Hello, World

I got up and packed as early as I could to try and beat the heat and also to catch the sunrise; the sunset was a deep orange and I figured the sunrise might be equally as spectacular, and it was. As I walked out of the hostel around the church a pronghorn family was eating at the trees on the grounds. I actually saw a lot of pronghorn today, usually eating the greener shoots along the roadway, I guess that the water run off from the road causes different vegetation along the road, all the roads in the high desert seemed to have a ribbon of green either side. The pronghorn seemed oblivious of the cars but when they saw me coming on my bicycle they usually fled before I got close.

The start of the day I continued to follow the Sweetwater River downstream, before joining up to a busier road and crossing over the Continental Divide into the Great Divide Basin. This is a very high plain that’s very flat with rock twisting out of the ground only in the distances. The map marks the passes as the Continental Divide, and so do the road signs, but the Great Divide Basin doesn’t actually flow into any sea, although as I was riding it seemed like probably an academic fact, it looked like not enough water fell here to flow anywhere. There was no shade for almost the entire day, and the clouds didn’t form until later in the afternoon, so I had no respite from the sun. I tried to shade under a shrub to eat some lunch but was only partially successful, it at least gave me some more energy for the climb out of the basin and into Rawlins, the destination for today.

Rawlins is the end point of section 5 of the TransAmerica route, so now I’ve completed 1,654 miles of the trail, over 24 days that’s about 70 miles a day, although in reality I’ve cycled more than that with the extra miles particularly in Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I’ll probably spend one more night in Wyoming before crossing into Colorado. Wyoming has been incredibly hot, although I think I just got unlucky with the weather there, and incredibly windy, which I understand is a constant. Luckily it has mostly been in my favor, although today a couple times I cursed it. The Wyoming desert is really pretty, if testing. Bicycle is a great way to experience it, although maybe if it weren’t quite so warm. The roads have also been great with wide shoulders, not a single motorist has honked in anger and yesterday multiple motorists honked in support as I crawled up the incline.

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.

Back on the bike today and making forward progress. From the campsite at Jenny Lake I took the bike path south and connected with the highway north. The highway follows Snake River upstream, the same river that I crossed over at the Oregon/Idaho border, its headwaters are in Yellowstone.

Back onto the TransAmerica route the highway follows the Buffalo Fork of the Snake River east. After a few miles the trail starts climbing, we cross over the Continental Divide again, and at 9,500 feet it’s the second highest pass on the route. It was a steady climb up, hot in the sun, but the kicker was the mosquitos buzzing my head as I sweated up the inclines.

I made it up to the summit for lunch, and sat behind the forest service sign seeking some shade. Just as I was finishing up a couple of raindrops fell, and then some hail. I packed up to start the descent, hoping not to get wet.

Multiple people I’ve talked to on the trail have warned me about Wyoming; it’s a long dry stretch of desert with notoriously high winds, and that the landscape would get old. That was not true today, cresting the summit there were huge buttes, hills formed of harder rock on top of softer rock that erodes away. In the distance were snowy mountains. The descent from the pass followed Wind River, which snaked in a narrow green valley surrounded by rolling hills. And when I got down closer to Dubois large bright red sandstone hills jutted out. The one thing that rung true, and the name of the river gives it away, there is a lot of wind, but luckily today it is a tail wind.

Tonight I’m staying I Dubois in a biker hostel run by a church, and there’s 4 other bikers staying also, all doing the TransAmerica. Tomorrow is forecast to get very hot again so I’ll try and leave as early as I can.

Today I planned a day to hike in Grand Teton, I didn’t get on the bike at all. Last night when I got back to the campsite I met Tobi who is doing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (aka the GDMBR) and he invited me to join him on the loop he had planned from the campsite the next day, so I took him up on his offer.

In the morning we set off around Jenny Lake and up Paintbrush Canyon. As we climbed deeper into the canyon the Tetons towered above us on either side, and the views back to Jackson Lake got more impressive but bluer through the haze.

As we started to get nearer to the pass that would take us to the next canyon we had to walk through some snow patches that covered the trail, and the forest opened up to give us wide views of the back of the canyon which is right up against the divide. There was one place right at the end where we had to scramble up the rock to the pass due to snow, but it was worth it, the view from the pass was incredible and it really felt like we were inside the Tetons.

