Day 3: Book days
14-20; This morning we find out that GW Mark is in town with Roger so
we plan to meet up (cell phones are great!). I informed everyone that I'm staying to
plan and will be riding the trail according to the book from now on. Mark and Bill join me and James and John
will meet us down the road after a few repairs to John's bike. Kendall has had enough and he and Roger
will join GW Mark for a pavement tour of the Rockies. Great, everyone is happy and enjoying
just being out there!
Mark,
Bill and I leave town and follow the book onto fr 84 up and over the
Continental Divide again. This was a
great morning ride with fantastic views of the Pioneer Mountains. We saw quite a few deer off the road and had
to chase cows off the road.
Ken's pic#420 
Move it cows!
Mark's pic #1623 
Making up time.
After
that section we bypassed the next section over Fleecer Ridge due to what the
book warned of. I'm glad we did because
in Lima we ran into some bicyclists who had done that section a few days before
and told us that it was almost impossible and most bicyclists don't even
attempt it due to the road ending at the summit and you have to walk your way
down in the brush! I can't imagine
trying to walk a 650 lb loaded bike down a mountain!!!
We
arrived at the Wise River junction at 10:00am where we planned on meeting John
and James. We waited at this cool old
cafe/bar/museum for 30 minutes and decided to head out, so we left a message
with folks there to relay to John and James.
It was a fine ride along a beautiful river with some great campgrounds
along it. From Wise River to Lima
exceeded all my ride expectations! I
don't have the words to describe it. It
was very diverse and was by far the best part of Montana yet. We stayed in the 8500 ft to 11,500 ft
elevation range and saw deer, elk, and antelope everywhere. This is where I want to come back to again and
spend some time.
Bill's pic #143 
Trout anyone?
Bill's pic #42
Farm raised Elk, looking mighty tasty.
Bill's pic #151
Making some time now!
We arrive
at Lima at 3:00 pm and have to decide if we want to spend the night or keep
going. It's 90 miles with no towns a
long the way and rain is coming this way soon.
We decide that rain will make a mess out of these roads for travel
tomorrow, so we head out with the wind blowing a steady 30 mph. We head out and get challenged immediately
with rutted slippery roads. Bill tries
to go through a mud puddle but finds himself taking a bath instead. We're running 45-70 on this stretch but if
we got a little rain, it would be virtually impassable with dual sport tires.
We saw Cowboy ranches in the middle of nowhere with no electricity. Fantastic views and it reminds me of the
Ponderosa from TV.
Mark's pic #1630
Definately looks different from
Florida!
Mark's pic #1633
Bill's
pic#100
Mark getting in a rest and a photo
opp.
We reach
pavement and turn into the town of Island Park, ID. We look for food because we're going to camp tonight but have no
luck at local subway and wind up eating at a nice restaurant. By the time we finish and start to head to
the campground, it starts pouring. We
check it out anyway but decide to find something dry tonight since it's already
about 40 degrees out. We go back to the
road and negotiate a cabin for the night.
We started a fire in the fireplace and talked about how wonderful the
day went with no trail problems.
Mark's pic #1635
Home sweet warm home.
The book
is right on, turn-by-turn, if you zero out your odometer at every book day
start. Today we cover 290 miles, by far
the most so far on the trails. We found
that 3 or 4 riders were about the limit you could manage and make that many
miles. We were spread out sometimes 4
or 5 miles, due to the dust.
Day 4: Book days 21-26;
After a quick breakfast, we put on our electric vests since
it's about 35 degrees out and foggy and head out on the alternate route towards
Warm River. We chose the alternative
because it rained and snowed all night in the mountains where we were headed
and it more likely to be passable. It
started out ok except for the slippery road that caused Mark's first
crash. A bent Jesse brackets and a
clutch lever is all the damage. We
started climbing in elevation and couldn't see a thing, due to 20 ft
visibility. I was leading and was
waiting for a deer or other animal to run into me, or a local coming around a
corner, scary! We touched the edge of
Yellowstone and we could see some of the damage from previous forest fires. We finally made it down to Flagg ranch, a
huge national campground where you can rent cabins and bring your horses to
ride the trails. We then headed south towards the Tetons where
we stopped and took some photos.
Bill's pic #67
A break at the crossroads, east to Yellowstone or south
to Flagg Ranch.
Bill's pic #147
Bill's
pic # 141
Ken & Mark photo op of the Grand
Tetons
Then we
continued on US26/287 over Togwotee Pass to the turnoff for Union Pass
Rd.. It was a very twisty steep climb
over Union Pass and the views were spectacular.
Ken's pic #427
Bill's
pic #48
Awesome!
We stayed
at high elevation for the next 20+ miles with views of Bridger Wilderness on
the East and the Gros Ventre Mountains on the West. We got to an area going down the mountain where the book said
to begin a 2 mile dive down a rough, gnarly, loose-surfaced hill, with plenty of
angular, tire-threatening rocks in the way.
It was a no problem for the Vstroms and we handled it easily. Did I say that I love this bike yet? Well. I do!
Mark's pic #1642
Riding on top of the
world!
We rode
down into a long valley full of cows and antelope with cowboys riding the
fences. It was like an old western
painting. The road along this stretch
was fairly rutted but easily passable at speed if you watched your line. If it were wet it would have been a real
problem. The last 35 miles was paved
into Pinedale, an old cowboy town.
Bill's pic #138
Where the antelope
play!
Bill's pic #65
Taking a break at for some jerky, food of
travelers!
We stopped at
the local information booth on Main St. in Pinedale and asked about food and a
campground. The pretty gal working
there suggested the Fremont Lake campground and a restaurant at the end of the
lake. We did both and the steak was as
good as it gets, although pricey. The
gal in the info booth moved there last year from Tampa, Florida and they love
it. I
was jealous. I can run a tourist info kiosk, no, I couldn't.