Saturday, In the Parks

I know it's not the 4th of July.  

Yesterday we rented a car, and set off to see the sites.  Unfortunately, we got what most tourists get when they go to a place like Yellowstone.  We knocked off a list of places to see; hit the parking lot, shuffled past, and then back in the car again to see the next.  It's more like a shopping list than it is an experience.  Today, on our bikes, we were able to do it better.  As we rolled through the part of the park we hadn't seen yesterday, we could experience it like no one in their cars, or trucks, or RVs, and believe me there are lots of them in Yellowstone.  We got to see a herd of Bison grazing along the side of the road.  We saw a small geyser bubble up, we saw fly fishermen in the river and called to them.  We got to smell what it's like to smell the geysers as they erupt.  Today, it was an experience, not a shopping list.  I really wish more people would take in the experience as we found it.  Rent an e-bike, so you don't have to worry about the distances or the hills.  If more people would do this, not only would they enjoy it much better, but there might be a call to curtail the nightmare of the park - traffic.  

It speaks for itself

Beautiful scenes in Yellowstone 

We rode 95 miles today, from West Yellowstone, through the park, out the south entrance, and into the Grand Teton National Park, only 7 miles south of the exit.  During that time we saw hundreds and hundreds of cars, trucks, RVs, trailers, all ruining the experience of the park.  When we visited Zion National Park last year, we had to park at the entrance and take a bus through the park.  Same for Denali in Alaska.  I really hope that Yellowstone soon takes that same kind of action and bans private cars within the park.  Not only do the cars clog up the scenery, but I don't really think the drivers and passengers are getting the experience they traveled so far to get.  At least by their attitude you wouldn't think so.  All day long we were yelled at, honked at, and disrespected by so many travelers as we rode through the park - single file, as far right as possible, and normally on the shoulder of the road.  By the end of the day we had road fatigue, after spending 7 hours being blasted by traffic, inches from us, at great speed and at great noise.  If they don't ban autos, at the very least the parks need to create separate roadways for bicycles and other travelers.  Please don't allow motor traffic to ruin one of the most incredible places on Earth.  Saturday was much busier than yesterday, and I understand it is still way below average.  I cannot imagine how horrible it would be to experience average.  

The continental divide -one of 3 times we crossed it in Yellowstone 

We did do a tourist-y thing today and we visited Old Faithful, the most famous of Yellowstone's geysers.  It is most famous simply because it erupts often enough that most visitors with a hint of patience can see what it is about.  We waited with the crowd today, and within 20 minutes were treated to a show of about 2 minutes as the geyser bubbled up, then shot into the air, sending steam and hot sulfur water all over the area.  It was worth seeing at least once.  

Monkey and Cow at Old Faithful

Afterwards, we headed out towards the south exit - miles away.  We brought lunches - sandwiches made by Running Bear Pancake House, where we ate breakfast again today before departing the Westwood Inn.  We planned to find picnic tables and eat at about lunchtime, but nothing appeared in that part of the park.  We rode upwards, a lot more climbing than I had expected, and crested at the continental divide 3 times today.  By the time we got to eat at Grant's Village, it was already 2, I was over-hangry, and we had between 20 and 40 miles to go.

We headed south and found the terrain, once we took a few small hills, to be downhill most of the way.  We continued south out of the park, and entered Grand Teton only a few miles later.  There were parts of the afternoon that I felt like a zombie pedaling up and down hills, traveling towards the end.  We pushed on to Colter Bay Village, a small cabin, RV, and tent community run by Grand Teton Park.  When we arrived, it became obvious that we likely should have made reservations - like a long time ago.  Everything seemed to be full.  Jerry and Pat sought out options at the camping venue, while I went up to check out the cabin situation.  I was wearing my Bell's cycling jersey, and 3 of the young women working the desk all said they loved Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.  I didn't know their popularity reached the mountains of Wyoming.  In any case, they were very, very helpful, and because of our situation - on bikes without other options, they looked and found a single cabin with one bed.  One even ran down from the office, checked it out, snapped a photo, to let me know that we could possibly put sleeping bags down in the cabin.  I took it.  At the same time a young man heard about Jerry and Pat's diminishing odds of finding anything and offered to share his tent-cabin.  A tent-cabin is kind of like a yurt, but not as fancy.  It's a square canvas-like tent with a few bunked cots and a wood stove.  Not bad if you don't have other options, but not ideal.  I found them and we thanked the young man and went down to the cabin.  It was located next to the restaurant -take out only- and therefore also had wifi.  It also has a bathroom - around the corner from us, but still available.  Fantastic, we got everything we needed.  It's a good thing, too.

Tomorrow we will face the longest, steepest climb yet, over 9,000 feet and 20 miles long.  Our day will be shorter miles-wise, but not effort-wise as we will go 65 miles to Dubois, WY.  

Or that's the plan.