Day 2, First Part of the Leg:

• The morning and day was bright and sunny.
• During breakfast we could see Antelope a few hundred yards/meters to our south.
• We came upon Continental Divide Crossing #9 rather quickly; we had already performed most of the climbing yesterday.
• Just after the Continental Divide Crossing, we stopped to address some ongoing bike issues. The rear brake was not engaging fully but it seemed to not release properly also. The shifter had become harder to shift on our Rohloff Internal-Hub Gear System.
• We discovered that the Bicycle Frame was broke (left side at each stay mount at the hub).
• Long Story Short: I caught a ride with a Gentleman and his young son back to Pinedale, WY. He was a staff employee of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), he was attending a short meeting in Pinedale, and then he and his son were going fishing. We spent a couple of hours together (a long enjoyable ride). I offered to fill up the gas tank and/or to buy lunch for them but they refused.
  I thanked them profusely.
• I returned without incident to Terry and the Bee. We packed up and returned home (2 day drive).

Travel:
• We went home, had the bike frame repaired, and returned about 2 weeks later.

Day 2, Second Part of the Leg:

• We returned with the freshly overhauled Bee, we had cycled 2 other GDMBR segments first, the bike was in great shape.
• We only had to travel about 18 miles to complete this Pinedale to South Pass City travel leg.
• The morning was bright and clear but it would rain after noon.
• We biked over 2 more Continental Divide Crossings, #10 midway and #11 at the actual South Pass (7550'/2301m).
• I think that we never changed vertical elevation more than 500' and the lowest elevation would have been when we crossed the Sweet Water River between South Pass and South Pass City.
• Just before arriving at South Pass City, we stopped at an old cemetery, more because of the old architecture (wrought iron fence and gateway) than for its contents.
• Arriving at South Pass City completed all of the American Great Divide Mountain Bike Routes north of Colorado for us.
  Next: We still had 2 legs to complete in Colorado and 1 long leg in New Mexico.

Day 1, First Part of the Leg:
Little Sandy Creek (Wild Camp), Continental Divide Crossing #9 (8160'/2487m)

Above Left: Terry had started breakfast; I had packed the contents of tent.

Above Right: All camp components were ready for stowing, just waiting for the cooking supplies.

Above Left: Antelope, due south of the campsite.

Above Right: That is Little Sandy Creek and Zero evidence that we ever camped there.

Above Left: Heading east.

Above Right: Looking north.

Above: We found the Oregon Trail (and California Trail) again.

Above Left: Oregon Trail Wagon Train Rut.

Above Right: Heading east on Lander Cutoff Raod.

Above Left: Climbing a little bit.

Above Right: Our view to the south (humidity haze).

Above Left: Looking north.

Above Right: The Divide Crossing (#9) is about 100 yards/meters to the right.

Continental Divide Crossing #9 (8160'/2487m)

Above Left: Dennis Struck & the Bee - We are at Continental Divide Crossing #9 of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The elevation, according to Ride with GPS, is 8160'/2487m.

Above Right: This is a sign at a T-Intersection that includes Farson Rd (behind us, leads to Farson, WY, not on this sign) and the Lander Cutoff Trail Rd (which connects Boulder and South Pass, that we are riding). We're heading (right/east) for Hwy 28 (at South Pass).

Above Left: This is the same sign as previously posted and in about 100 yards/meter down the road, we will discover that our frame is broke.

Above Right: Some of the Old Wheel Ruts from the Wagons and Wagon Trains on the California and Oregon Trail.

Above Left: Our view to the NW. Some of the parallel tracks of the west bound wagon trains are visible.

Above Right: Our view to the NE.

Above Left: Looking south at a natural Rock Castle.

Above Right: We stopped to inspect the bike because it was not performing properly, the rear brake was not engaging or releasing properly and the shifter's indexing seemed to have slipped the indicator marks. The sign and road intersection of the just previous pictures are at the top of the road in this picture. The ground at the side of the road is disturbed because this picture was taken after we stopped to make some bike adjustments.

Yet the bike did not feel proper. I said to Terry that the bike felt wobbly. Then we took off all the gear on the rear rack and we removed the panniers.
We discovered that our bicycle frame stays were cracked at the left side hub mount juncture. This discovery ended our tour, for that day.

