Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Park Hopping

We wanted to leave Jackson with a Bang! After climbing Teton Pass the other day we decided against the 90 mile three pass loop the locals call 'Around the Block'. Instead, we parked in Teton National Park and headed north with hopes of reaching Yellowstone, 35 miles to the North. The road was pretty good, the early traffic was light and we hoped our tired legs would wake up along the way. The scenery was spectacular. We made a couple sight seeing stops to enjoy the Tetons from other angles and watch a beaver swim.



I don't think I've ever seen as many motorcyclists as we've seen while here in Jackson. The Cowboy Bar seems to be the in town hang out, the line of motorcycles out front reminds me of the lines of Vespas in Italy. While riding to Yellowstone we were frequently passed by large groups of Harleys migrating through the parks like a line of roaring geese. I don't get why this is fun or communing with nature but it seems to make them happy.

We covered the 35 miles to Yellowstone pretty quickly but our legs were not coming around and Ali was starting to feel worse. After a short refueling stop and helping eight families with their vacation photos at the entrance to Yellowstone we decided to head back.

There were not many hills along the route but our legs were on strike. Finally, 10 miles from the car Ali decided to pull into the local lodge and let me get the car. I could see the afternoon thunderstorms building over the Tetons so I put my head down and hammered. The lightninig strikes on Mt. Moran ahead of me motivated me to ride faster. Unfortunately, the rain won the race to the car and I rode the last 5 minutes in the pelting rain.

After picking up Ali, driving back through the Teton storm (which included hail at this point) back to Jackson we packed up, said our goodbyes and headed to Boise.
Jackson Hosts

2 comments:

EB said...

Did you embrace the beaver?

Ron Castia said...

The Grand Tetons are awsome. I am way jealous, when we were in Yellowstone it rained and I did not get the ride I was hoping for.