I was so happy to leave Montana. As a bicyclists it was not a great place. Here is why I disliked Montana: 1. As I entered there was not a “Welcome to Montana” sign, 2. The roads were narrow, 3. Drivers on the highways were not courteous to cyclists, but in the towns and cities they were, 4. If there was shoulders they were not as good as the main road, 5. If there were shoulders they were narrow, 2 to 3 feet in width, 6. If there were shoulders some traffic engineer, or project manager, decided to put a 9 inch rumble strip in the middle of the shoulder, rendering it useless to cyclists, 7. Cars coming from behind mostly thought they had the right of way and often crossed a double yellow line to pass me and into incoming traffic forcing that oncoming vehicle to slow considerable to avoid a head on collision when the car behind me should be the one slowing. This happened way too often and the poor conditions of the shoulders are to blame. 8. Macho white guys would like floor their gas pedals immediately upon passing forcing me to breathe the cloud of toxic fumes emitted from their diesel pickup trucks, 9. Too many drivers would honk their horns as they were passing me. It was not the friendly honk but the scare the crap out of you honk, especially if a headwind muted all noises from behind, and 10. The people were not as friendly as I had experienced in Oregon and Idaho.
First thing today was to enter into Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. At 7:30 in the morning there was already a 50 car backup so I did what any cyclist would do and that is cut to the front of the line by going around and weaving between cars to get to the lane that required a cash purchase. I did not care if I inconvenienced someone because they were going to pass me with 10 seconds after they were released from the entry gate.
The road to Madison Junction was flat with a good shoulder and a car separation of about 100 feet, but they where still traveling 55 mph. This part of the road had a good shoulder. At Madison Junction one either turns left or right. Left takes you to the east side of the park and right takes you to the geysers, including Old Faithful. I choose right because I wanted to see the geysers. I did know that by going this way I was less likely to see wildlife. Immediately upon turning the shoulder disappears and it stays that way through the rest of the park. It is the now the Thursday before the 4th of July long weekend so traffic was busy. There was a remarkable difference in vehicle driver respect as compared to Montana, and it was in a good way. Also going right the elevation climb started. I stopped for every geyser, hot pool, or boiling mud observation area not only to see them but to get my breathe back because of the elevation.
When I pulled into the parking area for Old Faithful the skies were rumbling and it was getting dark from the storm clouds but as I got to Old Faithful I waited maybe 3 minutes until it exploded. It was not the front row but we had great seats for the geyser 2 years ago when I was here with Ann and Bobby. When she finished spitting her steam cloud it was time to seek cover because the fork lightning was nearby and the skies thundering. It never really rained. So after staying put and watching a second explosion from Old Faithful it was time to get back on the bike regardless what the weather was doing. It was no longer thundering.
Off I go, up and away. Between Old Faithful and my camping spot for the night there were two climbs over 8000 feet and two crosses of the continental divide. Going up to around 8500 feet was difficult and I was definitely not acclimated to elevation. At the second and highest pass the air temperature was 57 degrees. Very comfortable. The downhill to Grant Village was sweet and got a nice hiker/biker campsite in an otherwise completely full campground. Hiker/biker campsites are either individual sites, or location, in a campground that are set aside for people entering by foot or by bike. No reservations are needed and all public campgrounds on Federal lands and some local or state campgrounds have these set aside. Private campgrounds do not for the most part. What was different with this campground is that food vaults were available for campers to store food, cooking gear and apparatus, beverage containers including water, or anything that smelled like food at each site. It was a reminder that I was in bear country. Earlier this year a person was mauled by a grizzly just outside of the park in Montana so this precaution was welcome.
In the campground I met Juliette. I young cyclist traveling solo east to west along my same route. She just graduated from Ohio University and was very chatty. She will make it to Oregon for there is lots of determination. The coolest thing about this day was listening the wolves howl at sunset. They were in the distance but it was so cool. I did not see any wildlife except for birds and one old bison.
Today’s stats: total mileage 52.15 miles; average speed 11.8 mph; max speed 34.5 mph; elevation gain 2493 feet; elevation loss 1601 feet.