I sleep fitfully and in the morning I sit in the sun. For the
first time I fully slow down and take time to send a postcard or two and
drink a coffee, I could almost be a tourist if it wasn't for the same
clothes I had been wearing for over a week.
I ride at 10am and head for
Togwatee Pass which avoids the Yellowstone camper van highway by
detouring through some back roads and dirt trails. There is still snow
at the trail summit and I head down to the foot of Union Pass. The climb
to the top of union pass is long but my legs are strong, I ride long
spells out of the saddle and wonder what other adjustments I can make to
my bike set up to improve the situation. The top of union pass brings
you to an Alpine plateau with snow patches scattered around. There are
far reaching mountain views, open meadows and the ever present thought
of grizzlies. I ride on the plateau and spot a herd of Elk watering at a
pond in a meadow, they hear me and take off cautiously back into the
woods. Across the trail runs a wild cat about the size of black
Labrador, I have no idea what it is. The sun is dropping and from out of
nowhere a creature likely to instill more terror than a grizzly crashes
from the woods on my left and into the woods on my right. A moose bigger
than a shire horse, and a rack to match, thunders alongside me for a
hundred yards before veering off deeper into the woods. I have had more
than my fill of fauna and flora for one evening and I begin the long
descent towards Whiskey Grove campsite which is still a long way away.
As I get within 5 miles of the campsite I run into cattle, hundreds and
hundreds of cattle that are being driven from the lowlands up into the
hills for summer. Mile after mile of dumb beast part in front of my weak
light as I roll across the plains until eventually I peel off and camp
in a clump of trees by a cold river.
