Montana!

Fun fact - my first state with a Canadian border since New York!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=44.6519265,-111.05252356

Old Faithful

Bear boxes

Here in bear country, all the campsites have bear boxes - big, metal, bear-proof boxes for food storage.  

Ok, so the bear can't get the food, but he can still smell it.  I'd figure the bear would come over and be all disappointed that he can't have my peanut butter, then look around and think, hmmm, what's the next-best thing to eat around here? (hint - it's in the tent).

I've been told that this is not how it works.

Yellowstone

I've been to Yellowstone before, so I actually planned to skip it today, and go straight through the park and out to the town of West Yellowstone, Montana.  It was a fair amount of climbing this morning (including my SIXTH crossing of the continental divide) so I didn't get to the park until 2:00, as some clouds were rolling in.  I've had some stressful days through Wyoming, arriving late in the evening, and I was sure that would be the case if I pushed it, so I stayed in the park.

And what fun I've had!  As I was eating lunch, my Teton neighbor, Jer, came over.  Jer (short for Jeremiah) was meandering around from San Diego, and had been at Grand Teton the past several days.  He decided to get out today, and came in to find me when he saw my bike outside.  We registered at the campsite, then (by Alicia's recommendation) went to a ranger program at the West Thumb geyser basin.  Back at camp we met our new neighbor Matt, who is heading east and got me excited for Montana - sounds much more populated and enjoyable than Wyoming.  After dinner the three of us went to a ranger talk on the volcano beneath the park.  Turns out it will kill us all, it's just a matter of when.

Aloha, neighbor! Mahalo for the bingo!

Saw the Hawaii license plate on the way in to the park, then found it in the parking lot.  I've actually seen at least two Hawaii plates here!

And, the ranger I spoke to yesterday is from Cambridge, and lives there in the winter.  Not just Cambridge, North Cambridge!  We talked about how nice Davis Square has become over the years.  He also knew the secret handshake, so I think he's legit.

That's good for a bingo!  I'm going for the full blackout, of course.

"Day off" at Grand Teton

A day of adventure, not a day of rest.  Observe:

6:22 AM - wake-up
7:45 - 10:00 AM - hike along lake
10:00 - 10:45 AM - All you can eat breakfast buffet
10:45 - 11:30 - re-up campsite, prepare for day
11:30 - 1:00 - bike to Jenny Lake
1:00 - 7:00 - hike Cascade canyon
7:00 - 8:30 - bike back to Colter Bay

Note - no lunch.  Oops!  I think it will be relaxing to get back on the bike tomorrow and not have to hike anymore.

Here are the coordinates of the end of my hike:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=43.76443644,-110.81330463

Grand Tetons

Those French ladies must have some pretty pointy, um...tetons.

More wind

Another frustrating afternoon of wind today.  Several times I had to get off the bike, calm down, and remember to look at the amazing display of nature around me.  Particularly at the end - I followed the Wind River (go figure) up a canyon to Dubois, with red rock walls on one side.  Really beautiful...but still need to remind myself to enjoy it while fighting the wind.

I had heard that you could camp at the Episcopal church in Dubois, and I planned to do that.  But when I arrived tired, hungry, thirsty, dirty, cold, and depressed, I decided to cheer myself up...

A steak!

A beer!

A motel room!

The steak and beer were good.  The recommended motel was full, so this one is a bit of a dump, especially for the price.  Yellowstone tourist season, sadly.  It's got a shower and a bed, I really can't complain.

Tomorrow I'm really out of the Wyoming high plains and back to the mountains.  I'll cross the continental divide AGAIN, then spend the night at Teton national park.  After the past two days, and significant change in scenery will do me well.

This will be the FIFTH time I've crossed the divide already...I did it once each of the previous 4 days.  I hate crossing the divide.  Is a 1200-mile long descent to the Pacific coast really too much to ask?

Sacajawea

Her grave, in Fort Washakie, Wyoming.  I have a thing for the Lewis and Clark expedition, so this was worth going out of my way a few miles.

