Author: Greg Pezoldt

This morning was another “blue bird sky” day. Not a cloud in sight. Being so close to the river also brought a heavy dew and my tent was soaked. I would not be getting an early start today waiting for everything to dry out.

Having no guide maps, today was a bit of a mystery as to what I would be riding today. All I knew for sure was that I would ride out of the Hoback River Canyon and that the Wyoming Hwy map said that I had to ride up to “The Rim”.

Riding through the canyon continued to be great riding. The river is a classic trout river and the surroundings are timber lined. Worthy of a trip if anyone is ever in this part of the world!

After about 10 miles I found out what the rest of Wyoming might be like. Sage brush prairie. Lots of sage brush!

The first “town” was Bondurant. I don’t think I saw a living soul as I rode through. I had planned on getting some food and water for the rest of the day since I still had 32 miles to go to Daniel, Wyoming and it appeared that there wasn’t any towns until Daniel. Just as I was giving up hope, I came to a small diner about 5 miles out of Bondurant. Thank goodness.

Now fueled up and topped off with water I began the climb to “The Rim”. It was a long steady climb but not too steep until the last mile or so and even then I still did not need the small chain ring (which I haven’t even used since Washington). The upper portion of the Rim offer a brief respite from the sage.

Once at the top, it was clear sailing to Daniel. Downhill for nearly 10 miles ….. and a tailwind! I arrived in Daniel around 2:45. Daniel was not what I expected though. It was more of a Hwy junction than a town. All there was was a gas station, a restaurant, a convenience store, a bar, and an RV Park. Check, check, check, and check. I would stay here for the night. Seeing as there ins’t much to do in Daniel, I think I stayed in the bar for about 3 hours having food and beer. I even had a Drambuie for dessert!

I met lots of interesting people. I learned about guiding on the Green River from some fishing guides and about the big Mountain Man Rendezvous event in nearby Pinedale.

I also met a family passing through. The Gregersons. They asked about my trip. They were from Grand Junction so I asked them about the route and road conditions since I was headed that way. They said that they really hadn’t ever looked at the road from a bicyclist perspective before but they offered to take me out to dinner when I got there. I said that wasn’t necessary but we exchanged contact information “just in case”.

Later in the evening I started getting these text messages from the Gregerson’s with incredibly detailed recon about the road to Grand Junction. They would send me info for each stretch of road as they passed through it. It was fantastic. Road and shoulder width, pavement condition, traffic volume, and even where I would need extra water. I think I am ready for that stretch when I get there in a few days now. Thank you to the Gregersons. I will most certainly look them up when I get there!

There was some excitement in our campground yesterday. A black bear decided to take a stroll through the campground. He did not cause any issues, but most of all, I did not get to see him. Drat. I like bears (from a safe distance of course).

This morning, I would venture further into Grand Teton NP. There was a scenic loop to take going past Jenny Lake that even had a bike path. That was nice. Plus, the Tetons kept getting bigger and closer as I went.

I got some cookies and a coke at the Jenny Lake Visitor’s Center. I also found out there was a 21 mile bike path from the visitor’s center all the way into Jackson. Separate bike paths are the best thing ever, at least for cyclists. It was primarily downhill too. I only had to deal with a pesky headwind.

Just before Jackson, the path (and Hwy) come to the National Elk Refuge. Cycling along the boundary I saw ……. zero elk. Oh well.

In Jackson, I had to do some errands. First of all, I needed to find a bike shop. I had been hearing a rattle on my bike for the last few days and finally figured out that my water bottle cage had broke. So a new one was task one.

Next, I needed to go to the Forest Service office to get some information on campgrounds. I think I have previously mentioned that I had been following the Adventure Cycling route maps. Today, I was going to be venturing off the route. I did this way back after Glacier NP, but this time it will be for about a month. I have the route planned, but my camping locations were still very uncertain. The people at the USFS really helped me out there. I feel pretty confident now about the next week.

So now, the only thing left to do in town was find some lunch and update this blog (which was about 3 days behind due to lack of any service at all). The Snake River Brewing company solved the last problem for me. I stayed there until 4:30 getting things caught up. Then it was on to the Hoback Canyon FS campground about 19 miles away. There was another bike path for the first 5 miles but it disappeared in the middle of a road construction project. After that a local bike commuter told me how to get onto the old Hwy which had virtually no car traffic on it. It involved riding on some gravel single track for a few hundred yards but well worth the effort. Then all that remained was 8 miles through the Hoback River Canyon which was a fantastic, beautiful ride.

