Day 60: West Yellowstone, MT to Grant Village, WY; Yellowstone & Consecutive BARs

August 30, 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: 2,870 ft -- Total So Far; 144,016 ft

3.) Average Speed While Biking Today: 9.1 mph

4.) Mechanical Issues Today: none

5.) Miles Remaining to Canon City: about 668

6.) Miles Traveled to Date on This Half of the Journey: 1,332

7.) Money Found Today: $0.01

8.) Total Money Found: $0.42 (Will I find enough to buy a cup of coffee?)

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

New BAR Set Today: 8,391 feet, unnamed pass in Yellowstone

I slept late this morning as I figured I needed the rest after yesterday's toils, so I wasn't rolling until shortly before 6:00 am. “First breakfast” consisted of instant oatmeal in the hotel room with water heated by my jetboil stove, and a pastry and juice I had bought at the local supermarket last night. That was an adequate enough breakfast for any normal day, but a day of cycling isn’t a normal day of energy expenditure. I was quite happy to see the moon this morning.

I Hadn't Seen The Moon In Days Due to the Smoke

Because of the smoke, I hadn’t seen the moon in about 18 days, and I hoped this sighting meant that the air would be clean today also. I reached the Yellowstone entry station well before daylight.

Approaching the Yellowstone Entry Station in Darkness

I purchased a Senior Pass for $10 that gives me half-price entry into all federal parks. I suppose there is some benefit to age, and I've earned any discount my age gets me. The gate attendant was a nice fellow who was interested in my bicycle trip, so we chatted a bit - there was no other traffic behind me so he wasn't in any rush. His parting words of advice to me were “Beware of the tourists.” That seemed like a curious warning, but soon enough I would understand what he meant. Rolling on, I was warned that there may be bison and other wildlife on the road ahead.

Bison On The Road Ahead? Must I Bicycle Through A Buffalo Herd?

I reached Wyoming before daylight!

Since I had already traveled in part of Colorado on the first half of my journey, Wyoming would be the last state to be added to the list of those I visited on this ramble. At sunrise, I was overjoyed to see that there was no smoke in the sky.

I was still following the Madison River upstream. So how about a few early morning photos of it in Yellowstone?

Here is my first wildlife photo in Yellowstone as a flock of water birds (I was later told they are Common Mergansers) took flight;

A few cars had now passed me, but it was still not too busy. The gate attendant had warned me that the tourists would soon be massing, so I knew they were coming. The few cars that had passed me were moving too fast to notice this bison in the field;

A Lone Buffalo In A Field Was Missed By The Folks Zooming Past in Cars

And here’s today’s “found money” to add to the end-of-the-journey coffee fund;

Another Penny For the "Found Money" Coffee Fund

These trees appeared to have been felled by an avalanche;

Did An Avalanche Knock These Trees Down?

And just a miscellaneous bit of Yellowstone scenery for my personal memory cache.

The early morning fog on the hillsides made for interesting photos.

I was climbing today and I expected to set 2 new BARs, eventually topping out near 8,400 feet, so I had a ways to go yet.

And now I got to experience what the gate attendant meant when he told me to “beware of the tourists.” Cars had passed by this point ahead of me without stopping, because they move too fast to pay attention to things in the woods. But not so on a bicycle, as I noticed an elk mom and her fawn feeding just 20 yards off the roadway.

Elk Cow and Fawn - I Caused a Traffic Jam With My Photography

Elk Cow and Fawn - Traffic Was Curious to See What I Was Photographing

Now here’s the “beware of the tourists” part. As I was stopped on the shoulder of the road taking these photos and many more, cars approaching me from both directions noticed what I was doing and they stopped; but not at all orderly. They stopped haphazardly and jumped out quickly so they wouldn’t miss this Kodak moment. One fellow couldn’t see what was going on so he rolled his window down and yelled out to the gathering crowd, “What’s going on?” A lady replied to him about the elk, and he too jumped out and approached the scene. But the most galling thing of all was this; while I was standing on the shoulder straddling my bike and holding my DSLR with the long lens attached and obviously being a photographer, a young lady in a car pulled directly in front of me blocking my view so that she could roll her window down and take photos on her cell phone. Now that was just plain impolite, and it was obvious even to her that she was being so, but the crowd fever had reached a high. NOW I understood what the gate attendant meant. "It’s ok," I said to myself, "I have my photos and they are good ones, time to roll on and distance myself from this particular madness."

So then I came upon this bison herd off the road a ways;

And on the opposite side of the road, there was a single bison;

A Lone Bison In A Field Had Folks Stopping

Bison, Thermal Springs in the Background

Now for the next “beware of the tourists” moment, this time initiated by an SUV full of Japanese tourists.

