It was 35 degrees this morning when I got up. I knew it was going to be cold, so I didn't even try to get on the road early. I slept until 7, got dressed, and started breaking camp. As soon as I pulled the cover off of my bike the family at the next campsite came over to talk. It turned out that they were from Gloucester, MA. What a small world! They were attracted by the bike and trailer initially, but of course the geographic accident of living close to each other keeps conversation going too. They fed me a breakfast of coffee and pancakes, much better on a cold morning than the banana, bagel, and peanut butter that I was going to have! I got on the road at 8:30 wearing more clothes than I usually wear in the winter at home. Guess I was cold! I was really glad I had all those layers with me.
I started wearing many layers, but I pulled some of them off after riding the first mile. Luckily the first mile was flat to let me get warmed up - after that the uphills began. Not too bad, just long. The first hill was 7 miles long, then I had a slight uphill tilt for quite a while. There were a few flat miles along Lewis Lake, then more up. I met Stuart & John from the UK close to the end of that first hill. They are riding the Transam west to east, and are planning to meet their wives in Boston on October 1st. I gave them my number - maybe I'll hear from them when they get to Boston. They stayed at Grant Village last night. They were a bit concerned when they pulled in to see a sign saying that the campground was full. Luckily they went in anyway, because the campgrounds in both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons have hiker/biker sites. They won't turn a cyclist away.
I was getting close to Grant Village when I met a cyclist from Wisconsin. He is riding a part of the Transam and then taking his own path to ride back to his home in Wisconsin. He's retired, and spends many days traveling on his bike every year. He confirmed what I thought - from West Thumb (just past Grant Village) I would have a 12 mile uphill going over two passes. That would be on top of what already seemed to be a (very slow) almost all uphill day.
I was moving pretty slowly due to the hills. Well, I was really riding my normal slow uphill pace - although my Wisconsin friend tells me that we all ride slowly with our gear... I wasn't too enthused about another 12 miles of a 6% grade, so I decided to try to get a ride. When I told my brother that I hitched a ride in Colorado he was amazed. He said "you hitchhiked?" Yeah, I guess I did. And I did it again today. Rob & his wife & friends, all from Salt Lake City, picked me up and gave me a ride over the passes. They said they'd drop me off anywhere. They were headed into Old Faithful, and I decided to take a ride all the way there instead of riding down the pass. It was still pretty cold, and it would have been a very cold downhill ride. That was my first time riding in the bed of a pickup. It was an extended cab pickup, but there were already 4 adults and 1 child inside. It was a great ride. The cab blocked the wind, so I was plenty warm. Rob & his wife ride a tandem. They have a road tandem and a mountain tandem, and they have done some touring on their road bike. I'm sure that's why they picked me up - fellow cyclists who have been there themselves.
After we arrived at Old Faithful, I followed the signs pointing to visitor services - looking for a late lunch. As I was walking the bike in front of the store, Chuck (from Michigan) came up to me and said "Are you Denise?" Of course I said yes, but I was trying to figure out who he was. My first thought was that he was someone I met earlier on my trip. My confusion increased when Chuck said "I'm one of your fans". It turns out that he has been following my journal all along, and when he saw me with the bike and trailer he figured it was me. He figured right! I was delighted, and Chuck, you really did make my day. That was fun! His wife knew what was going on, but I think their friends thought that something really odd was going on until Chuck explained it to them. So I guess I owe thanks to Neil Gunton (again) for creating crazyguyonabike.com, and to Bike Friday for making me a very recognizable bicycle!
I was waiting in line at a little cafe behind some Harley riders and started talking with them. As usual, I still had my helmet on, so they asked me where I was riding. When I told them I was riding my bicycle across country and that I had started riding north of Boston they said "you're kidding, right?". I finally convinced them I wasn't kidding. They were impressed. They had ridden their Harleys from Portland, Oregon to Sturgiss for the Harley rally, and were on their way back. They figured that was hard enough, so my bicycling journey kind of blew them away. All of the Harley riders I've talked to this week have been really nice. The stereotypes of motorcyclists just don't hold true. The two guys I talked to at lunch both work for Intel, more high tech workers...
