Day 14: Goodbye Tetons

Friday, July 2

Colter Bay/Grand Teton NP to Lava Mountain Ranch in Wyoming

53.8 miles, 3922 ft climbed, 899.3 cumulative miles

We had a restful night in Colter Bay, freshly showered and with all clean clothes which was glorious. Our ride out of Colter Bay was on pavement so we continued sharing the road with many many tourists and RVs as we had done on our arrival the night before. We had spectacular views of the Tetons and stopped at every viewpoint for pictures.

We made a stop at the post office in Moran, WY to each pick up a box our hubbies had mailed us. Sarah got a padded shorts, a huge tube of chamois Buttr, and a saddle from home (third one in two weeks, sore is healing thanks to daily bandaging and ointment routine but pain is still an issue). Irena got fresh socks and shorts. We’d been looking forward to this for days! 

A while later, we were finally back on dirt roads and climbing. We made a stop at Turpin Meadow Ranch for snacks and chatted with another southbound rider named Teague (Ha! Those who know Sarah know why this is noteworthy). The ranch was in a beautiful spot with views of the distant Tetons. The long, very buggy (actually almost everything we’ve done so far has been buggy - we are both consistently covered in bites) climb up Togwotee Pass took us several hours but got us up higher than we’ve been so far on this trip - 9,584 feet (and another Continental Divide crossing). The scenery in the next ten miles was stunning. Wildflowers, deep green valleys, distant snow capped mountains, and nearby rocky crags. We pulled into Lava Mountain Lodge at mile 54 and decided to camp there for the night rather than going a little further and wild camping. It’s our last night in grizzly country so we figured why press our luck!

Published July 2, 2021