Tag: Wyoming

Day 22: Teton Reservoir to USFS Sandstone Work Center (42.4 miles, 3,622ft)

Today, we had a shorter day than we’d had in a while, but we returned to the mountains and had a good deal more climbing than the previous few days, even over a much shorter distance.

Hoping to be in Steamboat Springs in two days, we planned a relatively short day to a primitive campsite near Aspen Alley (a narrow dirt road bounded on either side by aspen groves) followed by a long day into Steamboat Springs.

We started out from Teton Reservoir, still riding in open, arid countryside on a wide, relatively smooth dirt road (County Road 401).

Around 15 miles into the ride, we reached the top of Middlewood Hill—our 15th divide crossing—and an aspen grove. These were the first trees we’d seen in a while.

Those trees aside, the terrain remained barren for the next 15 miles along a winding and rolling road until we entered the Medicine Bow National Forest on Forest Road 801. Here the road quality became much more gravelly, but the scenery improved greatly. We rode through beautiful aspen forests, descending to and ascending from several clear streams—good for water filtration (the largest of which was Big Sandstone Creek).

Our map noted a primitive camp area where we hoped to camp, just before Aspen Alley. Unfortunately, when we arrived the Little Sandstone Creek was mostly dry, and the pipe and pit toilets that we’d heard of had been removed in recent years.

On the advice of some locals camping in the area on account of Labor Day weekend, we continued via Aspen Alley to Wyoming Route 70 and rode a couple of miles to the US Forest Service Sandstone Work Center—our map noted water and restrooms here.

When we arrived at the center—a few cabins and the work center hosts’ RV—we asked about camping options in the area, and the gracious hosts said we’d be welcome to set up a tent by the cabin picnic tables for the night. Complete with restrooms and water, we couldn’t have found a better spot (for camping with kids).

Day 21: A&M Reservoir to Teton Reservoir (72.1 miles, 1,947ft)

We got off to an early start from the A&M Reservoir. After making it past the washboard road that led to the reservoir, we turned southwest on route 3215 and made good time on the next 13-14 miles of hard, smooth dirt surface to County Road 63. At 63, we turned east and followed the paved road 25 miles to 287. Once on 287, we angled southeast and climbed, gradually, out of the basin to our 14th Continental Divide crossing of the trip at a modest 7,147 feet.

The rest of the way to Rawlins was an easy downhill ride to town, where we met Anna, Silas, and Eleanor for a late lunch in a park downtown. Rawlins had a nice downtown and was worth the visit, but many of the shops were closed when we came through.

After lunch, we left town, following 6th Street south over the railroad tracks, before climbing a small hill and turning right onto Wyoming Route 71. We followed pavement for the next 10 miles until Route 71 and the pavement ended; and we continued onto dirt County Road 401.

Another 3.5 miles brought us to the turnoff for the Teton Reservoir Recreation Area—a nice, basic camping area (with pit toilets but no water pump or shade) alongside the reservoir.

(For those riding self-supported, it’s worth noting that the Teton Reservoir and various other streams in the 20-25 miles south of Rawlins have alkaline water—best to fill up in Rawlins and refill further south at streams in the national forest. Big Sandstone Creek had nice water.)

Day 20: Atlantic City to A&M Reservoir (83.6 miles, 2,952ft)

Today, we rode into the Great Basin—a wide arid depression in central Wyoming. (The Continental Divide splits and wraps around the Great Basin; water on the out edges of the Divide runs to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, while water that runs into the Great Basin stays there.)

During the previous day, vegetation had grown increasingly sparse as we approached South Pass City and Atlantic City; today, we left all remaining trees behind. Once into the basin, all we could see for miles was yellow grass, dirt, rock, and the occasional bush. After yesterday’s cloudy, windy weather, the sun had come out in force; but, thankfully, the temperature stayed relatively cool.

We didn’t bring more water than normal (3 liters each), counting on a well 25 miles into the ride to refill before the remaining 55 miles to the A&M Reservoir. Unfortunately, we over-shot the well, so we had to backtrack 1.5 miles to the water stop—a good decision since there was absolutely no water on route between the well (which was actually a pipe with flowing, non-potable water) and the A&M Reservoir.