From the pass we descended to Solitude Lake at the top of Cascade Canyon and ate lunch. From the lake we followed Cascade Canyon all the way back to the south of the lake, and a final, and what felt like a very long, hike round the lake back to the campsite.

In the end it took all day, and while I travelled no trail miles it definitely wasn’t a rest day. I’m looking forward to a hot shower and lying down tonight. I think tomorrow I’ll probably continue on through Wyoming.

Another long but highly rewarding day in the saddle. I got up early for the ride out of Yellowstone and into Grand Teton National Park. I set off just as the sun was rising and it was a frigid morning, again getting down to freezing.

Just as I was leaving the campsite and turning onto the main road a car behind me paused in the road and then pulled up beside me and told me that a wolf was stalking me up the road. I looked at them in disbelief and assured them that I had never heard of a cyclist being attacked by a wolf so they drove off and I carried on. I looked back and indeed I was being chased, but not by a wolf, by a coyote. I didn’t really know what to do, when I looked at it it dashed into the woods and when I carried on it continued pursuing me up the road. I stopped and put my bike between myself and the coyote and it just stopped and looked at me for a while, before dashing into the forest again. I was at the top of the short climb at that point so I decided to just pedal like mad and put some distance between us, and that seemed to work. I carried my bear spray on my belt the rest of the morning, there were cars around but fewer in the early morning.

By the time I got to the south entrance to Yellowstone it was finally starting to warm up a little and I finally got a little feeling back into my hands and face. As I got further south and the Teton mountain range finally came into view it was as awe inspiring as everyone told me it would be. The cycle around Jackson lake the mountains became more and more prominent against the skyline. I stopped at the Jackson Lodge and the view from the deck was stunning.

I continued on down to Jenny Lake campground for the hiker/biker sites. The campsite is amazing, we are at the base of the mountains tucked up against Jenny Lake with Jackson Hole stretching out to the east.

Just like Big Hole, Jackson Hole is named because it is a huge plain surrounded by mountains. The afternoon I followed the bike path which stretches in a massive loop from Jenny Lake to the town of Jackson which is located at the very south of the “hole”. It was a 20 mile ride each way, I needed to get groceries and I hadn’t had internet access in 2 days in Yellowstone. It added a lot of distance to an already long day in the saddle but in the end it turned out to be a blessing, the ride back from Jackson in the evening as the sun was setting behind the Teton mountains was simply stunning. What a magical day.

I am spending two nights at Jenny Lake, the first time I will sleep in the same place since I started. Tomorrow I plan to hike in the Tetons which I’m really looking forwards to.

I woke up early to as much of the Yellowstone traffic as possible, as I left the campsite an elk was grazing on one of the camping loops. I got to Yellowstone Lake just in time to watch the sun rising over the far side.

The morning’s ride around the lake was much more pleasant with fresh legs and still air. At the junction at the south of the loop is the West Thumb, a large caldera from a volcano eruption that forms a particularly deep part of the lake, and that’s also still geologically active with thermals. I walked around the hydrothermal features early in the morning with only a few other people around instead of the normal Yellowstone crowds.

From here I continued clockwise essentially riding backwards on the TransAmerica, crossing over the continental divide twice to get to Old Faithful. I arrived only 10 minutes before an eruption. The park rangers watch the eruptions with a field glass and stopwatch and use the duration to predict the next eruption, which they display in the visitor center. It erupts roughly once every 90 minutes. I walked around the loop near Old Faithful, which sits beside Fire River, which along its length has a series of hydrothermal features. Each one is different and weird and still on the second day look otherworldly, and unnatural.

After watching the next eruption at Old Faithful I followed the bike path to Biscuit Basin, and again each mud pot, hot spring, geyser, and fumarole was weird and wonderful. After lunch I rode back to Old Faithful and watched an eruption again, this time watching downwind and getting sprayed with the water, it was time to head to camp.

I cycled back over the continental divide twice, today I’ve crossed it four times(!) and finally to Grant Village, just south of the West Thumb junction. I made hardly any forward progress on the trail but I still put a lot of miles on the odometer, and I still managed to spend a lot of the day enjoying Yellowstone. I saw a lot of the geyser basins but there’s a lot I didn’t see, I would love to come back some day. Tomorrow I’ll cycle south out of Yellowstone and into Grand Teton.

Last night I was camped a little over 20 miles from West Yellowstone entrance, so I got up very early and set off around Hebgen Lake. I got to the  gates in good time and was in the park. The state line is only a short distance from the entrance so I waved goodbye to Montana and entered Wyoming.

