Dubois are back in Town – Day 18

Date: Tuesday 24th August  

Route: Flagg Ranch, Wyoming – Dubois, Wyoming 

 Distance: 74 miles

Total climb: 4239ft 

Net climb: 87ft

After the high drama of the previous evening (and the last few days in general), we needed a straightforward day to get our rhythm back, and that was largely what we got.  Our route took us through our second National Park in two days as we headed straight into Grand Teton Park.  The Tetons are a magnificent range of mountains with sharp, snow capped peaks.  We passed serenely through most of the park, although Fred had to restrain himself from having a “quiet word” with one driver who had cut us up and then chose to stop and the same rest-stop as us. 

The main event of the day – in cycling terms – was the Togwotee (pronounced “To-get-ee”) Pass, the second highest pass on our route at 9658ft.   Our plan was to take on the pass after lunch.  We picked our lunch spot, the evocatively named Hatchet Resort, spurning a perfectly good cafe on the way there.  Unfortunately, the Hatchet Resort Grill was closed and so we had to make do with some snacks from the resort petrol station including, amongst other delectable items, some Teriyaki Beef Jerky which tasted only slightly better than a well worn shoe.   

We began the climb and made it to about 8700ft before stopping at the Togwotee Lodge, hoping against hope that their restaurant would be open – we had been assured by the owner of the Hatchet Resort that it would we.  It wasn’t.  Fortunately, Team Heagney arrived in the nick of time and so we sat in the RV topping up on cookies and, in my case, a sandwich, bought from the Lodge and which provided a more than adequate demonstration of the concept of price gouging.

Spirits raised after some proper food we attacked the remainder of the Pass.  We made it pretty swiftly to 9360ft, 300ft from the summit, before we came to a queue of traffic.  Not for the first time we had come to some road works – with the standard US procedure of having a workman/woman with a board to regulate the traffic.  This time, however, we were told that we would not be allowed to cycle through the road works and had to be given a lift by the “Pilot Car” which leads the traffic through the works.  We explained the nature of our challenge and that we had to cycle the route, but we were firmly informed that we would simply not be allowed to ride our bikes in the works area.  At first our hearts sank but we soon reconciled ourselves to the fact that if we were legally proscribed from riding over the pass, then receiving a lift from the workmen was not cheating, but a necessary stage in the route.  We loaded the bikes onto the flat bed of the pilot truck.  Fred sat in the back with the bikes whilst I rode shotgun with Roy, the pilot car driver.  Roy chatted about his love of the area around the pass, his travels and the nature of the work that was being undertaken (to date it has taken 3 years and it is predicted to take another 3-5 years to complete – this may be something to do with the fact that the workmen are all paid on an hourly rate).  As we drove through the five miles of road works it was not clear, at first, why we could not have ridden over the top of the pass, however, after the first mile the road disintegrated into a mass of stones and mud.  Roy was right, the bikes would not have been able to make it.  Roy dropped us off at the far side of the pass and we were left with a 25 mile downhill ride into Dubois (pronounced “Du-boys”).  We could free-wheel most of the way into Dubois, and although we were delayed by a puncture to Diana’s rear wheel we still made it to the KOA campsite, in Dubois, before sundown

Duboise describes itself as a “Wyoming Wonderland” and is clearly angling towards tourists with its eclectic collection of large animal sculptures, including a giant Jackalope (a cross of an Antelope and a Jack Rabbit), along its main street.  We decided to head into the town for dinner with Team Heagney and spent a great evening at the Rustic Pine Steakhouse,  enlivened by Cathy our very friendly, if slightly eccentric, waitress.  From Cathy we learned two interesting facts about our resting place:

i. Dubois is the most remote town in the USA on the basis that it is further from an Interstate road than any other town

ii. Dubois is in Fremont county – the largest county in the USA

We have not checked either of these facts and so blindly assert them to be true.  In doing so we have kept this blog consistent with the majority of the content of the global hyper-interweb.

A good day.  In truth it was great to have a 24 hour period without a crash or the need for a bike shop. 

JBS