After a refill and snack, we continued through the rolling arid terrain, spotting pronghorns and the occasional wild horse. We saw few signs of people, aside from the occasional oil well and sporadic cattle fencing. Navigation was relatively straightforward, since major junctions were well-signposted.

Dave and I both enjoyed the riding—the terrain reminded us both of places we had hiked and biked in previous work in the Middle East, and we enjoyed the expansive perspective that the terrain offered—a novel break from the higher mountains. Of course, a mild tailwind from the west also made the day easier than it might have otherwise been.

The road surface was pretty fast hard-packed dirt road for much of the day, but there were significant sections of washboard surface; and the last 20 miles were relatively sandy, sapping our energy.

When we finally arrived at the reservoir; hot, tired, and thirsty; we met Anna and the kids and took a quick dip in the lake. The only water source over 110 miles meant that there were also 4 other cyclists camping at the reservoir—a regular party.

As evening came, we saw a number of pronghorns come down to the reservoir to drink—Dave and I had seen at least 30 throughout the day, easily more than the number of people and cars we had seen—and as the sun descended we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Day 19: Boulder to Atlantic City (76.9 miles, 4,248ft)

Staying in a reasonably priced RV park (Highline Trail RV Park) with wifi, we got off to a late start as we caught up on emails and other work. Knowing we had around 75 miles to ride and unsure of the road quality ahead of us, we figured a 10:00 start might make for a late arrival at the end of the day—how wrong we were.

Sometimes on a bike tour you just get lucky; and, today, we got lucky. We started the day on 18 miles of pavement with a marginal tailwind. As the rain clouds built behind us the wind steadily picked up until it was practically gusting. After we had climbed to the first of the day’s (very mild) three divide crossings—passing a stunning mountain range to our left—we angled southeast and the wind was now directly at our back.

The intense tailwind, combined with some of the smoothest dirt road we’d had of the trip, made for easy riding, in some stretches cruising between 30-40 miles an hour on heavy bikes with little effort. We barreled along in eerie calm, riding at the speed of the wind, only noticing it when we’d glance at the bent over prairie grass on the shoulders of the road or when we were nearly knocked over on rare turns. (One of the only downsides of a frame bag is that a strong crosswind can catch you awkwardly.) Four hours into our ride, we’d covered 60 miles, despite climbing 3000+ feet.

At South Pass—our day’s final divide crossing—we reached Wyoming Highway 28 and turned northeast into a fierce crosswind, before stopping at a rest stop a half mile down the road for a water refill.

After around 5 miles on the highway, we turned right onto a dirt road that took us to the historic town of South Pass City—on old mining town and pit stop along the Oregon trail—a site well worth a visit.

Another four miles of dirt road riding found us in Atlantic City, where riders can camp at Wild Bill’s Guns and Custom Knives and dine in the local pub. We continued another two miles out of town to a wonderful BLM campground (Atlantic City Campground) tucked in a rare-for-the-area wooded grove.

Day 18: Falls Campground to Boulder (101 miles)

Logistics necessitated a longer day today. Because of limited paved road access along our biking route, Anna was going to backtrack over Togwotee Pass and drive via Jackson to Pinedale. That three to four hour drive was the upper limit of what Anna hoped to drive in a day. (Most days, she was able to drive from one campsite to the next in 1.5 hours.) Dave and I decided that we’d just start early and pull a long day to Pinedale (around 100 miles, according to our map).

The night before the ride, we made our coffee (and stored it in a thermos), hardboiled eggs (unsuccessfully as it turned out—despite allowing extra time for elevation’s effects on boiling temperatures, the eggs still turned out half-boiled), and set aside breakfast cereal; the morning of the ride, we had a quick breakfast, packed everything except David and Anna’s tent in the car, and set off for a chilly descent along the highway.

Seven miles down the highway, we turned south onto forest road 532 and began a gradual ascent to 9,000-some feet.

After crossing Warm Spring Creek, we reached a primitive national forest campground.

Here, the official GDMBR route continued east on 532, but we decided to follow another track (which we had downloaded in advance) that took us south from the campsite on an ATV track up to Fish Lake Mountain; while the rougher track required some walking at one steep climb, the route we followed shave some 8-9 miles off the official route; at the summit we enjoyed stunning views of snow-capped mountains to the east and west.

