[A correction to the last email: Targhee Pass on the border between Idaho and Montana was only 7072ft not 8000+ft as I'd mentioned in the Day 32 email.
I'm a bit behind in these emails again. I'd hoped to catch up when we stopped over the 4th--obviously, it didn't happen. Currently (7/9/01) we're in Shoshoni, WY and headed to Casper, WY.]
Waking up only two miles from West Yellowstone we were able to get in and have breakfast before the bike shop, West Yellowstone Bicycle & Video, opened. It was a strange combination, as the name implies it was half video store, half bike shop. They rented all kinds of bikes: upright and recumbent and were even a BikeE dealer. While his rear derailer was being fixed, Brad perused the movie selection, eventually giving the store a thumbs up and calling it the second best video shop of the trip. We signed their touring rider log book and set out in search of cheap postcards. It was 12:00 by the time we hit the park gate to be charged $10 each to get in. I felt the fees were a bit unfair, a car or RV pays $20 and they're the ones taking up all the parking spots and putting all the wear on the roads.
Riding on into the park we were making a good 20 mph with the tail wind. We literally flew by a cycling couple that I'd met earlier in the day, they were doing the matching gear thing and a whole lot of it was bright orange. They looked like a rolling construction site, Brad's dad would have been proud.
There's a group called Adventure Cycling that leads tours and puts out maps of a route across the America. Their first and probably most popular route travels from Astoria, OR to some place just outside Washington DC and, importantly, it passes through Yellowstone. We'd seen more cyclists in the park than at any other time on the trip and most--including the construction-site couple were using Adventure Cycling maps.
In Canyon Village we met a cyclist from Buffalo, WY named John Egan. He WAS a tourinq cyclist, he rattled off 10 or 15 side roads to take and places to eat along the way. John said he liked to spend 60 to 90 days a year on the road and with a job teaching at a community college he was able to do it. We had an ice cream and talked for a while.
Heading north we crossed Dunraven Pass which at 8859 ft will probably be the highest point we'll hit on the trip. Coming down was unbelievable, the road dropped 2000+ ft in 12 miles and you could see for miles. The road was pretty chewed up so my mind would be wandering while my body's trying to find the one line that will go through the turns at 30 mph without hitting any of the hundred pot holes in the road.
Our friend from Reno, Jackie Fecteau, is interning for a research group called YES (the only part of the acronym I rember was Yellowstone Ecosystems ...) counting squirrels. She's living just outside the park in a town called Silver Gate, MT and was encouraging us to come spend the 4th there. Our plan was to get to one of the campgrounds near the edge of the park and get into Silver Gate the next morning.
The sun set just as we hit Tower Junction in the northern part of the park, we still had approx 10 mi to get to Slough Creek Campground and 30 mi to Silver Gate. Traffic was in our favor, most people were trying to get into the park not out, so most cars were going the opposite direction. We'd jump off the road and wait for the cars coming up behind us, the shoulder wasn't wide enough to hope they'd give us some room. As we neared Slough Creek a Park Ranger stopped and asked us how we were doing and where we were going. We told him we were headed for the campground. He told us it was full and the next place was Cooke City but that our style of guerilla camping along the road isn't appreciated here in the park so just keep on moving. Trying to ride all the way out of the park was something that we'd joked about back at the junction but now it seemed like we'd get to try it. I broke out the cell phone and called Jackie's number for directions and to let them know we were coming.
The full moon was two days away so seeing was no problem. Going along Soda Butte Creek I spooked a herd of buffalo along the side of the road. It was one of those things I'll remember for the rest of my life, they started running along a little in front of me, these gigantic black outlines against the dry grass on they valley floor. I started to wonder if they were getting closer to the road, I didn't want to be there if they came onto it. I stopped and by the time Brad pulled up next to me the buffalo had all slowed to a stop so we were able to ride past.
I'd started out strong, but by midnight I was ready to crash out. Brad was all fired up to do the remaining 15 miles so he started recountinq the plot of Empire Strikes Back to me to keep me awake. By the end I was seeing stuff in the road that wasn't there and had the crap scared out of me by the one car that came through but some how we made it out of the park. The last mile from the park gate to Silver Gate was the worst, I pretty much sprinted on in and parked in front of The Range Rider. It's the second largest free standing log structure in the US, currently it's a bar and motel but in the past among other things it served as a brothel. Since it was 02:00 a beer sounded like a great idea then we went and found the YES cabins and finally slept.
andrew
Statistics
Days: 33
Bags of Sunflower Seeds: 7
Loafs of Bread consumed: 20
Motel nights: 1
Paid camping nights: 5
Nights staying with friends: 7
Showers: 8
Flat tires: 8
Payphones used to check PocketMail: 57
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