And here was the day’s brazen act of sheer stupidity;

Today's Brazen Act of Stupidity; This Guy Is a Fool

Bison had charged and harmed many tourists in Yellowstone. Youtube has a lot of videos of such. And all around Yellowstone, including postings on every restroom wall, there are warnings telling folks to not approach the bison. Even if you can’t read English, the warnings include a clear cartoon pic showing a bison charging and goring a tourist with a camera. So there’s just no excuse for this stupidity. I moved on quickly because if the bison charged, I didn’t have a steel cage to hide in.

So here’s a few pics of some of the numerous hot springs in Yellowstone;

There Are Numerous Thermal Springs in Yellowstone

These Thermal Springs are Quite Hot - Better Stay on the Walkway

Thermal Springs and Steam; Volcanics in Action

While I was taking the above pics, Eli rolled up.

Eli is somewhat of a bicycle hobo. He had worked the winter season in Breckenridge and plans to do so again, and in the meantime he is traveling around the country living on a $500 monthly budget. So that’s cool. Here are a couple photos in the prismatic spring area where there was a definite smell of sulfur;

I rolled up onto Old Faithful shortly before she was going to blow, and over about a 30 minute time period I snapped this sequence of photos as she made lots of small burbs and then finally let loose with a few big ones.

The Crowd Has Been Waiting in Anticipation; Is This Another False Start?

Thar' She Blows! Old Faithful Wows The Crowd

Thar' She Blows! She's In Full Eruption Now!

Thar' She Blows! Full Eruption As Seen Without a Telephoto Lens (about what the unaided eye would see)

I was ready for food, so I ventured into the Old Faithful Lodge and attacked the lunch buffet. While I was waiting in line, folks ahead of me mentioned they had passed me earlier on the road and were very interested in my journey. So that was encouraging, and this has been the norm for some time now - folks are curious and most are amazed that an old guy like me is biking across the country. Now, while it really is a bit challenging, I think most folks need to raise their expectation level a bit - we are all capable of much more than is "expected" of us. Leaving the lodge and rolling on, I was happy to notice that my speed was well under control.

Here’s why the traffic is sometimes so bad in Yellowstone;

Every One of Them Tows Another Vehicle Along

People drive these monstrous RVs, and they almost always have a car in tow. Many of these drivers are relatively inexperienced and poorly qualified to be operating these big rigs. Now take a situation where someone spots wildlife beside the road and everybody bails out of their cars for the Kodak moment, and throw a lot of these big rigs into the mix; you get the picture. Fortunately for me, the traffic was somewhat diminished from the high season since school was now back in session, and many folks had elected not to travel to Yellowstone because of all the western state’s forest fires. Still, the traffic was at times intense, but only for brief bursts, then it got calm again. I think I was very lucky.

I called in to Bike Central to get clearance for 2 consecutive BAR attempts. They cleared us and gave me these warnings; beware of monstrous RVs on the roadways, and beware of an SUV carrying Japanese tourists who were behaving recklessly. I acknowledged the clearance and the warnings, and Harvey and I set about doing the work.

Reaching the Continental Divide at Craig Pass, we established a new BAR as well as our second crossing of the divide.

My Second Crossing of the Continental Divide; A New BAR

There was more work to do today, so the celebratory moment would have to wait. Rolling down from Craig Pass, we commenced the climb to our second BAR and third crossing of the Continental Divide at an unnamed pass. We made it.

Ditto With the Third Crossing; Records Were Made to be Broken

We needed to push on to Grant Village where we would camp tonight, and so we did. Here’s a view of Yellowstone Lake approaching Grant Village;

And here’s my camp, set up in the hiker/biker section;

I had planned to camp twice earlier on this journey, but the smoke changed my plans. It was bad enough to have to breathe it all day while cycling, and I didn’t want to breathe it all night as well. So I had stayed indoors instead, choosing budget motels instead of campgrounds. So this was my first night of camping on this half of the journey, and I was a bit nervous. There was no one else in the hiker/biker section, at least none I saw and certainly none near me, and I was camping outside in bear country. Every item of any sort that has a smell was supposed to go inside these bear-proof containers.

Anything With An Odor Must Go In The Bear Box - What About Me?

But what about me? Do I smell? I did shower, but hey; I must smell at least a little, especially to a hungry bear. I had to hustle and bike to the laundry and shower facility, and hustle even more to get some dinner. Now it was getting dark, and I was just getting back to my campsite. Inside my tent I was struggling to get my air pad installed in the bottom of the sleeping bag, then blow it up, then find the sleeping bag liner to add some warmth to the lightweight summer bag, then blow up the air pillow, then find my headlight and arrange my stuff. At the last moment I realized that all of my panniers had contained food at some time on this trip, so they all needed to go inside the bear box tonight. It was dark outside while I was loading them into, and then securing, the bear box. And it was getting cold. Very cold, in fact. It may be a long night…

Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 3,629 miles (5,840 km)

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