End: Rock Springs, Wyoming
Distance: 355 miles (568 KM)
Gas: Jackson, Wyoming, 1.934 gal @ 3.759 Total $7.27; boonies, Wyoming, 2.912 gal @ 3.949 Total $11.50; Rock Springs, Wyoming 4.348 gal @3.859 Total $16.78
Campsite: Super 8, Rock Springs, Wyoming
We packed up early, knowing we would have along day ahead of us. We headed towards the South Entrance of the park, viewing the Grand Tetons that were in the distance.
Riding down the road, we came to Lewis River Canyon, a deep canyon with the Lewis River running thru it. It's amazing how deep these gorges can get. About 20 years ago, a forest fire was on one side of the canyon and the winds were so strong, that it blew flames right across the canyon, setting the other side of fire as well.
As we got out of the park, the scenery was scenic forests. Further, we started getting closeup views of the snow-patched Grand Teton Mountains. They looked stately in their grandeur. We had to stop numerous times to take photos as they were a bit awe striking.
Further, towards Jackson, Wyoming, we came to a pasture that was full of wild buffalo on one side of the road and the Grand Tetons on the other...what a sight!
As we rolled towards Jackson, I was impressed by the cycling lanes that were quite a distance from the town and the ski hills in the distance. Jackson appears to be quite the resort town, with a real cowboy flavour. As well, there was a huge elk reserve before entering town.
As we got into town, the town centre was bustling with tourists. We found a spot to park and walked around the small town centre. It is quite evident that elk has an importance in this town. There are huge antler horn rack displays all over town.
This is a shoppers haven. All kinds of sporting stores geared to the outdoors-cycling, hiking, watersports. There were many leather shops, clothing stores and a wide variety of unique shops with interesting goods. There were no mall type franchise stores...each store was unique and run by locals. There is also a dynamic river rafting business going on as there were all kinds of white water rafting outfits in the area and you could see trucks loaded with rafts driving up and down the highway. The Snake River is a popular water sport river with it's fast flowing current and white rapids.
Make sure you read the price tag because everything is expensive...a nice jacket that Al thought was about $115, was actually $1150. Sorry, Donna...no room to bring it back on the bike!
When we gassed up in Jackson, I talked with a local and he said Arches is extremely hot this time of year and locals only visit the park in the fall when tempoeratures subside a bit. Starting to second guess about going to Arches as we are hot!
We left Jackson and headed towards Bear Lake where we intended to start heading east towards Arches National Park. We stopped to get some fluids as the heat was taking it's toll; but my bike was only reading 82 degrees and the hot dry air was taking it's toll. I recall seeing a sign for the Continetal Divide (separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean and the elevation was about 7100 feet above sea level. Being about 1.5 miles above sea level, that too, was impacting our hydration.
We were riding into the Bear Lake, Montpelier area, we went down some huge grades...3 miles of 7 percent grades. At times it seemed we were going down forever and I couldn't remember climbing so much to have these downgrades. The scenery was typical arrid steep hill covered in short grass and sage. We've seen a lot of that in this area. As we got to Montpelier, we talked with a local motorcyclist from Salt Lake City and he gave us the goods on what to expect in Arches. We are sweltering and he said to add another 20 degrees...he said temperatures are in the 100's. He also said the route would be another 400 miles. That would add a day and a half to our ride.
Al and I decided to go a bit further down the road and decide whether to make the trip to Arches. When we got to a cutoff that would either take us to Dutch John, a small town before heading south to Arches, or take us more east, we decided to put off the Arches trip. We felt that there are other places in the same area as Arches...Zion National Park, Monuments National Park, Grand Canyon. We thought that made more sense. And, I hoped by heading back east, I could get to see Grandma one more time. So, we headed east towards Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Along the way, most of the scenery was steep rolling hills covered with short grass and sage. A bit further, we saw a very dark gray sky with large whisps of rain bands. We questioned whether to wait it out or try to out run it. We recalled trying to outrun the storm in Quebec, where we lost. We decided to outrun it as it was a huge storm. We seemed to get ahead of the storm and all of a sudden, it seemed as though it was closing in on us again. This happened 3 or 4 times. Finally, when Al's bike was running on fumes, we got to Rock Springs, dry!
We decided to take a motel room to freshen up, charge the laptop, Ipods, camera batteries and stay dry. We will be heading back now, deciding on our route in the morning.So, Arches has to wait until Al, Donna and I are retired and will take the trip sometime in the fall of our first year off...nice retirement vacation!
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