Day 29: Lovell, WY to Basin, WY

July 5 Blog

45 miles

1,291 miles so far

Today’s route took us into the high desert in Basin, WY and was comprised of a series of long gradual climbs. We had beautiful weather - sunny and cool in the morning with highs in the low 80s, and of course, dry air!

We stopped for lunch in Greybull, WY, billed as “the hub of the Bighorn Basin.” Our server was very interested in our cycling adventure. When I told him that we planned to ride through the Bighorn pass in the next few days, he said that he wished us the best of luck. He then proceeded to warn us to watch out for animals, particularly the deer, elk and moose, all of which have been known to run out across the road. He even detailed how a cyclist was hit by a deer - sounds like our friend, John. He also mentioned bears and wolves!

I quickly Googled the Bighorn National Forest , and read that the animals you are likely to see include deer, elk and moose - sighting of bears are rare, and there is no natural grizzly population in the Bighorn. We also told the server that we’d be going so slow that it would be unlikely that we would startle any animals - they would hear our huffing and puffing a mile away!

Sharon found us an incredible Airbnb for the night. While we had to ride about 4 miles off course, it was well worth it. Our home for the night was a bunkhouse/cabin on Jim Hallman’s ranch, Rafter H Bar. We were surrounded by horse-filled pastures, and even had our own house cat. Before dinner she brought us a field mouse, just in case we were interested!

One of those gradual climbs