Actually it is already here — or at least where we planned to be. The picture above is a view this morning of Togwotee Pass, the pass over the continental divide I had planned to ride yesterday. The picture below is a view this morning of the road I had planned to be riding today.
Needless to say, I’m glad we changed our plans.
Before escaping the snow, I had a brief ride around Jackson Hole on Saturday. We’ve visited the Jackson area a number of times, and I’ve even ridden around the area, but Saturday’s ride covered some ground I had only seen from the car. Part of the route followed the route I would have taken out of town if I were riding across Wyoming, and I felt a little wistful that I was not continuing along the planned route.
I got one last view of the Snake River, which we’d been following since before Boise, with the Tetons in the background.
I’d seen this barn from the road many times; it looks much better by bicycle.
I rode through the town of Jackson, where the annual antler auction was in process. Any of you who have visited Jackson are familiar with the antler arches in the town square. There is an elk preserve just north of town, and every year, thousands of elk visit the reserve just around the time they shed their antlers. Each spring, the local boy scouts scour the reserve, pick up the shed antlers (they just call them “sheds” around town) and auction them off on the third Saturday in May. The buyers are largely makers of “antler furnishings” (lamps and other decorative items). The proceeds are split between the Boy Scouts and the Elk Reserve. It is quite the event in Jackson.
There is an extensive bicycle trail system around Jackson, and I rode the trail north of town into Teton National Park and the small town of Moose, where Toni met me and we stopped at the park visitor center.
This area offers some of the best views of the Teton mountains, though they showed a gloomier aspect today than in August when we normally visit the area.
Saturday evening, I enjoyed dinner of bison ravioli and pheasant at the Wild Sage restaurant in the town of Jackson. Toni doubled down on the bison theme with bison short ribs. They were all excellent. For my wine geek friends, the pheasant paired extremely well with a 2016 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir (Olivet Lane).
We left bright and early Sunday morning from Jackson Hole, driving to Fort Collins, Colorado, and we were treated to a Teton sunrise.
We crossed the continental divide near Buford Wyoming in late afternoon, watching the signs that warned of winter weather conditions in a few hours. We made it through the pass before the snow arrived and got to Fort Collins in time to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones. It’s beginning to feel like we are in the midst of the long winter of Westeros.
My ride around Jackson Hole is shown below. If you click on the link for the entire route, you can see (in grey) the drive to Fort Collins.
The technical stuff:
27.9 miles
751 feet of climbing
Average speed 15.0 miles per hour
Weather: Mostly overcast with a some periods of sunshine and some showers. Temperature in the low 50s. Winds variable but mostly tailwinds.
You can see the entire route to date here.