I am writing this at the lodge a Colter Bay in Grand Teton
National Park. There’s a decent enough connection here so I can upload some
pics.
God, this is a heck of a place. It rivals Yosemite in
splendor. A really, really beautiful and awe-inspiring part of the world. Locals
are very friendly too. I met a really cool guy this morning called Al. He kind
of reminded me a little bit of Dennis Casey (from Flogging Molly). Sometimes
you just get a “good vibe” off a person, and he is such a guy. He even offered
to hang out with me tonight in town, but alas (depending on how you look at it)
I am heading north to Yellowstone. Al and his wife own a really cool little café
in a place called “Kelly’s” – a sort of town within the park. That kicked off
my day really well.
It was a long day’s ride yesterday from Steamboat Springs,
to Wyoming, and then up to Grand Teton. I passed the Oregon and Overland trail
on two occasions. It’s astonishing that over 150 years later you can still
faintly make out ruts from the wagons that passed this way. At the time the Nez
Perce and other tribes ruled the area. It’s amazing the way the world was.
Driving across it, you can see why Wyoming is the least
people per square mile in the Lower 48. It reminds me a bit of Nevada in the
desolate parts, only a bit greener. I saw lots of signs for “Wild Horses” but
didn’t see any. I did pass the BLM place
where they round them up though, but didn’t feel like looking at them trapped
and cooped up. There is a whole debate about what to do about them and how big
the herds should be allowed to grow. Amazing to think that the Spanish
introduced them, and the Native Americans adopted them - the Plains Indians were masters on
horseback – and now they roam free (at least some of them do.
I met this kinda crazty guy at a “feed stop” – a sort of gas station come general store, come
hardware store, come whatever. The also had a fridge with all kinds of animal medicines, presumably for farm animals. He jumped out of his pickup truck, saw my bike was
like, “Fuck yeah! Bike are cool man. Wish I still had mine…wait’ll ya hear what
happened to me…” He then proceed to tell me, while also getting me to pet his
dog, about how he crashed his dirt bike at 15 mph (yes, FIFTEEN), and managed
to split his skull in three places, break his collarbone, break almost all his
ribs, and a multitude of other things. He had to be helicoptered to Salt Lake
City. Anyway, long story short, he wanted to get back on a bike, but his father wouldn't let him, and his kids were’t too keen (he was about 30), and how he was
envious of me and wanted to tell me – “Hey man, enjoy it, right?” I told him I would!
And so I did. I made it to Jackson, where I met another cool
guy on another BMW. His name escapes me now, but he offered me a room in his
house. Totally cool guy, but I was kind of looking forward to camping.
I found the Gros Venture campground. More really nice staff.
They even “ferried” the firewood I purchased to my campsite. Nice people here!
I had a beautiful night under the stars. Most people in
the campground seemed to be from Europe –
Scandinavia, Germany, sounded like.
I can’t really describe my day today too much. The pictures,
I hope, speak for themselves. I has a swim in Jenny Lake which was probably the
highlight of the day, if I had to pick one. The old buildings are from a turn
of the last (last) century Mormon settlers area. They got displaced by the park
being established, and the ruins were kind of left in the state they are in
now.
The nicest thing about today, other than the place and the
people, was just taking it east and meandering through the park, by the Snake
River, going nowhere in a hurry.
However, it is now 7;04 PM, and I do have to push on up the
road for Yellowstone…
Onwards!
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