I was beaming with energy at the start of the day from all the extra rest and the prospect of reaching Grand Teton park by the afternoon. Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks loomed in the back of my imagination for most of the trip and were the main reason for turning north at Colorado instead of continuing west.
We had about 50 miles along route 287 taking us over Togwotee pass, a 9658 foot peak which we began to ascend shortly after leaving town.
My legs happily began to spin up the climb in the cool dry mountain air. Timber lined ridges with stone outcroppings surrounded the view. My excitement grew as I approached the top.
The road flattened and i noticed 4 cars waiting in front a construction worker holding a stop sign. The young guy holding the sign waved me over and explained that the road was being worked on and that the pilot truck leading cars back and forth would be have to take me and my bike down the road.
I paniced that i would be robbed of one of the most dramatic stretches of road on the trip. Luckily the free ride was only a couple miles. "Watch out for the Griz" Jack the driver told me. "We see 8 or 9 a week in broad daylight up here". I thought about the 3 pb&j sandwiches I had packed in my bag.
Back on my bike I began the long decsent down the pass cruising along at 33 mph. In a moment the tree line cleared on my left side and I saw the majestic Teton mountain range off in the distant. Large dark stone mountains with snowy creases jutted up into the air. The Grand Teton with it's pyramidal top extended high into the sky with small clouds danced around it's peak.
We continued on along the flat road into Teton park and into the dense forrest it preserves, the teton mountian range and ever present backdrop. We stopped in Jackson lake lodge, an architechtual mastepiece with it's grand 3 story high hall with its towering windows framing the Tetons an had lunch.
We continued into Colter Bay Village, another full service lodge and campsite right on Jackson Lake. John Colter was a fur trapper on the Lewis and Clark expidition and the first westerner to see this part of the country. We pitched out tents at camp and and carefully separated all our food and toilletries into separate bags to be stored in large metal bear boxes.
I headed back to the lake to enjoy it's beauty at sunset. The Forrest was thick and quiet and provided the best night of camping thus far despite falling asleep with the mild worry that I missed some candybar or bag of peanuts hiding in the clothes i use as a pillow and that a bear, smelling it's sweet sent would rip my head off to get at it.
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