Day 6, Sunday, July 29

350 miles today

Some nice folks from Nebraska took a photo for me.

This was minor construction. I didn't stop to take a picture on the other...duh.



I couldn't imagine why I saw so many vehicles pulling boats. Is there water in Yellowstone?



Deadfall everywhere.



She just took her time and walked casually across the road. I had time to stop and get out my camera.

This was somewhat significant. Maybe I can remember where I was on July 29, 2007

Riding to the west in the fresh, early sun is the best. The shadows run before you, but you never catch them. It was 55 degrees when I left Dubois this morning and the pleasantness was palpable. So much for the romantic because twenty minutes into the ride an ugly sign appeared, dreaded by motorcyclists, “Road Construction.” I had a clue from an earlier warning to expect delays up to an hour. For five miles at twenty five, I rode a tightrope of single hard packed rut between two piles of gravel. To complicate matters the ruts became wet and soft at times and the road curved in and out of shadows making visibility difficult. Like all discomforts in life, it came to an end after what seemed like an hour, but realistically was probably 5 to 10 minutes. The road beyond was sweet and pleasantness returned until the next road construction, which wasn’t as bad, but did detract from the beautiful views of the Teton Mountains that lie directly ahead. (See photo above) Looking on the bright side of life, it could have been a work day with the promised one hour delays, and…it could have been raining.
I arrived at the South Entrance to Yellowstone about 9 am. A very cheerful park ranger at the ticket booth asked where I was from. I told him and he volunteered that Wyoming is one and a half times the size of Arizona, but the population of Phoenix is larger than the entire population of Wyoming. So much for census trivia. In response to a question, the cheerful ranger referred me to the visitor center at Old Faithful and I was off. I arrived at Old Faithful about ten minutes before she was scheduled to blow. I ate my lunch about 50 yards away with a great view. Unhappily I left my camera in the bike. Not to worry. As with most photos of famous places, you can get better quality on the Net. If you really want to see OF, go to http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm for a webcam courtesy of the National Park Service. Scroll down and click on "Old Faithful" to see the actual spout. It is worth checking out. The ranger at the OF visitor center was very helpful in helping me plan the rest of my day. I was thinking of going out the West Entrance and going through Big Sky, Montana on my way northwest. However, Pam Copeland suggested I may want to visit Mammoth and the old fort that protected the park from 1891 until 1919 when the National Park Service was enacted. She said the road was very nice and followed the river for quite a while. So, I headed north. Sure enough the road followed the river or vice versa and was quite picturesque. I toured the original buildings of the fort and left via the North Entrance around 3 pm. There was so much beauty and grandeur that the I word comes to mind again (impossible). One thing that stood out was the amount of deadfall. The park is strewn with dead timber everywhere. I asked at the Mammoth visitor center and they said it was all the result of fires. One year they had 58. I took a picture (above), but it doesn’t come close to showing the volume of dead timber throughout the park.
Tonight, I am in Butte, MT at a Super 8 where their wireless seems to be compatible with my computer so I get to post. I don’t know where I will be tomorrow, somewhere between Butte and Bellingham. If I can find a Super 8, look for a post for Monday.