Everything continues to go really well. The weather has been fantastic - nothing over 80 degrees, and no rain since our last report.
The bikes continue to run like clockwork. And our legs just keep going round and round.
We've had some fantastic campsites - last night we were up on top of the divide, at ~9500' elevation, with views of the sun setting over the Grand Teton range. Very lovely.
We've just come down out of the mountains, and now head out into the dry desert of southern Wyoming. We won't see mountains again until we reach Colorado. Pinedale is at mile 1174 of the route (but we've ridden 1285 to get here due to side trips).
After 25 or 26 days of riding (is today Thursday?), here is our summary of the scenery ... There have been only two sections of a day or two each that we didn't care for. The whole Whitefish/Flathead valley seemed over-subdivided, although the landscape was probably beautiful (we couldn't see much due to wildfire smoke), and Haydi and David's place was stunning. The second area we didn't care for was the Island Park area in Idaho, which has just been invaded by ATVs - motorbikes and little four-wheeled things. What a wretched form of personal entertainment - right up there with jet-skis -- noisy, dusty, and prone to carry people who leave bud cans and other trash scattered next to the roads and trails.
Other than those couple places, the scenery has been stellar and the riding has been fantastic.
We seem to have increased our pace to something like 50+ miles per day. Until we start getting bad headwinds or other bad weather, it seems like we'll continue to move ahead of our planned schedule.
Bird highlights:
Sandhill Cranes have been pretty common - lovely birds, but particularly wonderful because of their loud projecting voices that echo through the valleys.
Great Gray Owl, hunting in full daylight, just 30 or 40 feet away -- we watched it for half an hour.
Pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers scaling bark off two trees adjacent to our tent. Unlike most woodpeckers that stay in one tree for 5 or 10 minutes, these two seemed to work those two trees for days -- beneath the trees were huge quantities of flaked bark. Stayed all evening, and returned in the morning at first light. Very cool.
Not sure when we'll find another internet access point, until then -- happy trails!
Amy & Jim
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Enjoyed the bird report and very glad to hear that things are still going well. I miss seeing you in person, but this blog is great for staying in touch.
I'm glad to hear that your trip is going very smoothly. I enjoy picturing scenery at where you are riding in my mind from your reports, but I couldn't easily imagine scenery without any mountains. I've never seen that! Hope good riding condition to continue.
Hi, Amy! Sounds beautiful. Jack is here visiting us for a few days before he starts ETHS...having a great time with him...he's looking through my old yearbooks. We're going to the Nats game tonight. Claire just finished her first week of classes at Denison! Love, Chris
Post a Comment