July 19 - Day 24

Squirrel Ranch RV Park to Flagg Ranch, 35.3 miles,  Avg speed 7.2 mph

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…………………………

We woke early to get a good head start before the heat started, and to take advantage of Larry’s cooked breakfast. As NumbStuff doesn’t wear a watch, it was up to Dirtbaby to wake him up by shaking his tent. It took a while before he stirred, suggesting he might not quite be fully awake. Indeed this was proved out when while packing up his tent poles, one of his poles snapped back in his face. NumbStuff let out an almighty scream and clutched his eye. Dirtbaby thought her nursing career was about to start early – except she hadn’t covered pierced eyes in her first aid course yet! Fortunately, it turned out that the pole just missed his eye and nicked his eyelid. The bruising is amazing – he could well get a place in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! Numb Stuff went into the ranch and asked Larry for some ice to bring the swelling down. Larry probably thought Dirtbaby had socked Numbstuff in the eye during the night but was too polite to say!

After our usual eggs and hash browns breakfast, we set off towards the Grand Tetons which we can now see from a distance, along a nice paved road for 2 miles, then a gravel road for the next 15 miles. This road was super dusty, made far worse by cars. Some cars did slow down, but most were oblivious to us, surrounding us in choking dust clouds and spitting gravel at us. Great nose pickings! At first, this was bearable, but then convoys of Boy Scout vehicles began to motor through, forcing us to stop at the side of the road. We later found out there is a big Boy Scouts of America campground on that road, which they were all travelling to. We were just amazed by the amount of stuff they were taking, judging by the number of trailers that were heading up that way, compared to the number of chubby boy scouts in the cars.

After 15 miles, the road changed from gravel to packed dirt with pockets of soft sand, even more dusty. Time to start skiing again!

We come across a large lily pond which seems to go on forever. Just a pity the lilies are not yet in bloom.

The road began to twist and turn steeply, even though the increase in elevation profile according to the map didn’t seem that horrible. To make matters worse, there was a healthy population of horse flies who were chomping hard on anywhere they could land on, in addition to our usual fan club of mosquitoes. Let’s just say there were a few choice Anglo Saxon expressions emitted! At one point, a creek runs along the road and is just too inviting not to stick your feet in! It is at times like this that you appreciate your Keen cycling shoes – so refreshing!

Eventually, we top out at Grassy Lake Reservoir which is stunning. There is a steep uphill again just after this, then a bumpy downhill with all sorts of terrain, (not to mention more cars) to Flagg Ranch. Along the way, we come across the southwestern area of Yellowstone that was devastated by fire in 1988. Although the dead trees are still standing, there is a lot of new growth coming up which is encouraging to see.

By the time we reach Flagg Ranch, we are totally exhausted and ravenous and would just love to lay down sleep and drink beer. However, we limit ourselves to a quick beer and sandwich as we intend to continue another 25 miles to Signal Mountain, to be further ahead so that we can bob into the bike shop in Jackson to get Numb Stuff’s spoke replaced.

Usually, we leave things to chance and just turn up at places, but for some reason, we decide to call Signal Mountain Lodge to check if they have a room as we are both tired and fancy a real bed for the night rather than a thermarest. We discover that not only is Signal Mountain Lodge and campground fully booked, but so is virtually every other campground and lodge in the area! In fact, the only thing left is 2 camping spots at Flagg Ranch. We speed out to the bikes (only to find Numb Stuff now has 2 broken spokes – that last dirt road was tough!) and pedal to the Flagg Ranch campground superfast! The people in front of us take one spot and we bag the last one. So as we have an unexpectedly early finish, this of course, has to be celebrated with a six pack of beer! We also take the opportunity to do laundry. Dirtbaby takes everything to the laundry, adds the soap, sticks in the quarters and…… nothing happens. Bugger – apparently there is a power failure which is due to last 3 hours. Nothing else for it but to take out all the clothes, shake out the detergent and wear the clothes again the next day. What a day. We figure that as everything is buzzing in this area, we should book a motel in Jackson for the night after so head back to the Lodge to make the call. Once there, we spot a bar hidden away in the back corner, so take the opportunity to have a glass or two of red wine. This completely knocks us out and we stuff everything in our panniers and crawl into our tents. Around 4am, Dirtbaby comes to, and thinks she hears things moving around outside and realizes she has packed salt & vinegar Pringles in her panniers which must stink like crazy to the bears out there. Between that and a cracking hangover, not a good way to start the day! Luckily, when she eventually does venture out, everything is just as we left it.