Day 44 Colter Bay (Grand Teton NP) - Dubois 101km

Today we cheated. Twice. First by exceeding our entry pass for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park by one day. Second by getting a 4-mile free ride in a pilot car through the big road construction site at the lead up to Togwotee Pass (and with it the Continental Divide). Until now I thought that every day including a boat trip is a particularly good day. But my new the new favorite is now a day including a ride in the back of a pilot car truck, as you can tell...


But this wasn't the only highlight of the day. Grand Teton NP farewelled us with another wildlife sighting of a rare kind: a Grizzly bear mother and her two cups enjoyed their breakfast by munching over an Elk kill. Of course we were not the only ones watching...


The 'breakfast job' was most likely done by a pack of wolves that Louise heard howling during another of her sleepless and 'bearful' nights (that's Louise's theory). With the Grand Tetons at our backs we snuck out of the park - heading EASTbound again for the first time in days! At Moran Junction we left the heavy traffic and the busy tourist streams behind and anxiously pedaled towards the mountains sitting at the horizon. According to our road research and map studies we might be in for a nice surprise (= free ride). But you never count on it until it actually happens. Well, it did happen at mile 18 and ended a steep 4 miles later and 1.000ft higher! The young girl who drove us past waving construction site workers and heavy duty machinery in action wasn't nearly as excited about the drive as we were. But our climbing job wasn't done yet. The remaining 12 miles up to the 9658ft pass were a serious but manageable affair. On the way up Wyoming introduced us to constantly changing and new scenery and our 'best' friend came back: tailwind! Not much to complain about especially when on top of all of this we looked at a 25-mile gradual downhill joyride with destination Dubois. For all the French experts amongst our readers: we have to disappoint you. They don't pronounce it as you would expect - nope - it's 'dooboyse' please. Which by the way is a lovely small town sitting in the heart of the Wind River Valley, framed by spectacular scenery and 'painted hills'.


You have to consider yourself lucky when the unwelcomed sound of a 'flat-tyre-about-to-happen' (pfffffffff) just happens 200 yards from the motel where you are staying for the night. And lucky we were today indeed. We are back on the 'roads less travelled', back in the vibes of friendly gestures and welcoming smiles. And back is the privilege of being a bicycle traveller. We sense already that Wyoming has much more to offer than Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP. We are looking forward to it!