GDR2-DAY 12 Strawberry Creek to Narrows CG

GDR2-DAY 12  Strawberry Creek to Narrows CG
Saturday Aug 18th, 2018

Start 9000
High pt  9000
Lo pt.     7650
End Elv.  7900
Climbing ~3000'?

Miles 44.7
Total time 5:30
Ride time 4:41

Any how, it rained a fair bit my last night of camping in the emptiness, first rain of the trip. While welcome and helping to keep the road dust down, did require some extra dry out time. In the morning it is much cooler and humid, while yesterday was the postcard perfect weather. It warms up enough for shorts sleeves while bustling about packing up camp and the start of riding, but soon I  need to stop and change into long sleeves as clouds move in and the downhill nature keeps my speed up. As I travel slowly downward ever more deeper into the embrace of Green River watershed, the gnarly peaks of the Wind River range start to peek through a gaps in the smaller foothills toward the headwaters of the mighty Green. They look jagged and still hold large snowfields, some which are sure to be glaciers. They grow shy as I travel further down into the Greens embrace. It is rolling country, sage parkland interspersed with groves of aspen and pine, with forests blanketing the shoulders of the low mountains cradling the Green.
The descent to the Green get more serious; the road had been deteriorating for several miles, which means I get to play dodge ball with ever the increasing potholes; I mostly win, the the every larger potholes score to good points along the way too. I'm still a bit hinky about the rack, and feel I could let her rip more and stay control, but the rack holds me back. The descent abandons the forest road potholes for ruts and rocks for a couple of miles of a steeper descent to a larger tributary of the Green, and mixes it up with the potholes for miles along the river. I final cross the Green proper, just a mile or two to Whiskey Grove CG, where I restarted my fire interrupted ride 2 years ago.
I pull into the campground, Tired but satisfied that I have connected the dots of my border to border ride. Huzzah
I check to see if Glenda is camping here. No Glenda, yet I take a leisurely lunch.
Success makes my dry bagel a treat, instead of just more fuel! I savor the moment and meaning of reaching this spot, listening to the water massage my ears and mind as the Green tumbles though the riffles just below.

But riding is not done. I have refueled but not yet found Glenda nor reached the brewpub at Pinedale, so I remount my steed and ride on. Only a couple of miles of gravel left and then pavement most of the way down to Pinedale. I've ridden this before and the Remini ng 30 miles net downhill should be doable. About another dozen miles in, I find the orange cones that is Glendas sign she is camping up at New Fork Lake. The note says only 6 miles of gravel to go ;-).
Grind up that road, with a few intermittent thunder showers, brings me to the aspen filled Narrows CG, and the end of this bikepacking journey. I welcome the R&R with Glenda, and the craft beer later that evening, but need to start preparing for the next adventure!

GDR2 2018 - Total 474 miles, 12 days
GDR1 2016 - Approximately 2500 miles, 54 days

Nearly 3000 miles, inclusive of alternatives, detours such as to Abiquiu & Grants NM, trail riding with friends, and other various meanders.
I shlepped all of my shhhh-tuff for all but 2 days; super steep Fleecer Ridge descent in MT (still couldn't manage to ride the whole descent) and the lonesome single track option into Silver City, NM.
I rode solo  sans support about 50 percent of the days.
I took 4 documented route alternatives; the easier route from WY to Steamboat Lake; the paved Gore Pass to Hwy 9 into Kremmling, rather back road route through Radium;  I still hope to get those main routes in the future.sinc ether are in the neighborhood.
I also rode single track into Silver City NM, and the El Malpais Chain of Craters alternative, but had to loop back to Grants for repairs, so got main route there too.
While I met lots of younger riders on the rout, I was by no means the wizen elder, there were plenty of grey beards, as who has the time to take a couple of months to ride? Linda, who I met this year hinted that she was at least 65, and Terry, who I met by Grand Teton was doing a coast to coast road trip at 78! Nor were all of the riders built like elite endurance athletes.
While.many were though riders nearly as many were doing parts. It is all doable with some prep and training. It is not a race, and we can each ride it with our own unique elan.

