Day 70, Grant City to West Yellowstone, Montana.

entering the town of West Yellowstone.

Montana, state number8. Two more to go.

I followed that trail thinking it would lead me to somewhere neat. Wrong! I almost got lost down there.

If I knew I was that handsome, I wouldn't have taken that good care of myself.

We crossed this stream on our way to the geyser field near Old faithful.

At almost every turn I was tempted to take pictures. Incredible place Yellowstone.
I can't get enough of all these wild flowers.

Old faithful going off. We waited almost 45 minutes. But it was worth it.

I held the camera as close to the water as I could for this shot. You can even see the bottom.

They call this Lake Isa. The other half is on the other side of the bridge. The east end drains into the Atlantic via the Mississippi into the gulf. While the west end drains into the Pacific via the Colorado river into the Sea of Cortes.

You can see two lakes from here. Sorry, I don't know their names.

While on one of my breaks, I took this shot of an unknown lake deep in Yellowstone.

The Kempler cascade. One of the main attractions in Yellowstone.

This is the inside of the Yellowstone Inn built in the early 1900's.

Continental Divide crossing number who knows. I gave up counting.

Part of the geyser field at Old Faithful.

The geyser basin is a strange place. You feel like you are on the moon or something.

Those are hot water springs boiling up from under ground.





The deep woods. There could be anything in there.

I guess this is some sort of lily that was growing in Lake Isa.

We saw a lot of statues like these all over West Yellowstone.

Our camp site at grant City.

I spotted this guy grazing about 50 yards away. There was two more close by.


Day 70, Grant City, Wyoming to West Yellowstone, Montana. “Old Faithful”. 57.82 miles. Total=3,216.42

Monday, July 20, 2009. It was very interesting last night. It was the first time that we had actually camped primitively in bear country. The sign read: “Be Bear Aware”. This meant storing all food, including water, deodorant, tooth paste, etc. in bear proof boxes. These bear boxes are large metal containers designed to be bomb proof. The problem was, the box was within ten feet from my tent. That meant if the bear did decide to come, he would come for one reason. Food. So if the food is in the bear box ten feet away, that means he would come real close to me. I did have my bear spray ready. I read the instructions, and felt confident I would be able to deploy the apparatus if necessary. Luckily, no bear showed up.

We are now in Montana, we left Grant City after a buffet breakfast at “The Lake House Restaurant”. It was pretty cold when we left, but with clear skies, it didn’t take long before the temperature warmed up enough for us to shed the warm stuff. This part of Wyoming is probably the nicest piece of real-estate in the country. So green, lakes all over the place, and alpine forests as far as the eye can see. If it weren’t for the roads, the place would be un touched. We rode through miles of heavily wooded mountains. Climbing over a number of passes, and crossing the Continental Divide at least twice today. The pictures you see, speak for themselves. This is one incredible place. I for one, plan on coming back here again, to explore more of this hiking paradise.

As we entered Yellowstone, the attendant at the toll booth told us that it was a free weekend. Good news, we saved $12.00 each. Old Faithful was 22 miles north from here. The unforgettable scenery kept us occupied as we pedaled away the miles. We saw water falls, canyons, elk, deer, you name it. The only thing we didn’t particularly care for was the traffic. It was almost non stop once inside Yellowstone. It seems like everybody and his brother were there. And most of them had huge RV’s. Some of them so big, you probably need a special license to drive them. And about 3 out of 4 would be dragging a vehicle of some sort behind them. We reach Old Faithful right about noon, we had our lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge where we found throngs of people waiting for her to erupt. We later went out to watch the main event. A huge crowd was on hand. I would saw about 2,000 or more, it was like being at a sporting event. Old faithful it seems isn’t as faithful as let to believe. There is a cushion of about 45 minutes as to when it would go off. So patience is the name of the game. It’s a good thing too that the high altitude keeps the temperature down, because there is no shade unless you are back a ways in either one of the buildings, or under a tree. We waited about a half hour from the predicted time of eruption, but it finally went off, and it was well worth the wait.

After the show, we walk around the geyser basin to see some of the other smaller geyser in the area, We were surprised to see so many of them. They all had names, and they all went off at different times, making for an interesting walk. At 3:15PM., we decided to head on. We still had over 30 miles to go, and a lot more to see. To keep this entry reasonably short, I’ll let the pictures above speak for themselves.

