Average: 11.1 mph
Distance: 56.32 mi
I'm glad that mosquitoes cannot bite through Gore-Tex. This morning, they were horrendous while we were packing up camp. It took everything I had to not lose it. It was like black clouds of skeeters swarming around my head. The torment was worth it for the delicious spring water that was available at our campground.
We crossed the divide (#7) relatively quickly, after my minor breakdown.
It interesting to me how my mind can talk me out of this trip. It says that this trip is way too hard, or that we've got to be completely ridiculous to be doing this, or that my bed and access to a shower everyday is something that I cannot live without. I had my meltdown, Nate slapped me around a bit, I laughed, and then we kept going.
The Idaho side is strikingly more beautiful than the Montana side. We decided that we wanted to go through Yellowstone National Park instead of following the route maps. We detoured north of Henry's Lake after we had a delicious lunch of stuffing, gravy, and cranberries. We just needed a turkey.
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| The cows love us! And I love them! |
It was a good 18 miles or so with another divide crossing (#8) into the crappy tourist town of West Yellowstone. What a stark contrast from the Montana Nice that we've experienced throughout the trip. It seems as though everyone there is out to make fast cash from tourists. Some guy wanted $36 from us to just pitch our tent in the driveway of the campground. So, we booked it another 14 miles into the park after getting Subway sandwiches to eat and slamming 2 Mountain Dews (nope, no throwback).
It was $12 each for us to enter the park, and then another $6 each to camp. The park has fantastic hiker/biker sites reserved for us non-motorized folk, meaning that you can just show up at a site without a reservation and they'll let you camp. Pretty sweet.
Our ride into the park was along the Madison River:
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| It's best to try and look cute when I'm really not feeling that way... |
Geographic mess: We started in Montana, rode east into Idaho, but onto the west side of the divide, then crossed back into Montana, and then entered Wyoming.
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| Right before we went to bed, there was a storm and a beautiful rainbow |
Future GDR Riders: Even though the traffic can be overwhelming, the detour into Yellowstone was worth it. You're right next to the park--go for it. And ride right through West Yellowstone (but stop for groceries first).
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