Day 5 After the Fact

It was better than expected, 75 degrees and bright sunny sky on a 70 mile counter-clockwise loop around Yellowstone National Park. The animals were here and there, we saw 4 groups of elk in various places and a bison right on the side of the road, then two more bison just 75 feet from our bike racks when we finished the day... we thanked Lon for arranging their presence so close to where we are staying, a nice touch. Walt says he saw a pair of moose. The day included an hour wait until 1pm which was faithfully rewarded with a 40 foot fountain of water at Old Faithful and stopping by turquoise blue or crystal clear hot springs, some of them merrily boiling away in the hot sun. Fly fisherman were everywhere on the Madison River which runs through the park but I have yet to see anyone in the state of Montana or now Wyoming in the process of catching something.

The riding was very up and down and narrow between the white road line and the steep edge of the asphalt. Included was a 20+ MPH headwind straight in our face for the first 50 miles and 2 crossings of the Continental Divide, the 2nd at 8,400ft, our highest point of the trip so far, tough for the climb and tougher for the altitude, some snow still hiding in the hollows among the trees. The fast decent from the Divide down into West Thumb where we had lunch was a definite highlight. And finally, cars were a constant companion but no troubles except a single honk from one large RV that was towing a Hummer...

Thoughts on Yellowstone.. did you ask? Two of them. First, wow. Soon after entering the park (on the west side), Tom said that he couldn't believe they planted the pine trees so close together. He was half right. The trees, a thick carpet of 8 footers covering valley and hill, was packed with trees, amazing there could be so many trees so close together, the trunks were just a foot or two apart. But he was wrong about planted, what we saw was the natural regeneration following the Yellowstone fires of the mid 1990's. Don took pictures to show his wife because he visited Yellowstone back then and all he remembered was burned trunks and desolation, now a complete renewal. On the east side of the park there was an obvious burned area from just a year or two ago, hard to miss the obvious signs of forest fire, and to think what it will be like in just a few years.

2nd thought. I think of Yellowstone and I see in my mind's eye Old Faithful, of course, but also canyons and waterfalls and today most of what we saw on a 2/3rds loop of the park was interesting only if you were looking down, ie, the hot springs and pools that were surface level at best. Lots of trees, yes, but not a lot of real vertical interest. So where were the snow-capped peaks, where's Thomas Moran's "The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park" (you've seen it, yellows and browns and vertical)? Turns out that's in the NE corner, the one part of the park we didn't ride through, and maybe again as we leave the park tomorrow on the canyon road. But most of what was around us was trees and up and down riding among them.

Our day ends at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, built in 1891 and remodeled in 1901 a huge Colonial yellow box 2/3 of the way up on the shores of Lake Yellowstone. Tom was impressed by this: I thought ahead this morning and made dinner reservations in the hotel's dining room because I thought it might be busy and it was, we were among the last to get in. Very happy about that, the hotel is a beautiful old building although the Old Faithful Inn (not the Old Faithful Lodge, mind you, that's different) has the stunning 3 story atrium I remember from traveling through Yellowstone in 1976. The huge stone fireplace, the peeled log posts, banisters, stairways and more which make it looks like a tree lot crossed with a Victorian mansion, the original look that launched a thousand faux log homes.

Sitting in the sun room, the pine trees in front, the lake beyond, then the distant snow covered Absorkas Mountain Range beyond the far shore... a great end to a great day.

"As we were... departing on our homeward trip we ascended the summit of a neighboring hill and took a final look at Yellowstone Lake. Nestled among the forest-crowned hills which bounded our vision, lay this inland sea, its crystal waves dancing and sparkling in the sunlight as if laughing with joy for their wild freedom."

Explorer David E. Folsom, on expedition in 1871. Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill establishing Yellowstone as the world's first national park in 1872.