The heat from the previous day again forced an early start. The crux of the ride today would be a 3,000 foot vertical ascent of Togwotee Pass summit at the thirty mile mark. Entering the day I was a little nervous about the climb. I tend to be a strong climber and I'd done this before, but this was by far the biggest of this trip and well, you just never know how you will do until you try it.
A delicious bagel, egg, and bacon breakfast sandwich and twenty ounces of coffee stoked the engine perfectly. The climb, was advertised, long and at times steep, but overall a very manageable grade. As luck would have it the day was unseasonably cool, and as a result water intake was not as rampant as days previous.
The reward for the climb was a beautiful alpine lake nestled at the summit. I happened upon a family fishing the lake and a little girl caught a trout the moment I walked up. The way her face lit up with pride was precious. I think it might have been the first fish she had ever caught.
Matt summited about twenty minutes after I did and we started the descent together. Matt is a much faster descender than I, he seems to have no fear! I felt the road surface had too much gravel to really bomb it but I tend to be a weenie about such things. By far the highlight of the day was the view of the Tetons that opened up during the descent. No matter how many times you see these cathedral-like towers of granite it just never fails to inspire a sense of awe.
A pilot car carried Matt and I four miles through a construction zone. At first I was ticked that we had to load our bikes in the truck, but when I saw the condition of the road first hand, there were no complaints. A massive effort is underway to completely rebuild the west side of the pass. There were boulders strewn everywhere from all the dynamite that had been used to blast new corridors for future traffic.
After an unremarkable lunch at the Hatchet Cafe, Matt and I entered Grand Teton National Park. We each had to pay $12 to enter but at least it would cover Yellowstone as well. It would be great to see self-powered visitor gain free entry but I guess you might see parking lots of cars just outside the gate.
A short while later I turned south on Teton Park Road and wished Matt a safe journey. My destination for the night would be the Teton Climbers Ranch near the town of Moose. I was so excited to get to the ranch that I failed to stop and read my park map. What I thought would be a ten mile trip would instead be twenty miles in duration.
Once again I was bonked and over-extended as the day wore on, but the beauty of the Tetons made it impossible for me to be in a bad mood. Upon seeing a huge bull moose drinking from a creek, I decided that I should stop and take a drink myself. Who says making has nothing to learn from the moose!
Eventually, I made to the ranch. I could not believe the location, smack dab at the base of the Cathedral Group, the biggest peaks. I checked out the cabin I shared with other guests and grabbed a much needed shower. I then just laid in bed for a good hour just to relax a bit from a day that was much longer than expected.
As I cooked my dinner that night, mac n' cheese with canned tuna, in the cook shelter I met some climbers staying there and listened to some of their stories about the high country. It made me wish that I had the ways and means to climb the Grand Teton at 13,600 feet, but with guiding companies asking $500 per person, per trip, I've got better uses for my money, like burgers for instance!
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