Epic Bike Ride Day 35 July 2
Thoughts from Kelly: One good thing about sleeping in is that everything has a chance to dry out after rainy nights. We slowly got ourselves ready, and hit the road by 11. Today’s drive had a ton of beauty, as we left your average run of the mill mountains into the view of the Grand Tetons. They are definitely majestic and massive. We tried to enjoy our time in the area as we also pushed on to get in more mileage. We stopped at Colter Bay Village for ice and dinner. The restaurant actually had gluten free and dairy free wings. I could not believe it, and excitedly enjoyed my dinner. After our yummy meal, we decided to go about 10 more miles to the next couple of camp grounds. Well, being that it is Fourth of July week, all the campgrounds were full, so we pushed on to find some BLM land. It started getting dark, so Mark hopped in the truck and we continued to look for a place to camp. We knew there were 8 designated camping spots along Grassy Lake Rd within John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, we had left Grand Teton National Park by now. Each camp spot we came upon was occupied, so now we were looking for BLM land once we left the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. For a few miles, all the BLM land was occupied too. Finally, at just before 10pm, we found a nice spot. Hopefully, we will have a good nights sleep.
Thoughts from Mark: A great day on the bike! We had a decent sleep, despite the rain, and rode into the Grand Tetons National Park. I had been here many, many, years ago, but my memory didn’t do the mountains any justice (neither will these words). They are truly a “must see” experience. We took a ton of pictures, and those don’t really do them justice, either. The “sharpness” of the tops of the mountains, and how they seemingly come out of nowhere, provide a spectacular scene. We went to a very “touristy” restaurant with a long wait, but luckily we weren’t in a hurry to leave such a nice area. As Kelly said, she doesn’t often have the opportunity to eat wings, so she took full advantage (and I did, too).
After riding a few more miles, we began looking for a place to camp, which turned out to be quite the challenge. We ended up driving almost 15 miles (on a VERY rough road), and it was well after sunset before we found a spot, just on the other side of a lake. It was a great spot to camp, although we couldn’t really see anything until morning. On the bike today, I had a fox, an elk, and a coyote all cross the road about 50 yards in front of me. Not all at the same time, but that would have been amazing (and weird)!
Miles for the day: 61.99 Feet climbed today: 2,971
Total miles ridden: 1,620.19 Total feet climbed: 103,678
