Day 23: Teton RV Park to Near Union Pass - 48 miles
I was very cold and wandered over to the main building. On the way I chatted with a fellow out walking his dog. He had been to NZ and loved it. I've been amazed how many Americans we've met who have been to NZ. Such a contrast to my previous trip where some didn't even know where it was.
They had hot chocolate which went down really well and I worked on my computer while watching the September 11 services on CNN. It was extremely moving. During our time here we have noticed that there have been many flags flying, not only on buildings but also on many vehicles as well. Today was a special day and quite a few vehicles passed us flying the flag--sometimes two or more. I really respect the Americans for their patriotism.
I had a lot to do and so it wasn't until 10:30 that I finished the journal and the other critical business items. One of the 'joys' of owning your own business is that you always have to be monitoring what is happening while also looking ahead at other opportunities. I have an excellent manager who is taking care of all the day to day activities, and a great accountant who does the financial side, but I'm really focusing on new projects and new ideas--which flow much more readily when I'm cycling along and I let my mind wander.
A couple of miles from the RV park we found a motel which had what looked to be a nice restaurant attached to it. Pity we didn't know otherwise we may have gone there the night before. I made a note to inform Adventure Cycling so that they can update their maps.
Shortly afterwards we began climbing and, except for a few short breaks, we were to continue climbing for the next 17.5 miles. The grades were generally on the order of 6 per cent so it was not exactly easy, but we just put our heads down and for the next 3+ hours 'enjoyed' an uphill slog. Fortunately, the traffic was light and it came through in bunches, courtesy of the work zone. The road passed through delightful scenary, with mountains and trees all around. Considering some of the uphills we have had so far it was actually not that bad.
Sean was hanging out for some food so we stopped at a place after about 12 miles. Everything to do with food was shut so we sat on the porch in chairs and ate from our own supplies. They had some interesting snow vehicles, a photo of one is below. Believe it or not they remove the wheels and attach the treads to the existing axles and voila, a snowmobile. Very impressive technology. There may be some additional modifications, but the system looked to be 'plug and play'.
After refilling our waterbottles it was onwards and upwards. Shortly afterwards we reached the lovely alpine meadow shown below. This provided a nice, if all too short, break from the uphill travel we had been doing. By now we were over 8000' and it was fascinating to see the different ecosystem which accompanied the change in elevation.
Eventually we made our continental divide crosing number 11 at over 9600'. This is the highest we've been to date and both of us were feeling the altitude. And to think that in Colorado it will be over 2000' higher. I'll worry about that closer to the time...
One nice thing about having so much uphill is that *eventually* you get the downhill. The sign below was most welcome. We had earned every bit of inertia that we would enjoy on the downhill run.
The run took us past a range of different mountains. The ones below were particularly picturesque.
Unfortunately, we had a headwind and that impeded the travel a bit. As always, Sean zoomed off while I enjoyed travelling at 20-30 mph with a minimum of effort. Sean waited for me after 12 miles at a petrol station and we then continued on together. We stopped at the 'Tie Hack' monument. This was put in place to commemorate the work of the men who created the wooden ties used in the railways. They were paid $0.10 per tie and cut them precisely by hand so that they were the requisite width. They had pictures of the tools and the men working and I must say that they were impressive. Apparently, the forests of Wyoming were ideal for ties and many, many were cut--it took 2700 ties per mile.
Shortly afterwards my bike began to have a very bad grinding sound coming from it. Eventually, I isolated it to the rear wheel and after some investigation decided that it was the rear bearings. I had them replaced before the trip, but there was definitely something wrong. After removing the wheel I disassembled the axle and bearings and sure enough several of them were worn flat. They must have used sub-standard bearings. I removed the two worst bearings and repacked the axle minus one bearing on each side. Not ideal, but no other option was available. After reassembling it ran much smoother, although I will get them all replaced at the first bike shop I come to. The photo below shows me hard at work.
It was getting late in the day and by now we had a very strong headwind. I was very tired and chugged along at a comfortable speed while Sean outpaced me. After a further 7 miles we came to our turn off at a petrol station which was unfortunately closed so we couldn't get any refreshments. We then began a 4 mile climb up an unpaved forestry road which was hard, but not overly so. At least it wouldn't have been too hard if we already hadn't cycled 40+ miles, almost half of which were uphill to over 9000'. I watched my odometer count down the distance and when I got to the last mile I counted down from 100 as each 1/100th of the mile counted off. How pathetic but I was tired.
After disturbing a couple of wild deer, the summit came right on target and Sean was waiting. We decided to head a few miles down the road and camp for the night -- by now it was approaching 19:30 and we were given a sunset over the mountains to the west. As we headed down the road we came across what seemed to be a mirage -- a dude ranch with a restaurant and an 'Open' sign turned on. We headed in expecting the place to be closed like everything else but sure enough it was open. There were two employees in the building and we sat ourselves down at the bar and asked if it was possible to get dinner. Much to our joy they said yes and we were given a delicious meal. Sean enjoyed a steak while I had a vegetarian dish that was created for me by the cook. Lots of potatoes, vegetables and home-made bread rolls. It was wonderful.
The bartender was not very communicative but that didn't detract from the joy of having a hearty hot meal at the end of a tiring day. The closed at 20:00 and shortly afterwards we headed out down the road to find a camping place. It was quite dark so I put my light on the bicycle. We came across a public toilet and decided to camp next to it. Not only would it provide for any nocturnal needs, but we could also put our panniers with food in it. This is bear and cougar country so one can't be too safe. It was a bit of a challenge erecting the tents by torchlight, but we soon had it done and Sean retired while I worked on brining the journal up to date.
We've had several hard days, but it's been great with good weather and amazing scenary. Today we spent about 5.5 hours going uphill which was a record. Fortunately, tonight's unexpected meal also has put us into a positive frame of mind and replenished our energy stores.. That's good since tomorrow we have Union Pass to cross, and that will take us to just below 10,000'. Should be an interesting day.