We made it to Montana and the town of West Yellowstone by 6:30 in the evening and proceeded to look for a place to stay. Tomorrow would be our rest day, so we wanted a nice place with Internet access since we were behind on e-mails and updating our blogs. Since this is peak tourist season, we ended up going to seven, motels before finding one that had vacancy. Only thing, this one has no Internet. So it’ll be some time before this will get posted. Aloha from The Big Sky Country, Ted.

Day 69, Colter Bay to Grant City, Yellowstone national Park.

One of the magnificent rivers in Yellowstone.

Looking down into a gorge from the road.

I climbed down to the river just because I could.

Another one of the many beautiful flowers that grow wild out here.

Early in the morning, I rode down to the lake to shoot some pre-dawn stuff. I have many more, but can't post them all.

This young buck, a doe and a fawn came into the camp this morning, and was not afraid by me presence.

A shot from across Colter bay toward the camp.

Lake Yellowstone. It's quite large. Some of the boats I saw were at least 50 footers.

Happy Lisa.

Leaving The grand Tetons.

The Grand Teton is the middle mountain in The Grand Teton range.

I made my way to the edge of the gorge to take this shot. Please, do not try this at home.

These trees were all killed by a big wild fire some years back.

Entering Yellowstone.
While standing on the edge, I took this shot.


Another early morning shot from Colter Bay.

More wild life.

When the old trees died from the fire, the new ones come up. But it'll take decades before they mature.

One of the few cascades we came across.

Continental Divide crossing number??? Too many to remember.

Nature's water slide.

How could anyone in his right mind shoot this cute fella? With a gun I mean.

We rode over that bridge.

The water was so still in the early morning, it was like glass.


Day 69, Colter Bay to Grant City, Yellow Stone national Park, Wyoming. “Awesome”. 45 miles.

Sunday, July 19, 2009. The
Colter Bay campsite was not the most comfortable situation in the world for me.
Although it was quite adequate. It leaved a couple of things I desired, and have been quite used to. There was no electrical outlet, no internet, no showers close by, and the bed was way too soft, and noisy. I logged my post for the day in Microsoft Word. The same as I am doing now. There is no Internet here either. So this post will be updated when Internet is available.
We left Colter Bay under partly cloudy conditions. It looked like the rain would be coming our way before too long. It was cold. I had on my leg warmers, arm warmers, and jacket. Our first stop was the dinning room of course for a good breakfast. Had the Ranch Hand special which consisted of a salad, rainbow trout, hash browns, and eggs. I must say, it was great. We left at 8:30AM. We had 45 miles today, and a lot of it was climbing. Colter Bay is still in The Grand Teton national Park. It would be 20 miles before we entered Yellow Stone. We were immediately greeted by some of the best views so far on this journey. I’m not joking. Wyoming is a wonderland of incredible sights. The pictures I’ve posted will testify to that. Despite the rain that caught up to us, we still had a very nice time. We were prepared, and had all our rain stuff ready, so we were as comfortable as can be expected. We crossed the Continental divide three or four times today. But because of road construction, only one of the signs was still up. Due to the road work, we found ourselves riding on dirt and gravel for about five or six miles. The traffic today was horrendous. Mostly huge RV’s. There were no shoulders on these roads either, so we had to pay close attentions as to what was going on all the time.

As we entered Yellow Stone. The attendant told us that the campsites at grant City was full, but there were a few cabins and motels available. Although we had planned to camp, we decided that another night in a motel wouldn’t be such a bad idea. When we got there however. We were told that all lodging was full. Now what, the closest lodging was too far to ride with the amount of day light we had left. And to tell you the truth, after all that climbing, we didn’t feel like riding any further anyway. I did what I always do in a crisis situation. I offered a prayer to The lord. I asked him to provide us with a place to stay for the night. And I left it in His hands. With that, Lisa and I went to have dinner. After eating, I said to Lisa, we should go to the camp ground and see if there is anything available. Maybe by chance there might have been a cancellation, or they might even take pity on us and let us stay somewhere near by. It was worth a try. So off we went. When we got there, there was a line of people at the registration office. It didn’t look good. We waited our turn anyway. When we got to the window, Lisa asked if there was anything available. The lady behind the window said that there was always room for hikers and bikers. Lisa thought it was a stoke of luck. But I think that The lord answered my prayer. I believe in Devine intervention, and I believe that God answers prayers. You make the decision.

Tonight we are at the Grant City Camp Ground. #408, right next to the rest rooms, and bear box. Oh yeah, there are bears in the area, so we got to lock up all our food, including tooth past, deodorant, and water. Good night for now, thank you for all your prayers. We really do appreciate them. Aloha, Ted.