Day Five – Greys River
After getting a feel of the land we decided to alter our plan for Monday's ride. We had two days left before we headed south to Rock Springs so we thought we should go back up to the northern section of Greys River Road. We decided the best route to where we wanted to go was back over McDougal Pass. Traversing the pass in a different direction was amenable to us. We headed west over Cottonwood-Ryegrass Rd (CR Rd) towards McDougal Pass. CR Road's packed dirt enabled us to move along at a pretty good clip. We were riding abreast a group (herd?) of pronghorn deer that were trying to cross the road in front of us. I let a couple of the faster ones get ahead of us and they managed to cross. We were moving in excess of 50mph. As we approached the pass it did not disappoint in terms of scenery. The different direction made it seem like a different route. We spotted a trail off to the south and followed it for a couple of miles and stopped for a break. Once over the pass we were back on Greys River Rd (KMZ). The road north of Sheep Creek Rd (KMZ) was very different than to the south. The road was in good condition made of tightly packed gravel. A street bike could navigate this portion with ease. Now Grey River was on our left and we stopped along the river for a rest. We could see Virginia Peak to the southwest and Sherman Peak to the west. We crossed the river and entered McCain Meadows. The road turns almost due west as we passed between Bradley Mountain on the north and the Salt River Range on the south. Soon we were in the town of Alpine and US26. We rode through the Grand Canyon of the Snake River on US26/US89. We could see many whitewater river rafters in the canyon below (KMZ). The road here had recently be redone, but was heavily traveled. The road crosses the river and was now on our left. We stopped along the Snake River for a breather. A few miles further up the road we came to Wilson/Fall Creek Road and headed north. The road follows along the creek to the north, between Munger Mountain on the east and Snake River Range on the west. After a couple of miles, the road leaves the creek and climbs up to a small park. This area is developed. Back down towards the river we found pavement again and it looked like we were getting into more development. We spotted a trail off the left that seemed to be horse trail (KMZ). We wound back the trail until we came upon a ranch. We turned around but stopped to view the Tetons off in the distance. Back on the road we were quickly in Wilson on W22. We headed east on W22 bringing us just south of Jackson where we headed south on US189 toward Hoback Junction. Just past Bondurant we began looking for a trail we noticed on the map. Just past Robinson Butte we saw a trail running off into Raspberry Ridge (KMZ). We took the trail and were pleasantly surprised by the views. We hung around on these trails before continuing south on US189. As we came upon the Warren Bridge we found another trail running along the Green River. We rode this for a time before dropping down along side the river for a stop. Back out on US189 we took Pape Road for a little diversion past Old Fort Bonneville, into Daniel Junction then back to Pinedale.
