8/26/15
After settling in my tent last night a very strong wind came up, making it difficult to sleep. The wind was blowing so hard hoped I wouldn’t develop a great desire to pee in the middle of the night. If I needed to exit the tent, which I had not staked down, would certainly blow away without me in it.
Woke up this morning to a light rain tapping my tent, which gave me no real desire to get out of my sleeping bag. When it seemed like the rain had stopped I got out to start breaking down camp and fix some breakfast. Shortly it started to rain again, but I was able to move everything under some trees to stay dry and continue the morning ritual of stuffing everything away. Still in possession of the pass to unlock the hot tub and shower at the lodge, I would use those facilities just one more time to brush my teeth and stuff.
Under the protection of the shower/hot tub house, it started to rain harder, again I was in no hurry to get underway. Would also spend some time in the little general store buying a couple of items to top off breakfast and hoped the rains would stop.
With no end to the rain in sight, decided I had put off riding long enough. Put on my rain jacket and hit the road around 10:30. As I said in yesterday’s entry, I had about eight miles and about a 1,200 elevation gain in front of me to make Togwotee pass which would be divide crossing #10 since leaving Banff. The climb turned out to be fairly tame because it was on a nice wide shoulder of Wyoming highway. As I got closer to the pass the rains became harder leaving me pretty soaked by the time I made it to the pass.
Togwotee pass
What goes up must come down. Once I reached the top of the pass I stopped to put on my rain pants and some warmer clothes under my rain gear. The increased speed and lack of producing body were predictably going to chill me right down. The rains continued along the decent just as they had near the top of my climb but now the spray from my tires was giving my feet a complete soaking.
After about 8-9 miles of nearly coasting downhill, I came to a convenience store and Bar. Was looking forward to utilizing the bar for an hour or so, but it was closed. That meant no place to warm up and dry out a little bit. The guy in the store did say I could use the hand dryer in the bathroom to dry things out. Took him up on that offer and spent untold minutes with dozens of repeat cycles of pushing the dryer button and holding up wet items to dry at the nozzle.
Feeling a little warmer and drier it was back on the road to seek out Divide crossing #11. Fortunately the rains stopped a few miles before I would begin my ascent to Union pass. This divide crossing was kind of unique as I had to climb a mountain pass which topped out near 9,700 feet but I would cross Union Pass about four miles later at a lower elevation of 9,200 feet, so I nearly coasted over this Divide crossing.
Not quite sure where Union Pass was because it just looked like flat prairie land to me, but according to the map I crossed it at some point in that meadow. A few miles later decided it was time to make camp because I was getting pretty darn hungry. Ended up taking a spot near Fish Creek. The rains started again just as I climbed into my tent for the night.