We Discovered that our Bicycle Frame Stays were Cracked at the Left Side Hub Mount Juncture
This Discovery Ended Our Tour, for that Day

Above: We Discovered that our Bicycle Frame Stays were Cracked at the Left Side Hub Mount Juncture. This Event Ended Our Tour for That Day.

Just after the Continental Divide Crossing, we stopped to address some ongoing bike issues. The rear brake was not engaging fully but it seemed to not release properly also. The shifter had become harder to shift on our Rohloff Internal-Hub Gear System.

We made some cable length barrel adjustments but I mentioned to Terry that the bike felt wobbly. We checked the S&S couplers because from previous experience a loose coupler will generate the same symptom.

We pulled off the panniers, the tent and sleeping bags sack had to be removed first, and then we just looked at the bike for loose cable mounts and we followed the line of cables, checking for system integrity.

Terry noticed that the brake and shifter cables had dislodged from their rear stay clip mounts. We remounted the cables. THEN WE DISCOVERED THE REAL PROBLEM > > >

THE BICYCLE FRAME WAS BROKE AT TWO LOCATIONS ON THE LEFT REAR SIDE at the chain-stay's and seat-stay's junction point with the hub mount.

OUR REAR RACK WAS HOLDING THE BIKE FRAME COMPONENTS TOGETHER!

• It took a moment to realize that we could not ride the bike any more.
• It took a moment to realize that we had to end the bicycle tour.
• It took a moment to realize that we were in the middle of nowhere and that I needed to hitch a ride to our support vehicle back in Pinedale.

Day 2, Second Part of the Leg:
We Went Home, Had the Bike Frame Repaired, and Returned About 2 Weeks Later;
We Cycled Through Continental Divide Crossings (#10 & 11 at South Pass 7550'/2301m), Sweet Water River, to South Pass City

Above: The Bee's new anti-torque and stress distribution flange.

Above Left: The Bee's New Rear-End (there just has to be a joke there).

Above Right: We are located exactly where we last ended, 2 weeks ago. We are looking at the signs and intersection of Farson road and Lander Cutoff road.

Above Left: The immediate road ahead (eastward view).

Above Right: Cows on the march.

Above Left: Eastbound on Landers Cutoff.

Above Right: Looking north.

Above Left: Aye Captain, there's a cow and calf ahead.

Above Right: Our view to the south.

Above Left: Heading east on Landers Cutoff Road.

Above Right: I think that this is a type of Ptarmigan (or in the Grouse Family). The bird was walking slowly as if it were crippled. So we automatically looked for chicks opposite of the hens walking direction. Clever aren't we but sure enough, we saw 5 chicks.

Above Left: These are the Ptarmigan's 5 chicks. They all hesitated when we stopped. Then 2 chicks followed mom across the road and three chicks turned back into the grass.

Above Right: At the same time that we stopped for the Ptarmigan chicks, these 2 Antelope became alarmed and started to get up for a run (which they did).

Above Left: Meanwhile, of the 3 remaining Ptarmigan chicks, 1 more chick made a dash across the road and 2 chicks went back for the grass (1 chick is at the far left of the image and only its head is visible).

Above Right: Heading east again.

Above Left: Looking north.

Above Right: Looking south at the sign, we're heading left/east.

Above Left: Dennis is looking north at a sign.

Above Right: The sign's content had no meaning to us (it was for a different direction); we ignored the sign but it told us exactly where we were on the map.

Above Left: We found the roller coasters.

Above Right: Looking south and noticing that a heavy rain happened recently.

Above Left: Cycling eastward.

Above Right: Looking northwest at ranch buildings in a low wind draw.

Above Left: Looking northeast.

Above Right: Pedaling eastward with a peek at what is probably old wagon ruts at the 11:30 position.

Above Left: An Oregon Trail Marker and an old wagon wheel track parallels our road of travel.

Above Right: We're cycling eastward.

Above Left: Looking to our north.

Above Right: We followed a ridgeline where the Continental Divide paralled us to our right side (south side) for about 6 miles.

Above: We're looking south here. The Continental Divide is parallel to us and it follows the base of the ridgeline from where we took this picture.

Above Left: That was our road ahead.

