RIDE C2C L2 Day 1 Moose - Flagg Ranch 7/30/19

RIDE C2C L2 Day 1 Moose - Flagg Ranch 7/30/19

Miles: 45 miles

Today Doug and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary and I could hardly imagine.a better way to do this (unless it was LAST year for our 30th with our kids in Melbourne, AUS).

We are at Dornan’s Chuckwagon cabins in Moose, WY and the steak dinner we prepared for ourselves last night sat like a brick in our bellies all night long.  So instead of an egg and mushroom breakfast, we both settle for toast and coffee to try to settle our gullets.

After the thunder, lightning, and rain storms last night, this morning is clear, quiet, and filled with blue sky.  By 7:30 am we are on the road - or rather - on the bike path to Jenny Lake.  I have to stop and take a picture of a sign on the bike path that says “begin” - seems apropos.

What. A GLORIOUS RIDE! The Tetons were very grand indeed and the changing view as we rode was spectacular.  We paid homage to the valley of sage and potholes to our right, but the main attraction was the stunning vertical faces of the sheer rift of mountains.  

We were definitely tourists along our route today - stopping to read the signs at pullouts and enjoy the bits of history that created the Jackson Hole area.  (It’s called Jackson “Hole” because of the tectonic plate shift that pushed up the Tetons and created a “hole” from the other plate diving down).

Our ride was mostly flat from Moose to Jenny Lake  (we stopped for a nice walk out to the lake) then to Jackson Lodge - where we stopped for lunch at the hotel’s diner that opened in 1955 with a “lunch counter” - anyone remember Woolworths? And the staff was wonderful.  Doug and I have said that when we retire, we’ll work in national parks for fun - just like they were doing.  Jackson Lodge was built in 1953-55 - with a view of the Tetons that was stupendous.

The road was recently gravelled which meant loose gravel on the sides - not great for biking.  but it wasn’t too terribly busy, and most drivers gave us a wide bearth.  There was a very long uphill that took us up to over 7400 feet - we can definitely feel the effects of higher altitude with a faster heartrate for a not-very-hard effort.  The dry air sucks the moisture from your mouth.  It got up to 90 degrees - right when we were climbing the long hill and the biting flies were keeping up with us, landing on our arms and faces.  Ugh. The forest around us was burned in a fire of 2016. 

Tent camping was booked up, so instead we are in a lovely cabin at Flagg Ranch - at the north end of Jackson Lake.  We had some time to nap, read, then have dinner at the restaurant where they were very accomodating to my dietary needs (gluten & dairy free).  Our anniversary dinner of salmon was topped off by huckleberry cobbler.  

We joined the ranger talk about bears at the amphitheater that looks south to the Teton range - stunning!  I love the ranger talks - we learned that one way to tell apart bears is that black bear generally has their hips higher than shoulders and grizzlies have the hump plus shoulders higher than hips.  Fur color can be deceiving.  Best of all were the kids that love to answer the questions and ask their own.

Great day, great night and happy anniversary to us!