timmythology

Was just informed today that I will be going on Vacation the first week of August and will be going to Kemmerer, Wyoming, so that my wife can go fishing for fossils. She knows that I do not like to work on my days off, and am a bike potato. I am also getting my bike back with a new wheel set just in time for this vacation. Now the trick is developing a 300 mile route between Portland Or and Kemmerer Wy allowing me to Avg 50 miles a day, x 6 days and also provides me with plenty of time to practice taking bad pictures.


Now for the dirt. After a five week course I will have completed my required credits for my diploma, and have been in school since 2010. While I have stayed active I have not completed a long ride since March of 2011 when time was committed to school. This will also be my first camping vacation for the same time period, as well as alone time. To say the very least, I am very excited. But with a five week class left to do I will have less time to research the path. This is also, potentially, the first state to state bike ride.

I have a LHDT with a set of orbs for the rear I have no need for gear. What I do need is a little help on the section for riding, I will have access to a car for the return portion, and just want to make a one way trip plan. The current plan is to leave three days before the car, and have them meet up some where along the way.

So where to start
and where to end

Will have three days actually in Kemmerer, so will have time for day rides in that area.

jamawani 

Now for the dirt - - are you willing/able to do dirt?
'Cause the best rides are dirt - up into the Wyoming Range.

jamawani 

PS - If you can develop a 300-mile route between Portland and Kemmerer,
then you will be a league with Einstein.
My guestimate - - 800 miles minimum.

tarwheel 

You might want to see if you can take Amtrak part of the way. I just finished a tour where we took the Amtrak from Washington DC to Pittsburgh for the start of a GAP-C&O Canal tour. The Amtrak experience was surprisingly inexpensive and hassle-free. We had to box our bikes for the train ride, but Amtrak provided boxes, tape and help with packing the bikes. Some of their routes have roll-on service as well, so you don't have to box your bike.

timmythology

The full trip is 800 and some. I am wanting to carve out a three hundred mile section that would allow me to combine a working vacation with a bike ride. The wheel set I am having done for the LHDT is for any road surface since the best pictures are rarely on the side of the road.

Will look into this Wyoming Range you speak of, and hopefully I can find a nice shadow and watch it grow.

Right now I am looking at Bend Or to Boise Id, but I can ride from Bend any time once I am done with school since there are rocks for her and roads of me.

guess I will start looking at the section from Boise ID to Wy.

Sorry for the confusion of my post

timmythology

Thanks for that suggestion. Amtrak is 300, but Greyhound is only 60 in advance, and even with a handling fee is 25% of the cost. Since I will be sleeping the entire way I will be cheap.

With either option I can now start in Boise ID, to somewhere else.

How is Hwy 20 in ID?
Looking at this for the first half? Google Maps

jamawani 

If your wife is willing - - would she consider dropping you off near Garden Valley, Idaho?
You could camp at a series of natural hot springs right alongside the Payette River.
And the ride from Garden Valley via the Sawtooth Mtns to Sun Valley is one of the most beautiful in the West.
Or you can ride on from Stanley to Challis and down to Arco.

From what I gather - you want to do a week's riding - then tool around Kemmerer which she is out fossil hunting?
Given the extremely limited public transportation options - you are limited in what you can do.
(Amtrak hasn't served the Portland-Boise-Salt Lake route in almost 20 years.)
(And Greyhound service is pretty limited, too.)

So, there would be the rather major issue of how to connect Sun Valley or Arco to Kemmerer.
Not to mention that I suspect you are trying to keep the moolah levels low.

If you wife dropped you somewhere - and you spent the last couple of days with her in Kemmerer -
How much total time would you have to be on your bike?

It might be that she would drop you off at Pocatello,
Then you could ride up to Grand Teton N.P. -
Then down the Grays River in the Wyoming Range to Kemmerer.

timmythology

Thanks Jamawani

Yesterday I started to look at idaho, and than I started to think that it will be easier to get back to idaho than it will be for Wyoming.

