The Rise Up Ride: Day 41, Ahead of Schedule With Time to Explore the Tetons
Date: 2 June 2021
Start Location: Flagg Ranch, WY
End Location: Colter Bay, WY
Distance: 29 km
Time: 1:54
Total elapsed: 3:08
Elevation: 273 m
The early June weather in the Rockies has caught many cyclists by surprise. It is not unusual and fairly predictable that a late Spring storm will dump a new covering of snow at these altitudes, closing the high passes and coating the roads with that slippery damn white stuff and the dreaded black ice.
On this fairly free-form adventure I've only set three fixed dates. Later this month I have a train to catch in Whitefish, Montana on the 21st and a ferry that leaves Bellingham, Washington for Skagway, Alaska on 23 June. Given the unpredictable weather, I'd given myself an extra five days just in case a snowstorm might delay my arrival on Sunday, 6 June to begin my time volunteering for "Work Week" at the American Alpine Association's fabulous Climbers' Ranch just outside of Moose, Wyoming. But the weather has been excellent since waiting out a storm in Buffalo before crossing Powder River Pass and I've made excellent progress these last two weeks. Now I've made it to Colter Bay, just a two hour pedal south to the Ranch with four days to spare.
Today's ride was a short hop up and over a pesky climb from the private Flagg Ranch Campground to Teton National Park Colter Bay Resort on the shore of Jackson Lake. With my National Park Senior Golden Pass a hiker/biker site is only $5 a night in an empty loop of the campground set aside for those of us who arrive on two feet or two wheels. I'll catch up with my writing, do a load of laundry and probably ride to Jenny Lake closer to Moose on Saturday. But the long six-week journey from the Mississippi River to the Grand Tetons is done and dusted.