The campground was really nice, right on the river. I paid for my spot and then started talking with a guy named Shane from Phoenix who was fly fishing the river. Low and behold, next thing I know he is getting his backup rod and rigging me up! We actually caught quite a few native cutthroat trout in about 45 minutes! What a great bonus to the day. Thank you Shane! Finally I had to quit since I had not even set up my tent yet and it was starting to get dark. Well, we have to have out priorités now don’t we. Fishing first, camp second.

This morning, I woke up tired and I slept in a little bit, even for me. But up and at’ em i was eventually.

Today I was hoping for an easy day. Only 40 miles to Coulter Bay campground.

First, I had to leave Yellowstone NP. It was only 22 miles to the south entrance. Along the way, I unceremoniously crossed the continental divide for the 6th time. No sign. No nothing. You only knew by looking at the map.

I had lunch at the Flagg Ranch Resort just outside of the park. After lunch, it was a bit of a climb but then into Grand Teton National Park.

While Yellowstone NP has amazing geology and scenery, Grand Teton has majestic mountains!

The mountains tease you! They are an amazing sight from afar, but keep getting better as you get further into the park.

As hoped for, I arrived at the Coulter Bay campground around 2:30 and parked the bike there for the day.

I took a swim in Jackson Lake, enjoyed a very cold beer at the bar and then had dinner. All before 6:00. The short day was necessary after the last two days. I think I am back on track now. Time will tell.

The morning brought hope of NO wind today. At least it was a possibility with the way the morning started.

The day also promised many new milestones to be met as well.

The morning got off to a good start with easy pedaling into West Yellowstone, MT. It was 24 miles but it went by fairly quickly. In “West”, i did a few errands like getting some food and checking the air in my tires. Then lunch.

After lunch, it was time to go into Yellowstone National Park.

There is a reason Yellowstone is the first National Park. It is full of wonderful things. I would not see the whole park since I have been here many times but I would stop at my favorite places though. But first, I met a milestone by leaving Montana and entered Wyoming. Leaving Montana is always bittersweet for me but the show must go on.

Now I had a minor dilemma. The first camp ground is at Madison Junction. That would only be a 38 mile day and seemed short. The next campground would not be until Grant Village and be a massive 75 mile day. I opted for the Grant Village camping.

First on my sight seeing agenda was the Grand Prismatic Spring.

The first people to ever see this must have been blown away. It seems to me that this could not really exist, yet it does right here in Yellowstone. Note: google it to see better aerial photos and you will see what I mean.

Next was the iconic Old Faithful geyser.

Now after 56 miles, I would have to head for Grant Village. And over the continental divide…… twice! And it was already 5:45 in the evening. I think it is going to be a long day.

After getting to Grant Village and getting my camp spot at 8:00, my day was still not done. I went to get some dinner at one of the village restaurants, then got a much needed shower and finally got back to my camp spot at 9:30.

It was a BIG day. A new daily mileage record, a new high elevation mark, a new NP, a new State, and crossed the continental divide for the 4th and 5th time. After two hard days, I was hoping for an easier day tomorrow.

It’s Monday. Time to get back to the grind stone.

I don’t know if my parents knew something I didn’t or not. They fed me the biggest breakfast I have had in a long time. Cereal, toast, grapefruit, eggs, sausage, juice! Wow.

We headed off to Ennis, the exact point I left off over a week ago. No cheating the cycling gods. The weather was nice too. Sunny and only the slightest wind. And I was off…. to continue the journey.

The first hour went by easily. Easy pedaling and I felt great being back on the bike saddle. But something was nagging at me in the back of my mind. What was it?

Shortly after a brief stop in Cameron I met these two cyclists. Jay and Stan. They were really happy cyclists! They were cruising going toward Ennis. Later I met two more cyclist and they were really happy too. Going toward Ennis. It finally hit me. They were enjoying a monster tailwind! The ever so slight wind I had noticed at the beginning of my ride had turned I to a howling gale and I was going the wrong way!!

So my day was going poorly but I had to concede the wind to those going the other direction after they described the awful winds they had encountered in Wyoming. It seemed only fair that I had to suffer for a day so they could recover a little bit.

My pace was down to about 7-8 mph in the headwind. By the time I was able to turn out of the wind, my legs were too fried to really enjoy it. Plus I had to climb up to Earthquake Lake. Ouch.

Earthquake Lake is an interesting story. Tragic but interesting. In 1959, there was a huge earthquake that brought an entire mountain side down across the Madison River and a campground. Around 28 or so people died in the event, but the resulting lake that was formed due to the damming of the river still exists today.

