Day 59: Ennis to West Yellowstone, MT; Clean Air! (But A Bit Too Forceful)

August 29, 2015

Notes:

1.) If you select the “Comment” link near the bottom of the page you can leave a message for me. I enjoy getting them.

2.) Climbing Today: 3,098 ft -- Total So Far; 141,146 ft

3.) Average Speed While Biking Today: 9.3 mph

4.) Mechanical Issues Today: none

5.) Miles Remaining to Canon City: about 704

6.) Miles Traveled to Date on This Half of the Journey: 1,273

7.) Money Found Today: 0

8.) Total Money Found: $0.41 (Will I find enough to buy a cup of coffee?)

9.) Current BAR (Bicycle Altitude Record): 7,400 feet, Big Hole Pass

Leaving town this morn, I was a bit concerned by the fact that I DIDN’T have cold fingers, as this portends a potentially hot day ahead. I like to photograph bright lights against a dark sky.

Leaving Ennis, I Liked The Look Of These Neon Lights Against the Dark Sky

Today I will be following the Madison River all the way upstream to West Yellowstone, so today is an uphill day for me. No big deal. Riding upstream on the gentle grades found in the valleys, one can travel at 8-9 mph vs. say, 15-17 mph that you might do if you were going downstream. It’s still fast enough to get you where you are going in a reasonable length cycling day. As you can see on the profile above, I will climb about 1,600 feet today. This should just be a moderate day of cycling, but...

Let’s go ahead and get the deer shots out of the way. This deer was caught going through a fence rather than over it;

And here’s one trying to decide if I'm a danger;

Numerous Deer Can Be Seen In The Fields In The Early Morn

I have seen so many deer in the early mornings now that I have observed their behavior and noted some patterns. They may travel together in a group of 6 or so, and they tend to move more or less in single file. When the lead deer moves ahead a bit, the others follow, although there usually is some lagging at the end of the line as the deer are grazing or not paying attention to the movement of the others. When those at the end realize that the others have moved, they run ahead to catch up. And this, I believe, is why so many car/deer collisions occur. A car driver will see the first deer, or maybe even several deer, cross the road and think that the danger is past. But then the laggards come sprinting to catch up to the group and boom! So if you are driving and see a deer cross the road, slow down now! This advice is also worthwhile for cyclists; cyclists have been killed in deer collisions while traveling at higher speeds downhill.

How is it that I have seen so many deer? Well, at bicycle speed you have time to notice a lot of things that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to observe. When you are driving at 60 mph, you need to pay attention to the road ahead of you. When you are cycling at 10 mph, you have much more latitude to look around. Cars make a lot of noise and frighten animals; bicycles emit only a gentle whir as they travel. Cars and trucks are large scary things to animals; a bicyclist is barely bigger than a man walking.

When the sun commenced to lighten the sky, I was encouraged. This was the clearest sky I had seen in 17 days;

Clear Sky; I Hadn't Seen That In A While!

I was optimistic that maybe I would have some reprieve from the smoke, but I was not about to get my hopes up until I saw how the day played out. In the meantime, on a totally different track, here’s an example of bad rumble strip design/construction;

The rumble strip is located too far towards the outside of the shoulder. By the time a car’s front tires veer onto it, there is little chance to redirect the vehicle back into the travel lane before it travels off of the shoulder. And cyclists must now choose which side of the rumble strip to ride on. The left side will always be cleaner of debris because cars occasionally travel on it and sweep it clean; the right side will have more debris but is further from the traffic. And this rumble strip is continuous; the other option is to provide a “window” of non-rumble strip about 10 feet long every 100 feet. Rumble strips with such a “window” allow cyclists to travel on the clean roadway surface when no traffic is present and then to move over via a window onto the shoulder when traffic is approaching. Of course, this requires that the cyclist use a rear-view mirror, but most touring cyclists do so anyway.

Next up on the “what’s up with that?” items is this sign depicting dangerous water;

Dangerous Water? Do The Deer and Elk Know?

