Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Start: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
End: Dubois, Wyoming
Mileage today/cumulative: 54 / 1,135
Elevation Ascended: 3,031
Weather: Sunny, 60° at start; sunny, 85° at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)
We’ve arrived in Dubois, Wyoming and stepped back in time. Our hotel uses actual keys. There are no stop lights or stop signs on the Main Street. There is one bank (Wells Fargo, of course). At the local saloon, the non-smokers drink outside. And, finally, internet service here is one step below AOL dial-up and they could really use a cell tower. We’ll see if this post gets published sometime tonight.
Our planned 84 mile ride was reduced to 54 miles due to some permit issues that ABB was unable to resolve with the National Park Service. Long story that makes no sense (as in everything political), but new management at the Wyoming DOT changed rules on commercial operators seeking permits to ride through Grand Teton National Park even though we would have been riding bicycles on a bike path and state road for all of 30 miles. Nobody complained much – we still had beautiful views of the Tetons and we didn’t have to deal with Fourth of July traffic in the park.
The ABB staff shuttled us from our hotel in Jackson to a spot immediately beyond the park entrance. We saddled up and had a fantastic ride. Six mile warmup, a sixteen mile climb up to the Continental Divide, where we peaked at over 9,500′, the highest spot on our entire tour, followed by an exhilarating non-technical nine mile descent. Once we reached the bottom, strong tailwinds pushed us for the last 20+ miles into Dubois. We took a lot of photos throughout the day – it was that kind of ride.
Happy Fourth of July from Wyoming!
This blog and all your multi-state cycling adventures makes me smile, and I just wanna join you!! I’m so happy you’ve had nice weather and very few glitches. Jim and I will be in WY briefly during Aug while we experience the solar eclipse, so thanks for the heads up about the hotel key thing……. !
our old boss had a ranch in Dubois – yup! Nothing there!
Looks like a fun day with spectacular views. The Tetons are gorgeous!
These are some of my favorite pics, bar none! The last two in particular.
Wikipedia: “The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a fearsome critter) described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word “jackalope” is a portmanteau of “jackrabbit” and “antelope”, although the jackrabbit is not a rabbit, and the pronghorn is not an antelope.”
Further reading revealed the jackalope came into being when two taxidermist brothers grafted deer antlers onto a jackrabbit, and then sold the combination to a local hotel in Douglas, WY.
Greg, I’m so grateful you may now cross of ride jackalope off your bucket list.
I wanted to ride the jackalope to New Hampshire.
You guys are killing it! 9,500 feet is no joke.