Coincidence, again!

As I was riding out of Jackson, I had met with Jerry who was taking a break from his ride to San Francisco. We had talked for half an hour and had been thinking that we may meet again.



Today, I had settled my base camp in Wagon Wheel Motel for my day off. As I was riding off the motel, I come across with a long distance cyclist, all equiped in yellow. I turn back; so does he... that's Gerry just passing by in Alturas on his way to Canby.

"Hey!". We talked, exchanged ideas on how we wanted to get to San Francisco: we at least agreed that we wanted to avoid fancy ways... and just get there now. We decided to ride together the next days, an innovation for me. I am his third riding partner on his trip.

My little 'mont Ventoux'

This Saturday, the Tour de France 20th stage will end up on the top of the 'Mont Ventoux'. I therefore had my little 'mont Ventoux' this morning, as I took the Teton pass out of Wilson. It is 9 km long with a 6 km section of a 10% grade. Right, it does not compete with the real one! ;-)

But here in Jackson Hole, it is some kind of a little legend as many people warned me against the steepness of the slope. They even have a climb race and it's this Saturday, the day after (corrected) the Tour de France will reach the 'mont Ventoux'.



From what I was told, the best one make it in less than 30 minutes. I made it in 1h and 20 minutes... but got there before BOB... you know, BOB... my trailer!

Detailed notes:
* As I did not find that many information on this ride, I consolidate here some of my experience.



* To get to the Teton pass, there are actually two roads available, the old one closed to cars and the regular one. I therefore took the old one. The ride through the old road leads you in the middle of nature; birds are singing; the view on Jackson Hole gets better and better as you go up... you just need to spin a bit.
* The valley floor elevation is 6,234 ft / 1,900 m. Wyoming highway 22 gets you from Jackson to Wilson and then to the Teton pass (8,431 ft / 2,570 m).
* The Teton pass is 5.6 mi / 9 km away from Wilson village by the old road. The steep part is 3.7 mi / 6 km long.
* From Wilson, you can find the old road by riding the Wyo highway 22 for a little less than a mile (1,500 m) (there's even a bike path on the left side of the road). On the left, you then find a road leading to the 'Trail creek trailhead' (elevation: 6,480 ft / 1,975 m).
* Again for a little less than a mile (1,500 m), you get to a parking; in the back of the parking, there's a gate: once you pass it, you are on the old road and it gets a lot more steeper.



* As you go up, after 1.2 mi / 2 km, the steepness gets softer for a little rest. On the contrary, 0.6 mi / 1 km further, it gets tougher for few hundred yards / meters.
* Eventually the road gets to another gate and a few hundred yards / meters further, the old road joins with the new road and you get to the Teton pass.



* Generally speaking the quality of the asphalt is good for road bikes. I only experienced some gravel on the paved road after the second gate.



* Going down towards Idaho, there's only one way: the new road. It is pretty steep for about 2 miles / 3 km. I stopped several times to let my wheel cool down.

Rodeo & jetset

Jackson WY was my target for this week: from what I was told by other bikers on my way, this town is some kind of a 'St Tropez' in the country of cowboys and rodeo. Stars and politicians fly into the airport just a few miles away. The national parks and outdoor activities make it attractive to many. The town is nice, well put, with plenty art galleries and outing opportunities; and quite touristy of course.



I end up this afternoon in Wilson, just a few miles further on the way to Idaho. Here it is on the map at the end of this 6th week:

View Larger Map

On the biker side, it's been the toughest week since the beginning, especially with the stage from Riverton to Dubois that worn me out. The bike & trailer seem to be doing well.

More info:
* Jackson WY
* To attend a rodeo show in Jackson: apparently, it's on Wednesday and Saturday... I missed it.

Be bear aware

Good opportunity for another day off: Grand Teton National Park is just south from the renown Yellowstone and offers a magnificent landscape of mountain range:



It also hosts plenty wild life other than the many tourists that visit it during the summer. Therefore the rangers teach you in handling this wild life, especially the bears at the campground. For instance, the brochure says poetically:

"A leaf fell in the woods,
The eagle saw it,
The deer heard it,
And the bear smelled it."

'Be bear aware' it says everywhere. On my campsite, I have a dedicated 'bear box'; a big iron box rooted to the ground in which I have to put away any smelly items like food, toiletries, water bottles, trash... To be on the safe side, I even included my dirty clothes.



With Sandy my neighbor in the hiker & biker section of the campground and two other bikers, we decided to be beer aware as well.

Exit the 'Mississippi valley'

It's been a few days that little by little I have been riding up the mountain. Some days, you hardly notice it but still you can read that the elevation of the towns you get to is increasing. Some others with a strong wind and some more steepness, you know it the hard way.

Nevertheless, Dubois is 6,940 ft high (2,115 m) and road 26 runs thru Togwotee mountain pass 9,658 ft high (2,944 m) very close to which the Wind river springs at the other end of this lake by the same name:



I entered the Mississippi river drainage basin more than a month ago, when I was in Pennsylvania around Curwensville. This pass marks also the limit of the 'Mississippi valley', including its many affluents like Missouri crossed in Omaha, Nebraska. This limit is known on the west side of the country as the 'continental divide'.