Luckily, the campground was now only 4 miles away and it was mostly downhill. Thank goodness. I considered riding a few more miles to a small resort on the lake for some dinner but opted for coking on the camp stove instead. The end to my day came quickly after that. I was certainly hoping for a better day tomorrow.

After arriving in Ennis, my parents picked me up and drove me to Bozeman. YES, drove me. It is off route soit doesn’t count as a foul!

During my week off the bike I attended Randi, my niece’s 27th birthday, played some golf with my father and generally enjoyed myself and gained a few pounds back which I had lost over the past month.

We all got together on a few occasions had had a good time.

Here are a few stats for you at this point in time:

Total Miles: 1480

Highest point: 7400

Crossed Continental Divide: 3

National Parks: 3

State Parks: 5

Number of States: 3

Number of flat tires: ZERO!

I was up and on the road a little early today. I was supposed to be in the town of Ennis by 1:00 and it was 44 miles and a decent climb (again).

The sun was out although it sprinkled a little bit early this morning. Life on the road makes you just deal with the variability of the weather. So off I went. A gradual climb to Virginia City and then a more serious gradient for 5 miles to the summit of the climb.

I don’t know what it was about this section of the route but there were a lot of cyclists on the road today. Meeting touring cyclists is pretty funny. We just stop on the side of the road and start talking to each other. The questions are always the same. Where are you from, where did you start, and where are you going. First I talked to this guy Stewart from Australia. He said I could expect to see a lot of others today. Next I met Lynn and Jenny from Michigan. When I told them I was going to be going through Michigan later, they said I could sleep on their floor and they would make breakfast for me in the morning. That sounded pretty good so I gave them my contact information so I can possibly coordinate with them later if they are home by then. I really hope I hear from them.

Then in Virginia City, I met more cyclists. 2 from The Netherlands and 2 more from Missouri. They were all going in the other direction, but there were supposed to a lot of others just ahead going in my direction.

Speaking of Virginia City, it is another old mining town from Montana’s gold rush past. Unlike Bannack, Virginia City and nearby Nevada City are developed for tourists with lots of tourist shops and attractions. I only stopped to briefly talk to those cyclists I saw there. I still needed to get over the big hill and get to Ennis.

The steeper part of today’s climb started right after Virginia City, but it was no worse that the other recent climbs. The top came in under an hour.

Even though there wasn’t any sign to designate the top of the climb, there was the favorite sign that cyclists love to see!

The view was really nice from the top. There were several mountain ranges to see on both sides of the valley along with the Madison River.

I would make Ennis by 1:00 easily now. Flying down the downhill to Ennis was fast and effortless. I ended up at the Hwy intersection in town and bought some drinks. By the time I got out of the store, a familiar pickup truck was there. My Parents. They had driven the 50 miles from Bozeman to meet me and drive me back to their house.

I am now officially “off the bike” for a week now. A vacation within a vacation as I like to say. I will be enjoying my nieces birthday, playing some golf, visiting with my brothers, but mostly eating my mother’s (and father’s) home cooking.

So take a rest from the blog along with me but I will be back on the road before long. Still lots of adventure to come. National Parks, BIG mountains in Colorado, the Great Plains, and more.

This part of Montana is defined by broad valleys and the rivers that flow through them. Unfortunately there are passes to ride over to go from one to the next. Today would be a good example of this geography lesson.

The sun was out this morning! Finally. Today’s ride would start off climbing right from the State Park. 4 miles up just to get to the highway, then the climb up to Badger Pass. Badger Pass would NOT be a new elevation standard today (for a change). It was actually pretty reasonable as far as climbs go. The Montana Highway Department must also think so since there isn’t even a sign at the top. This Pass represented the division from the Big Hole to the Beaverhead drainage.

I cruised over the top thanks to a tailwind and put it in the big chain ring and really raced down the back side. 10 miles just like that. Dillon was just a few more miles and I got there for an early lunch. Tailwinds are a GOOD thing.

After lunch, it was another 28 miles to Twin Bridges. But the tailwind continued so it ended up being a pretty easy ride there too averaging almost 15 mph. Not very impressive for a day ride but I felt pretty good about it with the full touring load.

In Twin Bridges, they have a town run Bike Camp! It is awesome. Free camping, free showers, a lounge to relax in with sofas. Electricity for charging electronics, a very nice set up just for touring cyclists. Every town should do this. They do accept donations which I gladly obliged.

