Day 33: Grant to Lizard Creek

Ride time: 2:47
Average: 11.4 mph
Distance: 31.87 mi

The odometer hit 1,000 miles today!

We awoke ridiculously late after a failed attempt to get up at 4:15 and ride as the sun came up.  Wishful thinking.  The campground was practically deserted by the time we left.

We rode out of Yellowstone Park and into Grand Teton National Park after paying too much for a crappy lunch.  Why is it okay to charge $9 for a grilled chicken breast, a handful of fries, and a bun??  The Griswolds were horrible on the road that had, at times, absolutely NO shoulder.

Look!  A moose!

  I understand now why the  Adventure Cycling Association doesn't take you through Yellowstone--there just isn't room for bikes.  We crossed the divide once today (#11) and then rode south, high above a canyon.  The terrain here is still devastated from the 1988 wildfires, but the trees are certainly growing back.

We stopped at Flagg Ranch after entering Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and these yahoos wanted $37.10 for a campsite, so we rode on to Lizard Creek, which has $5 hiker/biker sites.  We took a jump in Jackson Lake--cold, but not that bad.  I napped for bit and Nate made 10 hot dogs on the fire pit grill.  We ate them all.

Afterward, the camp host swung on by to check in, and proceeded to tell us that the nice walk-in sites that we're at are right in front of "Bear Hill."  Apparently, bears frequent the hill right behind where our tent is pitched.  In fact, there was a grizzly that was out there this morning, so we'll see what happens tomorrow when we wake up...

To the right is Bear Hill

Future GDR Riders: Skip Flagg Ranch and ride on to Lizard Creek! 

Day 14: Bigfork to Condon

Ride time:  6:02

Average:  8.2 mph

Distance: 49.87 mi

Today was a near Double McCoy, considering we're only 8 miles from our next spot.  We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning in Bigfork.  We almost immediately began climbing out of the town and the scenery quickly changed to thick forests that smelled wonderful.  We were in the full sun throughout much of the day and it was HOT.  We sweat profusely while doing a near 6-mile climb.  The flies were quite irritating while we cranked out about 4 mph, which isn't fast enough to keep a breeze that would blow the bugs off.  Nate saw a black bear in a meadow, and then we both stumbled upon a black bear feeding on some vegetation near the road.  It was scared off very quickly, but of course, it took a toll on my nerves.

We finally pedaled into our camping spot, and as the book pointed out, it was swarming with mosquitoes.  So, I suggested that we book it to Condon, a town off of Hwy 83, about 10 miles down.  Here you go, Dan, a town and creek named after you:

We stopped at a grocery store on the way and slammed Gatorade to help replace all the fluid we lost on our ride--our 3-liter Camelbacks were drained.  We tailed a crazy thunderstorm much of the ride, but we we pretty lucky in that we were moving slower than the storm.  We came upon a patch of dense fog that came from a hail storm and the sight was pretty spectacular:

Hail-induced fog

I also ran over some ding-dong's "TO OUR CUSTOMERS" pin that gave me a nice flat about 1.5 miles from camp.  Thank you kindly for leaving your trash in the road.

Jerk.

I left the pin in it and rode carefully to Swan Valley Centre, a one-stop shop for just about everything.  It was just in time, too, because Mike, the mechanic, was just leaving for the night, but he let us into the showers, gave us a bathroom key, and told us where to camp.

Our humble abode

Day 10: Tuchuck to Whitefish, MT

Ride time: 5:55

Average: 10 mph

Distance: 59.28 mi

Oh. My. God.  Let me start off by saying that I cried before going to bed tonight.  Not because I'm sad, but because my body hurts and I'm emotionally drained from the day's events.  The odometer hit 300 miles today.  It started out at 240.  We pulled a "Double McCoy"--we did two days in one, according to the book.  We were originally supposed to go from Tuchuck to Red Meadow Lake, but we decided to bypass Red Meadow and shoot for Whitefish.

We woke up to giant mosquitoes waiting patiently outside the tent for us, so this helped us break camp in record time.  We parted ways with Ed, the gentleman we met last week and have been riding with ever since.  I'm sure we'll run into him again.  Nate and I hauled down the mountain, thanks to the 29" tires, only to get slowed down on North Fork Road.  It was so ridiculously bumpy with rocks that I could only go about 8 mph.  We stopped for lunch, and then began our climb up red Meadow Road to the campground.  The lactic acid from yesterday's ride was making this a painful ascent.

