This is going to be a very challenging ride. Besides the climbing, the guys will have the wind in their faces during second part of the route. Harv says, "1st half the winds will be helpful. The 2nd half, the winds will be hurtful." Sag wagon intercepted the guys not once, but twice today.
Their wildlife sighting along the route was a bunch of prairie dogs. Today Linda and I saw Prong Horn Antelope (finally!). On our way to Lusk, we visited the Wyoming Pioneer Museum in Douglas. Enough said about that. :)
One of the teepee reconstructions used during "Dances with Wolves"
Even though the map is labeled 17, this is day 18.
The guys started out early today; it's a demanding ride. Hopefully, the wind will be over their right or left shoulders, not in their face. The sag team is prepared to meet them with water resupply, bananas and, pie.
The ride went well. Twice the guys had Prong Horn Antelopes running along side them.
Linda and I visited the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. It turns out that the Oregon Trail, The Mormon Trail, the Gold Diggers Trail and the Pony Express all converged at Casper to cross the North Platt River before they diverged. On our drive, we saw "Hell's Half Acre". Access was surrounded by chain-link fence; they were determined that we would not fall in.
The ride is all downhill today. Because they should zip on through, we decided to go to the National Center for Long Horned Sheep together.
However, it turned out to be a very challenging ride because of a constant head wind. One more flat for Pat today. They were pretty tired when they arrived today.
Linda and I hiked in Wind River Canyon to find petroglyphs. We were also looking for a big horn sheep and her baby but that was a no show.
Jackson, WY to Dubois WY. Straightforward 85 miles. Cimacoppi of the entire ride. That means that today they reached the highest altitude in the whole ride. Everything is downhill from here :)
Carlton Rauschenberg and his wife Sara
We drove and road the same route today and we all sighted grisly bears. Linda and I got a quick glimpse of the mommy bear at Shoshone National Park. We were told that they had just crossed the road 1 minute before we arrived. I spotted the mommy in the woods and watched her with binoculars for a while. Looked like she was settling down for a nap. So, we alerted the guys that there was a grisly ahead in their path and continued our journey. When they got there the sighted the cub. Sorry, no pics.
From the National Long Horn Sheep Center
Dubois, WY (pronounced DOO-BOYS) is a picture postcard of a small western town. There are 2- and 3-story clabbered building on both sides of Main Street.
Today was a "rest day". It was chock-a-block full. My brother, Scott, chided me for falling behind on my blog entries
yesterday.I don’t blame him.I’d be dying to see pictures of Yellowstone
too.But he caught me as we were having
a very late dinner in one of the Teton lodges after a full day (started at 6AM
and home at 11PM) at Yellowstone.We
were happy but exhausted and nothing was going on the blog yesterday.I’ll get this started today but it may take a
few days of tweeking before it’s complete.
Yellowstone is AMAAAAAAZING!
I have to start with the wildlife.Even though we didn’t have most of our
wildlife sightings until dusk, they were the highlight of our day. We have been promised wildlife since we
started out in OR and have been sorely disappointed.Yesterday we hit pay dirt: an Osprey,
Bison, a very elusive Moose, Elk, Deer.
Sorry no pic of the moose.Pat
says it’s going to be our fish story; no one will believe us because we have no
pic.We don’t have a pic of the deer
either; it was crossing the road well after dark as we drove back to Jackson.
Our trip through Yellowstone was enhanced by listening to an app "Gypsy Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons". It was like having a private tour guide riding along with us.
OK, next has to be the geothermals at Yellowstone.
Of course, I have to start with Old Faithful.
Old Faithful erupted a few minutes earlier than was estimated.
There were many, many more geothermals.In one day we saw but a fraction.You really need a week to do Yellowstone
well.
Ok, they were singing about Jackson, TN but it made for an interesting title.
The guys rode into Wyoming, following the Snake River.
One tire mishap; Pat’s tire, tube and rim
were punctured by a large screw on a descent into Swan Valley.Consulted men from the U.S. Forest Service they
met along their route about the dreaded goat weed.They had a screaming descent into Jackson
Hole; Harv was clocked at 60 mph.
Linda and I drove through the Grand Tetons National Park. They were magnificent.
At one point we stopped at a Snake River overlook. Turns out that Ansel Adams took his famous
picture of the Grand Tetons in that same spot.
We were frequently warned about bears, ospreys, elk and antelope;
however, absolutely none appeared. I
think they are in the upper altitudes and won’t descent until winter
comes. The guys will ride through the
Tetons on their way to Dubois, WY on Wednesday.
A number of gateways to ranches were spotted today.
