Today is all about strategy for the next day. From Colter Bay to Yellowstone National Park and beyond is a long day for riding. It is possible but there would be no time to view Old Faithful or see the other geothermal activity that Yellowstone is known for. But before we could do that we needed to get started. It was a cold morning. It was still 37 degrees F at 8 am. The sun needed to get a little higher in the sky before moving. We didn\u2019t leave the Colter Bay campsite until 10:30. It was by far the latest start of the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riding into Yellowstone National Park was not a problem. The storms earlier in the month that closed Yellowstone did not impact us. In fact, because the Park Service was limiting entry for vehicles there appeared to be fewer cars on the road. Which is good especially since there are no shoulders along the road. I did have one close call. That is when a big F..ing tour bus came inches from me. Again it was a situation where the driver of the bus should have waited for the oncoming car to pass me before trying to squeeze by me when there was not enough room on the road. I was within 6 inches of that bus as it passed by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip to Grant Village included another crossing of the continental divide. The roadsides were rather heavily wooded. There were a couple of good vistas along the road including along the Lewis River. There was also no sign of any road damage from the earlier storms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Grant Village there seemed to be elk everywhere. We either saw 5 different elk in Grant Village or we saw the same one 5 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s stats: total mileage 40.1 miles, average speed 11.3 mph, elevation climb 2503 feet, elevation loss 1429 feet, maximum speed 35.0 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n