About 5 miles from the top, we heard thunder to the north and the clouds thickened to an eerie purple.  It was definitely pouring on the pass we had just come down.  Suddenly, Nate turns around and says, "Honey!  A bear!"  I misunderstood him at first (like I usually do), and thought he was talking about someone behind us.  I was not going that fast up the road, so I quickly jump off the bike, fumble for my bear spray, and try to run ahead and look for the bear at the same time.  About 100 feet in front of us, there was an adolescent black bear, checking out something in the road.  Nate was taking pictures.  The bear didn't notice us at first because we were down wind from him, but then he saw us and wasn't frightened of us at all.  In fact, he took a few steps toward us.  We then starting yelling, waving our arms, and kicking up rock to scare it away.  He finally got the hint and took off into the woods.  We quickly walked our bikes past the spot where he ducked into the woods, then hopped on and pedaled furiously just as the bear reappeared behind us now, clearly interested in something in the road.  We got about 100 feet away before the downpour set in.  A bit too close for my comfort to dismount and don rain gear, but we did it anyway and got fully clothed.  My nerves were shot at this point, but I hopped back on the bike and kept pedaling.  The rain quickly stopped, but the clouds loomed.  We pressed on the pass, ran through some snow on the trail (Nate almost wiped out going through it), and then raced down the other side.  The bear sighting definitely sealed the deal on getting to Whitefish...

Ahhh!!!

After a quick, but painful 30 miles, we stopped at a BBQ place and split a full rack of ribs, coleslaw, beans, and a salad, which we promptly inhaled.

One of many eating frenzies

Day 9: Eureka to Tuchuck Campground

Ride time: 4:43

Average: 6.7 mph

Distance: 31.61 mi

After a huge breakfast at Jax Cafe again, we departed Eureka and began climbing.  We stocked up on groceries before we left at a pretty cool organic store in town.  You can see that our average speed was lowered significantly, pointing to the fact that much of the day's ride was uphill. 

We climbed like maniacs all day long, making me grateful for the fact the we had done Canada before getting to this day.  It's like Canada was the training for the beginning of the US section.  Whitefish Pass was pretty brutal, but stunning because of how remote we were.  Because we're in mega grizzly country (McCoy's book points out that this area is known for being the spot where wildlife officials relocate unruly grizzlies--kind of like a detention center, I guess), we cooked dinner about 4 miles before we hit our camp.  We were going a bit insane from the mosquitoes that wanted to eat us alive.

Eating dinner while the grizzlies watch us

Future GDR riders: hit up Montana Market before heading out, and the organic market is just south of there on the same side of the road.

I'm Slow

Nate and I just had a traumatic conversation about bears:

We're lying in bed and talking about our pudge that we'll have on the trip.

Nate comments that it's okay to start the trip with extra fat.  "Skinny ones die first."

I reply, "The bears like fat people."

"I'm fast."

I retort, "You can't outrun a bear."

Without missing a beat, he says, "I don't have to outrun a bear."

Confused, I say, "I don't understand."

"I just have to be faster than you."

I fake cry for a bit and can't believe my husband just said that.
He says it's just an old joke.  I don't think it's funny, so I'm telling you about it.
I'm doubly slow--he definitely can outrun me and I didn't get the joke.

Bear Phobia

I haven't had a bear attack dream in a while, but I've been thinking about it lately.  Perhaps this is due to the warmer weather.  I'm not sure if I have a phobia of being attacked (which, by the way, there isn't a name for--I checked) or what the deal is, but it sucks.  I searched for "bear attacks," and stumbled across this nicely organized list of fatal bear attacks in North America in the past century or so.  Glad to see that Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado have made the list multiple times.

There are some pretty dumb incidents, though.  For example: Munson had been feeding bears for ten years, though repeatedly warned by wildlife officials.  

Thanks to Nate for purchasing UDAP ultra bear spray with chest holsters.  I'll post a photo of me in full bear spray attire soon.