The road continues to follow the Madison River into the park, and in the park there’s a giant figure of 8 roadway that forms two loops. The TransAmerica Trail goes counterclockwise around about a third of the south loop, past Old Faithful, crosses the continental divide three times, and exits to the south directly into Grand Teton National Park.

I planned to spend 2 nights in the park and do more of the south loop, which is over 100 miles long. I was going to travel clockwise round to Canyon Village campground, so called because it’s adjacent to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

This took me past some smaller geothermal features, a small herd of bison, and the huge geothermal site at Norris. Really the geothermals blew me away, they were so other worldly, the earth was literally belching out steam, water, and strong smells of sulphur. I didn’t know what to expect but it really didn’t disappoint. The bison were cool but the geothermals were captivating. I did a few of the shorter loops, there was so much to see. Being on a bicycle really helped with the parking situation too, the parking lots were overflowing with long queues of cars, I just breezed up to the front and locked up my bicycle.

I got to Canyon Village in good time, but there was heavy ranger presence, and they told me the campground was closed for a few more days, which was the first I knew of it. I asked a ranger what was going on and they said it was a law enforcement event, I remembered then reading a headline about a shooting in Yellowstone, I think that must have closed a big chunk of the village. But shoot! That threw a wrench in the cogs. I was planning to cycle back the other direction tomorrow to join up to the trail and see Old Faithful. Without any internet access I decided to press on around the loop, ideally making it to Grant Village at the bottom, it would allow me to see some more of the park and be a shortish trip to Old Faithful tomorrow.

From the village I continued clockwise to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and wow, I didn’t have high expectations, after all Yosemite has the biggest waterfalls in the country, but the canyon was stunning, the river had carved a huge cut into the soft rock, the waterfalls were 600 feet, but the canyon walls are up to 1,200 feet deep, it was huge and very steep.

As I continued on I was quickly wearing out, the wind was gusting head on, and the road was undulating along the banks of the Yellowstone River. Also riding in the park isn’t that much fun, there is a constant stream of cars, and in this section the small shoulder disappeared so I constantly had cars queuing behind me itching to pass. I went past another geothermal feature, which again didn’t disappoint, these things are magical.

I ran out of steam entirely and decided to get a campsite at the Bay Bridge campground, it’s still another 20 miles south to Grant Village, it looks like it undulates a lot as it traces the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake, which is absolutely huge(!!), I think I’ll move my campsite down there tomorrow and continue around the loop to see Old Faithful.

I’m pretty exhausted tonight, I cycled further than I had planned. I’m buzzing from the experience of Yellowstone though, what a place, even without the geothermals it would be a huge nature reserve with thick forest, wide open planes, huge river canyons, an absolutely giant lake, large interesting wildlife, and mountains and lakes as well. But in addition to that the geothermals are so trippy, they really did take my breath away, and literally too, I can still smell the sulphur.

I tried to get an early early start this morning to get as near up to West Yellowstone as I could to set me up for tomorrow when I enter Yellowstone. The queues to get in can get very long so I want to get to the gate as early as I can.

Today’s riding first took me up Ruby Valley, following the Ruby River. The river is misnamed, what they found was actually garnet rather than ruby. The route then follows Alder Gulch up through Nevada City and Virginia City. Both cities are old mining towns, gold was discovered in the stream and over a period of years the entire stream was dredged for gold, a huge amount of gold was extracted, billions of dollars in today’s money, and it partly funded Harvard University. Nevada City is a ghost town that’s maintained by the state, and Virginia City is an active tourist town with old mining city buildings, and an abandoned train line that ran all the way up Ruby Valley.

From Virginia City it’s a steep climb over a pass to Ennis, which sits on the Madison River, which flows out of Yellowstone. The road from Ennis down to West Yellowstone is very long and very straight and very exposed, it sits in a huge valley that the Madison flows through, with mountains rising on either side. Eventually it gets to the bottom of the mountain range and curves east to follow the Madison into the mountains.

As the road climbs into the mountains it passes Earthquake Lake which is really interesting, it is a natural lake formed in 1959 when an earthquake hit overnight and caused a huge landslide that blocked the path of the Madison River. The river then proceeded to back up and caused a large lake to form behind the blockage. What makes it an even more interesting story is that it was an August evening and the valley was packed with campers, a campsite was actually submerged by the rising water and the campers had to escape by climbing up to higher ground. As I cycled round the ghostly trees stood out, as they had been killed by the rising waters.

