Day 7 - it's an S day

I We had gotten in quite late from our Yellowstone and Teton NP adventures.  We had noticed we had a new neighbor in the next camp site, at first we thought there were (2) even though we only say a single bike, then we realized they were Skypeing.  We later discovered they were a through cyclist who started June 30 in San Diego and who had already ridden the Sierra Madres and was now experiencing the Tetons up through Colorado and Wyoming into Montana then across into North then South Dakotas before returning to San Diego.  

When we arrived, everything was soaked, we figured from the scattered  showers, until we crawled out in the morning to start packing up...it turns outs the campsite staff had placed the lawn sprinkler such that our tents were within its spray boundary...

Wiping everything down and packing up we finally concluded we were going to head south the east, possibly getting home a day early.

Follow US89 south along the Snake River (same that travels through the Grand Canyon) we followed the river valley into Javkson Hole were we stopped and looked around for a bit. I remember the antler arches over the park entrances from when I was there years before. Similar feel to Taos and Manitoue Springs, artist colony and skiing appear to be the key draws, along with what appeared to be a great multiuse trail along the highway for cyclist and pedestrians alike.  We saw a number of travel cyclists ranging from well seasoned to OMG what have I gotten myself into....which is a serous question on some of the stretches of road ... Some without shoulders and then the altitude.

From Jackson Hole we continued on towards Alpine with the intent to follow the Grey River valley between the two ranges towards La Barge, discovered it was going to be all unpaved (100+miles) we opted to continue along 89...AWD we might have done it since it appeared to be similar in construction to the road we took a few years back from Clayton NM to Toll booth Canyon into Colorado.

So, southwards to Smoot we sauntered with increasing overcast and a spritz of rain periodically breaking up the landscape with its low clouds...or were we up in them...hmmm

Around Kemmerer we caught US30 that would take us down to the interstate and out if the mountains.

Wyoming is certainly in the Energy business. Coal, natural gas, oil...very evident along the southern tier of the state...has plants, miles of train cars full of coal, and a train gas tanker filling station...that was cool.

Just a side note to all those open range "speed freaks"... The highways are open and rolling with excellent sight lines...but...when you are driving along at an altitude over 7500' you can barely maintain a speed of 85+ on the flats and down hills, but there were very very few vehicles we came across that could charge back up a slope maintaining speeds over 64...even not loaded down with camping gear....FYI posted speed limit suggested was 75-80.

Watching the weather that kept threatening we opted to continue east to see if we could get ahead of it and attempt for a dry dinner and start, we ended up stopping for the night at a Comfort Inn in Sidney Nebraska...ah...shower and a soft bed...snore!

7/31

I think we all slept pretty well- docked in @ Comfort Inn, Sydney, NE. The room was a little pricey, but it was nice to sleep in a real bed. We all took long, hot, showers, ate a prodigious hot free breakfast, and used the heck out of the free wifi. We headed for Cabelas as soon as we all are and got our acts together, and were floored by North America's greatest outdoor shop. Sydney apparently is the birthplace if Cabela's, and it shows. First-class employees helped us find everything we wanted and more. I don't have to embellish further; Cabela's is First-Class.

After we left Cabela's, we beat it across NE to KC and camped in comfort at the KC KOA East, near Oak Grove. Stay there in KC; only $26/night, and all the amenities of a good hotel, only you're sleeping in your own tent. We ate delish BBQ from a food trailer they had as a concession, and hit the hay. 

GTP/YNP

7/29

This morning we got up pretty early, after a full nights rest, and headed up through Grand TetonNP  to Yellowstone. Yellowstone is everything you ever heard it was, everything you ever gained it to be, and more. Such a remarkable variety of landscapes in such a small area. A  truly remarkable national treasure.

I was wrong to generalize Wyoming as a big brown state; Yellowstone proves that is not the case. 

The vastness of the park is breathtaking. I sound like some kind of nature video.

I think we took about a 800 pictures between the three of us; another fresh panorama opens up at every bend in the road.

Muriel is silly.

Despite many signs that warned against walking on geothermally active areas, you'd be surprised how many tourists just walked about anywhere. There was even one "hot spring" that had the bones of a young bison that fell through the earth's surface and died. 

Firehole Lake Spring, I think.

Muriel cutting up at Mammoth Hot Spring.

We headed further north.

The weather was dramatically changeable.

A Yellowstone tour bus at a spot where the road undercuts a stone cliff.

This was the tallest stand of Lodgepole pines we saw- apparently untouched by fire in recent times.

Bison do wander onto the road; he came back onto the road after a park ranger scooted him off a few minutes before with his SUV.

On the way home; an amazing day.

