Sunday, June 29, 2008

Grand Tetons and City Slickin'

Location: Shoshoni, WY

Okay, so I have to remember where I left off on my last post...Ah yes, national parks and such.

We got to cycle through Yellowstone National Park. It was pretty amazing, and I'm glad I can say I did that. I was amazed at how much wildlife there was, and how little each animal cared that there were cars and people everywhere. We saw two bald eagles, a handful of elk, countless bison (one of which decided to shuffle slowly in front of us for a good distance so that we couldn't get by), and even a wolf.

The scenery was different than I expected. Still rugged, but there is a lot of new growth from after the wildfires of 1988. So there was this weird dichotomy of new, 7 to 8-foot trees coming up between the charred, skewer-like remains of the old trees. So it looked empty, but not, all at the same time.

Probably the coolest part, obviously, is the geothermal activity at the park. We went by a bunch of thermophile-rich pools and geysers and other such oddities of nature, but didn't see Old Faithful until we drove there later that night. (The notorious geyser was somewhat of a tease -- spurting slightly for 20 minutes past its "scheduled eruption time" until blasting hundreds of feet in the air. Pretty spectacular!)

Probably the best part of the night was staying at one of the lodges in real beds. Oh, and the buffet dinner. Mmm.

However, as cool as Yellowstone was, nothing could have prepared me for the Grand Tetons. Oh. My. God. They are breathtaking. And pointy! The ride that day was short and flat (read: easy) and absolutely gorgeous. I'd say it was the best ride of the trip thus far.

But wait! There's more. We arrived in Jackson, WY and had a police escort to the town center where we were greeted and congratulated by the mayor. (We got cool Jackson pins too.) THEN we went a short distance to the Snow King Resort and spent a few hours on the alpine slide -- which is basically a 2500 foot fiberglass slide that you go down on while riding a sort of luge/sled. It was pretty fun. Okay, it was freakin' fantastic.

But we're definitely not through. After alpine slide and pizza, we departed Jackson Hole and drove west to Driggs, Idaho to stay at Twin Creek Ranch, owned by the Cushman family. Pete Cushman is a Pi Kapp alum from University of Colorado - Boulder, and rode the Journey of Hope back in 1999. He was there with a few of his buddies from the same chapter who had also cyclied JOH in the late 90's. The ranch is a slice of heaven: property bordering a national forest, three houses (all beautifully built and furnished), great food, a pool and hot tub, tons of planned activities, and real comfy beds made for an extremely spoiled Trans-Am team. We had a day off there, and I got to go horseback riding (I rode Cricket and he kept grabbin mouthfuls of lush grass almost the entire time) and canoeing, with some eating and pool-swimming in between. It was almost as tiring as a day on the bike! Our (old) Pi Kapp brothers were excellent hosts and we all had a blast. I could have stayed another week or two, easily.

After the ranch, we went to Dubois, WY which was pretty forgettable, besides the fact that our 100+ mile trip turned into a little over 60 due to construction and crappy roads. And we hit our highest (posted) elevation: 9,631 feet. We paid for the shortened trip today though: our 80 miles turned into 96 in very hot and very nondescript Wyoming countryside. It was relatively flat though, so we averaged a good speed (over 20mph compared to our usual 15-16). So now I'm here and our historian is bugging me to get the journal entry for the Push America website done, so I'm going to do that.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nephew, I have been very impressed with your stories and it sounds like you're having a great time! I'm so VERY proud of you and I think you're VERY "SPECIAL" LOL!
Stay safe and I love you!!

Your Aunt of multiple disablilities, Aunt Sharon