Over the Top to Yellowstone

Yesterday was a long day even though I made only about 650 km.  Except for the first 20 km all of my riding was done on two lane roads often with lower speed limits and RV traffic.  For a motorcyclist, the roads were the kind you dream about with lots of twisty turnies and elevation change.  When I crossed Beartooth Pass between Sheridan & Cody, WY, the altimeter on my GPS read 9083 feet.  Part of the road in Yellowstone was over 8000 feet with my highest reading being 8352 feet.  I spent much of the day above 7000 feet and Bozeman, where I stayed last night is at 4200 or so feet.  It definitely is chilly when the sun goes down, or is hidden by clouds this time of year at these altitude.

Sheridan is a railway town and many of the unit coal trains from the Powder River Basin pass through here.  Like many western towns it has a locomotive on display, a 2-8-4 Berkshire type which is across from the original railway station which was built in the 1880s.  These things are impressive even when they are dormant and on display.  Just across the street three big BNSF diesels were idling in front of about a hundred hopper cars filled with coal that was probably going to power plants in the eastern and southesatern US.

2-8-4 Berkshire-type Locomotive on Display in Sheridan, WY

I made the decision last night to ride over the Beartooth Pass to Cody, WY, and from there into Yellowstone Park, so I left I-90 at Ranchester and headed west.  The ride up to the pass was a series of switchbacks with a 30 mph speed limit which was fast enough.  As I climbed I could look back and see the road which I had been on minutes previously, now far below and snaking up the mountain.  One of the really great things that the Wyoming government has done is to erect signs with the names and approximate ages of the rock formations that have been exposed.  These range from 250 to 500 million years old.  I dare anyone who believes in a literal interpretation of the bible to see these formations and then say the earth was created in a week.

Rock formation on the climb to Beartooth Pass. Note the twisting and folding.

Rock formation on the highway to Beartooth Pass

Panorama of the valley below the Beartooth Pass

Some of these rocks are the size of houses!

After passing the summit of Beartooth Pass the road runs through alpine meadows with livestock roaming free.  I actually saw a cowboy riding his horse in one of the meadows.  The highway made a twisting 5000 foot descent toward to valley below.  There were a number of extraordinary sights including Shell Falls which runs over 2.5 billion year old granite which shattered when a fault caused part of the formation to drop about 25 metres.  The canyon and falls are quite striking. 

Lower canyon below Shell Falls

Shell Falls

Rock formations along Shell Creek with storm clouds in the background

Shell Creek

Leaving the Shell Creek Valley I rode into Cody.  Every town here claims some link with Buffalo Bill Cody, including Sheridan, but the town that has his name holds the honour of being the main one. After eight days on the road I'm running short of clean laundry so I stopped at the Cody H-D shop and bought a new T-shirt for tomorrow.  Things get desperate when you're on the road for a long trip!

The Irma Hotel, Cody, WY, Buffalo Bill's favourite hotel, or so it is claimed.

The Yellowstone Park entrance is about 50 miles from Cody but the landscape again, is amazing.  After passing through a narrow canyon that the Shoshone river has carved through limestone over millions of years, the land opens up.  In the early 1900s Buffalo Bill and some others built a dam to save some of the spring runoff for irrigation around Cody and the dam and state park in the area are named for him. 

Buffal Billo Cody Dam & Reservoir

Rock formations beside Buffalo Bill Cody Reservoir

Pile of antlers and jawbones from deer and elk on the way to Yellowstone Park

As I headed to the park from the reservoir the usual afternoon heavy black storm clouds appeared in the west.  I could see lightning and rain but decided to ride until the rain forced me to stop at a small cafe to wait out the rain.  I again was lucky because while I caught a few raindrops I missed the main storm.  The rock formations here are the results of continuous eruptions from the volcanoes that were in the present day Yellowstone Park.  They are thousands of feet thick but very soft and erode quickly.

Shoshone River, west of Cody, WY

Close up of volcanic rock (breccia) deposited by eruptions to the west

I stopped at the entrance to the park to get a photo.  While I was there a group of Japanese, a couple from New Jersey and one from Japan asked me to take their picture at the sign.  I did so and when they were commenting on my bike I asked the man from Japan if he would like to sit on it for a picture. He jumped at the chance, so I told him to put my bike jacket on and they could take pictures.  He was excited about it and said that he would send pictures to his son back in Japan.

Happy Japanese man on my bike at the entrance to Yellowstone Park.

Me at the East Entrance to Yellowstone Park 

As I entered the Park the road began to climb to an altitude on more than 8000 feet.  The scenery, as it has been throughout much of this trip, is amazing.  There are small lakes and waterfalls and the huge central lake that is the caldera of the volcano under Yellowstone which last erupted about 600 000 years ago.  The usual afternoon black storm clouds rolled in on cue, making it difficult to take photos because it was so dark under them.

Kepler's Cascade in Yellowstone Park

Small waterfall in Yellowstone Park

I arrived at Old Faithful at about 5:15 after taking more than two hours to ride the 78 miles from the east gate of the park at an average speed of 35-45 mph.  The eruption was expected at around 5:45, give or take ten minutes. (It is not so faithful after a 1960 earthquake in the area which changed the internal plumbing of the geyser and killed several people at Hegben Lake further west when a landslide caused a huge wave and buried several people who were camping at the lake.)

The mouth of the geyser is constantly steaming and teased the people assembled to watch it with several large blasts of vapour.  The eruption began at about 5:50 and was quite impressive.  It began slowly with several bursts that rose several metres.  It then  became more sustained and the column of water and steam reached a height of about 15 metres.  Eventually it subsided with several smaller pulses then stopped.

Simmering away prior to the eruption

The eruption begins

The main eruption

The eruption subsides

The traffic out of the park was hoorendous and I was keeping in mind the fact that I was not going to be able to get a room until I arrived in Bozeman about 125 miles away.  About ten minutes from the geyser we experienced a traffic jam with stop and go traffic.  It took 25 minutes to go less than a mile.  I was irritated (read really pissed off) when I found that the cause of the delay was rubberneckers almost stopping to get a glimpse of a big bison that was bedded down beside the road.  Several idiots had pulled halfway off the road to get out and take a picture in the crappy light caused by the forest and the storm clouds overhead.  After getting past that the next obstacle was about 8-10 km of loose gravel.  With the number of motorcycles in the park I wondered what genius it was who decided to apply loose gravel to the main highway leading into and out of the park from the north.

I was unable to see a much of what I had hoped to see because of the lateness of the hour and the poor light so it looks like I'll have to go back some day to see it all again.

The ride into Bozeman was about 90 miles from Madison at the entrance to the park and it went well.  Along the way several cars were stopped beside the highway along the Gallatin River.  About 200 metres away a huge grizzly bear was eating plants.  Even at that range it was huge and I was glad that I was: a) on a bike, and b) a good distnace away.  I arrived  in Bozeman just before 9:00 pm after about 650 km and got a cheap motel room.  It was a dump and the Wi-fi didn't work but it wasn't camping. At 6400 feet nights can be quite cold even at this time of year.  The girl at the desk said that this year the snow wasn't gone in Bozeman until late May or early June this year.

Tomorrow I plan on getting a new front tire because: a) the one I have now has 31 000 kms on it, and b) There is no sales tax in Montana and the ship rates are lower here than in BC so I can save some money. The trip is coming to an end and in a few days I will be home.  It will be great but I am going to miss the freedom of the open road.  That may sound like a cliche but it is very real when you do it.  I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do a trip like this and to have had no real problems. Life is good!