Yellowstone Adventure Old Faithful

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We had a little rain and hail for the last 6 miles last night but not half as bad as this we got today between 1 and 2 o'clock. We were cycling fromWest Thumb towards Lake and I was tolerating the light rain and hoping to ride it out when suddenly it worsened. No sooner had I got out my waterproof (laugh) jacket than the heavens opened and the hail came down the size of peas tomake the verge a carpet of white. This was in stark contrast to the morning when we set off in sunshine, though rather cool after buying sandwiches for lunch. We err soon faced with climbing up to the first ridge, a descent into a wooded valley and then a big climb and several ups and downs to the Continental Divide at 2440 metres. After a short descent I stopped for coffee and my sandwiches at Grant Village before continuing on to Thumb to take a left turn along Yellowstone Lake on our new route to meet the bus at Lake. This is where the hailstorm was hiding. As the storm abated I met Joy getting out of a car in a lay by where she had been taking refuge in a strangers car. This was where Joy and I started a chain gang of two all the way to Lake keeping up a cracking pace considering the altitude and the weight of the panniers. I was convinced someone had transferred some of their kit intomy bags. How could they have become so heavy? we arrived at Lake Hotel behind three others at 2.45 and 3/4hr to spare before the bus arrived. Everyone's made it by 3.45 and off we went on out journey alongside the mud pools and geysers to Old Faithful. On the way we saw some bison at close quarters and a bull Elk under some trees, plus pelicans and geese on the lake. It rained almost all the way there and made transferring our bags into the amazing Old Faithful building more difficult. The building was made in 1903/4 and is entirely built of wooden beams and planks with galleries all around a large square entrance hall. This is where our troubles began yet again when we got to our rooms only to find that they had one double bed in each instead of two singles. After a lot of discussion with the staff and the manager, who said they had no more rooms or camp beds, miraculously came up with some. Poor Bill, at least he won't have far to fall when he turns over in bed tonight. This is two major problems in two days to test my leadership skills. Things can only get better.



Day 4 61.5 miles Elev 2376 m, Ascent 935. Ave 12.8 mph. Max Elev. 2440 m.

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