Day 29
June 29, 2005
Today I finally made it into Yellowstone. Still haven’t seen much of the great wildlife that is supposed to be out here, but it was a good day nonetheless.
I woke up relatively on time. I got rolling an hour later than I had wanted, but still set a record for earliest start: 7:10am. I made it up to the campground where the trio was staying and missed them by twenty minutes. Thankfully, I was able to catch up to them at Old Faithful.
I am happy to report the famous geyser is as dependable as ever. Unfortunately, we saw it go off from a distance while we were eating breakfast. It would have been another 90 minutes to wait and see it go off up close, so we considered that a success. There were other geysers and hot spots along the road down to Old Faithful that I was able to enjoy. They reminded me of water sprinklers shooting out of the ground, only a bit more smelly from the sulfur.
I rode the rest of the day with the trio. They’re great to ride with. The two Kiwis set the pace and pull ahead on the climbs, and Paul and myself bring up the rear at our own paces. After Old Faithful we went up and over a pair of camel-backed Continental Divides. It was the highest I had been so far, and I think I’m starting to notice the effects of the high altitudes.
Even this morning I felt a little short of breath; West Yellowstone is somewhere around 6,000 feet. It was while tackling the first little pass out of Old Faithful that I felt the thinning air get to me again. It just felt like I was a little out of breath a bit. It’ll be interesting to see how I respond to the even higher altitudes to come. I’m sure I’ll be fine, it’s not like I’m scaling Everest or anything just yet.
We made it up and over the two hills and arrive at our campground a little after 2. It’s really nice getting your day in with so much left in it to relax and enjoy. We hurried to get our tents set up as a rain shower was rapidly approaching. Once we were settled we headed down the laundry shack. They also had showers there that were lovely. It was while doing the laundry that we heard an adult Grizzly Bear had been spotted in the campground not too long ago. Due to that nice piece of info, we took extra precautions to tuck away all our food and such in a lock box, which doesn’t make too much sense to me anyway.
The box is just a steel box with a lock on it; it’s not air tight or anything. What if the bear smells the food, tries with all its mite to pick the lock, gets furious that he’s being teased by the delicious scent of my strawberry Pop-Tarts, sees three cute little tents to his left, and takes his aggression out by snacking on a tasty cyclist..? I don’t think that would be too much fun. I’d rather keep the food in my tent. That way, when he’s unzipping the tent I can surprise him with a swift little kick to the head and send him off bruised by a good lesson in why not to mess with cyclists and their food. Sound good, huh?
Anyway, after we got nice and clean we made our way to the dining hall/restaurant for dinner. It was a nice place. The three men went for the Montana Big Daddy Burger, or something like that. Allegedly, it was made out of some fine healthy cow in Montana. As I ate, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had passed this poor bovine a few weeks ago. Whether I did or not, he was darn tasty – he had better been, it was a $12 burger. I also substituted my fries for Polenta. The server described it as a cornmeal cake of sorts. I never had it before so I tried it. It was okay, had some spinach in it to try and spice it up, but it was a little bland for my taste. For desert I had the Yellowstone Sundae. One plain scone – halved, two mini scoops of Huckleberry ice cream, topped off with fresh mixed berries; it was very nice.
Tomorrow we have a nice leisurely day to another destination, Moran Junction. It’s good to be with other folks again, it makes the day a bit more enjoyable. Plus, now its also an education in another culture, Kiwi kulture.
Today: 55.59 Total: 1,267.89
Today I finally made it into Yellowstone. Still haven’t seen much of the great wildlife that is supposed to be out here, but it was a good day nonetheless.
I woke up relatively on time. I got rolling an hour later than I had wanted, but still set a record for earliest start: 7:10am. I made it up to the campground where the trio was staying and missed them by twenty minutes. Thankfully, I was able to catch up to them at Old Faithful.
I am happy to report the famous geyser is as dependable as ever. Unfortunately, we saw it go off from a distance while we were eating breakfast. It would have been another 90 minutes to wait and see it go off up close, so we considered that a success. There were other geysers and hot spots along the road down to Old Faithful that I was able to enjoy. They reminded me of water sprinklers shooting out of the ground, only a bit more smelly from the sulfur.
I rode the rest of the day with the trio. They’re great to ride with. The two Kiwis set the pace and pull ahead on the climbs, and Paul and myself bring up the rear at our own paces. After Old Faithful we went up and over a pair of camel-backed Continental Divides. It was the highest I had been so far, and I think I’m starting to notice the effects of the high altitudes.
Even this morning I felt a little short of breath; West Yellowstone is somewhere around 6,000 feet. It was while tackling the first little pass out of Old Faithful that I felt the thinning air get to me again. It just felt like I was a little out of breath a bit. It’ll be interesting to see how I respond to the even higher altitudes to come. I’m sure I’ll be fine, it’s not like I’m scaling Everest or anything just yet.
We made it up and over the two hills and arrive at our campground a little after 2. It’s really nice getting your day in with so much left in it to relax and enjoy. We hurried to get our tents set up as a rain shower was rapidly approaching. Once we were settled we headed down the laundry shack. They also had showers there that were lovely. It was while doing the laundry that we heard an adult Grizzly Bear had been spotted in the campground not too long ago. Due to that nice piece of info, we took extra precautions to tuck away all our food and such in a lock box, which doesn’t make too much sense to me anyway.
The box is just a steel box with a lock on it; it’s not air tight or anything. What if the bear smells the food, tries with all its mite to pick the lock, gets furious that he’s being teased by the delicious scent of my strawberry Pop-Tarts, sees three cute little tents to his left, and takes his aggression out by snacking on a tasty cyclist..? I don’t think that would be too much fun. I’d rather keep the food in my tent. That way, when he’s unzipping the tent I can surprise him with a swift little kick to the head and send him off bruised by a good lesson in why not to mess with cyclists and their food. Sound good, huh?
Anyway, after we got nice and clean we made our way to the dining hall/restaurant for dinner. It was a nice place. The three men went for the Montana Big Daddy Burger, or something like that. Allegedly, it was made out of some fine healthy cow in Montana. As I ate, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had passed this poor bovine a few weeks ago. Whether I did or not, he was darn tasty – he had better been, it was a $12 burger. I also substituted my fries for Polenta. The server described it as a cornmeal cake of sorts. I never had it before so I tried it. It was okay, had some spinach in it to try and spice it up, but it was a little bland for my taste. For desert I had the Yellowstone Sundae. One plain scone – halved, two mini scoops of Huckleberry ice cream, topped off with fresh mixed berries; it was very nice.
Tomorrow we have a nice leisurely day to another destination, Moran Junction. It’s good to be with other folks again, it makes the day a bit more enjoyable. Plus, now its also an education in another culture, Kiwi kulture.
Today: 55.59 Total: 1,267.89
posted by SuperByron3000 at 7/06/2005
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