Tale of Two Trails: Day 12 - Memories of Three Long Distance Bike Trips (In Reverse)

The road never ridden...(see below)

We had a nice hot breakfast at the Best Western Plaza Hotel and then prepared for the day’s trip to Jackson. But before departing, we toured the Hot Springs State Park, adjacent to our hotel. Even though the morning was chilly, we were warmed by the heat of the vaporizing hot mineral waters.

The park has an interesting geological history. According to the Wyoming State Geological Survey: “The springs emerge from the crest of the Thermopolis anticline, which is a large geologic fold that formed during the Laramide orogeny (70–35 million years ago). The Laramide mountain-building event faulted and folded the red Triassic-age rock layers seen around the hot springs, and the hot water is thought to be traveling up to the surface along those faults.

Big Spring is the largest of the park’s springs, with hot water flowing across an impressive system of terraced travertine down to the Bighorn River. Travertine forms by precipitation of carbonate minerals from hot water, and builds up over time forming terraced steps. The bright colors are caused by the incorporation of thermophilic organisms like bacteria and algae into the travertine. Extensive travertine, sulphur, and gypsum deposits mostly west of the river indicate hydrothermal activity has not always been confined to its present location.”

Driving from Thermopolis to Shoshoni along the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway was glorious. The Byway has amazingly beautiful rock walls rising 2,500 vertical feet on either side to the ridge tops and you can see some of the oldest rock formations in the world, dating back to the Precambrian period, (over 2.9 billion years ago) visible right from the highway. There are informative interpretive signs along the way.

The headwaters of the Wind River are at Wind River Lake, near Togwotee Pass. The river flows southeastward to Riverton where it makes a turn and begins flowing north to Thermopolis. At the “Wedding of the Waters,” the Wind River officially becomes the Rocky Mountain Bighorn River, named for the mountain sheep indigenous to the area.

From Shoshoni to Jackson we traversed the same highways we took on our bike trips in 1982, 1995, and 2011. Funny how memory works. We had always felt that when we cycled the 122 miles down to Shoshoni from Togwotee Pass, it was downhill the whole way, with minor exceptions. True, Togwotee Pass is at 9658 feet elevation and Shoshoni, at 4852 feet. But in between, one climbs almost 1300 feet.

Another memory fail: Diane, navigator, reminded Rob that eight miles south of Shoshoni we would turn west onto Wy. 134, and would then turn south after 24 miles to intersect with US 26 West. But about two miles south of Shoshoni, Rob turned west on an unmarked paved road, convinced it was the one we had bicycled on previously. It wasn’t until several (Rob disagrees that it was “several” ) miles later, when the road we were on took a definitive turn north, that Rob acknowledged the memory fail. We had a good laugh over that one.

As we approached Jackson, we realized that half of the North Pathway we had planned to bike was one we had already biked in 2011. That fact, plus the smoky atmosphere resulting from the Roosevelt forest fire 30 miles south of Jackson, which has burned over 50,500 acres since September 15, led us to nix the bike ride. Instead, we will take more time sightseeing in the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Reserve.

Pictures from the Hot Springs State Park