Bicycling Around the Tetons

When Scott, Jen, and Doug suggested a mountain bike ride circling the Tetons covering Adventure Cycling's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) through Idaho, parts of Wyoming, turning West back into Idaho, and then turning North to complete the circle around the Tetons, I jumped at the chance. Since retiring about 9 months ago, I've been thinking a lot about riding the GDMBR, but frankly, I'm afraid of multiple days away from resupplies as well as the lack of water from the Great Basin south. I feel more qualified for road bike touring with daily stops for groceries or even cafes.  This would let me sample the GDMBR with good company and the excellent food these guys always come up with.

Day 1-  27 Jul 13
Island Park, Idaho to Polebridge Campground, Idaho  
43.7 miles 4:40 riding time
About noon we left Curt and Diane's who are Scott & Doug's friends who live about 2 miles from the MT/ID divide.We sped down SR 20 and hopped on the route about 10-15 miles into its Idaho section riding quiet backroads in the the timber, and by Big Springs, where the North Fork of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River suddenly springs forth from old rhyolite lava flows.   I found the springs fascinating, but the others have been here before, and the area was crowded with tourists, making us rush off to the undeveloped Polebridge Campground (old fashioned out houses only), but with the not so warm Warm River to take a dip in.

Day 2-  28 Jul 13  
Polebridge Campground Idaho to undeveloped campground, Wyoming 
 45.8 miles  5:56 riding time
 I think there's some beautiful scenery here, but I'm too busy negotiating the loose trail to notice

We discussed at length whether to take AC's main route down the old railbed to near Ashton or take the alternate route over another mountain.  AC's map advises that the railbed is extremely soft.  What they don't say is this rail-to-trail is open to motorized vehicles, and ATV's have torn up the bed making for a 4 to 6" layer of small gravel mixed with sand that was difficult to descend and which would be nearly impossible to ride up.

At the side of the "rail trail" Scott changes his brake pads unloading only the rear panniers - assisted by Doug

We struggled with the dug up gravel/dirt.  Just after Scott said, "I think there's some beautiful scenery here, but I'm too busy navigating the loose trail to notice", we left the trail for nearby roads.  ATV's are everywhere here, on the "rail-trail", on the many ATV trails which frequently parallel the rail-trail, and on the nearby roads. When the road did a big "S" shaped blind corner, we heard ATV's.  Doug didn't like the something in the sound, and suggested we leave the road bed.  Just in time as two riders paralleling each other came round the corner taking the entire road bed and parts of the shoulders.   Narrow escape, and the rider taking his half out of the left side of the road slowed slightly and temporarily.  By the time they reached the next part of the "S" turn, they were completely parallel to each other again taking the entire road and parts of the shoulders as they nearly took out Scott and Jen.  You'd think this irresponsible driver a teen with an undeveloped sense of self-preservation who was lost in the joi de vivre, but you'd be wrong.  He was  at least 30 without a smile or upraised countenance. I can only hope if these guys hit a big pickup, the pickup driver isn't injured.

The trail enters a canyon, and about half way down it, the dug up nature of the trail moderates, making it enjoyable- just in time for the best scenery of this "rail trail" - if "trails" opened to motorized vehicles qualify for that term.  Both Scott and I had wanted to ride this short tunnel which had been built to avoid the falling rock of the earlier route.  The tunnel is now closed and riders are diverted to the earlier railbed which is still subject to "falling rock".

Doug just before we reach the tunnel

Jen at the mouth of the closed tunnel

Scott on the tunnel diversion

The Warm River looking down from just outside the tunnel

Just after the tunnel the route is finally closed to ATV's. It becomes pleasant for the mile or so down to Warm Springs Campground. There, we inadvertently left AC's trail to climb an extra mountain, but we were soon back on route. The road narrowed and got rough as we reached the Wyoming border.  Here we met our first GDMBR rider- carrying only a tent in the front, a sleeping bag in the rear, and a backpack on his back!  Talking to this guy, I fell behind the group, and as I tried to catch them occasionally wondered if they'd found a campsite I couldn't see.  Finally I caught them waiting for me at the top of a steep grade, and we soon reached our beautiful, undeveloped, but only mosquito infested campground of the trip.  Mosquitoes had us all in bed by 2000 hours.

