I'm combining all the days I spent in Gran Teton & Yellowstone into one post since they all kind of run together in my mind. I did a bunch of the touristy type stuff in the parks and I'll probably skip over some of it so this post won't be insanely long. Don't worry, I had a blast in Yellowstone!
Tyler and I left Dobois and spent the morning climbing over Togwotee pass which ended up not being too bad. After all that climbing in Colorado I think I can finally just chug up hills without feeling like I'm going to die. After the pass we enjoyed some much needed downhill and met two guys on mountain bikes who were cycling the great divide. We continued riding and entered Grand Teton national park and cycled to the Colter Bay Village campsite where we were given a hiker/biker campsite. As we rolled into the campsite we met our awesome campsite neighbors, John and Rhea.
John had cycled from Florida to Texas, but then had a family emergency and had to return to Florida. After it was taken care of, he met up with his friend Rhea, who was also in Florida, and they drove to Colorado, where they both started cycling up to Yellowstone. They were also into climbing and carried climbing gear on their bikes and wanted to eventually get up to the Glacier national park area to do some climbing.
I also met an Asian guy staying one campsite down who was riding a unicycle with a big beefy mountain bike tire down the great divide! He had some small stuff tucked under the unicycle seat but kept most of his gear in a backpack that he wore while unicycling. Everyone universally agreed that he was "the man."
John asked us if we'd like to join them for dinner as he and Rhea had cooking gear and food and Tyler and I accepted and went down to the overpriced general store to grab some food to contribute. We ended up cooking a big meal and everyone hung out for the rest of the night.
The next day we all rode together into Yellowstone and were treated to some awesome views of Teton mountain range in the distance. We had a small climb over a continental divide and made our way to the Grant Village campsite. We didn't kick out a lot of miles but it seemed that there wasn't much flat land in Yellowstone, it felt like we were always either climbing or descending.
When we got into the campsite, John set up a slack line and we all took turns trying to balance and walk on it while dinner was being made. Eric and Will stopped by and I offered Eric a beer and John asked Will if he'd like to try the slack line.
As Will was slack lining, his dad went off to grab us some firewood that was left at his site and the rest of were busy with dinner. Someone heard a thump, looked over, and saw Will laying on the ground holding the slack line in one hand. We rushed over to see if he was OK but he was unconscious, but breathing. John ran down to the camp office to get help as the rest of us tried to wake Will.
After a minute or so he started coming to and we kept him stationary as a park ranger arrived. The ranger kept asking him questions and it became apparent that Will couldn't remember the last day of riding and probably had a concussion. His dad came back and helped the ranger and Will said he could think more clearly now. Eventually an ambulance arrived and loaded Will up to be taken to the Jackson hospital for observation. I helped Eric bring Will's bike back to their campsite and lock up the bikes while he grabbed clothes. Eric was surprisingly chill about the whole ordeal, "kids get hurt, its all a part of growing up." He was mostly just worried that his wife would call off their trip.
The next day the four of us set out again and climbed up another continental divide and Craig Pass. We met another cyclist going the same way, Brett, a 44 year old personal trainer who left from Chicago, who joined our merry little band on our way to see Old Faithful.
The Old Faithful area was packed but we managed to get to it about 15 minutes before the scheduled eruption time and saw her blow! Afterwards we rode north and hit Firehole drive, a less traveled road with lots of deep blue hotsprings and small geysers along the road. Along the way we stopped at a big meadow and saw a herd of bison, and I being "that guy" was the one to get closer than I probably should have to get pictures. Oh well, the bison didn't seem to care.
We stopped for lunch along another side road next to the raging Madison River where we played in the fast moving currents of the river and John and Brett tried to make it to the other side of the river but the current proved too powerful for them to make it even half way.
A few miles down the road and we were at the Madison campsite. Brett decided to join our group and we made dinner and drank some beers and hung out into the night.
The next day we packed up once again and started off the day with a climb up to Norris and then enjoyed a well needed and scenic downhill to Mammoth Hot Springs. The five of us hung out, ate lunch, enjoyed a couple beers, and took a siesta on a picnic table under a tree.
The rest of the group only needed to go another 5 miles to Gardiner but I wanted to see the rest of the park so we said our good-byes and hoped that we'd all meet up again in Missoula. I headed east towards the "more wild" Tower-Roosevelt corner of the park.
Along the way I deviated onto the Blacktail Plateau drive, a dirt road that went up to a high plateau area and found myself finally alone in the park as only a few cars dared the 7 miles of dirt. I stopped a few times to take in the sights, and on the way down I joined a french family on the side of the road to watch a momma bear and two cubs play around at the bottom of the hill we were on.
Joining back to the main road, I made my way to the Tower Falls campsite, a very small and rustic self-pay campsite and found my way to the cyclist campsite. There I met 2 guys from France and a guy from the UK, but it was getting late so we just talked for a bit before we all went to sleep.
It was pretty cold when I woke up but the section of road south of the campsite is closed to traffic from 11pm - 7am so I had almost no traffic for the morning climb up to Dunraven Pass. I climbed about 2,500ft in about 12 miles, with the majority in the first 2/3rds. I played leap frong with the UK and one of the french guys all morning. It was worth it though as some of the best views of the park I saw was from up near the pass.
After the pass I enjoyed a mostly downhill ride south to Canyon Village, where I took the opportunity to shower and do my laundry in the early afternoon. I then went a little more south to North Rim drive to check out the very awesome canyon of Yellowstone and its waterfalls.
Afterwards I backtracked back to Canyon Village and then west back to Norris. What I thought was going to be a flat plains area was more up and down but pretty scenic none the less. When I got to Norris I backtracked back to Madison, enjoying it going downhill after climbing up it yesterday.
I was unsure if I wanted to stay at the Madison campsite again or go to West Yellowstone. After calling the "hostel" in West Yellowstone and getting a price of $34/room, I decided to just stick to the $6 Madison campsite.
And as I'm sitting there on my bike, guess who rolls into the campgrounds? Eric and Will! They had taken the ambulance down to Jackson where Will spent the night under observation and they then spent the next day in a local motel. They then had to pay a taxi to drive them back to Grant Village in Yellowstone where their bikes were so they could continue the ride!
Eric wanted to take a few more days slowly to give Will more time to recoup, but he looked great and they had the wife's blessing to continue! I hung out with them until it got dark and crawled into my tent, and right as I was about to fall asleep I heard bikes and voices outside and went out to meet the late arrives - 2 women from France and 1 guy from Spain! After some conversation while they were throwing up their tents, I went back to mine and had a good sleep after the day's climb!
Day 48
Start: Dobios, WY
End: Colter Bay Village, WY
Distance: 70.43 miles
Day 49
Start: Colter Bay Village, WY
End: Grant Village, WY
Distance: 43.51 miles
Day 50
Start: Grant Village, WY
End: Madison, WY
Distance: 44.53 miles
Day 51
Start: Madison, WY
End: Tower Falls, WY
Distance: 56.83 miles
Day 52
Start: Tower Falls, WY
End: Madison, WY
Distance: 47.65 miles
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