The morning of 30 Aug was cold, and I mean cold! Shortly after emerging from my tent, my hands were sore cold; you know when they are so cold that pressing or pushing on anything hurts. Even when I put my boots on and ran around for a bit, my toes were still tingly. This was when I discovered that my little silk liner gloves had gone AWOL. Another breakfast of croissant, ham and cheese with tea helped a little, but it still took me nearly 2 hours to get ready to leave.
Riding to Teton (pronounced TEE-ton) was uneventful, although here were some great views of the peaks. I entered the park and went to a visitor centre, primarily to work out my route for the day, but also to get some coffee. While there I bought a pair of gloves, costing “less than 2 cups of coffee” according to the sales lady. Since the gloves cost nearly $14, I decided to forego the coffee. I also discovered that Teton and Yellowstone are separate parks, so I gave back my map of Teton and headed for Yellowstone.
The roads through the parks are like the Blue Ridge and Natchez Trace Parkways; the surface is great, the curves sweeping and the speed limit 45 mph. The only difference is the amount of traffic; Yellowstones roads are busy! There are not many roads; in fact there are only two loops, northern and southern. I was staying at Bridge Bay Campsite, which was half way up the eastern side of the southern loop.
One of the must-sees at YS, is Old Faithful Geyser. This was some way along the west side of the lower loop, so I opted to visit this first, before heading up the eastern loop to the campground. This would keep the upper loop, which covered the area where it was more likely to see wildlife, for tomorrow.
Old Faithful was, well, disappointing. Like so many major tourist attractions it has been hyped up way beyond the reality. The wider geyser system is interesting to see, though. I walked around the board walk and took a hike up to an observation point – ½ mile and 200 feet, the sign said. Even accounting for the altitude and my general state of non-fitness, I reckon it was much more. To cap it, though, I didn’t find the observation point! There was a spot that looked likely, but it was fenced off. So I missed the overview 🫤. Did I mention that the place was crowded? Well, the Old Faithful site was like Tesco on a wet Saturday afternoon.
Not everywhere is hot and sulphurous, however, and it was possible to find some quiet spots, even if only for brief periods.
After all this excitement and unaccustomed exercise, I had a very welcome Magnum, grapefruit juice and coffee, before heading for “home”. Here I encountered, yet again, the failings of Garmin. Initially it gave me the right distance to my destination, but then it tried to take me somewhere else, in spite of the lack of choice or roads. When I ignored it and took the correct road, the distance to go, doubled!
In spite of Garmin’s best efforts, I arrived safely at Bridge Bay and got to my allocated site. I rode there, marvelling at the sunny spots I was passing and then arrived at mine; it was in the middle of the woods and wouldn’t see any sun even at midday on mid-summer day. I asked for one with less shade, and I got one!
Camp established and a deal for firewood done with some other travellers, I rode up to Fishing Bridge, the next place on the road where there were a fuel station and store. Here I met a delightful young lady called Anna, who is a snowboarder. If you read this Anna, and want to board in France do get in touch; I would happily host you and either of my lads would be more than willing to take you onto the slopes. Oh yes, I also get some beer. Then It was back to sort out a fire and some food before the sun went down.
At Old Faithful, I met a couple of Canadian bikers, who strongly recommended the Beartooth Pass, a road I had opted to miss. He said it was about the best road he had ever ridden in N America; when his opinion of Old Faithful concurred with mine, I thought, maybe I should heed his advice, especially as he wasn’t the first to offer this. The guys I bought the wood from, also said something similar, so now I am reviewing my plan. I think maybe to stay here an extra night, which would allow me to do the pass and back, without having to carry all my gear along.
Sat 31 Aug 2024
My air mattress deflated! This was something I had read about when selecting the mat, but I bought a top marque, hoping to avoid this. Nope! Will see tonight.
It was chilly this morning, although not like yesterday. The inside of my tent was wet, and the seat of the bike was covered in thick frost, as was my helmet, which I had forgotten to put away. More disturbingly, there was quite a bit of petrol that had leaked from the petcock. When I switched to run, this stopped. 🤞
In order to decide on my future route, I needed the internet, And I thought the best chance of finding this was back at Old Faithful. This meant retracing my ride from yesterday, but I rationalised that it would look different from the other direction. Finding internet was not so easy; the first place didn’t provide it, but I did find out the only place to where public internet was available.
