Not the wild west shoot 'em out hold up like the one we watched on Monday night outside the historic Irma Hotel (good thing it was free because it was quite the hokey tourist act we usually try to avoid!) but the uncertainty of the fire situation. The east gate was open on Tuesday morning so we were able to drive into the park via that route. We spent the next days touring the park at 45 mph. We were blown away by the speed! And we were able to see so many areas of the park that would have been difficult to get to with a bike. Yellowstone is so much more than just Old Faithful although it is quite impressive to see the geyser spout high into the air. The diversity of the park is amazing. The thermal and volcanic aspect of the park is so interesting, but we also saw spectacular canyons, waterfalls, mountains and so much more. We actually drove over the Continental Divide 8 times in our journeys around the park.
And the wildlife viewing was fun and a bit more secure through the windshield of a car. We saw lots of bison of course, quite a few herds of elk, a coyote and some osprey. There was a quick sighting of a moose as we were driving and an almost sighting of a bear. Luckily none of these forms of wildlife chose to visit our campsite! People just loose their minds when it comes to taking pictures of the animals as they stop in the middle of the road or park just inches off the edge of mountainsides! We will have to be very careful of this phenomena when we are cycling through the park in the next days.
So, tomorrow morning we will get up early and evaluate the fire situation. If the east gate is open, we may decide to put in the 70+ miles it will take to get into the park and to a campground. It would be hard to only go part way and gamble on the gate remaining open. We might also decide to bike toward the northeast gate which is definitely open, but the road going there is much more challenging although spectacularly beautiful. The mountain passes are definitely not as long or steep as the Big Horns, so we know our legs are up to the challenge, but it puts us in the park north of where we need to be. Once we get into the park, we'll exit into West Yellowstone and head north into Montana. Hard to believe we are that close already! There are fires in Montana also, but we'll be watching and evaluating as we go.
About Me
- Mary and Dave
- We are at it again. We cycled 1200 miles down the coast of Oregon, into California, over the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco. Then it was a ferry across the bay to Vallejo and a lovely side trip up the Napa Valley to Callestoga. That was the end of the bike portion of our trip.
