Today we rode from an informal campground at the base of the climb to Union Pass, Wyoming, US to Pinedale, Wyoming, US. Sunny weather with clouds, thunderstorms/rain in the afternoon. Road conditions were hard steep climbing on rough gravel roads. Highlights of the day were the distant views after climbing the top before Union Pass.

Riding statistics: on Saturday, August 20, 2022, day 20 on the route, it took 11:17h (09:05h moving time), between 07:17 and 18:34, to cover 137 km (85 miles), including 1273 m (4177 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 15 km/h (9 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 45 km/h (28 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 21 °C (70 °F) with a minimum of 4 °C (39 °F) and a maximum of 33 °C (91 °F).

Totals: So far, it took 5 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes, and 41 seconds of cycling time to cover 2050 km (1274 miles), including 24314 m (79774 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.7 km/h (9.1 mph).

This morning we got out of our tents, around 6:15am, in a cold environment. There was even ice on our tents. Fortunately, the sun was already rising and within 15 minutes the sun rose above the mountains, and it already felt a little warm. We tried to hurry up so that we could warm up a bit more during cycling.

When leaving our primitive campground, we cycling for about five minutes, made a turn around a mountain edge, and saw a ‘little less’ primitive campground. At least a more formal one, with bear boxes and a pit toilet. The directions that we had were either not accurate, or the other campground has been recently created. If we only would have known. This campground does not have much more luxury, but the bear boxes, and one or two more visitors on the campground, just (falsely) felt a little safer.

Yesterday, we had the impression that we would be at the base of the climb to Union Pass. In a way we were, but not exactly. We first had to climb two, short, but very steep hills. That got us really warmed up. After about 5km (3 miles) we were at the real start of the climb to Union Pass. This climb covered a distance of over 6km (3.5 miles) and had an elevation gain of over 500m (1640 ft). It turned out to be a hard climb. The roads where difficult to ride on and we had to be careful. We were happy that we decided yesterday to stop and not start the climb to Union Pass in the evening. We took it slow-and-easy to make sure we still have enough energy for the while day, which would be long. We really must make it to Pinedale today. At the top of the climb, we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful views so far. A 270-degree view to valleys, hills, and far mountains. Spectacular! After a 4km (2.5 miles) downhill, which we did slowly because of the road conditions, we arrived at Union Pass. We had hopes that from here it would be all downhill onto a paved road for a 50km (31 miles) ride to Pinedale. Unfortunately, it would not be that easy.

From here onwards it would be either uphill or downhill, still on tricky road surfaces. This meant we were slow compared to previous days. Besides the difficult roads, we also had to be careful about passing ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). There were many today and not all took care when passing cyclists. Meanwhile the sun had disappeared, clouds became darker, thunderstorms started to develop, and eventually it started to rain. Two hours after the weather became less, we were in the middle of a huge rain shower.

Fortunately, around that same moment we arrived at the paved road, and we did not really have to cycle on unpaved roads during the rain. At the location where unpaved stopped and paved started, there was a huge parking lot with many pickups. Most of them had closed or open trailers. It was for transporting their ATVs. We really got a ‘boys and their toys’ feeling, but somehow there were also families going out together.

From here on, it was still over 40km (25 miles) paved, plus about 10km (6 miles) unpaved, to get to Pinedale.

Riding to Pinedale felt like it took ages. We were getting tired, and Anna was really looking forward to meet John and her mad dog, preferably asap! Fortunately, the rain only took about 15 minutes, and the weather slowly became better again. There were a few moments where we felt that we were almost there, but we were not.

Eventually we made it to Pinedale, spotting a huge moose on the way in, and we immediately went to the Hotel (Baymont Inn) that had Anna arranged for her and John. To our surprise John arrived only slight before we did, so any earlier arrival of us would not have made a difference. I myself decided not to stay at a campground either and booked a room at the Quality Inn & Suites.

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