» Day 24) West Yellowstone to Grants Village at Bikepacking - …Like backpacking, only on bikes. A blog about a cycle tour from Bend, Oregon to Durango, Colorado

Jul

Day 24) West Yellowstone to Grants Village

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Amazingly we managed to get up early and were packed up and away by 7.30am. It was the first time all trip that we could have done with our shoes as it was chilly and our feet were cold. Oh well, we’ll survive. If all else fails we’ll have to commit a fashion sin with a socks and sandals combo!

We were excited about going into Yellowstone National Park, as it is such a famous place. The road was quite busy even at this time. We were a bit annoyed at the charges; it was $12 per person on a bicycle or $25 per car. The car or RV could potentially have 6 people in for the same price as two cyclists. You’d think a National Park would want to promote and support the use of environmentally friendly travel! We saw some cool wildlife; a nesting Bald Eagle, some really close Bison and a huge Elk. No moose or bears though. The thermal pools were awesome and we also stopped at Old Faithful. We were amazed at how busy the place was and Old Faithful was a bit of a disappointment. We just missed an eruption and had to wait an hour and a half for the next one. There were about 1,000 other people waiting in this Disneyland style area and it was all a bit of an anti- climax. Sometimes commercialisation is good, but this place was just too busy and too commercialised for us. It didn’t feel like you were admiring natural wonders, more like being at a theme-park without the excitement of the rides. Apparently you can come here really early or late in the season when the roads are closed to cars, but open to bicycles. That’d be fun. Also you can come in on a snowmobile in the winter – how cool! The park was huge and we could have spent days seeing all the sights, but we carried on south towards the Grand Teton Park. We did a suprising amount of climbing today along busy roads with little shoulder. Thankfully there were plenty of sights to take a break from the ride.

We camped at Grants Village campground. It was technically full, but apparently they always have to let hikers/bikers on (as we can’t just cycle 50 miles to the next place), so we set up on a pitch that was already occupied. Just as we were eating our one-pot pasta alfredo dinner, our fellow occupant appeared. Alex was also British, the first other Brit we have met on this trip. He was spending several weeks backpacking and hiking around the National Parks of the States. The mozzies were a nightmare again, so Alex set about building a fire and Ryan and I went to explore the local “village” (more a purpose build complex of shop, restaurant, shower block, gas station – all of which are very far apart and not very convenient. The showers are 1 mile away from the campground!). We came back with marshmallows for toasting and after a chat and hot-dog and chilli eating session with our neighbours (a scout group from Utah) we sat by the fire. We were shortly joined by Luke, from San Diego, who was riding the Great Divide (an off-road Adventure Cycling route from Canada to Mexico) and had lost his friend Josh. Josh had broken a spoke and was meant to get it fixed and meet Luke here, but it was now dark and he hadn’t appeared. Luke joined us for a bit and then a cyclist whizzed by in the dark. It turned out to be Josh and we all sat around the fire eating marshmallows, before retiring to our tents – making sure all our food was in the metal bear box at the edge of our pitch. The campsite had a Grizzly bear roaming it a few nights ago. The bear thing is weird as we really want to see one, but preferably on an open plain or on the otherside of a river, not sniffing around your tent in the night!