Day Twelve
Today was the pivot day in my journey, finishing the day headed due East for the first time in eleven days of riding, averaging 300miles/day.
Woke up to grey skies and 45 degrees, made chicken soup for breakfast in addition to coffee. Not bad. Slowly packed up and got wheels rolling around 9:30am once the temp climbed to 55. For those that don’t ride, 55 degrees @ 60mph feels like 45, which is about the coldest you can ride without really heavy layers.
The ride through Jackson, WY was crowded. Can see why people flock here for various outdoor activities, fishing, skiing, etc. Blasting out of Jackson towards Bridger-Teton I was expecting a forest and was met with wide open plains and steps, and then the most epic mountain range I’ve ever seen, yes its more stunning against the landscape than the Rockies were. Just jaw dropping and totally unexpected.
Weather was starting to break, climbed to mid-60’s and partly sunny at this point but still mostly clouds as I motored onto Yellowstone!
I was expecting Yellowstone to be mostly plains, and I was met with dense forest, creeks and waterfalls, canyon roads and lakes, etc. I should have paid more attention in Geography class, big time facepalm fail, sorry Mom. (She taught Geography for 25 years).
Fair warning, the following is likely contrary to popular opinion and not trying to yuck anyone’s yum, just stating my observations. Yellowstone was meh.
The roads were nice but so overcrowded with poorly driven minivans and giant RV’s/Campers, taking u-turns on blind corners, sudden pull-offs without signals, not using the “slow vehicle pull offs” when they should it was really hard riding as all my attention was pulled to the road instead of the landscape.
Compounding things, the landscape had a ton of features but none of them were mind-blowing like other sights had been. The waterfalls weren’t huge, the trees weren’t massive, the canyons weren’t 90 degree walls more steep ravines.
Old Faithful was cool as I had never seen a Geyser, definitely worth the wait. And I saw some wildlife up close on my way out of the park which was also cool. I’d like to go back and do a few days camping and hiking vs riding. I think that would be a better experience so if that’s your plan when visiting I’d still highly recommend as there are just geological features everywhere you look.
In summary I’d compare Yellowstone itself to a great Swiss Army Knife, capable of a ton, master at none.
The way out of Yellowstone towards Buffalo WY on the other hand was aces. Epic canyon road down to Cody, awesome wide open stretches to Ten Sleep. And Ten Sleep canyon at sunset was incredible. Sadly none of the pictures really came out but the images are burned in my mind forever. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Wyoming.
Then I had the most harrowing hour and half on the bike of the entire trip. Through a mountain pass, dark winding wet roads, alone in the middle of nowhere, cold and into a thunderstorm. There was just blackness except for the road my headlight illuminated and deer eyes on the side of the road, some darting across, others just testing my nerves. Slow, cold and mentally draining. Luckily the storm was moving away from me so every time I got a few rain drops I just slowed down and let the storm move ahead and stayed dry. Queue Dory - just keep riding, riding…
As I crested the final pass and saw Buffalo, Wy in the distance I’ve never been happier to see city lights, truly. Had McDonald’s for dinner for the first time in years, via drive thru (that got some looks from the nice folks working there), took a shower and bed after the most up & down day riding I can recall since I began my two-wheeled obsession at age 21.
Today was an example of everything life on two wheels has to offer, good, bad and ugly. Still wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.