The Rise Up Ride: Day 44, Rolling Up to Climbers' Ranch
Date: 5 June 2021
Start Location: Colter Bay, WY
End Location: Moose, WY
Distance: 39 km
Time: 2:25
Total elapsed: 3:52
Elevation: 194 m
Colter Bay was a lovely place to stay but after two days perched on the porch of the Marina (adjacent to the best wifi signal watching the Tetons reflect off Jackson Lake) it was time to take up residence across the Park at the Climbers' Ranch for "Work Week."
With an isolated campsite at Colter Bay in a wooded glen just a five minute ride to both the General Store and a very decent restaurant, I had the perfect spot to eat well, catch up on my writing, do laundry, and take the infamous FIVE DOLLAR SHOWER. Heck, showers haven't cost five dollars in these parts since the 1890s! Seeing as how this was only my second shower since leaving Cody, I splurged at the Launderette and Showers. An economist might be able to explain why, but that was the most expensive and, as a result, the best shower ever.
Today I rode south through Grand Teton National Park along Jackson Lake following the spine of the great spires. Not far nor too hilly on a sunny Saturday with a lot of traffic. Cars overflowed the nearby campgrounds, which made it such a treat to pull off the paved road away from the tourists and ride up to the feet of the spires. The Ranch sits at the back of the forested glade between Cottonwood Creek and the great lift of mountains that rise straight up several thousand meters from the edge of the property.
Several months ago I wrote about the American Alpine Club's Grand Teton Climbers' Ranch and the efforts by those who love this place. More than seventy volunteers return each year during "Work Week" to fix it up for climbers who will be arriving all summer to ascend into the wild. These dozen log cabins with roughewn bunk beds are scattered around a central open cooking area linked by gravel pathways across a wildflower meadow. But it's the massive uplift of the snow-capped Teton peaks that dominate the Ranch and attract the singly most interesting assembledge of characters per square meter in the Rockies for Work Week.
No wifi, no heating, barely indoor plumbing, and no pretentiousness. I'll be here all week doing chores, listening to stories of first ascents, rescues, and assorted adventures. Dirtbag heaven!
