RIDE C2C L2 Day 3 Grants Village to Pahaska Teepee, WY

RIDE C2C L2 Day 3 - Grants Village to Pahaska Teepee, WY

Miles: 53

Sylvan Pass: 8530 ft

Weather:  93.5 degrees while climbing:  Rainstorm while descending

 We thought everything was going to be soaked and that we’d be riding in the rain this morning with the downpour that happened during the night.  We woke to blue skies, dry ground, and a pleasant chill in the air.  Up around 6 am, doing camp things:  pack up sleeping bags, deflate and roll up the air mattress, but the rain fly of the tent on a pine tree to (hopefully) dry, and use the bear box to make breakfast.  (Because of the risk of attracting bears, anything that has an odor must be stored securely in the bear box.  But since the picnic table was soaked, we used the open flap for preparing our food)

Doug pulled out the single burner camp stove to heat water for my oatmeal and COFFEE (of course) and we discovered that the very cool collapsible wire coffee filter holder (for pour-over) coffee actually needs MORE coffee because the water drains from all sides of the filter so the water does not stay in contact as long as a plastic (or other) filter with the drain holes only in the bottom.  OH NO!

I probably did not need to share that detail with you except that 1) a good cup of coffee in the morning is essential to my day, 2) we only have 1lb of good coffee and 3) who KNOWs what kind of coffee we’ll find when we run out.  VERY RISKY.  I diverge. 

There were some funny signs in the bathroom too ...

On with our trip.

All packed up, we depart at 7:40 am (we are not yet a well-honed camping machine, but we’ll get there),

In just a few miles stop at “Geyser Basin” for a stunning stroll on a boardwalk around a hundred steaming, bubbling, blurping, hissing hot mineral pools along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. 

You could see small calderas in the lake as well.  If Yellowstone Lake was drained, you’d see canyons and calderas and geysers as well.

We next rode along the shore of Yellowstone Lake for about 25 miles - up and down, a beautiful road with a nice shoulder (important to us cyclists), and not so many cars.  Yellowstone Lake is massive!  On our left were green forests and burned forests; on our right was the expansive view of the Lake.

We had a lunch break at about 11am at “Fishing Bridge” - made some turkey sandwiches and took a snooze in the sun on the amphitheater benches.  This elevation is taking its toll on both of us.  I’m fairing better - only a little nausea - Doug is battling a bad headache and feeling super tired.

We knew we had better get going - we still had 30 miles ahead and a big climb.

The road construction delayed us a bit.  We had to wait for the pilot car to give us a ride - federal law prohibited us from riding in the construction zone - so we unpacked the bikes and tossed them in the truck for the 2 mile detour.

We had about 8 more miles of up-and-down along the shores of the lake...and then we turned east and began the climb.  Hot, steep (5-6% grade), slow.  It hit 93.5 degrees...and then the clouds gathered for a rainstorm, the temperature came down, and we got a tiny boost from a tailwind...and we kept climbing. 

Our Huckleberry Licorice came in handy for a little extra energy.

We were thrilled to hit the top at 8530 feet and coast that 5 miles of downhill at 30+MPH just as the very large rain drops hit and our friendly tailwind turned into a nasty wall of wind.  Thankfully that didn’t last long and we arrived at Pahaska Teepee Resort - founded by “Buffalo Bill” - Colonel WF Cody.  

While we waited to check in to our cabin, we enjoyed a cup of soup (Doug had delicious and spicy corn chowder; I had a beef chili.  We’ll have dinner at the cafe tonight.  No tent camping available so we’ll “suffer” inside.