How is it dangerous? Does it flood suddenly? Is the water toxic? Do the deer and elk know it’s dangerous?

Now I was rolling into Cameron, long before any of the few residents were even awake. Cameron is one of those small towns that consists of just a single business, and that business offers a multitude of services.

This Building Is Pretty Much The Entire Town of Cameron

There is this business and maybe 3 homes in Cameron. So why, then, is the Post Office so large and modern?

I Was Surprised at the Size and Modernity of the Post Office Considering The Size of the Small Town

Perhaps there are a lot of folks on the surrounding farms that use this post office; but I have seen many towns much larger than this with much smaller and humbler post offices. I know you have tired of deer pics by now, so how about a whole gaggle of antelope pics?

Hey, I have to do something to justify bringing along this telephoto lens. If I can’t shoot bear I will just have to shoot what I can. So how about the design of this cabin; wife, do you like it?

Somewhere in the middle of Montana, land is for sale relatively cheap.

Somewhere in the Middle of Montana Can be Purchased Cheaply

I was now finally convinced that I was breathing clear air and that there is no smoke currently in sight.

Clean Air! Maybe I Will Get Lucky and It Will Last

And that fact makes me happier than you can possibly imagine. I don’t mean that as an insult to your imagination, I’m just saying that unless you have experienced living and breathing in the smoke for 17 days, you can’t possibly appreciate what it means to be breathing clean air once again. And cyclists aren’t just casually breathing; cycling is an athletic activity and one breathes deeply and hard. Try cycling up a continental divide pass on a 105 pound loaded touring bicycle while holding your breath and you’ll see what I mean. I was a happy guy; whoever thought that plain old air could make one happy?!

It seems that Montana has talc mining.

So here’s a bit of a conundrum to me;

No Passing Zone; Doesn't the Yellow Line Explain It?

Why is it necessary to post a “No Passing” sign when the yellow line in your lane means no passing? Why not just post a sign that says “Obey The Traffic Laws.” Are we saying that drivers are too stupid to know the laws, or are we saying they are too inattentive to pay attention to the road? You have a lot of time while cycling, and lots of thoughts like this bounced around inside the empty cavern of my mind.

While that sign said “No Passing,” this one simply says ”No;”

Just Plain "No" - Now What Was The Question?

While I was elated to (maybe) be out of the smoke for a while, or at least for now, an unexpected challenge had arisen that was seriously impeding my progress. The wind was blowing hard directly into my face. I had a headwind of about 25-30 mph constantly, with gusts exceeding 45 mph. Today was slated to be a bit over 70 miles, and it was uphill along the Madison River. That’s doable, and would constitute a “normally hard” day. But this headwind was adding significantly to the challenge.

The Flag Says It All - The Wind About Did Me In Today

I suppose the price of breathing clean air was that I had to deal with the headwind. I was looking ahead to the mountains and hoping for a possible escape from the wind once I reached them. But the mountains were a long way off.

Still a Long Way To The Mountains And Possible Escape From The Headwind

Checking the map, I note that I have about 30 miles yet to ride in the open valley floor before I reach the mountains. With nothing to do but grind it out, I settled into the drops and chose a suitable low gear and found myself traveling about 5-6 mph against the unforgiving wind. It was going to take several hours to reach the shelter that I hoped would be provided by the mountains, so it was time to earn my keep now. The wind wreaks havoc with your head; you know you should be moving faster for your effort than you are, and the constant loud noise of the wind destroys the peaceful calm usually experienced while cycling. It’s just plain devastating to unexpectedly encounter strong wind like that. But it was what it was and I had to move on.

So how about this cabin wife, do you like it? It’s only about 2 miserable days of driving from Tulsa, or about 3-4 enjoyable weeks of bicycling.

For Sale; Wife, It's Only a 2-Day Car Trip (Or About 3 Weeks by Bike)

I was following the Madison River upstream, and it was, of course, a beautiful mountain stream.

