Day 1:

• The riding day was relatively easy as 3/4 of the route distance was paved.
• The only real climb occurred after cycling over the Big Sandy (on the same ancient road as used over time by Native Americans in addition to the historically more recent Mountain Men, Pioneers, Mormon Immigrants, and Wagon Trains.
• We dodged multiple squalls while enroute and the on-and-off rain pattern became de rigor. We never had to 'Suit-Up', we did put on our rain jackets many times, and once we had to hide behind a tall 2 yard/meter boulder under a space blanket and that cell had a little hail. The P-sized hail had melted by the end of the brief cloud burst.
• Legal Camp Places were limited. We 'ran out of gas' around Little Sandy Creek, not quite to a map indicated campsite and we stayed/camped near where we got water. That area was grass and sage brush, there was no such thing as a stealth camp, we pitched a tent in a cattle grazing section but no cattle were ever near us.
• It rained briefly on us as soon as we set up our tent and we had one more good cloud burst sometime during the night.

Day 1 - Pinedale, Boulder, Old West Lander Cutoff (of the Oregon & California Trails), Big Sandy, to near Little Sandy Creek (Wild Camp)

Above: We spent the night at the Log Cabin Motel (just for the experience); originally built in the late 1930s for the emerging sport recreation market around Pinedale, Wyoming, and the new automobile travel craze.

Above Left: Cycling east on US-191 for about 12 miles.

Above Right: It was early in the morning and we had US-191 to ourselves, momentarily.

Above Left: Pinedale Entrance Sign (photographing into the sun).

Above Right: We were riding parallel to New Fork River.

Above Left: Llamas in the morning and a tandem bicycle selfie.

Above Right: Wenz Airfield, 1937.

Above Left: Wetland game management (big business here); this is an Osprey nest.

Power Companies build these nests next to power lines to keep the big birds of prey (usually eagles or ospreys) off the power lines. There have been too many bird deaths on power lines (over time) and research demonstrates that 99% of big birds will nest in exactly the same spot (over time), so the power companies (with conservationist support) built the nest system supports next to the location that birds would naturally select for themselves (and over time the naturalists had learned much of the bird nest selection techniques).

Above Right: The Osprey's mate in flight (from the previous posted nest photo).

Above Left: We had arrived at Boulder, Montana (where we turn left/northeast on WY-353).

Above Right: The famous Boulder Store and Gas Station, many cyclists resupply here. We stopped briefly.

Above Left: Terry just stowed away her jacket layer (Boulder Store).

Above Right: The Boulder Post Office services a large rural area.

Above Left: Heading northeast on WY-353.

Above Right: Cloud moisture buildup was occurring early in the morning. After noon, we were in and out of small local squalls for the remainder of the day.

Above Left: Heading northeast on WY-353.

Above Right: Nice mail box.

Above Left: Old Log Cabin and a log cabin add-on.

Above Right: A highway underground tunnel for cattle.

Above Left: WY-353.

Above Right: The mountains are clouding up.

Above: Lt Freemont surveyed a large portion of the American west; both of the States of Wyoming and Colorado have Freemont Counties.

Above Left: WY-353.

Above Right: Standing water.

Above Left: Freemont Mountain.

Above Right: WY-353.

Above Left: Standing Water, more to come on this day.

Above Right: WY-353.

Above Left: 0900 hrs, Terry removed her overshirt.

Above Right: Storm Coming.

Above Left: A beautiful line of purple flowers under a cloud shadow.

Above Right: We were returning toward the mountains, heading NE, as indicated by the map.

Above: We were putting on sunscreen but quietly wondering about risk percentages.

Above Left: Closer to the mountains.

Above Right: More clouds and moisture stacking-up before the mountains.

Above Left: Antelope - So far, we have stayed dry.

Above Right: Cattle, just waiting.

Above Left: WY-353.

Above Right: Our view to the south.

Above Left: Content cattle with food and water.

Above Right: Eastward on WY-353.

Above Left: A view to the south.

Above Right: A view to the north.

Above Left: The end of the pavement is coming soon.

Above Right: The WY-353 pavement ended and we were beginning the dirt road called CR-118 (Big Sandy - Elkhorn Road). The Big Sandy is both an area and a river.

Above Left: We stopped and ate a snack but we had to be careful parking the bike because we have discovered a new thorn plant.

Above Right: Terry saw a wolf staring at us (sign post).

Above Left: Rocks.

Above Right: The road ahead.

Above Left: The road ahead.

