John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:
Last night’s band was amazing. Normally all of our activities end at 9:00 PM, and then it gets very quiet very quickly. As you can imagine, all the riders are ready for some well desired rest so they can get up early and do it all again. But last night a large crowd cheered on the band to keep playing. They obliged up to 9:30, and still the crowd pleaded for more. The fun stopped though, and once again a camp of almost one thousand people went silent under the night sky and tall trees.

It rained a bit last night, but the clouds were breaking up as we broke camp, and there was a stunning purple sunrise. The temperature was in the low 50’s – not too bad compared to other mornings. My day started out great. The rest day was just what I needed and I was riding easily again. Just six miles out of town, we entered the Wind River Reservation and stayed in it all the way to Dubois. We passed some farms and rolling hills of grasslands. There were also many interesting buttes and valley. Views of the Wind River Mountains came and went as the clouds moved across them. We had some rain a couple hours into the ride, just enough to get wet and a little cold. However, the sun came out just enough to dry us off. I reached the designated lunch stop at mile-45 around 10:30 with many other riders.

The day turned bad after that. The sky was very dark in the direction we were going, the wind was picking up, and the temperature was dropping into the 40s. We were headed into a big storm. In a short time, I became completely soaked, to the point where water squished out of my shoes on each pedal stork. It was so cold that both my feet were numb and my fingers were stiff around the handlebars. When I shifted gears, I could not feel the levers. The rain was constant for about one hour. It felt like torture. I also had a minor crash during the storm. My helmet saved my head. For the fourth day this week I questioned my sanity. After that storm, there were moments of sunshine, but there was no relief from the cold.

The bad weather robbed us of some very nice scenery too. It really is a pretty area. We did see a little of the red rock and the Wind River just outside Dubois, but even that was hard to appreciate while focused on finishing just to get out of the cold.

Dubois is a very tiny, quaint Western town, and easy to explore. Many of the riders took time to look around and have a hot meal to warm up. We camped in the city park, and got assistance from many of the town’s residences with luggage handling and meal and shuttles into town.

Cycle Greater Yellowstone Day 06

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 8/22/2014, 6:03:0

Duration: 06:26:47

Ascent/Descent: 6010 ft 3823 ft

Distance: 76.12 M

Today’s Highlights:
Today is a rest day, so we did not have to break camp this morning. That alone made the day more relaxing. There were several optional activities available, like white water rafting and hiking, and people from the community volunteered to help cyclist find their way around and with transportation. I chose to go hiking. I got a ride part way up Sinks Canyon to a trailhead, and hiked about 1.5 miles to a waterfall. This canyon is world renowned for rock climbing, and the cliffs are impressive. The vegetation is also more diverse than I expected, and that was quite interesting to see along the trail. It was an easy hike, and the waterfall and the long cascades were beautiful. I stayed a few minutes in solitude. Well, I ride a lot in solitude too, but it was even better to sit on a rock and just listen to the water.

Another highlight of this canyon, and the reason for its name, is that the entire Po-Po Agie River goes underground into a limestone cave, and then rises back out as a spring ¼ mile down the canyon. I visited the Sink and the Rise. It was amazing to see. At the rise (the spring), there were dozens of trout about two feet long. I’ve never seen river fish that huge.

I was back to camp before noon. After lunch I am just catching up on photos and stuff, and some bike cleaning. Maybe I will even rest a little.

Pictures Of The Day: Click any thumbnail to see the photos in full screen mode.

Cycle Greater Yellowstone Day 05

Today’s Highlights:
Today started at 4:00 AM. The morning routine was different because we had to be bussed 70 miles down the highway to a safer starting point in Farson, WY. After packing up in the dark and getting bagged breakfasts to bring with us, we boarded busses at 5:30. We reached Farson a little before 7:00 and were on the road shortly after. It was another chilly start – 47 degrees, but after a few miles it became comfortable since we were on a long gradual climb. We traveled across a sagebrush plain that one could describe as “the middle of nowhere”, but the speaker we had last night assured us that it was an important ecosystem and full of life. I did see a small heard of antelope far in the distance and one rabbit, but not much else. There were a few irrigated farms along this first section. The River Wind Range was far in the distance, and now we were seeing its eastern side. We also had a newly paved road and a very slight tailwind for a smooth ride.

As we got further up the plain, traveling northeast to Lander, the Winds grew closer and grass was more abundant, along with the sagebrush, improving the scenery. We also reach a newly chip-seal road which was a little rough, but not as bad as we expected. The tailwind also increased, so all was good.

The first 30 miles of road was very straight. Sometimes I could see for miles in front and behind me. And it is amazing that with 650 riders on this tour that many times I could not see another cyclist.

The climbing increased from mile 30 to 50, and reached over 8000 feet. Cycling that section was a little work, but more scenic with real live trees! The crew set up a lunch stop for us at the top of the climb. Leaving that summit, we had a great downhill and the scenery was immensely better. The most interesting and beautiful site of the day was the Red Canyon about half way down our long, steep descent. As we dropped into Lander Valley, there were more grassland and more farms, and finally the big town of Lander.

We are staying in the town park tonight, which has nice lawns and very tall trees. It’s pleasant to have some shade in camp. We were entertained by the Native American Eagle Spirit Dancers tonight, and a big bonfire was started and will probably burn long into the night.

Cycle Greater Yellowstone Day 04

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 8/20/2014, 5:55:5

Duration: 06:32:56

Ascent/Descent: 3299 ft 4479 ft

Distance: 77.67 M

Today’s Highlights:
Our stay in the Boy Scout camp included a very good dinner and a great band. I would have liked to sit and watch the band, because they was so good , but instead I listened from my tent while working on photos, and they played right up until I laid down to sleep. Camping out has never been this good. The night was also warmer than the previous two.

We got on the road at 7:00 this morning and after a couple miles we left the banks of the Snake River and headed up Hoback Canyon along the Hoback River. The sun was just rising, but it did not reach down into the canyon for a while. It was 45 degrees for the first hour of riding, but I am getting used to the cold now and it didn’t feel bad at all. The canyon was scenic and the Hoback flowed crystal clear.

Our route started with a 35-mile climb. Although the elevation map showed a very steady climb, it was actually long rolling hills in the beginning, then a very gradual climb that was easy, and only the last three miles were steep and took a little work. We crested at 7800 feet, and then had a very easy 30 miles through high plains into Pinedale. This region is a vast open plain surrounded by mountains far in the distance. The most prominent is the Wind River Range, which was west of us today. It has the highest peak in WY, Gannett Mt.

We had a rest stop in the tiny town of Bondurant – Population 100. Several of the town’s people were there to help hand out things to the riders. This has been the common practice in all the towns that CGY stops in, and everyone has been very friendly and helpful.

Cycle Greater Yellowstone Day 03

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 8/19/2014, 6:04:0

Duration: 07:20:21

Ascent/Descent: 2650 ft 1732 ft

Distance: 67.18 M