September 2018 – Biking 100

Thermopolis and Wyoming Heritage Trail

September 21 – September 24, 2018

The hot springs in Thermopolis were purchased from the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho in 1896. The purchase included a promise that the hot springs would be available for people to use free of charge. So, the bath house and hot spring pools in Hot Springs State Park were all free of charge.

20180926_174012 — Hot Springs State Park

After relaxing in the hot springs and having a nice lunch at the One Eyed Buffalo we made our way to Riverton to ride the Wyoming Heritage Trail.

20180923_145144 — There were many bridges on Wyoming Heritage Trail. This iron bridge was dated 1853.

This trail was an excellent choice for our first ride on our Salsa bikes.

20180923_145304 — Lots of bridge crossings.

The trail was rough, with rocks, sand and even railroad ties. We saw several ATVs, a couple people on horseback and only one other biker.

Resized_20180923_115205_6273 — Got Salsa?

20180923_145358 — Ancient bridges on Wyoming Heritage Trail.

Some of these bridges had large holes in the wood. Couldn’t take our eyes off the road for a second. We really enjoyed the ride, burned lots of calories and got familiar with the new bikes.

20180926_082607 — Lower Wind River Campground.

We spent the next couple nights in the Wind River State Park campground close enough to Thermopolis that we couldn’t resist another visit to the hot springs.

20180926_173909 — Wind River Canyon was beautiful.

The second night we were there we had the campground to ourselves. Just us and the wind!

Our next stop is Custer, ND. We will be joined by Sherry and Lea to experience the Buffalo Roundup in Custer State Park.

20180926_174110 — Lenny really likes this mailbox – near Thermopolis

Our total Wyoming miles: 120

Cody and Joyvagen

September 17 – September 20, 2018

We left the campground in Teton National Park early in the morning. It was perfect timing because we saw 3 moose on our way out of camp. We’d been hoping to see moose all week. We were headed for Cody, WY.

20180922_184238 — Buffalo have the right away – Grand Teton National Park

The trip through Grand Tetons and Yellowstone was beautiful.

20180922_184151 — Areas in Yellowstone that had burned. Good to see new growth amongst the burnt pine.

20180917_111329 — View from Sylvan Pass (8542 ft.) exiting Yellowstone going east.

While in Cody we visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West which is comprised of 5 museums: Buffalo Bill, Natural History, Plains Indians, Whitney Western Art, and Cody Firearms. My favorite was the Natural History and Western Art. Lenny enjoyed the Firearms Museum and History.

20180922_183949 — Buffalo Bill Center of the West – we spent several hours here.

Our second day in Cody was supposed to be laundry day. Lenny had other plans. He had contacted Chris at JoyVagen about a new bike for me. I was reluctant to try a new bike because, “I love my bike!”. I’m so glad we visited Chris and his awesome shop. I took a Salsa Journeyman out for a test ride after Chris patiently tweaked the seat and stem for me. I may never ride my other bike again. I love my new bike!

Resized_20180920_132516_9600 — Chris at Joyvagen, which means “path to happiness”.

This bike was such a pleasure to ride that it was easy to convince Lenny he should have one too.

20180922_183353 — Love those new bikes and that fine looking dog. We took bikes, dog stayed with Chris.

Resized_20180920_140959_7876 — New bikes loaded, covered and ready to go.

We are now headed for Thermopolis, WY to soak in the hot springs.

#37 Wyoming 100 – 101 miles

Thursday September 13 – Friday September 14, 2018

It’s with heavy hearts that we continue our Wyoming 100 without our sweet Flo. She has been with us in 35 states.

20170913_112413 — Ouray, Colorado September 2017

We got a late start and drove a couple hours south of Jackson, WY to Soda Lake near Pinedale. The drive was beautiful. We saw a small herd of mountain goats and herds of pronghorn antelope.

20180913_132920 — Mountain goat wearing a monitor.

20180913_130244 — Mountain goats on way to Soda Lake.

Soda Lake was 9 miles out of Pinedale on a dirt road. No crowds here. We saw some beautiful work horses – no fences just free range.

20180916_172833 — Free range work horses.