Get on out there
&
Ride on

Dan T

GDR2- DAY 11 Togwotee Pass to Strawberry Creek

GDR2- DAY 11 Togwotee Pass to Strawberry Creek
Friday Aug 17th, 2018

Start 9658
High pt  9750
Lo pt.     4700
End Elv. 
Climbing ~3000'?

Miles 51.0
Total time 8:30
Ride time 6:45

Today I start the last 70+ mile section remaining to finish the US portion of The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
I had made it to Togwotee Pass in Wyoming 2 years ago on a smoke filled day with route being closed about 15 miles further on due to the Lava Mountain fire. Today I start at the top of Togwotee and of course get  the obligatory top of the pass photo. But just couple of hundred yards further is another Togwotee Pass sign, with a little higher elevation, so I get a selfie  there.
This pass feeds 3 great river systems; The Green/Colorado, the Snake/Columbia, and Wind River/Platte/Missouri.
I turn off the highway a quarter mile down the pass at a crowd of folks watching a grizzly foraging between the highway and my back road. Cool to see. It's downhill on rutted road so I take it easy, and also am scanning the opening below for wildlife; no more grizzlies,  but do scout a deer.
The road winds around to the Brooks Lake basin, and the fantastic Pinnacles mountains. They are my company for 4 or 5 miles, getting see their many aspects. I will see them at a distance at many points during my climb up to Union Pass
Exit the forest and zip down Hwy 287 to the turn off and begin a 4 mile climb, the first of several on the way to Union Pass. I spy a sign that no biker want to see, fresh road work and grading. This often makes the surface very soft and pedaling harder.
Once summiting, the roller coaster road goes in and out of drainages, some pretty, others less so.
Anothe 4 mile climb to the high point, at 9700 feet, yet Union Pass and my final Continental Divide crossing is still miles away and lower at 9200 feet.
The downhill miles go quickly in vast and open country.
I rustle up a golden eagle who does not care for my passing as it wings to a higher perch.
I pass through Union pass, an uneventful place, and find a place to camp a few miles later.

Along the way, I meet Jasper from LA. He started at Calgary, and was riding a Salsa Fargo. While he had been on the route for some weeks, this was day 3 on the Salsa, as he basically broke the frame in his older trek full suspension bike, in the hopping burg of Lima Montana (never heard of it, I'm not surprised!). Trek was no help despite the claim of lifetime warranty. He got rescued by a friendly relative and scored the Salsa rig in Victor Idaho, which is a funky outdoorsy town (with 2 breweries) on the ID side of Teton Pass. Puts my rack bolt issues into perspective

GDR2-DAY 10 Lincoln to Stemple Pass and back

GDR2-DAY 10 Lincoln to Stemple Pass and back
Monday Aug 13th, 2018

Start 4560
High pt  6440
Lo pt.     4560
End Elv.  4560
Climbing ~2000'?

Miles 31.4
Total time 4:40
Ride time 3:29

Expecting this day, my last segment of the route in MT, to be a straight forward day. So after a hearty breakfast of pancakes topped with huckleberries, I headed off thru Lincoln to Stemple Pass road. Pedaled through forested "suburban" Lincoln out into some river flats ranching lands. Regain the forest along a pretty stream gurgling and singing to me as I pedal along the upward rolling road. The well maintained gravel roads make the pedaling easy, as many of the early miles are on road treated with a dirt  binder to keep the dust down (and makes for a nice firm riding surface). School bus signs dot the way for quite a spell, near modest homes and cabins.
An hour in I am 8 miles toward my expected 15 ish miles. The second hour nets me another 5.25 miles, and presents me with an ominous sign. The route is closed due to the 467 fire!!! While the fire is small, the forest ranger said they moved the fire danger from very high to extreme. Indeed, I later learn that fires are breaking out regularly over wide areas of MT. This has been my fear over the  past 2 hazy and smokey weeks, that I might get shutout by a fire again, like Union Pass in WY 2 years ago. So the route is closed; the route leaves Stemple Pass Road and regains the divide near the Marsh Creek headwaters a couple of miles along the divide from Stemple Pass. This is very near the small 467 fire. This is where I was planning to connect the dots of my two GDR trips.  Alas, it is not to be.