Above Right: We have already worn our rain jackets through sprinkles, the jackets are now in the cargo net. There is no need to put the jackets away.

Above Left: We had been dodging cell centers all morning but we had caught a few cell edges.

Above Right: An old ranch homestead.

Above Left: Some interesting rock formations.

Above Right: Looking south.

Above Left: Heading east.

Above Right: We crossed a man made ditch (water delivery system) not on the map.

Above: A monument to an ancient trail, discovered by Robert Stuart's Astorian party (out of Oregon to open and monopolize the fur trade market in the American west).

TRIVIA: The Astorian Party was backed by German born John Jacob Astor, America's first multi-millionaire. Astor as in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NY City.

Above Left: Buckskin Crossing lies ahead, the Big Sandy River is just out of view in this valley, and this road in the picture is over the actual Oregon and California Trail.

Above Right: Terry and the Bee were standing in front of the Big Sandy [River] on the actual Oregon and California Trail. Jim Bridger, Roger Stuart, Kit Carson, William Sublette, Lt Freemont, Jedidiah (Jed) Smith, Frederick Lander, and Buckskin Joe [for whom the crossing is now named] have all stood here. The Bee is in good company!

Notice that we just removed our rain jackets and set them on top of the tent, we are going to eat lunch here.

Above Left: The Big Sandy River (looking north).

Above Right: Our back view (looking west).

Above Left: Where we ate lunch on the Big Sandy River.

Above Right: I believe that this is a type of Stonefly, an aquatic bug that Trout love to eat. This was sighted where we ate lunch.

Above Left: This is our back trail climb out from the Big Sandy.

Above Right: Same road, our climb out ahead.

Above Left: It will rain (and hail) on us again, within the hour.

Above Right: We were turning onto the actual Lander Cutoff Trail of the Oregon and California Wagon Trail, Immigrant Migration Route, and Pony Express Route.

People called it the 'Cut Off Trail' because it cut off about 6 days of travel from the previous route AND the route was only accessible because Frederick Lander made arrangements with the local Indian Tribe.

Above Left: Sign at the head of CR-132, we turned left here but we were not visiting a single one of those off-route places.

Above Right: That looks like a crest but it climbs up and up for the next six miles.

Above Left: Lone Tree.

Above Right: Still climbing and starting to sprinkle again.

Above Left: That cell will rain and hail on us.

Above Right: We're climbing and that is not the crest. We're hot from the climb or else we would already be in rain gear.

Above: Still climbing and heavy rain was imminent.

Somewhere in this photograph, we grabbed our rain jackets and a space blanket, we went about 40 yards/meters, and we took shelter behind a 2 yard/meter tall boulder (no trees around us). It rained for about 25 minutes and it was hard rain with pea sized hail for about 10 minutes.

Above: Still climbing.

Above Left: We turned right (east).

Above Right: This is an informal camping area but there is no water nearby.

Above: These are the sights for which we bikepack.

Above: Camping areas, no water (we still have a few more hours of cycling in us).

Above: Private ranch land.

Above Left: Heading east on a series of roller coasters.

Above Right: Looking northeast.

Above Left: Choices, we're going right.

Above Right: The road ahead, CR-132.

Above: Cool, eh?

Above Left: We've been climbing for most of the after noon time and we were on a high altitude platue. We were within a few miles of Continental Divide Crossing #9. I think that we were around 7000' in elevation.

Above Right: A Trail Marker for the Lander [Cutoff] Trail.

Above: Same Marker - California Trail and Oregon Trail - the ruts in the foreground are the actual wagon wheel ruts. Cheers from Dennis Struck and the Bee!

Above Left: See the monument? These are ruts from the actual Lander Cutoff Trail, California Trail, and Oregon Trail.

Above Right: These are ruts from the actual Lander Cutoff Trail, California Trail, and Oregon Trail.

Above Left: Looking north.

Above Right: We cannot see Little Sandy Creek in the picture but it came out of those trees and then through the bushes.

Above: Terry and the Bee. We're looking south. We quickly set up camp near Little Sandy Creek. No sooner had we off-loaded the sleeping gear into the tent it started to rain. We just waited inside the tent, the rain lasted about 20 minutes (no hail). When it quit raining the sun came out and then we came out to prepare dinner. We also got water from Little Sandy Creek. It rained again in the night but we cannot remember when.

We dodged rain all day, sometimes the cells went around us, sometimes we edged a cell, and on one occasion we had to hide under a space blanket behind a rock to avoid heavy rain and hail. We quite enjoyed ourselves!