a ride was no more! Very nice- I’d like to be able to do this after every ride!

We stayed at the St Barnabas Episcopal Church this evening. They had a very nice guest house for travelers, with upstairs bedrooms, a nice shower and kitchen with a large living room area where we could eat dinner.

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the link to today’s video

Rustic to Walden Colorado today- a challenging day with a climb up and over Cameron Pass. A total of 56 miles with 3160 feet of elevation gain. We climbed from Rustic at 7,100 feet to the pass at 10,250 feet and then down to Walden at 8,095 feet. The climb to the pass was pretty consistently UP for 20 miles, averaging maybe 2% with some sections at 5% all the way to 8%. Wind was not bad and the day was sunny, starting in the low 60s, so conditions were good for the ride. And it was beautiful- continuing to follow the Poudre river up to to the pass. Getting near the top it was great to see the snow capped peaks of the Rockies appear. Than and I stopped around 9,300 ft altitude for a much needed break, than pushed through to the top. Not much snow at the pass, but the surrounding peaks still had plenty of snow. At the pass we ate lunch with Timmie who had arrived before us and had a good rest before doing the relatively easy descent towards Walden. The Poudre River Valley we were climbing through showed consistent scars of the 2020 fire but by the time we got to the pass and then the descent, no more signs of the fire.

I was surprised at the number of dwellings in this valley as we were climbing up to the pass. No towns, but along the road there were periodically these isolated cabins with spectacular views, as you could imagine. And then there was the occasional camping ground/RV park. But all in all it is a pretty isolated area. I would hate to have an accident here, imagine it would take awhile to get an emergency team in there. No cell service so impossible to call for help. This is why we are traveling in groups!! At Walden, we were going to stay at the Public Park there, but the restrooms were closed and so ACA put us up in a hotel for the night. We can do without showers, but not without toilets, particularly for the 3 women in the group. It was Dan and I’s turn to cook so we did our shopping at the local Super grocery store- fried rice with mushrooms and onions, chicken thighs on the side for the meat eaters and a green salad, with ice cream sundaes for dessert. Not bad!

The weather in these parts seems to be good in the morning and early afternoon, but thunderstorms tend to appear in the later afternoon, with high winds at times. We all want to get started early on the ride so we can finish before the rain comes. Today several of us arrived well before the rain but some of the later arrivals got caught in a rain shower. All in all, everyone was thrilled with today’s ride- beautiful scenery, a good hill climbing challenge. We are all glad to be in the Rockies!

Here are the RidewithGPS stats:

Here is the video for the day