Picture of the day:

7/28

Day 6 - if it's yellow, be mellow

Grand Teton NP & Yellowstone

Diverse day for sites, sounds, experiences and weather (between 10am and 4pm temps varied yo-yo like between 68 and 47)

Tips for surviving and enjoying Yellowstone:

1: start early...seriously folks, by lunchtime it is terrifying how crowded it is along the west side from Old Faithful to Mammoth Springs. If you like to camp, most of the sites are on the west side and are full by lunchtime, earliest you can get a site is 10am.

2: slow down

3: The park is HUGE, budget your time and pace yourselves....and respect the altitude...bring and drink water...lots of it!

4: slow down! Really!

5: Be observant for wildlife to suddenly do unexpected things (and I am not talking about the resident 4-leggers.

6: Obviously you are not understanding what we mean when we say SLOW DOWN!

7: Take the road less traveled, the little side jags that RVs and Buses are not allowed on, they are SO WORTH IT! Firehole canyon (bring your bathing suit for the swimming home), Black Tail, Dragon Cauldron, Firelake....

8: Heed the posted speed limits! speed limit in the park ranges from 15 to 45 for all ~200 miles of the loop...there are many excellent reasons for these speeds, the views, the wildlife, not all travelers are in motorized vehicles...SLOW DOWN!

9: The east side of Yellowstone is incredible! most if the hot springs are along the west side, but the east side is absolutely breathtaking, we think we found an extension of Fangorn Forest along the Blacktail trail (not the hiking one)..in fact take the extra time and do the east side on it's very own day. (The moisture collects along this edge and the result are amazing meadows of wildflowers and rainforest like conditions.

10: slow down! Be safe and respectful.

Day 5 - "it is not as it appears"

Awoke with the sun this morning with Earl laying on the ground....the air had gone out of his thermorest during the night and the ground was rather chilly :-(

Getting ourselves packed and fed we trundled out of the campground  with Merlin's advice still ringing in our ears....the price goes up eXponentially as you approach Yellowstone and then multiplied by a factor of importance tempered by need....needless to say, we found all our provisions for the next few days with the exception of Butane for our camp stove...thought we had enough to be comfortable, but need (2) more to get us back....even ventured into a walmart (shudder) where they sold a similar stove to ours but they did not sell the fuel....now that's big box store planning...jeesh.

We would like to let anyone who may venture through Riverton WY on their way somewhere and are in need of a cuppa joe, they have no fewer than 6 coffee joints including (2) strictly drive thru...damn they are serious about their java!

Not too many twists and turns today as we started on 26 and the evening campsite was just 3 hours down the same highway.  Lovely scenery especially west of Burris, lots of great sights and pictures....campground....not so great...infact on cusp of intolerable except we get to listen to cranes again in the evening....maybe they go hand in hand with Mosquitos because they are numerous and do not get repelled by Deep Woods Off.

Dinner tonight consisted of pasta and homemade fresh baked bread done in the Dutch oven....yum.

Time to prop my feet up and read until the sun goes down.

Day 4 - 3 R's

Awoke this morning to a brisk mid 40's and Muriel was promptly set upon by rabbits.

Noshing our way through the yummies we picked up from the bakery we dried out the tents and headed off to Mount Rushmore as the sun was just taking the chill off everything.

Between Custer and Mount Rushmore you get to see from the Hwy the sculpture taking shape of Crazy Horse, all overlooking the George S. Mickelson Trail for bike/walk/horse (currently at 110 miles and currently being extended further!). Certainly a place to come back for the riding opportunities!

Heading back down to Hot Springs and turning west we ventured over the edge of the world and into Wyoming...thought Nebraska was big sky country but I was obviously naive....the high plains of Wyoming are BIG SKY and it looks like you can see the ends of the earth as the road takes you into the horizon.

Hitting the interstate somewhere near Douglas (the home of the Jackalope) we rolled along to Evansville Wyoming and hopped onto 26 where we made our way  to the Owl Creek Kampground outside Riverton where we met the proprietors Dee and Merlin.

Before turning in for the night we had a great chat with Merlin about "sightstenations".  It was good to share great rides and vistas that another person has enjoyed as well...route 100 through Vermont, chasing spring north, the Winding Stair parkway from Talahina to the Queen Wilhomenia Lodge, Gunnison Pass, coming up into Durango from New Mexico through the Kit Carson NF, snow storms and good places to eat.... Good reminisces.

7/27. Rushmore and Wyoming

Nearly froze to death last night (not really!) out of the campground, and off to Rushmore. Super awesome, breathtaking, words really don't do it justice. Go.

Then we headed for Wyoming. Wyoming is a big brown state.

Rugged western beauty. Checked into Owl Creek Kampground before 4:30 this afternoon, having made good time trucking over here.

It's a cool little campground, used to be a KOA a long time ago. Dee and Merlin run the place and are super.

A great place to stay. Clean restrooms.