Scott builds a fire in our "undeveloped" campsite- note the benches someone has built- photo by Doug

Day 3-  29 Jul 13  
Polebridge Campground to Lake Jenny Hiker Biker Campground  
46.1 miles 4:21 riding time  Our Wilderness Experience is over

Most of the campsites posted on AC's map in this area are being shut down by the USFS making our last night's camp decision a very good one.  It was a pleasant downhill to where our quiet backroad met the main highway between Yellowstone and Teton Parks.  We were in a nearly 2 acre parking lot of tourist complex when 6 large Harley's drove up- one playing Lay Down Sally loud enough to "entertain" the entire complex (at least the speaker quality was excellent-   the best I've ever heard on a motorcycle or car/pickup- so loud with no distortion), and Doug competing with the music announced, "Our wilderness experience is over".

the crew: Doug, Scott, Jen, & Steve in front of Jackson Lake

From there shoulders were wide and traffic fairly heavy to Jenny Lake.  On this section we met Chris and Heather bicycling from their home in central B.C. to SLC.  Our combined group almost immediately ran into construction with us bicyclists told to immediately follow the pilot car which would probably go a little slower than we'd like.  I thought we were in a sprint going 15-20 MPH on loaded touring bikes- mountain bikes at that. I determined the group wasn't going to drop me.  We dropped Chris and Heather.   The pilot car finally pulled over and told us to ride ahead, and she'd follow us- relief.  We arrived at Jenny Lake Campground to find all signs read  "Full".  We decided to see if the site contained a hiker biker section, which it did with only one cyclist, Roberta, (her blog was never finished, so it's more an introduction than a blog) camped in the section.  As soon as we had camp set up, a heavy 15 minute thundershower arrived.  Chris & Heather arrived, and we caught up on the day's activity, and Doug and I went for a quick swim in Jenny Lake.  Dinner was started, and a heavy 45 minute rain arrived turning our tent pads into wading pools.  Scott carries a very nice tarp that protected our dinner table!  Roberta finally showed up- she was taking a rest day- alternating naps with trips to the nearby convenience store for snacks.  Cycle touring can do that to a person!  She's inspiring- 59 years old, all of 110 pounds, a roadie racer who decided to buy a mountain bike this year, and then took off on the GDMBR solo!

camp in Jenny Lake Hiker Biker Section

Doug takes advantage of the rain- polishing off any dirt the rain missed

Roberta, Steve, Chris, & Heather in front of one of the Tetons- meeting & getting to know fellow tourists is a highlight on tour

Day 4- 30 Jul 13:  

Jenny Lake to Wilson, WY 

27.9 miles 2:31 riding time

The morning greeted us with views like this:

morning view of the Tetons across Jenny Lake- from our campsite

We rode a bikepath out of the park and caught a twisty little road into Wilson with views like this most of our short day:

Doug, Scott, & Jen on our way to Wilson, WY

Each of the 4 of us had brought 4 sets of cycling clothes, and Teton Pass awaited us, so we took a half day of riding, enjoyed a great lunch at Nora's, and washed clothes. Dinner didn't work out so well for Doug and me. We went to a "nice" place. Doug and I ordered the waiter's suggestion of portobello something or other, and got a nice appetizer in lieu of dinner. So, we filled up on Scott's pizza as well as dessert! We should have gone back to Nora's for a more of a home cooked dinner suitable for hungry cyclists.

Day 5- 31 Jul 13  

Wilson, WY to Tetonia, ID 

37.7 miles 3:38 riding time
Teton Pass at 8,431 ft starts on the edge of Wilson and provided our challenge for the day.  Fortunately for us, the old highway has been turned into a bike path (no ATV's allowed!).  It's steep, but about 1/3 of the way up we started meeting supported tourist from Bike and Build
and the conversations mostly made me forget about the climb.  Most of these cyclists weren't really cyclists when they started; they each raised $4,500 in pledges for affordable housing and were given a Giant racing bike to ride across the country.  Some in the lead, whom we never met, brought their own bikes.  They stay in churches and community buildings each night.  I believe there were 21 in this group.  Many were pushing up the hill, and doubtless could have used a third chain ring that even a light touring bike would provide.  Maybe a touring bike is the right bike for a cross country ride?  Ask those pushing doubles up Teton Pass!

Steve, Doug, Jen, & Scott at the top of Teton Pass

We had lunch at a nice campground on the WY/ID border and rode into Victor where the high desert started.  With Dandi of "Bike and Build" we rode a great paved bike path from Victor to Driggs where we stopped for groceries and lost our Bike and Build companions who were headed for Ashton's Lutheran church, and on to Missoula for a "build day".

