Riding National Parks

In about a week I'll be riding through the Rocky Mountain National Park, but this week I was able to get on two wonderful rides in other National Parks.

On Tuesday we stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. I was able to make a beautiful ride of 30 miles down to Lake Jenny and back. Riding south I had the view above in sight the whole way, which was totally inspiring. Also fun that there were lots of Mule Deer to see and also a wolf with a squirrel in its mouth who was trotting along the road and seemed undisturbed by my presence. The landscape was not unlike that in Cherry Creek State Park back in Denver, other than the fact you have the magnificent Grand Tetons right there! Only part that wasn't a pure joy was where they had signs of "Do Not Stop" because of recent Mama and Baby Grizzly activity. I was a bit nervous, planning my escape if needed!

The next day we drove up to Yellowstone, where we are staying in a cabin at Mammoth Hot Springs. I set off yesterday morning about 5:30 for a ride, nor realizing that a Mama Elk had just given birth behind our cabin (that's her above just behind our cabin). When I set off, I looked to my left and saw a large elk coming at me! I sprinted off, thinking that was a bit strange....

I rode up through Gold Gate Pass (above), a five mile, 1,500 climb (nice to get in a climb on this trip!) to the Yellowstone Plateau. Then another five miles out along the valley and woods. No interesting sightings, though a fair number of elk and mule deer wandering around. Returned to the cabin and saw the elk (which I didn't realize yet was a new mother) at the top of the hill behind our cabin. As soon as she saw me, she started trotting down the hill towards me, not in a friendly fashion, so I sped to the porch, jumped off my bike and dashed inside. A new experience for my bike riding! As it happens, the elk was a bit of a pain all day, as she hung around our cabin not wanting us to go in or out, until finally at the end of the day she wandered off.

Unfortunately, I won't have any more chance on this trip to ride, so I'll have to put in some good rides early next week before taking the break before the start of RTR; just over a week away!