I did not know that she lived another 80 years after the expedition!

Coffee headache

I used to drink a cup or two of coffee every day, and that was enough to give me a headache if I didn't have any on a given morning.  Ironically, I stopped drinking coffee just before my first bike trip a few years ago, to avoid headaches on the trip.  Since then I'll have maybe a cup a week, and otherwise decaf.

For whatever reason, I've been drinking a lot of coffee in the morning on the trip, especially over the past month or so.  This morning I decided not to, and, yup, a headache!  

From past experience, I should be headache-free tomorrow, or the next day at the latest.  But no more coffee for me.  It's not so great for exercise anyway, so good riddance!

Lander brewing company

So, I must admit that today was my most frustrating day of biking since way back at day #2.  The reason was wind.  I got started at a normal time, and made the first 20 miles super fast, due to a southerly wind (and my northerly direction).  I reached Split Rock before noon.  Those of a similar age (or a much much older age, I suppose) will recognize it as the first Oregon Trail milestone that I have found.  (I am going to reach The Dalles then raft the Columbia SO HARD.  Who would ever take the toll road?)

So I got to Jeffrey City, and you already know all about that.  But after lunch, OH MY GOD I've never biked through wind like that.  I had turned west, and so had the wind.  If it wasn't 40 mph, then the gusts certainly were.  It's usually windy here, and a storm was passing through as well, which made it that much worse.  I mean, I was going 6 mph on the flats, and 8 down a hill where I'd usually hit 20.  8!  Worse than physically tiring, it was frustrating!  I'm trying to make the longest, most desolate stretch of my whole trip, and I'm going a third of my normal speed.  Very hard going.

So, I eventually limped in to the Sweetwater rest station, 39 miles from Lander.  I made a sandwich and filled up on water, and pondered what to do.  I could stay at the rest area, but it was only 6:00 and that's pretty lame.  I could make some campgrounds that were 30 miles away, or I could push for Lander.  The wind was calming down, and it was a lot of downhill to Lander, so I chose option 2.5 - make the campsites, then see if I wanted to do the last 9 to Lander.

If you paid attention to the post title, you can guess that the Lander brewing company is not located at the campsites 9 miles out of town.  I summoned all my gumption and made Lander at 9:15.  I can camp (and shower!) at the town park, and I'm currently enjoying the Lander brewing company (pictured: beer #2, Rockchuck Rye).  First beer was the pale ale, which I liked more.  Undecided on the third beer.  If there is a fourth beer I won't make it to the city park.

Jeffrey City

Made it to Jeffrey City, halfway point between Rawlins and Lander.  Fortunately the cafe IS open.  The rest of the town, however, is creepily deserted.  I think of ghost towns as cowboy-era places, interesting to see a town that emptied out as recently as the early 1980's.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=42.49400617,-107.82522773

Lamont camping

The campground in Lamont was set up by a lady named L.B.  she's been there about two years, and she's slowly fixing up what was some neglected property.  She invites all bikers to stay in the two teepees she's set up, and next year she want to add a third.  There's also a fridge with free snacks, a small garden, flowers, outhouse, chicken coop, cats, dogs, and gravel paths.  It's a work in progress, and I'd love to go back in a couple years and see how it looks.  It's wonderful to find someone who gives so selflessly to strangers on the road.

To Lander

Today's stretch is, I think, the least populated of my trip.  I'll pass through Jeffrey City, a former uranium boom town, now a semi-ghost town but allegedly with a open bar and cafe.  And from there to Lander there is nothing.  Just scrub brush and wind and otherwise a void.

I guess you could call this the land of wind and ghosts.  Anyone remember who sends your dirt and grime here?

Thankfully I learned about this tiny town of Lamont, with a cafe and campground and nothing much else.  Getting here last night cuts today from a terrifying 124 miles to a strenuous but non-terrifying 92.  Right in my wheelhouse.

