Yellowstone National Park and The Tetons
223 Miles
Pictures certainly describe this segment of the voyage better than words, so I won't delay...
Look closely. It's a perfect double.
Seriously, what an amazing place. I don't know how I'd never been there before. It's a must-see for everyone I think. My only suggestion, don't go in the middle of the summer when everyone and their grandmother is also there…
The "not quite" power stance. I got kind of a late start (surprise) from West Yellowstone and made it to the entrance of the park only to be stuck in line for half an hour. I never thought I'd have to wait to get into the park like that. It was nuts...
The first item on the to-see list was Old Faithful. I got there with about 30 mins until the next eruption, so I got a late lunch and headed over and waited for geyser to blow. It was really neat, but I think I was more impressed by the sheer number of people there than the actual attraction. I doubled back along the route I took to get there to head back north. I passed through one of the big geyser/hot spring basins and saw a bunch of fantastic sights that all smelled like Cheerios. That night I made it to Norris around 8:45p and found the hiker/biker spots at the "full" campground. Those spots were actually occupied too but the people who were there let me pitch my tent next to theirs. It was a group of five who had just finished a week-long backpacking trip through the Tetons and were trying to get rid of their extra food before their drive back to East Lancing, MI. They offered it to me and I gladly accepted. =) I hoped I would catch them in the morning for a picture for the blog by they had peaced out around 5am I think because they wanted to do the 30-hr drive in one go. More power to 'em.
The first item on the to-see list was Old Faithful. I got there with about 30 mins until the next eruption, so I got a late lunch and headed over and waited for geyser to blow. It was really neat, but I think I was more impressed by the sheer number of people there than the actual attraction. I doubled back along the route I took to get there to head back north. I passed through one of the big geyser/hot spring basins and saw a bunch of fantastic sights that all smelled like Cheerios. That night I made it to Norris around 8:45p and found the hiker/biker spots at the "full" campground. Those spots were actually occupied too but the people who were there let me pitch my tent next to theirs. It was a group of five who had just finished a week-long backpacking trip through the Tetons and were trying to get rid of their extra food before their drive back to East Lancing, MI. They offered it to me and I gladly accepted. =) I hoped I would catch them in the morning for a picture for the blog by they had peaced out around 5am I think because they wanted to do the 30-hr drive in one go. More power to 'em.
Mammoth Hot Springs. The next morning, I chowed down on their dehydrated cheese-bacon grits, packed up, and continued north towards Mammoth Hot Springs. I was really glad I stuck around to see those things because they're one of the highlights of the park I'd say. As an aside, I foolishly thought I could get in them until I got there... I was looking forward to the potential cleansing opportunity. The headquarters for the Park Service is also there from the 1800s when the Army was actually in charge of the place at the time. I lunched there, mailed a bunch of post cards, and managed to take a wrong turn out of the park... A very wrong turn in fact. I was trying to head due East toward Roosevelt Tower but instead I had missed the turn and just kept riding down the 2,000ft decent to the North Entrance. In retrospect I'm glad I saw the big arch but damn, that climb was murder coming back up. And on top of that, the correct route was uphill for another 20 miles. It was literally uphill all the way to the exact place where I put my tent that night.
Tree of stone. Even though it was getting a little late by the time I was finishing my ride for the day, I managed to stop by the petrified tree on the way. Just before I got to the campground, I got stopped by a buffalo roadblock. The cars went through it slowly, but I wasn't about to chance it on a bicycle. I just had to wait, but that was ok because I was pooped anyway. The road turned to dirt shortly after that, all the way to the uphill campground and by this time it was completely dark but fortunately not too cold. As I was setting up camp, I was approached by the camp hosts just checking to make sure I was a cyclist making use of the hiker/biker site. They even offered me a bunch of firewood! I gladly accepted as it was only the second campfire of my trip, the first one being the night of the 10-person group. I warmed up a bunch of water over the fire and took a hot bird bath and then fell into a very good sleep.
Day three was an immediate start after I packed up camp. Tower Falls were about a mile from the campsite and fortunately down the hill (actually, there was no other way to go except down in any direction). A very spectacular display of water and gravity, but not quite as impressive as the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River which I was headed towards later in the day. The road from Tower Falls rose up again and continued on rough dirt roads for a while due to the construction. It kept rising all the way to 8,859 ft and directly into a very dark and threatening rain cloud. I passed a lot of motorcyclists who had stopped to don their rain gear and eventually I did the same, more for wind protection than wet protection.
The canyon really was that yellow.
By the time I got to Canyon Junction, it was definitely lunch time and stopped at a neat retro-styled soda fountain place and had a burger and a big ol' ice cream sunday. The "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone was not far from there and holy moly, what a spectacular place! I think the rain bought out the colors of the rock even more than normal, and suddenly, it didn't matter that I was damp form the storm. There's a trail down to the Lower Falls but you can see the Upper Falls as well on your way down, and then there's just the view of the canyon extending out for miles. I think it might have been my favorite place in the park.
