Twin Bridges, Montana

Oh the places we've been!
We are now in Montana! It wasn't so easy getting here, but here we are. On Saturday, we left Cody and cycled into Yellowstone National Park.

On Sunday we cycled across the park and camped at Madison campground near the west entrance. Then Monday morning we left the park, cycled through West Yellowstone and headed toward the Madison River Canyon. There was a devastating earthquake in the canyon on August 17, 1959. The valley was changed tremendously and there are many historical markers along the way to document the impact of that night. When we left that area we turned north and continued into the Madison River Valley with the Rockies all around us. The Madison range to our right and the Gravelly Range to our left. The winds were blowing quite strong out of the south so we had the ride of our lives! Our average speed for the day was 15 mph (we usually average about 10) and most of the time on Rt. 287 North we were cruising at about 18-22 mph! That's unheard of! We were losing elevation most of the day, but the downhill was so slight, it was the wind that gave us our momentum. Boy did it feel good and you make sure to enjoy every minute knowing that it is probably a once in a trip experience! AND at the end of the day the computer said 93 miles! A new record!

Today we rode from Ennis, up and over a mountain pass (elevation about 7000 ft) and into Virginia City and Nevada City, and into this cute little town. Tomorrow we turn south, head toward Dillon and then toward Big Hole Pass. The Rockies are spectacular. Once you ride over a pass the road empties out into a valley with mountains surrounding you. Not many roads run directly east/west so there is lots of time to ride parallel with the mountain ranges and enjoy the scenery before the next climb begins. Our next big destination is Missoula and according to Dave the ride through the Bitterroot Valley is incredible.

A day to remember
Let me tell you about our ride from Cody to Yellowstone. Talk about every cloud having a silver lining! We left Cody on Saturday after a nice hearty breakfast, wondering if we would really make it into the park on our bikes after all this time and planning. It had rained the day before, so the gate was open and the fire forecast was positive. At first the wind was quite strong and right in our faces, so I was fretting that we would never cover the 80+ miles we needed in order to make it to the nearest park campground. Luckily the wind subsided and we covered the first 50 miles pretty easily. The evidence of fire was everywhere. The National Forest campgrounds were all closed and a few were being used by fire crews. Many of the houses and lodges closer to the park had been wrapped with protective foil in case the fire came over the ridge. There was one lodge still open (Pasaska Tepee Lodge built by Buffalo Bill Cody)about a mile from the entrance to the park, so we stopped there to rest and have lunch.

As we were sitting there the skies opened up and the rain came down complete with good rolls of thunder and some impressive lightening. As we were getting ready to continue into the park, information came into the fire personnel stationed there that about 7 miles east of our location a mud slide had just occurred. There was now mud about 3 feet deep covering the entire roadway. Had we slept in a little longer, or eaten just a little slower, we would be stuck on the wrong slide of a huge mudslide!

So the silver lining for us (not the poor motorists stuck behind the slide) was a private road into the park. We had a mountain pass coming up on a road that was under construction and in poor condition. Instead of a white knuckle ride with cars kicking up gravel and stones, we had the entire road to ourselves! The pass was 7 miles away and it was much more maneagable since we were able to pick our way up through the rough road and not worry about traffic. At the top of the pass you could see where the fire had come over the ridge, and was heading toward the road. The rain put the fire out and you could see the line dividing the burned trees and the ones left untouched. We actually rode about 27 miles into Yellowstone National Park, on a Saturday afternoon and felt like the entire park belonged to just us! It was a little eerie after awhile.

Of course, the rainstorms were not over for the day and as we got to the top of the mountain, the rain started coming down. And the temperature dropped. We endured this for a while, but even with rain jackets on we began to feel the effects of the cold rain. So, it was another visit to the bathrooms! The only shelter around. You know you have to be desperate to spend 30 minutes in a pit toilet! But after we had dried off, warmed up and put on more clothes, we were ready to make the final miles to our campsite. But we first passed by the Lake Lodge and cabins which looked awfully good to two wet and tired cyclists. So we put on our best bedraggled looks, kept our bike helmets on and were lucky enough to get a most understanding receptionists who managed to find us that one last cabin that had not been rented for the night. The silver lining at the end of a long, hard day.

Bison grunt, snort and give the greatest evil eye looks
Riding across the park on Sunday, we got the chance to come up close and personal with numerous bison herds in the Hayden Valley and a few who just like to hang out along the side of the woods. The rule is, stay 25 yards away from any wildlife in the park and we really wanted to follow that rule, but the bison were not cooperating. As we were happily pedaling our way across the park we would see the lines of cars stopped ahead and know the game was on. How do we weave our way down the road and not make any large, wooly animals mad at us? So we would cautiously coast up to the scene and look for the safest path. If the bison were on the left, we stuck to the right and so forth, but often the bison were everywhere, so now what to do? We tried to enlist help from motorists to act as motorized shields, but if the bison started to move, we were forgotten as the paint jobs and collision insurance popped into mind. So there we were stranded in the middle of the road playing Red Light, Green Light with massive animals. Bison looks away, cyclist moves, bison turns around, cyclist freezes. This continues until the bison lose interest in hanging out along the road, or the cyclist makes it to the other side of the herd.

At one point, a HUGE bison lumbered into the middle of the road, turned his massive head directly at us and gave us the best evil eye I've ever seen (I'm not making this up!). We of course stopped dead in our tracks quite a ways from him and thought we'd just hang out there for as long as he wanted us to, we were not messing with this guy. He eventually took a big gallop down the side of the road (away from us luckily), causing cars to take off away from his path, turned, gave us one last withering look and sauntered into the woods. We were not sad to see him go, and continued on our merry way.

We were really never in any danger, but boy, do those animals command respect and they are so much more impressive when viewed from the seat of a bicycle instead of from the relative safety of a car.

Tomorrow another mountain pass.... time to go eat pizza!