Yellowstone Tour - Day 6


    We started the next day with a float trip on the Snake River that started just a few minutes outside of Jackson.  The weather continued to be perfect, and the river was crystal clear and still rushing with spring snow melt from the mountains.  The highlight of this trip was seeing about a dozen bald eagles flying overhead or standing in their nests along the banks of the river.  We stopped for a picnic lunch on an island in the middle of the river, and ended the trip close to Jackson.

    After the float trip we rode out of Jackson on a looping route that took us to the Jackson Hole Moutain Ski area.  Roger had rented a mountain bike, and was riding with us.   We fought strong headwinds most of the way there, and were happy to take a break at the ski area.  We fit right in, as the Ride Across Wyoming (RAW) week-long camping ride was holding its registraion there that day. The ski resort features an aerial tram that travels 4,139 vertical feet above the valley floor to 10,450 feet (3,185 meters) above sea level.  (More info about the tram is at www.jacksonhole.com/tram/specs.html)  Roger had provided tickets for the tram as part of the tour, so up we went.  It's an interesting ride, especially if heights make you nervous.  I had my eyes open for most of the ride, Dawn had her's closed.  Since it was so nice and warm at the bottom, we didn't think to bring our jackets.  It was well below freezing at the top, and very windy.  We stayed for a few minutes, had some hot chocolate inside the shop at the summit, and then returned to our bikes.  

As we continued north out of the ski area, we found ourselves on Moose Road, which appropriately went to Moose, WY.  There were several miles of gravel road which Hal and Barbara mostly rode.  We, along with D and Patty, walked most of the way, not wanting a repeat of the accident from the first day.  We grumbled quite a bit about Roger's choice of routes, and eventually made it to pavement again.  We stopped for a little while when we saw some moose (mooses?  meese?) just off to the side of the road.  There were two or three in the brush, but only the one pictured here decided to pose for a photo.

We had dinner along the route at an outdoor barbeque north of Jackson, and finished the ride into strong headwinds as we made our way back down route 89/26 to Jackson.  We pushed the speed despite the winds, trying to ride away from Roger, who unfortunately was a strong enough rider to stay with us for quite a while.  He would ride along side of us on the busy road, sometimes no-handed, and generally make us uneasy.  We had been riding tandems for more than 5 years, but we were on a new bike with squirelly handling, along a fairly busy road, and getting pushed around by strong winds.  The others stopped at a Dairy Queen in town, but we skipped it and went straight back to the hotel.