Day 46: GTNP

July 21, 2022 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Something that I've realized is that being on the road for 53 straight days makes you very, very tired. One consequence of being exhausted, as it turns out, is wiping out in the first ten miles because you looked too far over your shoulder.

I am totally fine, but it still was a bummer to fall off my bike onto the asphalt. Because I bonked my head a little bit, I had to get into the van until first lunch to make sure I was feeling fine.

Once we got to the first lunch spot, we set up "pre-prom," which was basically a bunch of fun chalk around our lunch site. I was, in fact, feeling fine, so I was able to rest for a while before my group caught up.

Luckily for me, the part I missed was mostly uphill, and I rejoined right before a 17-mile descent.

As we set off, I soon learned that even though a sign says you'll descend for 17 miles, you probably won't. Most of it was downhill, but there were significant uphills to go with it. Even though the uphills were significant, the downhills were pretty glorious, which made it a lot better.

As we came around a left turn on the mountain, the Grand Tetons were suddenly in view. They were enormous. Like no mountains I've ever seen. If I wasn't in the truck tomorrow, they would've struck such fear in my heart.

They were also notably pointer than most other mountains I've seen, which I later learned is because they are relatively young mountains at a spritely 5 million years old. For context, the Rockys are 50 million years old, and are settled, while the Grand Tetons are still actively shifting along a fault line.

After a quick stop at some cabins to let the group ahead of us get a little further ahead, we rolled up on Grand Teton National Park, and man, it was amazing.

The park had everything–– rolling hills, beautiful lakes and streams, buffalos and baby buffalos, views of the mountains... there is no way I can do justice to how incredible the park was. I would love to go back for a longer visit with my family!

After we trapezed through the prettiest place on Earth, we met up with a lovely bike trail for the last 15 miles of the ride. I was getting tired, but it was a super easy ride, and the views continued to stun.

Once we got into Jackson Hole, the traffic was a bit stressful. We were only riding in town for about a mile, though, and we soon got to the host!

This particular host didn't want us to hose shower because they were worried the neighbors would see 18 strangers in bathing suits sudsing up under a yard house, so we went to a local rec center to shower.

After we showered, I realized we didn't have any dinner food and I did not feel like scavenging, so I walked downtown and treated myself to three very large slices of cheese pizza and a cannoli. I was quite hangry before, so that helped a lot.

Tonight is prom, and I drew Juan's name out of the hat so he was my date. I don't think I ever told the blog about my promposal–– it wasn't super exciting, but I made a soccer-themed poster (Juan loves soccer) and hid where he puts his bag in the truck.

We decided to go as Simba and Scar, and our costumes turned out pretty awesome. I did have to get creative and use my hair to make lion ears, though.

Prom itself was kind of the worst, because everyone started drinking immediately and I can't. And then they all went bar hopping which I also can't do, so I pretty much just had to go home.

I did get lots more sleep than everyone else, though, so at least there's that!