2009 National Park Trip - Day 5

We opted to get the bicycles out and ride today. I checked the topo map and it didn’t seem like any mountains to climb and Jenny Lake was 15 miles south, so we mounted up and off we went.

I was right, there weren’t any bad climbs anywhere. Just some gentle rolling and some flats. It’s actually ideally suited for bike riding. You have relatively flat roads, lightly travelled. There’s a nice wide shoulder to ride on. The views are outstanding. It looked like something out of Bicycling Magazine.

So we rode down to Jenny Lake Lodge, which was a cute little place with cabins – but no store to buy food or coffee. So we rode on to South Jenny Lake where there was a store and bathrooms and a visitor’s center. We got something to munch and looked around at the lake. We considered taking the ferry across the lake to climb a climb, but there were a hundred zillion people doing the same thing so it didn’t seem worth it.

Tomorrow is split up day so I went into the visitor’s center to talk to a ranger about a hike. I planned to take a strenuous solo hike and wanted to know my options. He was very helpful and led me to a nice hike. I’ll tell you about how THAT went tomorrow.

There was a bike path there that continued south so we went down a little ways to see and we turned down the road to the Trail Head I was going to take tomorrow. It was long and gravelly and dusty so only I went down all the way.

When I got back we both agreed it was time to head back. The weather had cooled, there were some clouds, and the wind was now at our face. And as a result, the ride back was tougher. We did pass Signal Mountain lodge, too, so we stopped in to use facilities and check it out. It was kind of like a cheap motel. So far we’ve decided that Jackson Lake Lodge is the class of the joint. And we’re very happy here.

Anyway, we left there and only had 3 or so miles to go. The last turn was uphill for awhile and I had to go granny gear and was huffing and puffing. But we made it. Got our bikes locked up out in front and looked to, oh, take a nap or something. Which I did. Michelle lounged by the pool.

We had decided to eat at the fancy place so I went up and made reservations. It’s called the Mural Room and has some famous murals on the wall. The food was excellent and expensive. We hung around the lobby and looked at some shops. Michelle had an ice cream and at that point we were pretty much done. We did get out to look out at the meadow again with the binocs and saw a bunch of elk and a couple of cranes. No bears yet. We keep looking. Another day, another night, Day 5.