However, the road to Stemple Pass (and the continental divide) is open so I keep pedaling on.  This is a mentioned option that is not quite as challenging as the direct direct route up the forest service road. Three miles of cranking brings me to summit, and it turns out I have connected the dots as this was the start point two years ago!!

Mission Accomplished!! as I have ridden all of the Montana segments from the border with Canada into Idaho.

Just the 70+ mile if  Union Pass  segment in Wyoming remain to finish the whole route from Canada to Mexico.

While at the pass I chat with a woman commuting to Lincoln (from Bozeman), where she has spent most of the last 6 months working on a film about Ted Kascinski, the Unabomber (film is "Ted K", due in a couple of years). He lived just off a Stemple Pass Road  just a few miles outside Lincoln, and she had learned quite a bit from the locals. She gives some hints to the location of his old cabin, and color about his character and local interactions.

We both depart on our seperate journeys, and I start my return trip down the pass. It is downhill for several miles, and I let the bike run, speeding up on steeper sections, only to slow down to an oozing pace at times on the flatter sections. I am like the water in the stream I parallel, letting gravity and nature dictate to me, rather than the other way around. Where it is flatter, willows dominate and I can safely gaze aside, hoping to spot a moose or other wildlife, to no avail. Eventually, I need to pedal to complete my day and Montana portion of my adventure, pedaling back past the cabins and homes, through the ranch land flats, and finally Lincoln .
We celebrate my milestone, and more importantly, Glendas birthday with a night out on the town in Lincoln (pop. ~1700)

While in Lincoln, Glenda and I went to a sculpture garden in a grove of pine trees, with a theme of wood. Timber and logging are a big part of the heritage and current economy, and the garden is an ode to wood, both from a logging and a  natural perspective. A good number catch my eye, and the artist has succeeded in making me think at multiple levels. A nice unexpected adder for our visit to Lincoln

GDR2- DAY 9 Harry Morgan Ovando to Lincoln

GDR2- DAY 9 Ovando to Lincoln
Sunday Aug 12th, 2018

Start 4100
High pt  6015
Lo pt.     4100
End Elv.  4560
Climbing ~00'?

Miles 36.2
Total time ~6:30
Ride time 4:29

Sunday morning on the North Fork Blackfoot brought a variety of rafters heading out fishing, paddle boards, families, friends. Chatted with most groups, looks like fun.

Ride starts with a good 10+ miles of gravel in the Blackfoot valley flats, lot of hay fields and some cattle.  Then the 6 mile climb up huckleberry pass begins. It is good road mostly. I run into Gary and Denise picking huckleberries and stop to join then and visit (and to get a breather from the climb).Their huck luck has changed and they are harvesting a great patch, though they do say the berries are smaller the last year. I gather enough for a small surprise gift for Glendas birthday on the morrow. I say good bye and continue up the last 2 miles in a long switch back to the top of the pass. Take a break, eat and head down. Notice some trucks are pulled off to side and so do I.
 I crawl up a rough hole in the trees foot path and find many more hucks! Sample more this time and add to the cache for Glenda. More down down down heading towards Lincoln. I have been hoping all day Glenda got my text from the emergency beacon and is headed to Lincoln today, instead of the original plan of Ovando on Sunday. Lo and behold, there is Glenda across the road in Lincoln. She has a spot in the nicely wooded city owned Hopper Park.