Lander, Wyoming

Lander is a town larger than we have been accustomed to. It has a population of 6,867. With free camping in a city park near the high school baseball diamond, I was very happy to have arrived. Several kids, one of which was a pitcher on the high school baseball team, were having a little batting practice. I was invited to hit a few, and even hit one out of the park at 345 feet. It has been a while since I swung the bat, and that felt just lovely.

Yesterday, we crested Togwotee Pass at 9658 feet. During the climb, when I was a bit ahead of Steve, I saw a moose, the largest creature by far that I have seen this trip. Unfortunately, it meandered into some young fir trees before Steve, who has been all over Canada with a primary–and unsuccessful–goal of seeing his first moose, arrived. He was disappointed. I pointed out some deer on the other side of the pass. He was unimpressed.

The Dubois area has magnificent geology, striated hills made of sandstone as far as I can tell. Much of the terrain is upturned and folded, and the mass of these hills turned on their sides certainly makes one appreciate the power lying beneath the continent. I am discovering that North America is large. Quite a distance on a bicycle.