Early in the afternoon we checked into the camping area of the Teton Mountain View Lodge.  The owner is hard working, conscientious, and keeps a clean nice looking place.  However, after we checked in he informed us the sprinklers would go on at 2230 hours promptly, and we should choose a tent site along the fence where little water sprays!  That took the wind out of my sails.  I've never read a cycling blog with middle of the night sprinklers that ended well for the cyclist!  I decided to sleep on a pic-nic table under cover while Scott and Jen took the dry back corner, and Doug squeezed his narrow single person tent along a barbed wire fence on a dry spot on the edge of the property. I've met a couple of cycle tourists who regularly sleep on pic-nic tables to avoid time spent on tent set-up and take-down.  It didn't work so well for me.  The site has a big bon fire area that wasn't used until after bed-time when 4 loud drunks showed up.  They stayed there a while and then moved to the hot tub turning on its flood light- which was in addition to the 100 watt equivalent CLF bulbs that were everywhere.  About 0200 hours the drunks retired, and I finally fell asleep.  I never heard the sprinklers come on, and everyone stayed dry, so the effort to stay dry was likely futile.

Steve's pic-nic table bed- photo by Doug

Day 6- 1 Aug 13

Tetonia to Warm River Campground 

35.0 miles 3:42 riding time
The route was planned on various gravel roads, but we soon spotted a rail trail (a real one- no ATV's allowed).  It's great to have adventurous companions who will take a chance on an interesting trail that goes our general direction but wasn't in the plan.  Old rail beds which are generally built on ridges have much better views than most roads, and this one gave us some great views.

Jen, Scott, & Doug on the Ashton Tetonia Rail to Trail

Scott, Jen, & Doug head into a forested section of the Ashton Tetonia Rail to Trail

Doug on a trestle crossing

With such a short day, I was soon looking for something to do with the afternoon.  Warm River is a very nice campground, and children float the river through the campground throughout the heat of the day.  I had no inner tube, so I found a fishing dock in the deepest part of the river where I could jump in on one side and let the current carry me 15 feet before climbing out.  While I was doing this, Jen was trying to talk Scott or Doug into floating the length of the campground on their sleeping pads.  When I got back to camp, Scott immediately suggested I take his sleeping pad and float the river with Jen to which I quickly agreed.

Jen & Steve floating the Warm River

The sleeping pad survived several brushes with the round river rocks in the shallow river, and the float was fun until we went under the bridge.  Suddenly the back 2/3's of Scott's sleeping pad was flat.  The front section would hold me up, but I decided to check it out.  A 10" cut in the middle of the pad apparently from a sharp rock had ended our fun, so our floating trip and Scott's compfy nights were over.  I offered Scott my 3/4's thermarest, but Scott politely declined.  He and Jen spent most of the afternoon attempting to patch his mattress, and got it to where it would hold air for an hour or so before needing a middle of the night blow-up.

Day 7-   2 Aug 13
Warm Springs Campground to isolated spot near Island Park, ID 
53.9 miles 6:09 riding time
Faced again with the choice of GDMBR's main route up the ATV trail or over an additional mountain, we chose the over the mountain option.  It's amazing how many miles of almost unused paved road are here.  Coming off the mountain we enjoyed a couple of great vistas. Once on the bottom, we met a young couple excited to be in the USA for the first time and on the GDMBT- my guess is they're from the North of England, but their accent threw me.  We failed to get their names or home.  They, like everyone else but us, had heard what shape the former rail to trail was in.  After leaving them Scott took us on 1/4 mile of rail-trail (ATV trail) just to remind us how good it was not to have ridden it today. 

Doug, Steve, and Jen at the final campsite- photo by Scott

Scott and Jen knew this area and took us to a spot the moose had trodden badly this spring making a poor sleeping surface for a guy without a mattress and even a guy with a thermarest.  We'd taken it fairly easy on this trip, and this was the only day I'd call a full day of cycling, but you take the camp spots as you find them.

Day 8  3 Aug 13  
isolated spot near Island Park, Idaho to Curt & Diane's 
25.1 miles 2:37 riding time
I'm sure Scott was glad last night was his last night in the tent without a reliable mattress; I with a thermarest thought the moose prints somewhat uncomfortable!  We were going to finish up back on the GDMBR- at least to just before Red Rock Pass takes its route into Montana.  For a short while the route had us on single track which was a treat.  All too quickly we were back at Curt & Diane's who had stored our cars.  They provided showers, a great burrito, melon salad, and home-made chocolate chip cookies.  Thanks Diane & Curt!  We promised not to list them as "Warm Showers hosts" to passing GDMBR riders!

Doug, Jen, Scott with the celebratory beer, and Steve at Curt & Diane's

Summary:  

315.2 mile riding time 33:34 over 8 days
It was a beautiful ride combining a sample of the GDMBR, the bike path over the Tetons, and the Ashton to Victor rail trail. This was the least demanding mini-tour I've done with these guys, but each day was varied and fun. I've tried to convince them to do the entire GDMBR with me next year, but work gets in the way of their personal lives. For other Pacific Northwesters or those just east of the Divide, this is a good route to give it a preliminary try!

Doug takes great photos always and here's most of his work.


Happy cycling for fun, fitness, and transportation!


Steve