We figured that the official GDMBR route went to Union Pass both because of better road quality (with more gradual ascents) and additional lodging and food options; still—not really needing those services and comfortable walking our bikes for short sections—we were happy with our choice of detour, thoroughly enjoying several open, rolling miles above 9000 feet, before rejoining the route southwest of Union Pass.

Here, we rode along a good quality dirt road through open highlands. Along the way, we passed a number of beautiful primitive campsites—any of which would have been wonderful places to camp.

We reached a final high point after Raspberry Creek, and began a long, gradual descent toward the Green River. Progressively, the road quality became bumpier and bumpier, and Dave and I each rocked water bottles loose along the way. (While we had used compression straps to secure our water bottles below our frame bags, we’d recommend straps on water bottles wherever they are—we dropped water bottles from our forks several times over the course of the trip.)

Upon reaching the Green River, we continued along the river valley on a severely washboarded road for a number of miles, before joining a paved road (352). Here, 56 miles into our ride, we still had 32-33 miles to Pinedale, but given that the majority of the remainder was paved—and a net downhill—we figured we’d make good time.

We made an initial climb out of the valley away from the Green River, but after that short climb a stiff tail wind helped us along and we arrived in Pinedale in no time. (Pinedale has a great gear store.) Noting that the wind was still behind us (and loathe to waste that good tail wind) we decided to tack on an additional 12 miles to the day to Boulder (a much smaller town than Pinedale, but with better camping options). Soon we arrived in Boulder with daylight to spare.

Day 17: Grassy Lake Reservoir to Falls Campground (78 miles, 4,733ft)

From Grassy Lake Reservoir, we headed east on a dirt road past several meadows, some sections of burned-out forest, and a number of secluded national forest primitive campsites.

Shortly, we reached the Snake River and followed it to the J.D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, which took us south through the Grand Teton National Park and past some fantastic views of the Tetons to our southwest. (For those interested in spending more time in the Tetons, a route alternative spur continues south to Jackson instead of going east over the Togwotee Pass.)

We met up with Anna, Silas, and Eleanor for lunch at Coutler Bay, where there are restaurants, campsites, visitor’s center, and grocery store—an ideal spot for a lunch break. From Coulter Bay, we continued on the parkway to US26/287, where we turned east and began to climb slowly.

A few miles up the road, we left the highway, turning left onto Buffalo Valley Road, a smaller paved road that followed the South Buffalo Fork uphill.

Along the way, Dave had the first grizzly encounter of the trip—a medium-sized grizzly bolted out onto the road ahead of him (a little ways ahead trying to gain some distance before our day’s major climb, I missed the sighting.) This was the first, and only, grizzly sighting of the trip.

Ahead, we passed the Turpin Meadow Ranch and continued onto a dirt road, which began to ascend more steeply. Behind us, the early afternoon thunderheads built us ominously. Thankfully, the thunderstorm petered out before it reached us—the second time we’ve been lucky on this trip—and we continued along the dirt road as the cloudy sky became sunny.

Eventually, the dirt road led back to the highway, where we had a quick break at a convenience store; from there wen climbed the rest of the way to Togwotee Pass—at 9,658 feet, easily our highest elevation, to date, of the trip.

(There was also a great picnic/rest area at the pass.)

From here the route took us onto a dirt road, numbered 515 and labeled with warnings against travel in wet conditions.

We were planning to camp at the Pinnacle Campground, 4.5 miles down the road, but Anna had tried to drive the road earlier in the day (from the pass) but found it impassable; instead she drove to Falls Campground (near the intersection of 515 and US 26/Wyoming 287). As we rode down the heavily rutted road—fine for a bike, but likely rough for most cars—we enjoyed the amazing views but were glad that Anna had turned around. (We later realized that car access was easily possible from the eastern terminus of 515 at US 26/287.)

In the end, we found out that we wouldn’t have been able to camp at Pinnacle Campground even if Anna had arrived. Only hard-sided vehicles/RVs were allowed at the campground—certainly not a campground suitable for cycle tourists.

After a final descent, we arrived at Falls Campground, 0.4 miles west from the point where 515 reached US 26/287. A wonderful site, and the few extra miles saved us a portion of the cold early morning descent the following day.