July 31, 2022
0731 - "That ball wouldn't have been out of most parks."
"Yeah? Name *one*." "Yellowstone?"
TODAY'S ENTRY TITLE is a quote from one of my favorite baseball movies ever, Major League. Well okay, technically it's from Major League 2 because it was teased in the promos for the first movie but never made it into the final cut. There must've been tremendous public backlash about that because it was inserted into the sequel.
Anyhow, the only thing that makes the quote relevant is that Yellowstone is where I am now, after five days of hovering on the doorstep. It is, of course, great to be here.
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"We don't get winter in Minnesota like we used to" said my server this morning. We were at The Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone. It was early (a few minutes past 0600 hours) and I was being attended to by a young, fresh-faced woman who's just moved to this area from Redwing, MN.
She plans to be a year-around resident. Her family has been to the area many times, and in fact plans to hold their Christmas celebration at her place come December. They also have a connection to the former owners of the restaurant (which, by the way, serves AWESOME homemade cinnamon rolls, among other things, which explains why I ate breakfast there on three of the four mornings I was in town), which may explain how the young lady came to be there to serve me my breakfast.
Whatever the case, she was very personable- always a good trait in her line of work. I wish her much pleasure in her new environs.
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We've all heard the horror stories about the hours-long lines to enter Yellowstone, the terrible traffic jams, and the general overcrowdedness of a park that we are literally loving to death. This spring's floods have significantly reduced all of those issues; many hotels in West Yellowstone are running below capacity, and it is possible to get campsites at some places without advance reservations. (More on that later.)
Based on today's experience, the time to enter the park is at or before 0700 on a Sunday morning. There was exactly one car ahead of me, and I breezed through the entry gate without any issue. The ranger barely even glanced at my annual pass and driver's license to confirm that the names matched, and waved me on with a cheery "Enjoy your stay!"
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For the first hour, perhaps more, traffic was quite light. There was some, of course, but it wasn't heavy and at times I had the entire road to myself. Only a few drivers chose to stay completely in the lane, passing me fairly close (but the shoulder is wide enough that I could stay well clear of them). Most drivers not only pulled well over, many also slowed down before overtaking me.
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You also could not prove by me that the park is teeming with wildlife. I saw exactly zero bison, elk, moose, or bears, only a few ducks on the Madison River, and the odd raven here and there. (I can vouch for the presence of mosquitoes, houseflies, horseflies, and some variety of stinging insect which hit me (VERY painfully) in the side while I was riding.)
All the charismatic megafauna must've either slept in, taken the day off, or decided to be elsewhere. In one sense that was a relief because it meant I didn't have to worry about how to fend off an angry bison intent on goring me, or any other unwanted animal attention. But then, of course, it also meant I saw little beyond great scenery and the road itself; mostly my attention was on the road so I may have missed seeing animals.
I did stop in at a few of the roadside geothermal sites but elected to take a pass on the ones that involved any sort of lengthy hike. (Bike shoes aren't really conducive to that sort of thing, and I just couldn't be arsed to change back and forth between them and my sandals, to which I have taken an intense dislike.) One of them in particular, Beryl Spring, was venting steam furiously. It made an impressive and continuous roar as it exited the bowels of the earth, and the pool of water bubbled and boiled vigorously in front of the vent.
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At just 44 miles, with lots of flat miles in the first half of the day, it was a relatively short, easy day of riding. Well okay, easy except for the half mile or so of 9 to 10 percent grade that I chose to walk up. But after that, I had several more miles of actual downhill, most of the way to the Canyon Village Campground which was my destination for the day.
Back in January I had booked regular campsites, because the park website makes no mention of any special provisions or a no-turn-away policy for cyclists and hikers. I subsequently learned that these things do in fact exist (but are not publicized to prevent abuse) and are about 1/3 the price of a regular reserved campsite, so I canceled the reservations a couple weeks ago and am staying in the campsite reserved for guests like me. I'm the only one in the site (it can be shared by as many as half a dozen independent guests) since the season for us is already starting to wane, and (except for the flies and mosquitoes) it's lovely.
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Since attendance parkwide seems to be down this year (the Dutch couple in front of me at the registration counter were able to book a campsite without any reservation) I feel doubly vindicated in having released the $34 site in favor of the $9.40+tax site.
Also, based on the advice of the park rangers at the West Yellowstone Visitor's Center as well as that of my Wednesday bus tour guide, I have reluctantly decided that it is best to go armed through the park.
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My decision was made easier by the fact that my hotel sells the stuff at their cost (slightly over half the going retail price), which takes a lot of the sting out of buying something I hope never to have to actually use, and which in fact I intend to leave behind once I leave bear country for good.
It seems overly dramatic but there's so much attention to and publicity about bear attacks- even though they are relatively uncommon- that it seems the more prudent course of action. When I reach Cody (or some other place recognized as being largely out of bear territory) I'll try to resell it, or donate it, or something. In the meantime here's hoping it remains unused.
Since it was a short day (I was done riding by 1300 hours, having entered the park right at 0700) I've had the pleasure and luxury of having some idle time. I saw to a few minor annoyances on Odysseus, had a nice shower, got my clothes sink-washed and hung in time to dry, and got the draft of this entry hand-written. This is supposed to be how cycle touring always goes, isn't it? 😊
During the ride I did manage to snap the odd photo here and there, but for the most part I was simply enjoying a pleasant ride. Hope you like the pictures.
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Consecutive days without a tire inflation problem: 14
Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 1,080 miles (1,738 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |