D20 (June 14th), Oh, what a difference a DAY makes (24 little hours...)

Looking cautiously out our hotel window we saw... SUN! 😀

We geared up, and loaded up and headed out to the north on Bridger Canyon Road. (start at 4,700') (North because this was the only route we could take to Livingston that avoided riding on I-90.)

Gosh it's nice today! We headed up past the MSU "M" on the hillside to the left, with snow covered peaks behind.

First sign of Yellowstone!

At about 9 miles we turned off onto Jackson creek road, half wondering if it was going to be gravel at some point - but we are tandem touring gamblers - what the heck! It turned out to be paved and deserted (traffic-wise) and proceeded as a nice climbing meander between stands of Birch, flowing meadows, and gentleman ranches and stunning views of peaks to the east. The route profile looked manageable, even if it were to go to gravel. We saw a fair number of deer in ones, twos, and threes, including a doe with two very small spotted fawns.

Up, up and up this road went, steeper I think than the indicated pitch on our Garmins. Finally with one last 8+% pitch, we crested the (still paved!) summit (at 5,850'), and drank in the vista of the valley below, and the Absaroka peaks (some still with shawls of snow draped on their shoulders) all around. It was magnificent, and if you're ever out this way, I would recommend this segment without hesitation. 👍



From there it was a quick and chilly descent for 4 miles before we hit the flats again, and a last couple miles to I-90. But here we picked up the Frontage road again, and climbed the last climb of 300' (with a tailwind!) to the summit of Absaroka Pass on I-90 (5700') and then cashed in our chips on our big reward for the day: a descent that was literally 10 miles of tailwind and no brakes (or breaks!) where we lost 1100' of altitude! Ducking back under I-90 at the bottom, we rolled into Livingston about 4 mile's later. We found lunch of burger, fries and fried mushrooms at "Mark's In-and-Out" drive-in which we enjoyed at a park across the street.


Setting off to the South now, we followed a bike trail into the entrance of Paradise Valley, then turn off onto the East River Road (crossing the swollen Yellowstone River for the first time) and cycled the gentle stair-stepping climbs above the valley floor and a slight headwind. (Oh, well.) 10 more miles of headwinds (10-15mph - this is beginning to get old!) and several butt fluffs later, we passed through the 1/2 horse town of Pray, Montana, and a couple miles later turned left onto Chico road for the last 1.5 or so of 3-4% climb to the Chico Hot Springs resort - our destination for the day!

We weren't able to stow our bike in our small room, but they did let us park it down at their maintenance garage where I met Terry, Brad and we talked about our trip so far.  Then back up to the lodge where we shed our clothes, donned our swim clothes, and down to the large pool area that was fed by the hot springs.  It originally had been enclosed entirely, but had been later opened up to the outside and was comprised of a large cooler pool (around 100F and a smaller hotter pool that was in the 106F range.  Boy did this feel good on our tired legs and bodies!

Just before we degenerated into limp pools of protoplasm, we hauled ourselves out of the pool and went back up to wait for, and then share a communal bathroom for our shower and clean up.  Then it was down to the bar to have a beer,and wait for a spot to open up for us to have a well earned dinner of steaks!  It was a great cap to a very rewarding but challenging day of cycling. 

Stats: 57 SUNNY miles, and 2,559' of climbing.