The sprint across Wyoming was on this week! We feel really good about our progress from the border of Montana all the way to the Southeast corner of the state. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park were the obvious highlights, while the painted hills outside of Dubois, WY and the Wind River Mountains were surprise additions to a scenic week on the dusty trail. Cycling was challenging as we climbed over a 9,500 feet (our highest pass yet of the trip), temperatures fluctuated from 40 to 90 degrees, and we battled ferocious headwinds crossing the Wyoming Basin.
The towns and landscape we traveled felt like the set of an old Western film. We crossed several high desert passes, intersected with the Oregon Trail and Pony Express routes, wound our way through vibrant canyons, and slowly meandered into the ghost town of Jeffrey City. The speed at which we moved through these various settings is pretty crazy to reflect on: in three hours we moved from being high in snow capped mountains, worried about Grizzly bears and bundled in our winter jackets; to a deep canyon with the sun beating down so hard we worried about getting heat stroke and were on the lookout for Rattlesnakes. The West is so cool!!!
It's worth mentioning that this tour is getting tough. Crossing the 5-month mark is a mental feat and has put pressure on our more challenging days. We still love this adventure and are grateful for all that we have been able to see, but we're noticing a toll on our weary bodies. Suzie's knees are starting to ache more on climbs, I find myself often nodding off while riding in the heat, and mosquito bites ACTUALLY cover us from head to toe. I think this is only natural for the amount of time we have spent on the bike and all the climbing we've been doing in the Rockies. The good news is that we truly feel like "athletes" and have never been in better shape! However, we are certainly starting to feel the burn... if you catch my drift.
For a more in depth look at our journey through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, check this post out: Tales of Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.
Distance: 365 Miles
Elevation Gain: 16,569 feet
Campgrounds
Granted Village Campground (Grant Village, Wyoming): This place has hiker biker, which is particularly important during busy days and weekends, as the park can get really busy. For us it was $18 for the night. Showers were free but a little hike up the road from our site. Bear boxes were provided and the site we clean. The only slight complaint was that the campground had a ton of open sites and they crammed us and 3 other groups into the one hiker biker site. Still, it was a great way to make a few new friends!!
Colter Bay Campground (Colter Bay, Wyoming): This spot has hiker biker at $12 per night. Showers are not included and cost a whopping $4.50 per person. The campground was pretty well maintained and close to the shops downtown. I especially liked how shaded the sites were, and I loved the inclusion of bear boxes :) .
Sleeping Bear RV Park (Lander, WY): For a site with water and electricity it was only $22 for the night. Showers were included and clean. The sites were geared more towards RVers, but they were overall pretty comfortable. The only complaint is that they put us near the road and there wasn't any cover from the sun.
**Route Deets: I am going to stop including "route deets" for our cycling posts. In looking at the data and talking to a few friends, these don't provide a ton of value and are honestly really time consuming to recall and type up. Feel free to email us, DM us on Insta, or send up smoke signals if you want more context on the routes we take across the US from here :)
Check out where else we've traveled on our trip and where we are off to next here: Biking Across the US.
Topics: Camping, Maps and Routes, USA
