Drive to Dubois, Wyoming

This bike tour is an A to B route very far from home. Before the tour I drove my car 880 miles to Dillon, Montana which is the end point of the tour. Then I drove a U Haul truck 310 miles to Dubois, Wyoming which is the starting point of the tour. Three days of driving to get to the starting point of the bike tour.

Saturday, July 6, 2024.

Drove my Prius 462 miles from Oakland, Oregon to Ritzville, Washington with no tourist stops along the way. In Ritzville I spent a few minutes walking around the interesting downtown during the 95F evening.

Ritzville is in the grass and sagebrush covered hills of eastern Washington. The town is next to I-90 and like many similar towns, it became kind of frozen in time after the Interstate highway took away the traffic that once flowed through town.

Former Northern Pacific Railway station in Ritzville.

Sunday, July 7, 2024

Drove my Prius 429 miles from Ritzville, Washington to Elkhorn Hot Springs, Montana. Again with no tourist stops along the way.

I could easily have driven to a motel in Dillon, but I decided to stay at a rustic hot spring in the mountains 45 miles northwest of Dillon. My first time to visit Elkhorn Hot Springs.

Lodge/restaurant building at Elkhorn Hot Springs.

Side view showing the upstairs entrance to the dormitory rooms.

Elkhorn Hot Spring has cabins for rent, but they are expensive and have no plumbing. I rented one of 9 small dormitory rooms in the main lodge building. Plumbing is in a shared bath down the hall. No A/C. No TV. No microwave or fridge. No desk and not even a chair.

My dormitory room at Elkhorn Hot Springs. $50, with free soaking and free breakfast.

After dinner I went for a soak at the main hot pool. It was crowded. The temperature was 102F, so I mostly soaked with my arms out of the water.

The main soaking pool at Elkhorn Hot Springs.

The crowds thinned by 8 PM, mainly because most of the adults went to the bar to get another beer before it closes. It was much quieter then.

Wide view showing the hot water intake and the larger pool which is now closed.

I soaked for maybe 3 minutes in the indoor tub which is in a very small room that forms sort of a steam sauna. The pool was 110F, so I couldn't stay in very long.

Hot humid indoor sauna pool. All the pools are flow-thru with no disinfectant added.

Creek below the Elkhorn Hot Spring lodge.

I did not sleep well at Elkhorn Hot Spring. The main problem was being suddenly transported to 7000 feet elevation. Another problem was that the room started too hot, but was very cold by morning.

Monday, July 8, 2024

I drove my Prius 45 miles from Elkhorn Hot Springs to Dillon, Montana. Then I pedaled 2.5 miles from my parking space to the local U Haul dealer. Then I drove a 10 foot U Haul box truck 310 miles from Dillon, Montana to Dubois, Wyoming.

The U Haul drive took me over two spectacular highway passes, Teton Pass and Togwotee Pass. And this day I stopped a few times to take photos along the way.

The driving route gave me good views of the Grand Teton mountains from both sides.

Grand Teton mountains and Teton river from the Idaho side. My first ever view of the Teton river.

I stopped to enjoy the view at the summit of 8432 foot (2571 meter) Teton Pass. I had never driven or pedaled over that pass. The summit has an outstanding view to the east looking down on Jackson Hole.

The Teton Pass highway had just reopened a few days earlier after being closed for several weeks to repair a giant landslide. I'm glad that it was repaired soon enough to allow me to drive Teton Pass. I would like to bike Teton Pass someday but it's a very challenging climb-mostly 8% grade.

On the east side of Teton Pass I had to drive all the way through the city of Jackson. It's a hugely popular tourist town, always gridlocked with traffic.

I enjoyed even closer views of the Grand Tetons on the east side of Teton Pass, in the Jackson Hole valley. The sun angle wasn't very good, though.

While driving up Togwotee Pass I stopped at the Togwotee Overlook for a final view of the Grand Tetons. This would be an amazing view on a sunny morning. Unfortunately my view was looking into the setting sun. The contrast in the photo below is heavily altered to compensate for looking into the sun.

Distant view of the Grand Tetons from the Togwotee overlook, looking into low sun.

The Continental Divide is half a mile west of 9659 foot (2945 meter) Togwotee Pass. For all practical purposes, Togwotee Pass is the Continental Divide.

A mile east of Togwotee Pass I stopped to look at Wind River lake which is at about 9500 feet elevation. Best I can tell it's the headwaters for the Wind/Bighorn river which I will follow downstream for the first four days of the bike tour.

Wind River lake. 9500 feet elevation just east of the Continental Divide. Trees killed by beetles, not fire. Swarming with mosquitoes.

The landscape quickly becomes more arid when descending the east side of Togwotee Pass.

Dubois is my destination for tonight and the starting point of the bike tour. I arrived after the U Haul dealer closed, so I have to return the box truck tomorrow morning.

Elkhorn Arch in Dubois. Elk actually have antlers, but everybody uses the word Elkhorn.

Dubois (pronounced du-BOY) is a small town, population 931. It's a tourist town with several motels and restaurants. And it has a few interesting old western style buildings for me to admire.

My motel has Smores by the river every evening. Nobody around because mosquitoes were terrible.

The bike tour starts tomorrow morning after I return the U Haul truck. Once again I had difficulty sleeping because Dubois is also at 7000 feet elevation.

Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 2 miles (3 km)

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