Above Right: Nearly as we could tell, the top of that that far hill was Continental Divide Crossing #10 of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route at 8037'/2449m (elevation from Ride with GPS).

Above Left: We were following Landers Cutoff Road eastward. Notice a change in the dirt road color ahead (it had no effect).

Above Right: We were still following the divide ridge but now the Continental Divide was on our left side and it will remain there for all the way to South Pass (about 6-7 miles yet).

Above Left: That is our road ahead. The terrain is starting to look like the Great Basin (only 10 miles away, we had already ridden through the basin two years previously).

Above Right: A green valley with water, cattle, and antelope.

Above Left: Antelope (top center).

Above Right: Vetch, also known as Loco Weed; sometimes the flower bunches look like Lupine to include similar colors.

Above Left: Heading east.

Above Right: Looking north.

Above: Heading east.

Above Left: See the mouse?

Above Right: Heading east.

Above Left: Looking north, this was our first peek into the Sweet Water River Basin.

Above Right: We're within a mile or 2 of WY Hwy-28 and South Pass.

Above Left: The Mouse is to our southeast.

Above Right: There's the Lander's Cutoff Road connection to WY-28.

Above Left: The sign s for the Landers Cutoff road's westbound direction.

Above Right: We arrived at WY-28, we turned left/north.

Above Left: Northbound on WY Hwy-28 (for about 5 miles).

Above Right: The electronic sign states that 'Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving'.

Above Left: The yellow plant is called Stone Crop.

Above Right: Looking Northwest toward the Bridger Wilderness.

Above Left: We will turn right up ahead to the right, just before that hill/knob in the right side background.

Above Right: South Pass Road. Finding the way is easy when the road signs exist; this sign had been missing for about 15 years and that created quite the navigation challenge.

Above Left: South Pass Road heads east for 2 miles and then turns north for 4 miles (to South Pass City).

Above Right: Nice rock formations to our immediate north.

Above Left: South Pass Road turns left (north) and the other road heads east into the Great Basin. Lots of ATVs around this area; the Great Basin is becoming a big motorized sports arena.

Above Right: We had turned north.

Above Left: Looking NW for a long distance.

Above Right: Looking NW for a short distance.

Above: I think that this is Pine Creek; there was water, about a 1 foot wide clear creek.

Above Left: Looking northeast.

Above Right: Heading north toward South Pass City.

Above Left: Looking northeast.

Above Right: Heading north toward South Pass City.

Above Left: Nice rock formations.

Above Right: Heading North.

Above Left: The first rain of the afternoon, there will be more but not on us.

Above Right: Looking northeast.

Above Left: This is Nino (nee-no) from the Tokyo area of Japan, he's a solo rider cycling the GDMBR from south to north. We met Nino very close to South Pass City, Wyoming.

Above Right: The South Pass Cemetery (Cattle Guard Gateway); we're visiting.

Above Left: There are only a few plots and someone is taking care of them.

Above Right: All of the old plots with headstones have old time wrought iron fencing.

Above Left: There are a lot of sunken cavities in the ground (no photographs), I suspect that these are the old time pine box graves from 1850-1900 and the remaining 3 to 4 good condition grave plots are from 1900-1920 ish. This was a 12 year old girl, 1900-1912; we wished her a good journey.

Above Right: South Pass City is in a little valley on Willow Creek. The pictured section is a state run 'Ghost Town' and these are the original pioneer dwellings.

Above: South Pass City (we are looking north) - What you see here is most of the active South Pass City. Willow Creek is in the foreground.

We had previously biked to South Pass City from Colorado (in June, of 2013).

This touring leg was quite the historical journey - This section of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route addressed American History, to include the subjects of Native Americans, Fur Trappers, Buffalo Hunters, Mountain Men, Guides, Wagon Trains, Wagon Trails (the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and the Lander Cutoff); Key Mountain and River Access through Passes, Crossovers, and Cuts; Mormons, Immigrants, Pony Express; and Government, Civilian, and Military Exploration.

We (Terry and Dennis) have stood or pedaled on the same ground as the likes of Jim Bridger, Roger Stuart, Kit Carson, William Sublette, Lt Freemont, Jedidiah (Jed) Smith, Frederick Lander, and Buckskin Joe.

Epic!

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