The Lamont campground was actually just a woman's yard.  It was amazing and deserves its own post...I'll put it up with some pictures when I have a better internet connection.

Hello I-80 my old friend

I've come to bike with you again...

I haven't seen you since Chicago!  How were Iowa and Nebraska?  I hear they're not as hot as Kansas, that must have been nice.  Let's hang out together until Rawlins.  After that, I'll see you at the Bay Bridge!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.74354202,-106.83113806

Big push to Riverside, Wyoming

The plan today was to camp at a site just past the Wyoming border - about 80 miles from Granby.  BUT, I made good time and felt good in Walden, CO, and thought I'd try to make Riverside, 50 miles away.  I'd only push that far if I had a place to stay so I made some calls, and despite the threat to my sh*t, I decided to go for it.  49 miles and 4 hours later, here I am.  

The highway sign claims that Riverside has a population of 59, and most of them seem to be at the two bars in town.  Unlike very small towns in other parts of the country, this one seems to be full of younger people.  A town of 59 people in Indiana is full of old people not willing to start again in another place.  This place seems relatively thriving despite the tiny population.

Wyoming!

Damn you, continental divide!

Back in the Atlantic watershed.  I feel so dirty.

Lodging option

I may try to reach Encampment, WY tonight.  I called a cabin place and asked if they do tent sites.  They don't, and they also don't do cabins anymore.  But the place is also a restaurant.  If I come in and eat either dinner or breakfast there, I can set up the tent in the owner's back yard.  If I leave without breakfast, she will "burn my sh*t down".  I meet such interesting people.

12,183'

Today I took Trail Ridge Road out of Estes Park.  This is the highest continuous highway in the country.  It climbs from 7500 feet at Estes Park to 12,183 ft, before dropping down into Grand Lake.  It spends several miles above the tree line, and, as you can see, at elevations where snow is abundant in late July.

I got on the road early.  I set the alarm for 5:00, and was eating breakfast at McDonald's by 6:00.  It was the only place in town open that early!  And I do appreciate the irony that my only McDonald's breakfast came in the fanciest town I've gone through.  If the fair trade organic coffee place was open I probably would have gone there.  But we'll never know!

The climbing wasn't too bad, but was complicated by the elevation.  I didn't get any headaches or shortness of breath, but I definitely didn't have normal biking power.  I rested a ton - a 15 second break every few hundred feet made sure I didn't get too winded.  

There were a lot of cars but I had a nice shoulder.  Towards the top there was picture-taking and elk-watching traffic, and the Alpine Center at the top was full of people buying food and souvenirs.  Ugh...but an inescapable reality when you're biking on paved roads.

There were also several bikers on top.  The general consensus I heard was that today was the best weather for Trail Ridge all year.  I guess it can be cold and wet up there.  Lucky me!

After I got down I had a moment of panic when I learned that all campsites were full in Grand Lake and Granby - something is going on this weekend.  I called around and ended up with a "sleeping room" above the Blue Spruce motel in Granby.  It's a bed and a TV with a shared bath.  And super cheap!  I couldn't ask for more.

Tomorrow I turn north, and a good-sized day will get me to Wyoming.  

Wyoming!

Snow! Continental Divide! Bingo update!

I met a nice Englishman at the Rockies game.  Good baseball knowledge with an English accent...unusual combination.

Being on a road in a National Park, I looked for Hawaii license plates all day.  I probably saw at least 30 states, including Alaska and Massachusetts...but no Hawaii.  A surprisingly large number of Illinois and Minnesota, if you were wondering.

I also walked across the Colorado River.  It was about 20 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and the water I walked through was snow this morning (and flowing really fast).  But the judge ruled that my river fording must not be so frivolous - I must take the bike with me, and it must be for the sake of forward progress.  I can't just cross a river for fun.  

Hey - if bike trip bingo were easy it wouldn't be fun!

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers

Estes Park

From 8 miles away and 1500 feet up.  Not bad!