Soda Lake was beautiful. We road the dirt roads around the lake. Some sketchy sand areas.

20180913_153234 — Beautiful views of Soda Lake. Love those blue skies.

As we were on our way back to Pinedale, down the very dirty, bumpy road in our very low clearance Fiat, Lenny remembered he had put his phone on top of the car to sync it with his Strava app. So back we went. Bumpity bump!!

20180917_073944 — Hooray! We found it. No damage done.

Friday morning we picked up ebikes at Hoback Bikes in Jackson. We packed the bikes and headed out of Jackson and onto the North Pathway which would take us to Jenny Lake. The southern section goes thru the National Elk Refuge. We enter the Grand Tetons National Park and cross the the Gros Ventre River. Our campsite is in the National Park along this same river. We enjoyed awesome views of the Grand Tetons.

20180916_181442 — Grand Tetons near airport.

There were more bikers as we traveled further north of Moose and some good climbs. We crossed the beautiful Snake River and saw fly fishermen.

This is one of the most beautiful trails we’ve ridden while on this wonderful journey. It’s difficult to describe the beauty here. Fall is coming soon so the Aspen are turning gold.

20180916_181148 — More awesome views of the Tetons.

We were disappointed with the crowd at Jenny Lake. It was a congested mess. So glad we could just turn our bikes around and flee. Our trip from the bike shop in Jackson to Jenny Lake and back was 47 miles.

We returned to the bike shop to have the bikes recharged. After lunch we took the Community Pathway to Teton Village. We are on the opposite side of the valley for this ride.

20180916_202902 — Crossing over Snake River on way to Teton Village.

We traveled past beautiful cattle farms. There was a osprey nest near the trail. He protested loudly each time we passed.

20180916_203133 — Bridge over snake river.

We enjoyed seeing the ski run and gondola in Teton Village. Got a bit lost on our return to Jackson – received some quick directions and were on our way. Think we were biked out after 73 miles today.

20180916_202625 — Look at those smile. So happy our northwestern 100s are done.

We completed our Wyoming 100!

Platt River Trail – Sept. 2017
Soda Lake
North Pathway
Community Pathway

Our map is filling up. 11 states in the northeast to go. The LORD willing.

In Memory

FLO

20180930_210308 — December 2006 – September 12, 2018

More #36 Oregon and bonus miles.

Tuesday September 4 – Sunday September 9, 2018

We had a beautiful trip on the Redwood Highway from Grants Pass, OR to the ocean. We were even in California near Crescent City for a few miles. All along the highway were signs from residents thanking the firefighters. We saw many firefighters with trucks full of gear, looking tired.

20180909_123243 — View from Harris Beach Campground.

Treated ourselves to dinner out and just enjoyed being near the ocean.

20180905_100715 — Rocky shores and driftwood strewn beach.

20180905_100027 — The fog was rolling in for our morning walk. Good thing we were out early.

The trip back along the Redwood Highway was exciting. We could see the Smith River below, a long, long way down. The road was so narrow there really wasn’t a good place to stop for pictures. Especially with the motorhome and our toad.

We made it safely to Lake of the Woods to meet our friend Pete. He had dinner cooking and the wine opened when we arrived.

20180909_121505 — Beautiful Lake of the Woods.

Pete had a double campsite that accommodated both our motorhomes under beautiful tall pines. We spent the evening around the campfire enjoying remembering old times.

20180906_104457 — Old buddies – Lenny and Pete.

20180906_120414 — Short hike through woods for a great breakfast at the lodge. Our waiter was from Painesville, Ohio.

Friday we took a mountain bike trail through lava fields. There were some nice short climbs and fun twisting runs through the tall pines. Making our total Oregon miles 114.

20180909_122002 — You can see smoke coming over the lava field from fire near Mt Shasta, CA.

Friday we packed up our campsite and were off to Klamath Falls. We spent 2 nights parked in Pete’s driveway. We really enjoyed visiting with his daughter Sue and her husband Brian. They treated us to a really good dinner done on the barbecue.

