As is my trend I got up super early again this morning, I wanted to try and beat the heat as much as possible, It was forecast to get up to 37 °C (almost 100 °F) so I wanted to get as much cycling done in the coolness of the morning as I could.

Today’s ride followed the Wind River through the Indian Reservation and on through to Landers. As I left Dubois it felt like I was in a western set, the rising sun illuminating the red sandstone that had been cut by the river. I think the wind is responsible for much of the erosion too, on the north bank of the river are vertical faces cut into the sandstone, but on the south bank are rolling hills covered in sagebrush.

As I cycled out I saw a pair of pronghorn, I learnt from the roadside panels that they are one of the few animals that are able to safely digest sagebrush, and that they are the fastest animal in North America, they evolved to flee from cheetahs, the cheetahs are long gone but the pronghorn are still very quick, they can approach 60 mph. I saw two more pronghorn later in the day too. They range from the high desert of Wyoming to the Grand Teton range.

The road set apart from the river a little and ran through wide open desert. The Wind River Mountain Range was a constant backdrop to the day, running parallel to the river, and forming part of the Continental Divide.

I got really lucky with tail winds again today and made excellent time in the morning. So fast that I decided to carry on to the next hostel, which is 60 miles further from Lander in Jeffrey City. Jeffrey City sits on a higher plain near to the Sweetwater River, so the afternoon ride continued through open desert and then climbed up to the Sweetwater basin. It was hot, but the wind and cloud cover kept it manageable.

Overall Wyoming has been just as great as the rest of the trip, the rock formations in the desert and the scenery overall have been mesmerizing. Tonight I’m staying in a bike hostel in Jeffery, which it a little bit of a ghost town. It grew to thousands during a uranium mining boom, but as the demand disappeared people moved on and took their houses with them, only around a hundred remain. The church runs a hostel for cyclists doing the TransAm because otherwise Wyoming has so few options, the towns in the desert are few and far between.