Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) - Segment:
Togwotee Pass (Divide Crossing #7), Brooks Lake, Warm Spring Creek (Wild Camp),
Union Pass (Divide Crossing #8), near Strawberry Creek (Rain Camp), Raspberry Creek,
Green River (Mosquito City), Trail Head near Kendall Ranger Station to Pinedale (Log Cabin);
Wyoming; June, 2016

Day 2:

• We had a WARNING, the night sky lit up like day time. We quickly covered the tent with its Rain Fly.
• It probably rained three different times during the night.
• We woke to a cloudy sky but everything was dry due to good camping techniques.
• During Breakfast we heard a lot of Elk Bugle Calls, followed by us witnessing about Sixty Elk moving down a mountain side. Our visibility was often blocked by trees, which allowed us to witness the event without the Elk seeing us.
• An even higher un-named elevation summit (9655'/2942m) exists about 7 miles before Union Pass but it is not on the Continental Divide. After crossing Warm Spring Creek for the fourth time there was a 3000'/1000m accent for about 4 miles to the un-named summit. There were places where we had push the bike
• We met some more Tour Divide Racers (south to north) near Union Pass.
• In the late afternoon, we had to sit out one rain squall under a space blanket under a tree. We then cycled about 4 more miles, saw another squall coming directly at us, we topped off our water supplies and then we made an emergency camp (pitched the tent and climbed in). That heavy-duty downpour with lightning lasted a full hour.
• After the big rain, the sun came out but we decided to stay the night even though we had about 4 more hours of sunlight.

Day 2: Warm Spring Creek (Crossing #3) Wild Camp, Union Pass (9210'/2807m, Continental Divide Crossing #8),
to Hard Rain Emergency Camp near Strawberry Creek

Above Left: Deflating Tent in Turtle Mode.

Above Right: A wonderful Stoker and Cook is finishing the Pilot's Coffee; the Stoker does not drink Coffee.

Above: Terry Struck, my favorite Stoker!
It is chilly outside. Everything is packed and we are just waiting for the cooking gear to get stowed. Then we can load the Bee.

Above Left: See the Elk? We had the advantage of being able to also hear the Elk.

Above Right: Close-up: There are no Light-Brown Rocks, those are all Elk! It took about 15 minutes for the entire herd to move. We just stood there, without motion, and watched the Move. The Elk were probably comeing down for there morning water.

Above Left: Terry and the Bee are ready to move out.

Above Right: We were cycling eastward on NF-352.

Above Left: Timber operations.

Above Right: A brushy meadow around Warm Spring Creek.

Above Left: This is a weather beaten sign but we had reached NF-263, aka Union Pass Road. We turned right here for Union Pass (12 miles, 9210'/2807m) and an even higher un-named elevation summit in only 5 miles (9655'/2942m).

Above Right: Warm Spring Creek - This was our Fourth (4th) Crossing. After we crossed Warm Spring Creek, we began a 3000' accent that lasted 4 miles. There were places where we push the bike.

This is the place that we tentatively planned on spending the night (last night). We are very happy with our stay at Warm Spring Creek #3 Crossing, given our viewing of an Elk Herd on the move early this morning.

Above Left: Ol' Bessy, we stopped and she walked around us in a nearly perfect 3 yard/meter arc.

Above Right: Wild Geraniums.

Above Left: Big Yellow Daisies.

Above Right: We're climbing.

Above Left: We're climbing.

Above Right, PET PEEVE: A Lazy No Good for Nothing Person cut the top of this tree off for a Christmas Tree.

Above Left: We're climbing.

Above Right: See Her?

Above Left: We're climbing.

Above Right: Yellow Dandelions, Blue Lupine, and White Columbine.

Above Left: We're climbing.

Above Right: The Bee is taking a break while we top off our energy level (snack break).

Above Left: We're climbing.

Above Right: It's getting steeper and sometimes we push the bike.

Above: An interim climbing view.

Above: We're climbing but at less of an incline.

Above: We are gently climbing.

Above Left: A fence and cattle guard are ahead, climbing is shallow now.

Above Right: We are high enough in elevation to keep snow in the open sunlight.

Above Left: The view from the summit.

Above Right: A trailhead and parking exists here. That distant peak begins the downhill run to Union Pass.

Above: After every mile of the last 4 climbing miles, the Stoker performed a Happy Circle Dance.
We are now 3000'/1000m Higher than we were 4 miles ago, also 1.5 hours ago (plenty of breath-catching breaks).

Above: The view across our un-named summit at 9655'/2942m elevation.

Above Left: Believe it or Not, this is a watershed for Warm Spring Creek (the creek that we had already crossed 4 times before climbing up the un-named peak).

Above Right: A dark cloud is overhead in this mountain park and it will rain on us in about one hour.

Above Left: An Antelope mommy and twins.

Above Right: Looking down toward Lake of the Woods and Union Pass.

Above Left: Coasting down to Lake of the Woods and Union Pass.

Above Right: Blue and White Mountain Lupine.

Above Left: Coasting down to Lake of the Woods and Union Pass.

Above Right: One of the ponds adjacent to Lake of the Woods.

Above Left: We met these two riders (3 total) at a pond next to Lake of the Woods.

Above Right: One of the three riders that we met near Lake of the Woods (near Union Pass). We all had a nice trail discussion; they were all part of the Northbound Tour Divide Race. They all sort of linked-up by internet to form a team for the Tour Divide Race.

Above Left: UNION PASS - Union Pass is un-signed but it exists at the border of Shoshone NF and of Teton NF (technically, Bridger-Teton NF). This is 9210'/2807m in elevation and it is Continental Divide Crossing #8 of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). Welcome back to Teton National Forest.

Above Right: Grizzly Bear Warning.

Above Left: This is old homestead styled fencing and is probably 100 years old.

Above Right: Storm coming.

Above Left: Old homestead styled fencing.

Above Right: Old homestead styled fence with a modern ranch gate.

Above Left: Storm clouds ahead.

Above Right: We're tuning left for the Green River, plus ... .

Above Left: NF-600 turns down toward Fish Creek.

Above Right: It's Raining. We did not make it to Fish Creek; we took refuge under a pine tree with a large branch spread at the base. We could tell that the rain would pass in 20 to 30 minutes.

Above: We just sat out one 20 to 30 minutes rain squall and then we started cycling again. We then saw a Rain Wall coming our way but we could not tell if it would edge us or hit us full-on.

We decided to get water at Fish Creek (immediately to our front) and then determine whether to seek shelter (or not).

Above Left: This is Fish Creek (unsigned). We would break out our Water Filter and top off all of our water bottles (but NOT water bladder, a time issue).

Above Right: Swallows and mud and straw nests under Fish Creek Bridge. Each entrance hole with a little beak in the center has a bird at home (about 50%).

Above Left: Blue Penstemon, wet with the previous rain's water drops on the leaves.

Above Right: ... Then it Rained! We had managed to pedal the Bee between Fish Creek and Strawberry Creek (into tree cover) and quickly set-up our tent and rain fly (5 minutes). No sooner had we closed the panniers and made sure that everything was inside the tent or at least under rain-fly cover, to include ourselves, it had rained with volume.

Above Left: See the wet rain-fly above the open tent vent.

Above Right, Emergency Camp: After about an hour the rain had ended and the sun was out. We still had about four (4) hours of sunlight remaining. We could have packed up and moved on or stayed in place. We decided to stay in place and to cook dinner (as seen in this image). Terry broke out a space blanket to sit upon and was preparing a camp stove for cooking.

We had no problem sleeping that night.