My brothers family lives in Idaho too, so I may check out see if i can bum a ride from them to Garden Valley if I choose that route.


I also started to look into a start from Idaho Falls, and taking a route through the Black Foot Reservoir, and that appears to be in the range of 275 miles, and would allow for bad photos and shadow watching. But now I have to go take a gander at these hot springs you speak of. Thank you very much for the tips, it has really helped narrow this down.

The maximum amount of time I have for this little adventure is about six days. Starting July 29th I will enter my three days off, and I am taking Fri-Mon (grave yard) off for work which rolls right back to may three days off. So I am thinking of leaving from work on tuesday July 29, roll to the station for transportation to the start point, and ride to my destination, and prefer to end at Kemmerer Wy.

My wifes family arrives on Fri Aug 1 and want to look around Portland, Camp over night by Redmond Or, and so dig in some dirt at richards rock ranch for a day. After which they will drive through to Kemmerer for the fossil expedition, and since my wife will have our car, with rack, she can drive me home on Thursday aug 7th. So I am looking at meeting them on Monday Aug 4th for that.But with consideration that this is my "to self" graduation present, I don't think the family will get to upset if I arrive on tuesday

Except for bikes, I am not really into paying for comfort, unless my wife is around. Which is why I looked at the bus, and with consideration that I can sleep any where, I am not opposed to it. But now am also going to check to see what air fare cost is, and start some research on this route. Once again thank you.

timmythology

So looking at these two, where one is 450, but is flat and goes through utah.
Took screen shots of them and am welcome to feedback, before I start going over them with a different map.
Starts in Idaho Falls



starts in Caldwell, but could be started in Twin Falls to shorten it up. Have family in Caldwell so that is a consideration. Worth an extra 150 miles? not sure: )

eofelis 

Is your wife a paleontologist?

timmythology

I could only wish for that, it would allow for a heck of a lot more cycling in my life.
but nope she is a hippy artist that likes to work on her off time, digging for rocks, fossils, and so on. Since I have no need to be busy when I am not at work I started to cycle, and have much more fun. We are suppose to have a family vacation, with a road trip to Wy, so I figured I would do a road trip with a twist. And six days of no talking to anyone is bliss to my ears, and would not enjoy being in a car with her and my sister in law whispering across oregon saying "did you see that".

nfmisso

Tim;

First of all, be aware that there are Grizzly Bears in western Wyoming; some of which find bicyclists to be tasty treats. FYI: pepper spray and bells are not effective against Grizzlies - that only works on the little Black Bears. Grizzlies can run at more than 30mph Yellowstone National Park (Nature Notes) and are very good at climbing larger trees (smaller ones they knock over).

Be prepared in the wilderness.

Butte MT, Billings MT, Boise ID, Twin Falls ID, Ogden UT, SLC UT all look like good spots to get off a Greyhound.

jamawani 

Here is an idea -

From Pocatello - fairly level riding at first on Old US 91 - scenic, light traffic
From Lava Hot Springs you take the old highway along the canyon -
Then take a lovely Hwy 34 - quiet - not spectacular but pleasant
In Wyoming you have the paved option of US 89 & US 30 (Yuck!!)
Of you can head up to Alpine and take Grays River Road - gravel -
Which is one of the most beautiful natural rivers left in the Lower 48.

Pocatello to Kemmerer - A bike ride in Pocatello, ID

timmythology

Thanks again Jamawani I like the route, now I just need to go break it down, and thanks again.

Yes I understand that I am going in to the wilderness, and may even encounter a rather lively situation. But if it comes down to having to climb a tree I will have to try reasoning with the bear, since that would be easier than trying to climb a tree. I am hoping a sack in a tree will work just as well in wyoming, as it has in oregon, not that I have seen a grizzly before. I have woke up to a dear eating my buddies food one time though on a rafting trip which was a little scary.

But now I have to go figure out the rest of the trip, and make the final decision since Pocatello would require a transfer to a second bus.