Tonight I gambled that a national forest campsite would let me squeeze in, I knew that it would be next to impossible to find a walk up campsite, I have the worst timing being a holiday weekend. Infact the campsite host and other people at the campsite were very generous, and a couple from Colorado let me pitch a tent on the edge of their site, they did the Trans-America 40 odd years ago.

Tomorrow I will get up again as early as I can, I’m a little over 20 miles from the Yellowstone entrance and I want to get there as early as I can, I plan to spend a night in Yellowstone and try to do as much of the southern loop as I can before continuing south to Grand Teton National Park.

It’s the 4th of July! I woke up today to freezing temperatures with a light frost instead of dew on my tent and bike, it gets cold at night in the high desert. I packed up and tried to warm my hands back up on my coffee cup.

Today started out crossing over a pass from Bannack to Dillon, where I was able to get back online and stock up at Safeway. From Dillon I took the alternate route to Twin Bridges, instead of following the highway it takes an older highway that runs parallel to I-15 so is only used by local traffic, and then takes a dirt road that follows Big Hole River pretty much all the way to Twin Bridges. Twin Bridges is at the confluence of three rivers, including the Big Hole River and the Ruby River which I’ll follow upstream tomorrow.

The alternate route, while a little longer, was definitely the more scenic option. The highway took me right up to the base of the mountains, which must be in a rain shadow because they’re very dry. Big Hole River snakes along the base of the mountains at the edge of the plain and passes through farmland and nature preserves. I again saw a herd of bighorn sheep, grazing in an irrigated field and darting up the rock walls beside me as I approached. I also saw a large golden eagle sitting on a rock watching the river, which also took flight as I approached.

Once I rejoined the main highway it was only a couple miles into Twin Bridges, where they have a biker specific facility that I’m staying at tonight.

Tomorrow I should approach West Yellowstone and spend my last night in Montana. I’m not sure where I’ll be able to stay tomorrow, while there’s a lot of campsites it’s July 4th weekend and none of them outside of the park appear to have hiker/biker sites, so we’ll have to see what’s available when I get there.

I camped over 4,300 feet for the first time last night and it was chilly when I got up. I made breakfast and coffee, packed up, and pushed off. Not more than a quarter mile up the road I heard rocks falling from a rock wall just ahead of me on the side of the road. I thought hrm that’s weird, and then I heard more rocks coming down. I looked up and there was a small group of bighorn sheep, that I’d just read about on the information sign just outside the campground. Apparently the population is around 5,000 in Montana, which is significantly more than the 100s in the nascent reintroduction in California. Still, I felt really lucky to see them. I hung around for a little bit watching them in their morning routine.

The morning was a 2,300 foot climb, I took Gibbons Pass, a single lane dirt road alternative which had no cars and was fun. This pass crosses the continental divide, so from here the rivers are flowing to the Atlantic. I must cross over it again because I’m going down the west side of the Rockies in Colorado, but still a fun milestone.

From the pass the road descends into Big Hole, which apparently was a term used by french trappers for a large meadow surrounded by mountains. And boy is it an appropriate name, if anything “big” undersells it, it is a huge plain surrounded by tall snow peaked mountains to the south, forming the continental divide, and other ranges along the other sides. It’s probably around 60 miles long, I spent a lot of the afternoon cycling down the length of it south.

One thing I haven’t mentioned but has been a constant background to the road side signs and parks along the way is that the route from Oregon has largely followed the Nez Perce trail, and the Lewis and Clark trail. The Nez Perce where a group of natives that refused to sign a treaty with the US government and as they tried to flee to Canada were pursued by US troops with multiple battles along the way. In Big Hole I visited the National Monument dedicated to the battle there. Lewis and Clark are generally believed to be the first white European settlers to explore the America west and the trail they followed overlaps a lot with the trail I have been following. A lot of the historical site highway markers are dedicated to one or other of these two groups.

In the late afternoon I climbed over Big Hole Pass and I’m staying at a campsite the next valley over, back in high desert surrounded by sagebrush. I should only be about 2 days from Yellowstone now, and I think the end of Montana. Today Montana has been a land of vast open space and fluffy clouds, and very remote, I haven’t really had cell reception all day.