I spent the next few hours working out the best way out of the park and up to Coldstream. This task was not made easier by the fact that I couldn’t even make phone calls. Mint Mobile is rubbish! Eventually I succeeded, and got back on my way.
The ride along the western side of the park would have been great, but it was chock-a-block with cars. At the locations I had planned a stop, everyone else had had the same idea; there were queues to get into some! I decided, somewhat reluctantly, that I didn’t want to see them badly enough to queue for half-an-hour.
Nonetheless, some of the scenery was pretty spectacular and in other places pretty. Then, the big event! Heralded by a long line of slow moving traffic, there they were, some of the parks original inhabitants, bison! Larger than an African buffalo, they did very much the same things; ate grass, rolled in the dust and, ate grass …. Still, they were impressive.
I pulled into a lay-by to take a pic, and the driver in front waved and came to talk to me. This was Eric who hailed from Paris. His companion was Delphine, who headed off to take some photos, while Eric and I chatted. It was good to see that I had not forgotten all my French 😊.
I finished the loop, back at Fishing Bridge, where I met again, the delightful Anna. Then it was back to camp to have a beer and sort myself out.
After exploring many options, I decided to give deviations (Beartooth Pass) a miss and make straight for Coldstream. This is about 1400 km, so 4 days riding. I booked one night camp, but couldn’t get through to the other, unfortunately, the one I needed first.
Last night I did, what I thought was a favour for this couple who approached me; well, actually it was the woman who approached me. They had too much wood, she said, which they carried in front of their van. They were worried, she said, that this might lead to overheating.I pointed out that Whatever the reason she want to know if I was going to buy some wood and if so would I buy her excess. I explained that I had no cash, but this was waved; her husband had PayPal, Venmo, ….. I should have been warned by this. She disappeared and came back with hubby, van and kids and the deal was done, with some difficulty; the husband also, had Cash. The deal completed – they of course had internet (Star whatever) – I asked if I could download some google maps as the cell phone coverage was rubbish. I go one, but there were in too big a hurry to let me do the second one I needed. Anyway tonight, I found out why they wanted rid of the wood; it was not cured properly and burned poorly. Lesson learned, trust no-one!
The campsite, which was empty last night is now full. Apparently the were 80 no-shows last night which may explain it, but tonight it is heaving. Hopefully tomorrow, not all will be on the way home, north, booking up the possible campsites I’m looking for.
Sunday 01 Sep 2024
Last night was somewhat warmer that the previous two, but was made uncomfortable by my deflating mattress. The ground was covered in little humps and hollows, so was rather painful when a hump stuck into my back. The peaceful quiet of last night was gone and voices carry far; along with the banging car doors, this made for a noisy night.
I go up to see the sun rise! I have seen more spectacular sunrises, but it was pretty cool. Breakfast and on my way, headed for Bozeman, via the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and some game viewing.
Well, the GCofYS was not that impressive; still I got a bit of exercise walking to the two falls view points. After this, along the road there were scattered groups of bison, and at one point a single (?) prong-horned deer; it amused me to see the hordes of people stopping and gawping at this solitary creature. I also saw a fish eagle, sitting of a rock.
My next stop was in mammoth Hot Springs, mainly to try to get some connectivity, but also for a coffee. It’ an awful place; full of drivers not knowing where they are going. I did get internet of a sort and managed to make contact with a few people.
The northern route out of the park, almost made up for the rest. It is much more open, the mountains are majestic and the overall impression quite awe-inspiring. Soon I was on HW 89 heading for Bozeman via Livingston. This has the air of a frontier town, probably because as you drive along the main drag, the mountains are visible immediately behind the buildings.
I decided to take the interstate as the signage for the alternative was not too clear and I just wanted to get done for the day. At my resting place I was shown my campsite, right next to the highway! The noise is awful; I’ll be using my air-pods on noise cancelling tonight.
Wonder of wonders; my new PIN finally arrived! The first time the card was used tonight, there was a refusal, reversed on the second attempt. The next time it was used, there was another refusal – insufficient funds it said. I tried to log into the app, and …. Yes, it said username and password not recognised! My fingerprint wasn’t recognised either!
The second time I was trying to pay for my dinner; I had decided to celebrate the arrival of my PIN. Sadly that was disappointing too, as the steak was overcooked and dry. Does America have any decent restaurants?
`So, my spell in Yellowstone is over. Overall verdict? Disappointing. The crowds didn’t help, for sure, but the attractions were over-sold, and the wildlife scarce. Bears? I wonder how many people actually see a bear.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 