Pedestrian malls

Several cities I've been through have really nice pedestrian malls as a big part of their downtown.  They're nothing more than commercial streets that don't allow cars.  Denver, Boulder and Louisville have particularly nice ones; I really like them, both in practice and in theory.

If I were King of Boston, I'd do this to Newbury St, and maybe Hanover as well.  They're already full of pedestrians and are full of places to eat, shop, and just stroll around.  Driving down either of them is an exercise in urban misery, and neither are major through streets.  Especially Newbury - why not close it to cars, expand the sidewalks, allow for trees and benches and art and vendors down the middle?  

Vote for Dave, I'll make this happen!

Hello from Coors Field

The view from my seat.  If I must splurge, I'll splurge on baseball.

Future route choices

Today and tomorrow I will sit down and look at a map with Alicia's uncle, an avid cyclist himself.  We'll plan a nice route for me - maybe west through Utah?  Or farther north towards Yellowstone?  Or between the two towards southern Idaho and Boise?  I get excited just thinking about it.

The infamous TransAmerica takes the northern route through Yellowstone, hits western Montana, cuts across central Idaho, then west to Eugene, Oregon.  That's certainly a valid option for me.  Note: even though I chose the southern Kansas route because the TA was there, I never actually followed it.  It zigzagged around through some back roads, and went through fewer towns than I did.  I ended up picking my route because it was direct and maximized my town frequency.  That's a killer combo.  I'll look at what the TA does in the mountains and then decide.

Where I come out on the coast will all depend on timing.  I've been a little stressed about reaching San Francisco in time, so I'll see when I get to Oregon and decide then.  If I'm doing well, I'll go up to Seattle.  If I'm just doing OK, I'll come out in Portland.  And if I'm in trouble, I'll head for Eugene.  

Level 3....clear!

And just barely!  I found myself in Denver at 6:00, waiting for a storm to pass through.  I still had 25 miles to go until Alicia's aunt and uncle's place outside Boulder, and when I went back to the bike, the rear tire was almost flat!  I'd been dealing with a slow leak, so I pumped it up and was on my way.  About 30 minutes later, it was flat again, this time for good.  The rear tire itself was mostly shot, but I put a new tube in anyway, hoping it would last the rest if the day.  Well, it didn't, and 30 minutes later it was flat again.  This time I put on a new tire as well, which almost didn't go on.  New tires can be hard to put on the first time, and I was pretty exhausted, which didn't help.  I declined an offer of a ride from Alicia's aunt, and after a moment of panic, was able to get everything working.  I pedaled the last 10-15 miles, arriving well after dark.  But I made it, and dinner and beer was waiting for me.  A happy ending!

The rest of the day was great, though.  The road from Colorado Springs to Denver went right up against the edge of the mountains, and was a beautiful ride.  It rained for about 30 seconds - the largest rain drops I've ever seen.  Like little water balloons.

Once near Denver, there was a paved trail that followed the river all the way downtown.  For all you geography nerds, Denver is on the South Platte River.  The trail was great, and featured overpasses that kept me dry when I needed shelter during the aforementioned storm.

Coincidentally, my route took me very close to Columbine High School, and I rode over just to see it.  I was a senior in high school when it happened, so I remember it pretty well.  At this point it looks like any other school, which I suppose is as it should be.

713

I've biked 713 miles in the past week.  That's a personal record that will probably last the rest of my life.  I can't imagine having the opportunity (or the desire) to ever do that again.

First Denver sighting

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.55446685,-105.03644683

A taste of foothills

That was a beautiful stretch from the northern reaches of Colorado Springs to the southern reaches of Denver.  Makes me excited for segment #4!

7225

How did I get this high?  I guess it's a good sign for the mountains that I didn't even realize I've gained 1500 feet today!

And now I drop 2000 feet into Denver, right?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.09885213,-104.87689296

Dean Rd

The judge ruled that this counts for "Dean St".  The continental divide is coming up, get me a Bostonian or Cantabrigian and I've got it!