Grand Teton RV Park (6miles from Moran Jct) TO Dubois, WY
Daren & Sarah riding
We had a chilly start to what was supposed to be a difficult 50 miler cresting the highest pass yet on the trip, Togwotee Pass at 9,658 ft. We had options to get off the highway and onto dirt, but the shoulder was so wide and the traffic so sparse that we elected to just stay on the road. It's amazing what a difference climbing on asphalt makes!
We were stopped by road construction at what we guess to be a more difficult stretch of climbing. We weren't allowed to ride our bikes, we *had* to put them into one of the road crew's pick up truck and be driven over 3.5 miles of dusty, dirty, highway revisions. When we were deposited at the other side, we felt as if we had cheated our way through this supposedly horrendous climb. We continued on smooth pavement, up and up, but it was so gradual that after cresting a hill and beginning a descent that didn't seem to end, we had to stop and check the GPS to see if we had, in fact, finished the pass without even noticing. We had! And we felt terrible about it. ;) The next 20 miles (it seemed) was a screaming downhill on beautiful wide shoulders that didn't require any use of brakes for cautious riding. When we reached the Wind River basin we had some long flats and slight rolling hills to contend with, but again, riding on pavement allowed us to keep a swift pace.
We stopped at the Tie Hacks monument-- these were specialist loggers who were able to fell the perfect sized tree for railroad ties, strip it of it's limbs, and send it to the river for use as railways expanded in this part of the U.S. At this same memorial we learned where the name of our favorite bike/apparel shop in Jackson Hole, "Hoback's" came from. There is a 'Hoback Junction' along this route, also a Hoback River, named for… well, we didn't get that part of the story but we're glad to know "Ho-back" isn't just what you say when Jody's riding behind you… (tee hee).A few more pics here
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