We were ready to head for Wyoming on Sunday morning when our slideout would not retract. Most of the day was spent figuring out the problem and then working around that to retract the slideout. Problem was broken wire in one of the motors. Solution to get slideout retracted was to remove motor and use 5 people to push slideout in. So by late afternoon we said our goodbyes and headed for Jackson, Wyoming.

#36 Oregon 104 Miles

Saturday August 1 – Monday August 3, 2018

We have never watched the Buckeyes play while having breakfast but that’s what we did on Saturday. Game was at 9 AM here. (Buckeyes 71 Oregon State 31) Then to make it an even better day, we watched the “team up north” get beat by Notre Dame. Oh perfect day!!

On Sunday we moved on to Pine Meadows Campground on Cottage Grove Lake. It’s a Corps of Engineers campground so only $11.00 a night for us.

20180903_200157 — Beautiful Bohemia Park in Cottage Grove. Good place to park near trailhead.

Monday morning we road the Row River Trail from Cottage Grove to Culp Creek. I chose this trail because Cottage Grove is the “Covered Bridge Capital” of Oregon.

20180903_194633 — Mosby Creek Bridge – this bridge was near the trail.

We saw a couple other bridges from a distance. I was a bit disappointed they weren’t closer to the trail. It was a fun trail. Through forests and meadows and beautiful valleys far below the trail.

20180903_194832 — Dorena Reservoir – water was extremely low.

There was an uphill grade for about 6 miles then the trail leveled out for the next 10 miles until we reached Culp Creek Trailhead.

20180903_122049 — Trails end – 16.5 miles from Cottage Grove.

We stopped at a farm market for some vegetables on our way back. The gentleman there told us that the lake was always a bit lower this time of year but extremely low now because an error was made and too much water was released from the dam.

This was our 4th and final ride in Oregon. We reached our 100 mile goal. Tomorrow we are headed for the Oregon coast to spend a day beachcombing and tidepooling. Later in the week we are meeting our friend Pete at Lake in the Woods near Klamsth Falls.

Historic Columbia River Trail
Riverfront Trail at The Dalles
Banks-Vernonia State Trail
Row River Trail

More #36 Oregon Miles

Tuesday August 28 – Friday August 31, 2018

We left Memaloose State Park and headed for LL Stub Stewart State Park near Banks, OR. This campground is right on the 22 mile Banks-Vernonia State Trail. It is the first “rails-to-trails” linear state park built in Oregon.

20180831_075421 — Campsite at Stub Stewart State Park.

Wednesday we rode the trail north of the park to Vernonia, around Lake Vernonia and returned. From the campground we took a mountain bike trail to reach the rail trail. White knuckle ride for me, I don’t like doing downhill in the dirt. Beautiful ride, mostly forest with lots of welcoming shade. Some areas were being logged.

20180831_075502 — Logging area along trail.

There was a mostly gentle uphill grade to Vernonia. One exception was the Horseshoe Trestle bypass which switchbacked up 700 feet and descended 300 feet at Tophill (13% grade). There was a sign at the top of one of the switchbacks that said “steep grade walk bike”. A challenge for sure but the ride up the hill to our campsite was even more of a challenge.

20180831_074625 — We were armed for bears and bees. Cougar sited on trail a couple days ago.

Thursday morning we road the trail south to the city of Banks. We traveled through forests of tall pines on a significant downhill grade for 6 miles.

The floor of the forest was covered in huge ferns. The last 4.5 miles was a gentle downhill grade. Just before Banks we saw small farms and large meadows.

20180831_074100 — Large ferns along trail.

The Buxton Trestle was a highlight of the trail – 80 feet high and 700 feet long.

Some parts of the trail was lined with raspberries. They were so sweet, warm and tasty.

20180830_122308 — Yummy trail side snack.

Our return trip was a bit slower. The last six miles were slow going. Two moms had 5 young children out for a hike and they waved and cheered us on. I felt like I was in the Tour D’france.

Back at Stub Stewart the long steep climb to our campsite awaited us. I really don’t think I could do that climb a third day.

Friday we were off to Albany, OR. it was a really enjoyable trip through the Willamett Valley. Acres of corn, peppers, vineyards, and more hops. We planned to stay at Blue Ox RV Park where we would have cable to watch Ohio State defeat Oregon State.