Cody, Wyoming is a really cool place and a perfect place to stop before riding into Yellowstone. The ride into Cody was pretty terrible most of the way though; it was slightly uphill for about fifty miles straight, there was a slight headwind, the road was slightly rough, I was slightly worn out from the climb the day before, and I was slightly hungry the whole day. This all added up to a pretty uncomfortable experience. We did pass by the town of Emblem though, which has a population of ten.
Fortunately, the ride was completely worth it because I got to see my first rodeo. What better place to see one than in the rodeo capitol of the world? People being thrown around like ragdolls on horses and bulls was fun to watch, but I was most impressed by the cowboys lassoing little calves. It seems like a nearly impossible feat. I also felt really wimpy because they had a junior competition and children twelve and under were riding smaller bulls. Overall, a pretty good night before we head into Yellowstone and have to sleep in tents.
Yesterday I was able to witness something I vaguely remember learning about in my middle school science class. The environments on either side of the Big Horn Mountains are completely different. On the way to the mountain, is was flat plains, then when we started the grueling eighteen mile climb, it was a lush forest. Once we reached the peak point of the road at 9300 feet, the trees were really sparse. Since there was snow higher up, we decided to get off our bikes and climb even higher. We treked through a dense row of trees and it suddenly opened up into a really steep climb and all that was growing there was grass and little flowers. Even further up past the snow, it started to get rocky and when I reached the rocky peak, there was a pathway between the rocks that was grassy with trees. Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Since the air was getting thinner, we were getting exhausted sooner and sooner the higher we climbed.
After having an awesome two hour lunch break at the peak with amazing turkey sandwiches that Saebin's family made, we were extremely excited for the eighteen mile descent down the other side of the mountain. When we neared the bottom of the mountain, we were suddenly hit with a blast of hot air and the environment abruptly changed into a rocky, red desert canyon with a river running through it. I was caught completely off guard and was blown away by the new scenery because I have only seen stuff like that in movies and cartoons. Our rest stop was a few miles away at an old Western style outpost which was so fitting. It was also nice to be able to ride without getting tired immediately from a lack of oxygen.
7/11
All the constant uphills in the past few days have finally paid off today. The Big Horn Mountains have been looming in the distance all day and they approached pretty quickly since most of the ride was down hill. We had nearly 30 miles of straight downhill and then it got pretty flat. It was pretty uneventful after that though because Ranchester, Wyoming is a tiny town with nothing much in it. We were fortunate enough to have eight pounds of overcooked, congealed pasta because the team strainer went missing. It was a pretty hilarious dinner.