We biked the inner park road through Grand Teton National park, starting from my little shanty cabin behind Jenny Lake Lodge. We pulled north, a rolling but moderate ride with inclines and declines that never quite made me huff and puff. It was a relaxing forty miles and we stopped at all of my favorite spots because this, this was our weekend.
8 miles in to our first stop: Signal Mountain Lodge for some breakfast. Enter a view of Jackson lake while gulping huge portions of trout benedict and huckleberry pancakes. Nursing stomach aches we rode on for another ten miles until we reached the site of my favorite bar in the world. Jackson Lake Lodge itself is a disneyworld of activity, but climb the steps up to the second floor and you will be rewarded by breathtaking views of the Tetons towering over the antelope flats. We know the bartender at the Blue Heron and he makes us bloody marys so strong they make my teeth hurt.
We floated on and north. Somewhere in the woods we pulled over like dizzy teenagers, hid our bikes and rolled around in the grass. I’m not sure who initiated our tousle but this is one Secret Spot I’ll never tell you about.
We floated on and north. My happy buzz gave way to a wince as we climbed the hardest part of the ride, and I was bending God’s ear the whole last 5 miles. Flagg Ranch is the last lodge in the park, a gateway to Yellowtone, and for us a final stop. Just before arriving at the lodge, there is a little turnoff called Grassy Lake Road.
The Road was rife with potholes and an ideal playground for my hybrid Giant (who, bless her heart, carried me over 1,000 miles down the east coast before a flat). We didn’t make it to grassy lake itself that evening. Instead, we found paradise, and we call it camp 1A. Get there first (we didn’t) and yours is the spot by the river, to the rightmost, and hidden a bit by a grove of trees. As we watched the sun set over the river we forgot all about our last 5 miles, the climb, the drinks, and the earth.
s h e shall s e a 