Ashton by Bike

When I came to Ashton to intern at the Henry’s Fork Foundation for the summer, I took a flight from Chicago to Idaho Falls. Being without a car, I did not expect to have any transportation except by foot. However, thanks to a previous HFF donor there are several mountain bikes available for interns to use. Having access to a bike added a great deal to my summer at HFF. Back home, I often use my bike as my main form of transportation. In Ashton, I got out on bike whenever I wanted to get some fresh air or to pick something up from the store, and got to see the town and Fremont County in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.

While the main road, Route 20, is not safe for biking, there are a good number of small and relatively infrequently trafficked roads surrounding Ashton that are great for biking. You can get down to the Henry’s Fork itself via a few back roads that take you down to the river’s edge. The paved roads sometimes give way to gravel or dirt as you approach the Tetons and get further from town, but are well connected enough that it is easy to make a loop back to the HFF campus.

Just half a mile from the HFF campus is the Ashton-Tetonia Trail, a 30-mile gravel bike path that weaves through farms, across several rivers, and has some pretty outstanding views of the Tetons en route. I did the whole route back in June, and have since been on the trail many times for shorter trips in the evening. Before the sun gets low and it starts to get colder, cooled air coming from nearby irrigation brings a nice breeze. Now that I am in my last few days at HFF, I am glad to have spent so many afternoons out on a bike.

Stopping for a break on a refurbished railroad bridge on the Ashton-Tetonia Trail.

A view of a small creek on a trail east of Ashton.

Taking in the Tetons from a gravel road southeast of Ashton.

A view of the sunset on my way back to HFF after an evening ride.