Day 55: 47 Miles

Dubois, WY to Moran, WY

Today was an interesting one. I looked at the weather last night and knew there was rain in the forecast for the morning. I was sharing a room with Mike and we both decided not to set an alarm. We figured we’d have to wait out the rain in the morning and start late, so there was no sense in getting up early. I’ve gotten so used to waking up around 5:30 that even without an alarm I was up and at the local cafe picking up some French toast right when they opened at 6:45. We waited out the rain until 9:00 and then got on the road.

Today involved a lot of uphill climbing. I knew the first 30 miles of the day would be spent climbing from Dubois at 6,946 feet elevation all the way up to Togwotee Pass at 9,584 feet. I felt good climbing the hills and wouldn’t have had a problem, but the 20 to 25 mph winds were a real pain. The riding was very slow in the morning and starting later than normal really set us back. At mile 18 I pulled over to the side of the road because something didn’t feel right with my front wheel. I stopped to check and found I had a flat. Mike pulled up beside me and found he had a flat as well. Neither of us had gotten a flat in weeks, so it was very odd for us both to get flats and the same time. After checking our tires, we both found that a very fine wire had poked through our tires in several spots. We spent about 15 minutes fixing flats and then got back to climbing.

We got to mile 25 and were about 5 miles from the top of our climb when suddenly the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and the clouds turned dark gray. We knew something was coming and had to think quickly. Mike and I decided to get off of the road and head into the trees where we would have cover from the weather. I have been carrying a tarp around since the beginning of the trip and had only used it once before. Today was the day to break it out again. Within minutes we had tied up the tarp and built a shelter in the trees to keep us out of the coming storm. As soon as we were settled under the tarp, the sky opened up and hail started falling hard. I’m really happy I was riding with Mike today. I saw the weather coming and initially thought I was close enough to the top, that I should just push through and use the fast downhill on the other side to get out of the weather. Had I done that I would have been in real trouble.

We waited out the storm for about an hour. There was thunder and lightning and the temperature got so cold I was forced to put on a winter hat, gloves, and a second jacket over my rain jacket. Thankfully the storm didn’t last long and we were able to get back on our bikes and make it to the top of Togwotee Pass. It was an interesting sight, because we got to a point on the road and the sky turned from gray right back to blue. From there it was mostly downhill and we got our first look at the Tetons. About 8 miles into the descent from the pass we found a place to get lunch. I was freezing at that point and hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I got a bison burger for lunch and then started thinking about the best plan of action for a place to stay tonight. Mike and I were originally trying to get to Colter Bay Village in the Grand Tetons National Park, but that was still 30 miles away. Colter Bay Village would have meant camping and there was more rain in the forecast. I was in no rush, because I’m taking some rest days coming up and didn’t want to be in the rain tonight. The hotels have gotten progressively more expensive as we’ve gotten closer to Yellowstone. I wasn’t ready to drop $200+ to get out of the cold, but we had heard there was a place with $99 rooms 8 miles down the road. The cheap rooms had a shared bathroom, but that was fine with me.

When we got to the Hatchet Resort there was a no vacancy sign lit up. I decided to check it out anyway, because I would otherwise have another 20 miles of riding, followed by camping in the rain. The guy in the office said there was no vacancy, but there was a teepee in front of the bar. He said they normally charged people to stay there, but for us he would just pretend he never saw us. So tonight I am sleeping in a teepee next to a bar for free. It really is the perfect way to end a day that started huddled under a tarp in a hail storm. Tomorrow I will ride down to Colter Bay Village where my brother will pick me up. I’ll be off the bike until July 3^rd. It’s going to be weird not riding, but my legs can use the rest. We will hopefully checkout Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Jackson Hole over the next few days, and then I will push on to the Oregon coast.