July 5 Jackson to Dubois, Wyoming

Another big hill climbing day took us to the top of Togwotee Pass at 9,658 feet (2,944 meters).  Togwotee is the highest elevation we’ll reach on this trip and also the Continental Divide.  If water can make it from here to the Atlantic, I bet we can too. Rumor is that our trip is all down hill from here to the Mississippi River.

We started the day in Jackson, a very pretty cowboy town and a tourist center for hiking, skiing, fly fishing, hunting, kayaking, canoeing and just about any other outdoor sport you can imagine.  We rode in a gradual ascent from Jackson into Teton National Park and were treated to beautiful views of the entire Teton range for about three hours. (I don’t mean to brag but Elliot and I climbed Grand Teton when he was 13). It was hard to keep our eyes on the road when we had such a majestic panorama just off our left shoulders. After 30 miles or so, we turned right towards Dubois (instead of left towards Yellowstone).  Almost immediately we began to climb toward Togwotee Pass.  We kept climbing for almost 27 miles.  Togwotee is higher than Teton Pass but the gradient is much less steep — meaning that you have to pedal for a much longer way. The good news is that after such a long climb, you get an equally long descent into Dubois.

As we crossed the Continental Divide, we left the Snake River behind and picked up the Wind River.  Like every other river we’ve seen, it’s running perilously high.  In fact, it’s washed out the road ahead of us.  Tomorrow, we were planning to take Route 26 on a fairly easy 79 mile run to Riverton.  Unfortunately, portions of Route 26 are under water. Fortunately, the sections that are washed out are after the turnoff to Route 287.  So we’ll detour onto 287, go to the town of Wind River, then double back to Kinnear where we pick up Route 26 again and follow it on to Riverton.  The detour adds 16 miles, giving us a 95 mile day.  Fortunately, a lot of it is downhill.  (It’s a good thing the washed out area is after the turn to 287; otherwise, we would have to detour several hunderd miles.  There aren’t many roads out here).

We passed a number of milestones yesterday and today:

• We’ve pedaled more than 1,000 miles.  Only 2,600 to go.
• We entered our third state. Only seven more to go (plus Ontario)
• We reached the highest point in our trip – 9,658 feet.
• We crossed the Continental Divide.

More male maladies: Yesterday, Leader Jeff (as opposed to Rider Jeff) was trying to work his way around a detour in Victor, Idaho when he flipped off his bike and broke his wrist. So far, the women are still doing fine.

Day’s distance: 87.7 miles (141.1 km)
Average speed: 14.7 mph (23.6 kph)
Day’s climb: 3,800 feet (1158.2 meters)
Total distance: 1,173 miles (1,887.7 km)