If you look carefully, you can see the Beaverhead River flowing a mere 40 feet from the lounge building. What a prime location to camp.

Just as I was getting ready to go downtown to eat some dinner, Paul arrived. He put in a monster day, almost 80 miles taking advantage of the tailwind today. I waited around for him to get a shower then we both went to eat. Always better to have company when you can in my book.

Today was the first day I really missed being home. The local market here in Twin Bridges was selling fresh cherries from Wenatchee. I really do like cherry season.

Tomorrow it is over to the next valley. The Madison River, the town of Ennis, and a surprise!

Whew boy. The weather was not great this morning. Not bad enough to warrant a rest day, but bad enough to know that I was going to get wet.

The plan was to start a little late so I would get to the town of Jackson around lunch time. This worked out pretty well since it was only 18 miles and I arrived on the wet side just as I thought. There was a nice little restaurant so a hot meal was just what the doctor ordered. Fellow cyclist Paul was also there so we had lunch together. That might be it though. He had already decided to stay in Jackson for the night and I was probably going to be ahead of him from now on.

So after lunch I began the climb up to Big Hole Pass. Right on schedule, it started raining, luckily not very hard. Then something odd happened. Right as I reached to top of the climb, it stopped raining and the sun came out.

Big Hole Pass was now the new high point of elevation for the trip. It seems every new Pass was higher than the last. With Yellowstone and Colorado further down the road, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Now it was decision time….. Where to camp tonight. My choices were to put in a long day and ride to Dillon or to have a more reasonable ride and camp at Bannack State Park. The only thing was that Bannack SP was 4 miles off the route. This is where I needed to remind myself that this trip is about more than just riding. I also want to see the sights along the way- so Bannack SP it was!

The old town of Bannack was a town established in the early 1860’s after gold was discovered near by. Today, it is a true ghost town that is now obviously a State Park. There must be close to 100 old buildings of which most you can go inside of. It was really interesting.

You can really get a sense of what life there was like. And apparently it was pretty wild with nightly gun fights in the saloon and the streets.

The camping area was nice too. There was a bike/hike area and two other cyclists showed up. They were doing the Continental Divide Trail like a lot of others I have met.

So off to sleep I went. And guess what? Another Pass tomorrow awaits.

I just did not want to get up this morning. Did I mention that I enjoyed a few beers last night? That might have had something to do with that.

Eventually I did get up and was on the road around 9:30 which actually is pretty typical for me. Yesterday my brother Jim said that the weather called for afternoon thunder storms but the sun was out this morning.

The day started with some gentle flat and very gradual elevation for 18 miles to the “town” of Sula. There I had lunch with a fellow cyclist named Paul. He is pedaling a tricycle recumbent with a Bob Trailer. His rig is funky and cool looking all at the same time. After we had lunch I started the climb up to Chief Joseph Pass. Paul would be quite a bit behind me since his cycle wasn’t very fast.

The climb went pretty well today. No real issues as far as tired legs or excessive grades. I did take a planned break 3 miles from the top. Just to get off the bike and eat some more food and drink water. No sign of Paul even after 20 minutes. But there were lots of other cyclists….. all bombing down the road in the other direction. It was a big group of supported riders with a touring company I later found out. After my break, the summit came fairly quickly.

The Pass was a new high point for the trip at 7241 feet, but I was also surprised that I had crossed the continental divide for the 3rd time on this tour. And that I was also on the Montana-Idaho border again.

For once the weatherman was correct. Right at the summit, the thunder started with some gentle rain too. I was going to wait and see if Paul was going to eventually show up but with the weather, I decided not to wait. The descent was disappointing. The climb from the Bitterroot side was steeper than the other side. I was only able to coast for a mile or two before I had to start pedaling. The pedaling was easy since the gradient was still downhill so the miles ticked off pretty fast.

About 10 miles from the town of Wisdom, MT I came to the Big Hole National Battlefield site so I pulled in to see it. After visiting the Visitor Center I pedaled out to the battlefield site to see the area up close. Right as I got to the parking lot the skies let loose with rain. I did find a “nice” dry and warm refuge.

It even had a nice seat to sit down on while I waited the thundercell out!

Once the rain stopped, I decided to forgo the hiking and set out for Wisdom and a motel room since I figured the rain was not over for the evening. That turned out to be a good decision since it has started raining again for the third or fourth time since I arrived in town.

Tomorrow is calling for a 70% chance of continued rain showers. I guess it will be another interesting day.