0725 - Scenes from U.S. 287 - Rejuvenation? Or Last Hurrah?

July 25, 2022

0725 - Scenes from U.S. 287

More photos than text

TODAY'S STORY will be more photo essay than narrative. Suffice it to say that I started in Ennis, ended in West Yellowstone, it took me 11.5 hours to collect the pictures, and I spent the entire day except the last 1/4 mile on U.S 287.

A magpie sitting on the wire, surveying its domain.

I've named these the Good Morning Mountains.

Evidently I'm not the only one to suffer tire problems.

They at least had a spare, tucked away under the truck deck. No idea why they didn't put it on.

Shovels and rakes and implements of destruction.

If this truck scale is to be believed, the bike and gear and I weigh a lot. But I think it's reading a bit high.

The Cameron sign lists all of the businesses in town.

And this appears to be the entirety of the town, or at least the business district.

These pyramids could only have been built by, or at least with the help of, aliens from another world.

The sprawling suburban belt and exurbs of Cameron.

Still a ways to go but not as far as when I began the day.

Open rangeland. This goes on for miles, on both sides of the road.

AHA! I knew there was a connection to the pyramids. Now, where's the Sphinx?

The Indian Creek Ranch gate. But where the heck is the ranch?

I'm not the first cyclist to have passed this way These could be the tracks left by Ian and Dan the day before; this spot is where one section of the ACA map ends and the next begins, so they'd have stopped to flip their maps.

Really rugged, craggy mountain peaks make good fodder for photos.

Sometime around midday I chanced to meet this Dutch father and son combination. They're headed for Portland, having started in DC.

The Palisades Recreation Area features these vertical scarps, indicating that U.S 287 is getting closer to the Madison River that it's been roughly paralleling for many miles without really being obvious about it.

An osprey nest, with occupant. There are several of these habitat poles along the Madison, all tenanted. Comforting to see.

Here's another. The chicks are sheltering in the shade of the parent's shadow.

Finally the Madison emerges into view, and it's quite scenic. It's also flowing very swiftly over its bed of stones and boulders.

I've now entered the earthquake zone. There was a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in August 1959 that released something like a 60 million ton landslide. The slide blocked the Madison River, creating Quake Lake, and killed a number of people.

The scar of the landslide hasn't changed a lot in the intervening 63 years. The quake happened just before midnight, catching campers asleep in their tents. Many were killed in their sleep, many more drowned in the ensuing flood as the Madison backed up after being dammed by the slide.

This beautiful bird was hanging out at the top of a snag in Quake Lake.

A view up Earthquake Lake. Before the quake, this was the forest along the sides of the Madison River. People were camped along here, either in USFS campgrounds or just along the side of the road and creek.

@Greg Garceau, this view blocker's for you. It's obscuring the view of Hebgen Lake.

This is what you'd see if you moved a bit so the view blocker isn't in your line of sight.

Many hours after I shot the previous progress marker sign, I'm almost there.

Evening shadows as US. 287 runs south toward West Yellowstone. It's cooling off already, for which I'm grateful even though it was never really beastly hot.

Made it! The hotel's less than a mile away.

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Consecutive days without a tire inflation issue: 6

Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 1,036 miles (1,667 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	6

William OstremYou're making great progress, Keith!
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2 years ago

Keith AdamsTo William OstremThanks. The first 1,000 miles are in the books. Only about another 3,000 to do.
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2 years ago

Scott AdamsKeith - I believe you've been to Earthquake Lake once before: I THINK it was sometime after 1961 that our family visited Ev and Mary in Bozeman, and on that trip we stopped at EQ Lake. I recall that - unlike other national assets - they said we could take away as much rock as we wanted. It was something like, if every visitor took 5 pounds, it would take 500,000 years to remove it all. OK, I couldn't resist doing the math: that would mean an average of 48,000 visitors per year. Seems quite plausible!
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2 years ago

Scott AdamsSo in less than a week you've met both a father / son AND father / daughter cycling duos from the Netherlands, touring across the US! Interesting.
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2 years ago

Keith AdamsTo Scott AdamsIt's a common perception that the best time to invade the Netherlands is during the summer cycle touring season, because all the Dutch will be away on their bikes.
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2 years ago

Keith AdamsTo Scott AdamsYes I vaguely remember that trip. It had to have been 1965 or 67 I think. 1966 was an Adams reunion year and 1968 was a Lensink year. I don't think it was as late as 69, thought it may have been.
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2 years ago