July 5, 2021
Day 54 - Togwotee pass, WY to Grant Village, WY
A wet tent
We had planned on waking up early and descending the pass, but when we woke up around 5, it was sprinkling. I had rained earlier in the night, so everything was pretty wet. We decided to wait in the tent until it stopped, but it just got harder. Since taking the tent down in the rain would make the whole inside of the tent wet, we waited until 730 to take down.
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We shoved the sopping tent into its bag and trudged back around the lake through mud. I only have sandals as and off bike shoe, so my feet and or socks were wet and dirty. The high bushes on the trail were hanging with water and made me all wet too. We made it to the pit toilet area, where we had hid some stuff and found most everything still hanging or stored in the bathroom. I hid a bucket under a picnic table up the hill and went to retrieve it, but it was gone. And no trace of anything. I started worrying since all my clothes, chamois, and jacket were in that bucket. Mary and Mark helped me search the mountainside to no avail. I imagined my one bucket life, buying new clothes, riding through Yellowstone with no chamois. The. Alex got back from the campsite and said he had already moved it down near the other stuff. I was so relieved.
We put everything back on the bikes. It took a while because we had taken everything that ever had food in it off. Another storm cloud was threatening by this point and we hurried to finish packing and cleaning. I think this was the first morning I have forgotten to brush my teeth. We took off around 9 to descend the mountain. The pass was at 9600' and the first 30 miles to Colter bay village was all down. The first quarter of the way down it rained, bit luckily I was already wearing rain gear. About half way down we stopped at an overlook to look at the Teton range.
We chatted to some other travelers for a while. The rain had moved and we had a pretty good view of the tetons. We continued on and entered into grand Teton national park. We had to fight the lady at the gate to let four people in on our national parks pass, but her manager agreed with us and we all got in. At Colter bay we got groceries and ate lunch. We set up our tents to dry out and Mark helped a kid fix a flat. Mark also met an older man named frosty who has apparently crossed the country by bike over 15 times and has written several books. We probly spent a couple hours here because another storm came through and we decided to wait it out. We still had 40 miles or so to go, so we hit the road once the clouds moved. At the crossing into Yellowstone, the guard gate guy gave us hell and didn't let us in. Alex and Mark had to pay $20 each, even though the card says "cardholder and 3 other people". They treat us like motorcycles, which is dumb, especially since we leave extremely little impact. I was mad since a car load of people in front of us got in on one park pass. Yellowstone was alot worse for biking than grand Teton. There was no shoulder. The drivers were ok for the most part. I think the most dangerous part is drivers looking at stuff and nott seeing us, but so far so good. We climbed two more hills to get to grant village campground, where there is a no turn away policy for hikers and bikers.
We paid $10 each and went to a camp site. It was 6 pm at this point and everyone was a bit hangry. At the camp site, we saw We are running out of snack foods and there was alot to do before bed. Also, the park is understaffed, so the showers were closed. I think this is day 3 of no shower. We did a spigot showers cooked, set up the tent, and went to bed around 9. I did feel alot better sleeping in this campground versus last night since there are more people and bear boxes.
Mileage:77
Altitude gain:3100
Today's ride: 77 miles (124 km)
Total: 2,881 miles (4,637 km)
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