I had finally discovered what kind of birds utilize the high pole bird houses like the one I saw recently; Ospreys use them for nesting. Here’s a young osprey waiting for its mother;

The Young Osprey Was Hungry and Calling For His Mom

The young one was making a very interesting shrill whistling call for its mom. I tried to record the call using both my cell phone and the movie mode of my camera, but the wind noise was too high and drowned it out. The mom heard the call and responded and approached the nest, but she turned sharply when she saw me and landed on a fencepost.

Mom Answered the Call But Diverted When She Saw Me

Note in the pictures of the mom that there is another bird present. I don’t know what it is, but it seemed to be a companion to the Osprey. I had finally reached the base of the mountains and was getting partial relief from the wind. I was quite spent at this point, having used much more energy than I expected to make it this far, and I still had 30 uphill miles to go. Child's play, right? The ACA map indicated a restaurant ahead, and I was in need of refueling. This sign shows that they especially wanted cyclist’s business, and I was anxious to give mine to them.

If you notice the small flag in the photo, you will see that I was not out of the wind yet. I rolled offroad onto the gravel drive of the RV park and made my way to the restaurant, only to be told that they wouldn’t open today until dinner! It was about 1:00 pm, so I was very disappointed. Nothing to do about it, so I made the best of it by resting in the shade of their porch on a bench and making a couple of peanut butter and honey sliders. I told myself that a bit of rest and this “real” food would get me down the road, and indeed it was going to have to suffice. While resting, I made a call to the Yellowstone park reservation number to inquire about reserving a campsite for tomorrow night. As I was doing so, the cook appeared from the restaurant and gave me a few left-over dessert treats that she said they weren’t allowed to sell but that I could have. So that was nice! There wasn’t much, but I was grateful and ate every crumb. Then I needed to move on, still miles to go today before I sleep.

Moving on, I rolled up on a bit of history that will certainly be of interest to my Corps of Engineer friends.

For My Corps of Engineers Friends; A Bit of History

Approaching Quake Lake and the Visitors Center, here’s a bit of info about the quake;

And here’s the Visitors Center and Quake Lake itself;

I made a quick stop at the Visitors Center and restocked the water tanks. The extra work against the wind had me sipping the juice at a higher than normal rate per mile today. The Visitors Center was an interesting place and I looked around a bit, but I really needed to roll on and so I did. This seems to be the result of a recent avalanche;

The upstream Madison River was quite wild compared to the lower stretches I experienced this morning.

The Madison River Becomes Rather Wild Upstream

Seeing Aspen groves made me feel like I really was in the mountains now.

Aspen! Now I Really Felt Like I Was In The Mountains

Reaching the turn for the final 8.5 miles push to West Yellowstone, I was pretty spent, but this old cabin caught my eye for some reason.

An Interesting But Dilapidated Old Cabin

Does this signage seem reasonable?

If Bison Are On The Road, Should Traffic Be Traveling 55 mph?

I mean, if bison are on the road, should vehicles really be traveling 55 mph? And while you can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, can a tired bicyclist cycle through one? The last 8.5 miles put me back into the wind, but it was not as intense as earlier today - maybe only 10-20mph. Suffice it to say that it was a long 8.5 miles and I made several stops. Today was only 73 miles, but it was one of my hardest days so far. The unexpected wind simply caught me off guard, and the restaurant closure didn’t help my outlook. As I neared town, I got a wee bit of rain dumped on me but by this point I didn’t care. I checked into the Westwood Motel, cleaned up, and set off looking for some food. I hadn’t had a “real” meal today, and I needed one. West Yellowstone is a tourist town, and every place was crowded; many had a long wait time. However, I found a café with a buffalo steak special with no wait time, and that did the trick.

A hard day over, food in my belly, and I was sleeping inside tonight; all was well with my world. Sleep came ea…

Today's ride: 73 miles (117 km)
Total: 3,570 miles (5,745 km)

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