The upcoming rivers will not eventually flow into the Mississippi and therefore into the gulf of Mexico; but rather into the Pacific ocean. And that's another confirmation that I am now right in the middle of the Rocky mountains.

Note:
* From a biking point of view, the average steepness is less than 2% which is not that big of deal. As the road goes up and sometimes also down, the steepness is a little greater but never gets into the 10%. It's just a long way up.
* There were some road work as almost reached the top and the procedure is that bikes should be carried in the pilot car that directs traffic from one end to the other of the works. Still I managed to avoid the pilot car and rode to the top; even hide a little in the woods where the Wind river springs. Yet for the second portion of road work, down-hill, I had to load my bike and trailer in the pick-up. I wasn't happy at all and gave the poor lady driving the car a hard time about biking, freedom, lawyers, responsibility... Oops, sorry.
* On the way down, I met with Bruce and Ryan Pesch, father and son, riding up to the continental divide. Exchanged info. And they made it to Lander that same day... with the wind!

Speechless

Yep, I was speechless when I reached Dubois, Wyoming; stoned by the magnificient sceneries of Wyoming as I rode along this long river, getting into the mountains up to that winter sport little town?









Or rather stoned by the front wind I rode against for more than 35 mi (50 km)? No surprise that they called this river 'Wind river'.

Into the wide open

It was chilly this morning, at around 5:30, when I hit the road. Slowly but surely, the altitude is rising as the road takes me towards the Rocky montains. Wyoming offers wide spaces of prairies hardly bounded by the horizon. A dirt road crossing, some cows or horses in the fields, a ranch in the distance or few hills are most of the entertainement you get on the road.



Yet today, I knew that I was heading for long day on the road as the map showed just few towns on the way to the next important one, Riverton, some 120 miles away.

Still I had planned to stop in Powder River to take my breakfast: it seemed big enough on the map to host at least a gas station. After riding some 35 miles (50 km) it felt like reaching an oasis when I spotted the sign of a gas station in the distance. When I got there, a paper on the door read 'out of business': the next gas station is 20 mi ahead...



Eventually I found some kind of a breakfast in a small shop headed by an old lady 10 miles further. There was nothing there other than that and bunch of rusting cars. I made it to Riverton having crossed just 3 towns with at least one shop open in 133 mi (213 km).

Although the road runs through the open wide, it offers great scenery such as this canyon, Hells Half Acre,



or just past Boysen State Park,



And I bet that in the winter time, when the immensity is covered with snow and blown by the wind, there are even less tourists and crazy bike riders around. I guess inhabitants develop a sense of belonging to this infinite land of Wyoming which also translates into this humoristic sticker:

Off the road trip

I was so enthousiastic about last days landscapes and encounters that I kind of forgot to take a real rest. I started to pay it on Monday; and the upcoming days are quite challenging: so Bastille day is the occasion for a holiday off the road in Casper, WY and to take a deeper look at the city.

There's this exhibition of Jorge Santos at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. Here is 'road trip with pets' for instance:



"Animals take control" mentions the museum flyer. Hum?

A step into the Frontier

Do you remember in "Dances with Wolfes" this dialog between Kevin Costner and his superior?

Major Fambrough: You wish to see the frontier?
Lieutenant Dunbar: Yes sir, before it's gone.

As I got yesterday to Wyoming, I spotted the apparition of the 'Frontier'; not so much "the zone of land beyond the region of existing European occupation" as it does not exist anymore, rather what is left of the myth: a supermarket?



Anyhow it felt good entering the Great West this week and ride thru these new hilly and rocky landscapes that look somewhat like a movie.



Here we are now on the map, more than halfway thru now:

View Larger Map

On the bike side, 8 flat tires this week... I'm getting pretty good at changing a tube in the sun on the side of the road. I try to avoid riding in the grass or rough shoulders. I also found the spare tires I was looking for at Sonny's in Scottsbluff; and took advantage to buy 2 extra tubes and three repair kits. Be on the safe side!

More info:
* The Frontier

The Old Faithful

Am I suddenly pulling you 1,300 mi (2,000 km) ahead of this trip, to the Yellowstone National Park where the most renown geyser regularly throws its hot water and smoke into the air? Nope.

Here is a little diversion from my daily stories that takes us back in time, 23 years back: in the middle of Illinois, just North East from Peoria, Metamora is a little town where my American family leaves. With Greg, Cindy, Natalie, Monica and almost Valerie, I had then the chance to travel across the mid-west, from Utah, thru the Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, the Bad Lands, (Wall Drug as well!)... back to Illinois.



Today, we manage to re-unite again as they drove from Metamora to meet me in Ottawa. We talked about the good old time when we had been enjoying traveling across some of the country together.

And we manage to re-unite every 10 years or so; not as often as the eruptions of the Old Faithful though.

More info:
* The Old Faithful geyser
* Peoria IL is often referred as "mainstream America": a little more about it.

Note:
* By the way, I breached today 1 thousand miles ridden since I left New York City.