The Old Faithful Inn is one of those great old national park lodges. The original structure - which is where my room is - was completed in 1904. There's also a new section that someone told me was built in the 1950s. The rooms in the old section have a sink in the room, but the toilets and showers are down the hall. I laughed when I saw the soap in the room - it had the usual bar soap, bottle of shampoo, and lotion, but it also had a piece of soap in the shape of a little bear. A nice touch... The walls in my room are made of logs, although the ceiling is made of flat slats of wood. The inn has a fabulous 4-story lobby with plenty of places to sit and relax both on the main floor and on balconies surrounding the lobby. There's a outside balcony on the second floor that is a perfect place to watch Old Faithful if you don't want to walk over to the geyser. There are even small double-sided work desks with lights for people like me who want to write journal entries. There are others making use of the desks to write letters, play cards, read books, etc. This evening there is someone playing a piano on the second floor lobby balcony, and a woman (one of the guests?) just went and grabbed her violin to accompany him. The rooms here are very simple, so most of the people seem to be hanging out in the lobby and on the balconies instead of in their rooms. It's just very cool here.
When I arrived my room wasn't ready, not surprising because it was only about 2 PM. I went out and watched Old Faithful erupt, then came back at 3:30 to check on the room. Still not ready. Gerald - one of the staff members at the inn - saw me still wandering around in my bike clothes and asked if I'd like a shower. He is a backpacker, so he understands the desire (or need) to get into clean clothes. Since most of the rooms in the old section of the inn don't have private bathrooms, it was pretty easy to get a shower before getting into my room. Gerald showed me where the showers are and set me up with a towel. I had a good shower, then walked back over to Old Faithful to watch it erupt again.
The Old Faithful area is very busy during the day, but it seemed to quiet down at about 5 PM. And supposedly it stays quiet until about 11 in the morning. That probably makes sense, because there isn't any camping here. There are several lodges with a relatively large number of rooms, which probably accounts for the bulk of the evening and morning population of this area.
I went for a walk in the geyser basin after dinner, and I plan to go again in the morning. It is a real treat to be able to see it in different lighting conditions. I absolutely lucked into seeing Grand Geyser erupt tonight. The sign that was posted said they expected an eruption between 7:30 and 11:30 PM, and I got there right at 7:30. Talk about lucky timing! It was a spectacular and a long eruption. I just sat there and watched it until it stopped. Fabulous. My red dog Rover joined me on my walk this evening. I made him promise not to jump into any of the geysers or hot pools - the water is just too hot! He said that he wanted to get some fresh air for a change, and he claims he is the reason that I saw Grand Geyser erupt.
Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks are right next to each other (north to south), but they are amazingly different. The jagged mountains of yesterday are gone. In their place are more rounded hills (mountains), and trees. There are signs of the fires of years past, whole sections of burned but still beautiful tree skeletons. And of course the geothermal features make Yellowstone stand apart from any other place. I learned some interesting things about Yellowstone today. I didn't realize that the park - or at least the geyser basin - is inside of an active caldera. There are earthquakes here, but it sounds like there could also be a volcanic eruption at some point. Not to worry, it's probably a long way off. The geothermal activity is concentrated but in a pretty large area. According to the ranger most of the geysers and hot springs are in an area 15 miles long and one mile wide. The boiling point of water at this elevation is 199 degrees, and the water coming out of Old Faithful is 5 degrees above the boiling point at 204 degrees. Amazing. While I was walking in the geyser basin tonight I ran into a ranger-led group. I didn't stay with them, but I did overhear one story he was telling. There are boardwalks through the geyser basin. I don't know when this happened, but at some point a new geothermal feature open up right under the boardwalk and blew away some of the boards in the walk. A park visitor went to complain that the boardwalk was unsafe and to tell the rangers about a geyser in the middle of the walk. Guess that one was a bit of a surprise for the park service. They obviously had to move the walk.
