Yellowstone - Back on the Bikes

North America » United States » Montana » West Yellowstone
September 26th 2006

Published: September 30th 2006

.
Brrr… it was chilly this morning - probably not because it was any colder than it has been the past couple of days, only that we were up a lot earlier!! It is a good thing that we are staying one more night or we really would have had to get up early! Today our objective was to fill in some of the blanks that we had missed in earlier days…

Statistics

Starting Destination: West Yellowstone, Montana
Ending Destination: West Yellowstone, Montana
Ending Destination GPS: N: 44° 39.348’ W: 111° 06.390’ Elev: 6704’
Miles Driven: 135.6
Miles Biked: 14.4
Most Interesting Geyser Watching Attire: Insulated Carhart pants, hooded sweatshirt and Teva’s without sox!

Backtracking - Part One: Back to the Crack!

This morning our first stop was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (River)… Carl was rather frustrated with the lighting in most of the pictures that he had taken yesterday so Maria asked him (1) of all the spots he took pictures which one would he most like to go back too—Artist Point (probably the most popular vantage point); and (2) how early would we need to get there to have “good” light - Maria is not sure she liked this answer. So there we were at about 8:15am standing in the frigid weather with nobody else around taking pictures of the Lower Falls! However, on the drive into the park we saw quite a few people out taking pictures of the animals - leading Maria to ask whether animal photographers are more “obsessed,” and thus willing to go to greater lengths? Or was it just that there were more animal photographers!

Backtracking - Part Two: Trying to Finish the South Loop

After our frigid beginnings we backtracked to the Lower Geyser Basin - we had missed most of it yesterday. First we drove the scenic drives…

Firehole Canyon Drive: Where we noted that it would be a good candidate for some biking later in the day. We also noted the “advertised” swimming hole along the river. No, we didn’t go down to the water to test whether it was warm or not!!

Fountain Flat Drive: Where we saw a hot spring right next to the river - it was interesting in that the minerals which come up with the spring had been deposited around between the spring and the river, looking rather like a hot tub!

Firehole Lake Drive: Where we saw the most concentric of all the geysers or pools - the Great Fountain Geyser. We thought that this would be a great geyser to see “in the flesh,” we were hopeful when we noted that this is one of the geysers that is somewhat predicted, although the sign said yesterday’s prediction was 7:40pm and it went off at 9:14pm - rather a long time to wait!

Across from the Firehole Lake Drive is the Fountain Paint Pots, when we passed the parking lot there were at least 4 buses and what looked like hundreds of people, so we decided to save this attraction for later! Our last stop of the morning was the Midway Geyser Basin, this was really interesting as there was lots and lots of water flowing out of the basin and into the Firehole river, the colors of some of the pools were really good - but it was a little difficult to see them with all the steam and the other tourists who arrived just after we did via two buses! By this time we decided we were just about geyser, hot spring, mud pot and fumeroled out so we drove directly to Old Faithful to see if Carl could get a better picture - unfortunately it was going off just as we drove into the parking lot!

Backtracking - Part Three: Biking again!

By this stage of the game we thought we were ready for a change of pace… Maria had read that there was a track out to the Lone Star Geyser that was paved - this sounded like an ideal candidate for a bike ride. The information indicated that this geyser was one of the most predictable, so we asked in the visitors’ center whether they had a current prediction—2:15pm—wow, we didn’t expect to be able to see it too! So with quite a bit of enthusiasm we ate lunch in the parking lot, suited up and unpacked the bikes - all ready to go about 12:30pm! It was about 2.5 miles to the trailhead thanks to the bike path and then another 2.5 miles of “mostly” paved trail to the Geyser. We both decided that for us flatland riders, hills are definitely bigger when you are at elevation! We arrived at the Geyser only to find that we had just missed it! So we had a pleasant conversation with a Canadian couple for about an hour ‘till after 2:15 - just in case. The wife had a very interesting “biking” story, where she was chased and then raced a Buffalo neck to neck down the road ‘till it decided that perhaps she wouldn’t taste good after all. We knew there was a reason besides the cold not to live near Edmonton! Disappointed we rode back to the truck packed up the bikes and drove back towards the Firehole Canyon Scenic Drive—we parked in a turnout along the main road hopped on the bikes and did a loop. By this stage there were quite a few clouds and it was getting chilly so we consciously didn’t park the truck so it was downhill all the way home (yes, we did wonder whether we were sane)! Biking was a great change of pace, as it had in other locations, it allowed us to notice the little things that you miss when they go by so fast in a vehicle.

Backtracking - Part Four: Brown Blob Update

After 3 days of surviving the blob jams we have seen the Elk brown blob, the Bison brown blob and the Moose brown blob (sort of). In her analysis of the brown blob jams Maria has surmised that there appears to be a hierarchy of brown blobs… If the blobs have antlers then the hierarchy is: (1) those with antlers, (2) babies, and then (3) those without antlers; if the blobs don’t have antlers then it is a toss-up between (1) and (2)… Also, these seems to be another factor—size! To Maria, a brown blob is a brown blob… But to Carl, if the antlers of the new brown blob are bigger than those previously recorded then we need to stop and take a picture. The current winner in the brown blob antler contest is pictured left!

Carl’s Travel Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: 308 feet.
Today’s Question: Following the brown blob theme…. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Yellowstone - Back on the Bikes