It was another great day today. Wyoming said goodbye to me with swirling winds - from a tailwind as I was riding north from Old Faithful, to both cross- and headwinds on the section from Madison Junction to West Yellowstone. Except for the occasional blast of strong headwind as I rounded a corner, the ride was a pretty easy and short spin. I planned on a short riding day today since I wanted to spend the morning wandering around the geyser basins at Yellowstone. It's my second trip to Yellowstone (the first was a winter cross-country skiing trip back in the 1970s), and it won't be my last. I could spend hours just sitting in the geyser basin. What a beautiful place!
Last night I had the best nights sleep that I've had in a long time. Everything at Old Faithful Inn closes up at 10, and in spite of there being no soundproofing in the rooms, everything quieted down really quickly. It was cold again last night, so I was very happy to be in a heated room. It warmed up much more quickly than it did yesterday, so I was able to ride in what I'd consider normal cycling clothes - shorts and a jersey without any extra layers.
I'd been told by several other cyclists that the breakfast buffet at the Old Faithful Inn is wonderful. They were right. If you're cycling through, or even just visiting, the breakfast buffet is worth a stop. And of course you can go watch Old Faithful while you're there.
Gerald stopped by as I was eating breakfast. He is hosting 2 backpackers who are hiking the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico. He's going to drive them to some locations in the park that they'd like to see but that they wouldn't be able to get to on foot. They are walking 35 miles a day. I thought riding cross country was a challenge, but walking that distance is even more of a challenge. Gerald and I talked for a while, and he told me that the room I had last night is one that they use on the historic tours of the inn, and that it has remained the same since 1904. That's pretty amazing. We were also talking about long trips and food. He hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, and he told me it took him a good month before his metabolism slowed down enough to let him start regaining the weight he lost on his trip.
I spent the morning walking through the Upper Geyser Basin again. The different angles of the sun (evening vs. morning) changed the depth of the color in some of the pools. In both cases I was amazed at the blues of the water, and the whites, yellows, and oranges surrounding some of the geysers and springs. I left Old Faithful at 11:30, then stopped to see some more geysers as I headed north. After a couple of stops I got back into the rhythm of riding and stopped less frequently. But I did have to stop for a couple of animal viewings. I thought that I was going to ride through Yellowstone without seeing a buffalo, but I was wrong. All of a sudden I saw a line of cars ahead of me. My first thought was that it was either an accident or an animal, and it was definitely an animal. A buffalo just rambled across the road and continued walking out across a field. They are huge! I was happy to see that there weren't any stupid humans there today - no one attempted to follow the buffalo for a better picture. Maybe the park service signs about tourists getting gored by buffalo (or are they really called bison?) are doing the trick of getting people to behave sensibly. I also saw several herds of elk on the side of the road. A good animal day.
I passed through a number of old burn areas that had signs announcing "naturally reseeded by fire". These were areas that contained lodgepole pines, which need fire to open up the pinecones to expose the seeds. There were old burned tree trunks surrounded by new green pines. It was beautiful. I talked to a couple in the geyser basin this morning who were pretty upset about the past fires here. They thought the after-effects of fire were ugly. I think the opposite. Watching nature recover after a devastating fire is something that can be beautiful.
I talked to so many people in the park about my trip. Someone would ask a question, and someone else would overhear, and that would spawn more conversations. After that experience, it's going to be strange to be heading back out into unpopulated territory.
When I arrived in West Yellowstone I stopped at Free Heel & Wheel bike shop to have the front derailleur checked. It had been not so nicely shifting off of the chain rings to the inside every so often when I shifted into the granny gear. I moved the limit screw yesterday, but I wasn't sure if I'd moved it far enough. It seemed to be OK, but I figured before I headed back into the mountains I'd have someone else look at it. The mechanic rode the bike, then suggested moving it a bit further. It's moved, and hopefully totally resolved.
It's funny - as I was riding today and talking to strangers about my trip, I kept thinking "am I really doing this?" Sometimes I feel like I must be dreaming... I'm living my dream, but I'm not dreaming that I've arrived in Montana! Only three more states and about 1200 miles to go - Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