Just like Beowulf. Not too long after I arrived at the Lower Falls, the heavens opened and I just got soaked. And soaked I remained until about 8:30 that night. The road continued south from the Canyon and ended up passing by some more very cool hot springs and mud pots. These ones actually smelled like sulfur, not Cheerios. There was one called Dragons Mouth and I'd say takes the cake for coolest of them all. You couldn't see all the way into this cave of a spring, but every few seconds, a huge plume of steam would blast out of it along with a kind of roaring noise. It was alive!
The marina at Bay Bridge. The end of the day had me down towards Bridge Bay Campground, which was a nifty little marina right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. The sky had dried out and the remaining clouds made for a really nice sunset. It was chilly though, so I bought a little box of hot chocolate mix at the local store to have something warm to drink that night. The guy manning the store allowed me to use their hot water from the coffee machine to make a cup on-site. I stole a few coffee creamers too to improve the watery Nestlé mix. Another great campsite amidst some awesomely huge trees. The only minor issue was that nothing really dried out over night due to the cold and humidity from the rain. No biggie. It was peaceful and it had a bear vault. Two important factors.
My pint of cookie-dough that cost as much as single scoop. After three days in the park, it was finally time for us to part ways. Yellowstone didn't make a move, so I had to. I packed up all my wet stuff and continued south around Yellowstone Lake. I stopped for another burger at the next general store at Grant Village and bought a pint of ice-cream to top it off while enjoying the lake view.
From there, the road went up 200ft to the continental divide (again) and then after a bit of rolling terrain, descended hard. It was downhill all the way out of the park and that was maybe 10-15 miles? I can't get enough of that. Eventually I hit road work that lasted for a long time but much of it was fresh pavement and I can't get enough of that either. As a bonus, I got to draft off a big bulldozer at 20mph for a bit!
From there, the road went up 200ft to the continental divide (again) and then after a bit of rolling terrain, descended hard. It was downhill all the way out of the park and that was maybe 10-15 miles? I can't get enough of that. Eventually I hit road work that lasted for a long time but much of it was fresh pavement and I can't get enough of that either. As a bonus, I got to draft off a big bulldozer at 20mph for a bit!
Taking a snack break and to watch the sunset over the Tetons. Another moderate climb slowed me down for a bit but then opened up to Jackson Lake and the valley of the Teton Mountains. After Yellowstone, I thought I had seen the best of the west. Welp, I was sorely wrong. The Tetons became my favorite mountain range the second I saw them. They're absolutely unbelievable. By this point, it was close to 5 o'clock and I needed to eat again. The road was only going up from there and I wasn't about to make it much father without demolishing one of the extra sandwiches I bought at Grant Village. There aren't many more scenic places for a late lunch break. My camping options for the night were between 15-25 miles from there and I decided to just keep riding until I got tired and have that dictate which one I chose. I arrived at the first one and since I had some daylight left, I quickly filled by bottles there and rolled on. The second one, as I kind of predicted, was halfway up a 9,600ft pass. It was in fact about halfway up and I climbed a 6-7% grade for a good 10 miles before arriving there.
By there, I mean the Togwotee Mountain Lodge. I was frozen again and it was definitely solidly dark by that point. According to the map, the campground was pretty much where the lodge was but I never saw a sign for it. I stopped at the lodge on a whim to see how much a room was and after hearing the rate, kept going to find my local camping option. Again, I had a ridiculous time finding it. In fact I didn't find it. And because it was late, cold, and bear country, I bit the bullet and booked a room at the lodge. In the 20 mins it took me to make that decision, the temp. had dropped eight degrees from 55 to 47 and the receptionists told me there had been five grizzly bear sightings within a mile of the lodge that day. FIVE! I was very glad to have made that choice even thought it was costly. I was able to shower for the first time in 4.5 days and I did a round of laundry in the tub. The bed was excellent as well and was the first time I had slept in one since I was in Bend, OR. True to form, though, I didn't get to bed until about 1am. I don't think I'll ever shake my night-personness...
By there, I mean the Togwotee Mountain Lodge. I was frozen again and it was definitely solidly dark by that point. According to the map, the campground was pretty much where the lodge was but I never saw a sign for it. I stopped at the lodge on a whim to see how much a room was and after hearing the rate, kept going to find my local camping option. Again, I had a ridiculous time finding it. In fact I didn't find it. And because it was late, cold, and bear country, I bit the bullet and booked a room at the lodge. In the 20 mins it took me to make that decision, the temp. had dropped eight degrees from 55 to 47 and the receptionists told me there had been five grizzly bear sightings within a mile of the lodge that day. FIVE! I was very glad to have made that choice even thought it was costly. I was able to shower for the first time in 4.5 days and I did a round of laundry in the tub. The bed was excellent as well and was the first time I had slept in one since I was in Bend, OR. True to form, though, I didn't get to bed until about 1am. I don't think I'll ever shake my night-personness...
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