| we had breakfast in the yard of our motel in dubois. it was a gorgeous morning. as sari & i biked thru town around 6:15 we noticed a time/temp that said 46 degrees. |
| several riders rode in the van or subaru this morning up to the top of the pass, then got onto their bikes & rode down. |
| there were some headwinds as we rode west to begin our climb up to togwotee pass. we stopped here as we entered the shoshone national forest, the nation's first national forest. |
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that sign was a little disconcerting. i wished i'd studied the special rules. |
| at about mile 23 we came upon a cute little restaurant at pinnacle buttes. the folks at the cowboy cafe in dubois had told us that there were homemade pies at pinnacle buttes. sari & i each had a piece of homemade cherry pie; it was good. we ate in a little tent-covered outdoor dining area. there were 3 cute little dogs scurrying around & i enjoyed playing with them. |
| a little further up i got a good shot of the majestic mountains that frequently came into view as we rode. |
| you can see how beautifully the road wound up through a pine forest. as mountain passes go, this was an easy one to bike up to & over. notice that my purple cow bike horn was enjoying the ride, too. |  |
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at about mile 32 we finally got to the summit. we were disappointed to find that there was no sign verifying that we were at the top of togwotee pass. so we asked patty fainer to take the official summit photo of sari & me beside the sign confirming the altitude at the top of the pass. |
| as we started descending there was a sign warning trucks to use their lowest gear; it was a 6% down grade for 17 miles. as it turned out, it was a very pleasant ride to the bottom of the mountain. there were some stretches of a 6% grade, but not too many. on the way down we noticed many patches of snow amongst the trees where the sun hadn't yet melted them completely. we never saw any bears. |
| the views of the tetons as we rode down the mountain were stupendous. |
| sari took this photo of me at an overlook. from that spot you have an exceptional panoramic view of the mountain range. |  |
| sari & i were having a fantastic time riding along today....often stopping to take photos or just to look around. we were way behind. finally down near the sign welcoming us to grand teton park, carol, today's subaru driver, came along & filled up our water bottles. she also encouraged us not to "dawdle" because we were at that point 30 miles from jackson. we didn't realize we were that far from our destination. as it turned out, mileage numbers hadn't been added correctly on the route sheet, so today's route was closer to 90 than to the 75 on the route sheet. |
| it was beautiful riding on the floor of the teton valley. there were several interesting turnouts where we'd take a break & get a new perspective on the scenery. at one vantage point we talked with a fellow who pointed out that a spot nearby was the place where ansel adams took his classic teton photo. |
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here's my version. notice the snake river wending its way along down below. |
| on our route sheet gloria had indicated that dornans at moose junction was a must-stop attraction. sari & i stopped there; the windows in this bar provide an expansive view of the mountains. before leaving, sari & i went next door to a deli to find some ice cream. & what a find we made! i hadn't realized that ben&jerry's had ice cream bars, but they do. the one sari & i had today was called phish stick. i love ben&jerry's phish food flavor of ice cream; this was the bar version of that flavor. it's chocolate ice cream swirled with caramel & marshmallow, then coated with dark, dark chocolate.....all in a fish shape. it really hit the spot. |
| sari & i finally got to the sundance inn here in jackson a little after 6. what a long biking day......but what a beautiful one! we went across the street to a vegetarian restaurant; several riders were already eating. at the map meeting this evening we re-greeted becky. she'll be taking over leadership of this ride when gloria stays home in driggs beginning tomorrow evening. |
| our route tomorrow is 34 miles. but it sounds easier than it'll be. we climb up over teton pass. the grades are often 10%....both going up & down. tomorrow evening we'll have supper at gloria's ranch in driggs. we'll sure be glad to be done with mountain passes for a few days. |
| Higher quality versions of the pictures from my trip are available here. If you would like copies of the original, full-size photos, or if you would like text-only versions of these daily reports e-mailed to you, feel free to e-mail my son Mark with your request. Stay tuned.... |
