Day 56: A Trapped Tourist

55.42 miles (Total: 3053.09) Avg Speed: 13.4mph Max Speed: 37mph

A loud bunch of people on a geology trip woke me up early so I slithered out of my sleeping bag and tent to the chilly morning and stood still in the one patch of sunlight that was breaking through the trees to keep warm. When the others got up we headed back into Grant Village for breakfast. I ended up paying about $8.50 for a single sausage and egg muffin, disgracefully overpriced tourist trap. It made me angry so I was eager to hit the road and get down to business seeing the parks attractions I had already paid the entry fee for.

Early morning glimpse from my tent, that must mean a bear didn’t tear me limb from limb last night.

First was the Old Faithful Geyser, it has a scheduled time its that reliable so we sat around the basin in anticipation with the others waiting for it to blow. The schedule time came and past and people started getting restless, everyone had camera in hand waiting to get the picture of it erupting. I knew this thing lasted about 5 minutes once it was going so stayed calm. Eventually it went to the oohs and aahs of the crowd.

Waiting…

Still waiting…

Kaboom!

15 minutes later than scheduled but Old Faithful didn’t disappoint.

Next up on the agenda were the geothermal pools. Cycling around Yellowstone has been tricky at times with the large volume of traffic, the main concern is people in their rental RV’s that have no previous experience handling a vehicle that size. Indeed one of them missed me by about an inch as the others let out huge gasps riding behind me seeing how close it came. The pools are another iconic feature of the Yellowstone national park with a strange spectrum of colours emitting from the bottomless pit.

Having had our tourist fill for the day we cycled on towards West Yellowstone which is actually just outside the park in Montana. The gentle downhill meant we cruised through the rest of the ride. The only downside of visiting Yellowstone by bike is that it is far to big see everything, you really need a car. The route takes you through the main attractions but its only the south-western tip, I would love to have been able to see more of the back country and probably more wildlife.

Afternoon.

State No.8 - Big Sky Country!

Once we got into town we contact Stefaan who had been trying to arrange the rest of us accommodation since he road on ahead having visited the park several times previously. The Hostel in town had one female room for Jessica and 3 males bunks, we needed 4. We managed to persuade them to let one of us sleep on the floor for subsidised price, they agreed and Wim offered to be the fall guy for the night.

We headed out for overpriced pizza and then some overpriced beer. This town is the gateway to the parks, it will be nice to get back into the quiet places after being ripped off the past few days.