We are in Rawlins Wyoming. We left West Yellowstone about 10 days ago and have had quite an entertaining time on our way here. We have completed a further 7 divide crossings, crossed various mountain passes, and encountered a variety of weather conditions and landscapes - including our first desert. The group has also very recently expanded in size from 6 to 7.
In something approaching chronological order, this is what we have been up to:
1. Yellowstone car trip
Apart from myself and Kate who were doing the driving, the rest of the team treated the day as an opportunity to catch up on sleep. Chris in particular showed a remarkable ability to sleep just about anywhere. We visited quite a few of Yellowstone's attractions, including the Old Faithful geyser which I managed to miss completely by visiting the bathroom just before it went off. The day was a reasonable one, but I think that we all felt a little detached from our surroundings being sat in a car. Cycling through the southern portions of the park the next day was definately way more entertaining.
2. Travis and Lucas
Our ride south through Yellowstone resulted in us meeting two lone cyclists. The first was Travis. Starting in May 2008, Travis had cycled from New York to LA, headed north to Vancouver and was on his way south when we bumped into him, before heading east to Columbus. A former USMC officer who had served in Iraq, Travis' total mileage of some 7000 miles was seriously impressive - particularly when account was taken of the fact that he done it all carrying a laptop computer, an electric guitar and recording equipment.
The second cyclist we met was Lucas - a sport science student from Switzerland who was cycling from Calgary to San Diego. Lucas joined us for dinner at Grants Village, along with Mischa & Susanne from the Netherlands who were travelling from West to East across the USA.
3. Union Pass to Pinedale
Union Pass is a high mountain pass in the Wind River Range of western Wyoming. The pass is located on the Continental Divide between the Gros Ventre mountains on the west and the Wind River Range on the east. The pass was historically used by native Americans and early mountain men. Last Friday we climbed it on our bikes. On descending the other side, a ranger in a 4x4 stopped to say hello - Maria suggested that we might like to stay the night at her Ranger Station in order to avoid the local bears.
Some hours later we arrived at the station to be met by Maria, Robert and their dogs - the only trace of civilisation in hundreds of square miles of wilderness. What followed was a very entertaining evening complete with hot showers, homemade lasagna, beer and trivial pursuit. It turned out that Maria's grandfather was at one time the British High Commissioner in Panama, and she herself had studied at Cambridge. Robert was a retired federal agent from Alabama and a very funny man. Robert informed us that due to a sickness that was killing local cattle, the surrounding area had become a smorgasbord for bears and wolves. The situation was such that they had recently been forced to send 2 bears to 'bear heaven' due to their aggressive behaviour around camp. They had found one of the bears in their kitchen. Needless to say, we needed no persuasion to stay the night. The next morning Robert topped off our visit by instructing each of us in the use of his 44 magnum.
4. Mike, Bobby and Emily
We were to experience the kindness and generosity of strangers once again on Monday. We had left the town of Pinedale and were on our way to travel across one of the tougher sections of the route - the Great Divide Basin. The basin is a desert at about 6-7000feet that occupies an area of almost 4,000 square miles. Our intended route across amounted to a distance of some 220 miles and would take 4 days to complete.
The first leg of some 55 miles took us to a small informal campground next to a water source known as Little Sandy Creek. We arrived in afternoon sunshine but, during the course of the evening, the sky filled with clouds and the wind increased. By 10pm we were in the grip of a storm that lashed our tents with strong winds and rain. The next morning the weather was still bad.
Hywel went to visit the only other occupant of the campground to try and get a weather report. Mike worked as a rancher but also ran a business providing horse riding vacations for experienced riders (
http://www.hwl.net/). Mike used the location as his base. He immediately suggested that we join him in a large tent for coffee and then got a wood burner stove going. Whilst we were having breakfast and warming up in his tent it actually started to sleet/snow. Cycling the 54 miles to the next camp would have been a little dangerous in the circumstances so we ended up staying with Mike until the next day. We learnt all sorts about ranching, horses, and dog mushing (Mike's daughter Emily being something of an up and coming dog sled racer). During the afternoon Mike's wife Bobby and Emily arrived in a 4x4. That evening they prepared us food before entertaining us with songs and Bobby;s guitar. They were lovely towards us and made what would have been a difficult and challenging day in cold and wet conditions a very enjoyable one.
We awoke the next morning to find ice on both the inside and outside of our tents. After breakfast with Mike and his family we continued on our way under a clear sky. The snow remained on the surrounding mountains making for some great views. The remaining ride across the basin was uneventful but spectacular. Chris' video provides some idea of just how big and empty the Great Divide Basin proved to be..
5. Scott
Just before leaving camp early yesterday morning we were somewhat stunned to see a lone cyclist pulling a trailer ride into camp. Scott's opening words were 'Hi - I've been trying to catch up with you guys for a month'. Scott had started on the great divide route in Banff in early August. It seems that on his way south he had been told various accounts of 6 cyclists travelling the same way ahead of him (including some woefully inaccurate acount of two 'attractive girls' from the UK travelling with 4 guys from N.Z). Scott is originally from New Orleans but has been living in Banff for a few years where he works as a ceramic artist and carpenter in an art gallery. His arrival has increased our team to 7 and has provided us with our first 'native' member. He had ridden 120 miles across the desert on Wednesday in order to catch up with us - he is clearly a little bit rock. As for the welsh contingent of the team, we are all quietly impressed by the fact that Scott is not carrying any underwear with him at all (the Bristol girls were already disgusted about the fact that we were only carrying one pair of boxers each). You can find out a little more about him here:
http://porcelainrocket.blogspot.com/
Anyway, tomorrow we head into Colorado. With a decent tailwind and good weather we hope to be in Steamboat Springs sometime early next week.
To all those nice people who have read and commented on this blog/drivel so far - thanks for doing so! Your messages are a welcome source of entertainment when we get to towns with internet facilities.
I will post something more substantial along with some photos when we reach El Paso.
