Yellowstone and Grand TetonsNational Parks

Buffalo along the road in Yellowstone

We have made it to Wyoming passing through the west gate of Yellowstone National Park at West Yellowstone, MT and exiting through the south gate into the Grand Tetons National Park.  It has been a couple of days of challenging riding.

I got an early start riding from Ennis, MT in hopes of getting a jump on the wind.  That worked out for the first 23 miles and then somebody flipped the switch on the head wind.  Luckily it died down after about 7 miles to more of a gusty breeze instead of a non-stop head wind or it would have been another very long day.

Beth decided to take a break from riding.  We had been riding for 9 straight days since we cut our last rest day short in Missoula, MT and rode 40 miles.

Nicholas finished up the last 25 miles with me into West Yellowstone which included a little climb to our first marked crossing of the Continental Divide... and he crushed me again at the climb.  I think I just need to concede that I can't ride 60 miles and then keep up with him climbing, even if he is running almost every day.  Here is the track from our ride into West Yellowstone.

Nicholas, Beth and Old Faithful

I tried to get another early start out of West Yellowstone, but the overnight temps had dropped to freezing and I just didn't have the right gloves for cold weather riding.  I made it out onto the road at 7:45 with temperatures still near freezing.  I made the mistake of starting out with cold hands and they only got colder with pretty steady cross winds.  I had to stop every few miles to warm my hands under my jacket.  Luckily at mile 14 there was a park restroom with hot-air hand driers.  I must have used the hand dry for 10 minutes to thaw out my hands and gloves.  After that I was good all the way to the 30 mile mark at Old Faithful where I met Beth and Nicholas.

Beth was hoping to join me on the ride some time after we toured the Old Faithful area, but the temperature never got above 45 and with the occasional strong gusting winds and intermittent overcast it was too cold for the gear she had brought as well.  So I ended up riding the whole day by myself... 93 miles and 5000' of climbing, stopping every 10-20 miles to warm up a little and get support from the crew.

The sights through here are pretty amazing.  At one point, there was quite the traffic jam on the road.  A hundred yards out into a field, a wolf and a goose were eyeing each other pretty intently.  In the end, they both just walked off into the woods.  I think everybody watching was hoping for some "wild kingdom" carnage, but they were disappointed.  We also saw Bison just off the road. Again a huge group of onlookers as they just lay there.

After spending about 2 hours at Old Faithful and walking to the surrounding pools and smaller geysers, we grabbed some quick lunch.   I bundled up for the final 64 miles of riding including 3 more crossing of the continental divide. Luckily the wind only gusted up every now and then and the ride went fairly quickly given how much climbing there was to do.  Here is the route from yesterday.

I hadn't really thought too much about it, but when Old Faithful erupts, the water flows to a small stream behind it, which then flows to the nearby Madison river, then Missouri and Mississippi rivers and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico.  Good thing it is up over 7000' in elevation since it has a long way to go.  Strange things you think about when you are peddling your bike at high elevations.  What ponderings are yet to come in the Colorado Rockies at an elevation over 12,000'?

Today is our rest day in Jackson, WY., about 30 miles south of our route.  We had scheduled two days here just in case we had run into bad weather, but so far we have avoided any delays.  Right now the plan is to start riding again tomorrow through the central part of Wyoming.  These are going to be some tough days, long miles and tough climbs with very few towns along the way.  And very little if any cell coverage until we reach Rawlings in south-central Wyoming in about 3 or 4 days, depending on how hard and from what direction the wind blows.

Here are the riding stats after 16 days of riding (out of 18 days on the road):

The Grand Tetons across Jackson Lake