Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Post date: Jun 26, 2016 4:26:28 AM

This post is the culmination of five days, four in Yellowstone and one in Grand Teton, spent traversing some of the most magnificent geography in the United States.

19 JUN 2016

I got up at 0445 this morning because some idiot activated the panic feature on their vehicle. Turns out it was contagious because five, count'em, five other people did the same thing before 0700. WTF people?! Seriously? I planned on getting up at 0500 anyways so no big deal to me this time.

The plan was to attempt to gain access to a limited availability, guided hike up to Mt. Washburn and have a view of the entire park. I had to be in Canyon Village by 0800. Well, by the time I arrived the guide had already left. I got stuck behind a bison jam for almost 30 minutes. They were just standing in the road. Evidently, if a bison nudges you, well, that's nature. If you nudge the bison, it's a federal offense. I waited in traffic.

It worked out anyways because instead I went to Uncle Tom's Trail and caught another guided hike to the Upper and Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. OMG! Magnificent! Stunning!

Funny too because I met a mother and daughter there who are from Indiana. We did some additional hiking together after the guided part ended over to a place called Point Sublime. We also hiked down to Uncle Tom's Point which put as down near the bottom of the Lower Falls. It was an absolutely stunning vantage point!

After that I headed to my camp site at Madison Campground and setup shop. This will be my home for the next four days. It will be SO nice to not have to pack up camp every day. So nice.

In total I hiked 9.23 miles, over 19k steps uphill, downhill, and switchback. I feel it, and will probably feel it tomorrow, but it was worth every step.

20 JUN 2016

First thing on the agenda this morning was breakfast. A nice hearty one because I had the hungries. While I was at Canyon Village yesterday morning, I saw a sizable cafeteria. Turns out that the food was pretty good and reasonably priced.

Then, I went to the visitor center to grab the daily hike maps for all of the areas. Today, I wanted to visit Tower Falls and maybe hike a bit around Roosevelt Lodge.

Compared to the Upper and Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Tower Falls is a let down. Meh.

I moved on to the hike out of Roosevelt Lodge up to Lost Lake. That hike too was a little drab, but I did see the petrified tree.

I realized that I was pretty whooped, so I headed back to camp and took a nap. When I woke up, I cut a bunch of firewood and split kindling for the remained of my stay. There's an old saying, "Chop wood. Carry water." I take it to mean work hard and live simply.

I didn't do anything for the rest of the day except relax at camp. I took the downtime to read all of the literature that I picked up from the visitor center, and decided that tomorrow I would tackle the Old Faithful area. I managed to hike 9.2 miles today anyways.

Done.

21 JUN 2016

I sprang out of bed this morning excited about seeing the renowned Old Faithful geyser. After riding to the area, I scouted around for some breakfast. I ended buying a breakfast burrito from a cafe because the Lodge cafeteria there doesn't serve breakfast.

I looked around and found the front desk where a billboard displayed the estimate eruption time of Old Faithful. I had about 45 minutes, so I hiked up to Observation Point to get a view from above. It was perfect timing because I sat down for fir minutes, setup my tripod, and boom, water shot straight up out of the geyser.

I continued on the trail that passed through the Upper Geyser Basin and saw many other geysers and hot pools of water teaming with multi-colored bacteria. The temperature of these water will dictate what organisms can survive there from white-blue, the hottest, to orange-red, the coolest, but still hot.

I hiked the Mystic Falls trail and the took the long way 'round. The reward was a stunning view of the Old Faithful area nestled in its own litter valley.

Mystic Falls cascades 70 feet and is very pretty.

It was an excellent hike up, and I had lunch by the river. The way back was pretty boring, since I had already seen everything.

Arriving back in the Old Faithful area, I popped in to the Old Faithful Inn. The building was constructed in the early 1900's, and as Park Rangers say, "It's a miracle that it hasn't burnt down with all the fires that occur in the park." It is really a feet of engineering and a magnificent structure. I hear it only costs $99 per night to stay there. It would be worth it for the ambiance.

By this time, I'm hungry again, and I keep hearing my friends recommendation to go to Manhattan, MT and eat at Sir Scott's Oasis. I throw caution to the wind and head out the west entrance of the park. I passed through the nice little town of West Yellowstone. There is ample shopping, restaurants, and other amenities.

Something that I failed to consider is that Manhattan is two hours away. Hah! But the 17-ounce rib eye that I had was pretty tasty. I needed some meat!

Back at camp, I crashed hard. I hiked 13.65 miles and drove over 200 that day.

Stick a fork in it. Done.

22 JUN 2016

This morning I headed down to Grand Teton National Park given it's close proximity to Yellowstone. I left a bit late after getting some much needed rest from yesterday. It took quite awhile to make the 77 mile drive, but it was a nice little jaunt through Yellowstone early in the morning.

All of a sudden, I rounded a curve and beautiful Jackson Lake presented itself butting up against stunning mountainside of the Grand Tetons.

I rode through the park down to Jackson, WY, aka Jackson Hole because I was hungry. It's a nice little tourist town with lots of shopping available. I circled the main square peering for an available parking space, of which there are few. There were people everywhere like some horde had descended on this little town from of all parts of the globe.

I grabbed two sandwiches at a place called Full Steam Subs because it was close - one for then and one for later. I was a bit pressed for time and wanted to get a hike in before it got dark, so I scarfed it down and beat feet back to the park.

The hike for today was initially to Inspiration Point. Let me tell you that the second mile of the hike was a real pull.

On the way, I past one of many cool waterfalls. Not that it's any coincidence I'm sure, but the remainder of the hike to Forks of Cascade Canyon is packed with awesome cascades that begin high up on the mountainside.

Cascade Canyon also has some stunning views of Mt. Owen and Table Mountain.

The Forks of Cascade Canyon is a long hike. Before I knew it, the sun was hanging really low on the horizon. I had to double-time it back to Inspiration Point. It was perfect timing because the ferry across Lake Jackson had just arrived, so I hitched a ride. Man, I was beat, hot, and hungry.

On the boat ride across the lake, I asked the Park employee about the water temperature. He replied, "A balmy 52 degrees. The lake didn't thaw completely until about two weeks ago. We regularly have about three to five feet of ice." I inquired where the best place to swim was located, and he pointed to a small pebble beach on the point of a peninsula. When the boat docked, I headed straight for it. I figured that I would add an additional reward of an ice cold dip in Lake Jackson plus my takeaway sandwich from Full Steam Subs. After all, I haven't had a bath in several days, and it would be nice to wash the dirt off.

I stripped down to my skivvies and waded into the water. HOLY $#@! Bone chilling cold! As I dove into the water, I took a deep breath because as soon as I was submerged, I let it all out. So exhilarating! I hurriedly scrubbed off the dirt and got out of the water.

My sandwich beckoned, so I headed back to the bike, sat on the curb and had dinner. It was a nice rest - semi-clean, exhausted, relaxed, off my feet, content with the proceedings of the day.

I dreaded the 77-mile drive back to camp, but obviously, I did it anyways. Upon arrival, I was corralled by new neighbors asking about my tent with a motorcycle in it. I talked with them for several minutes and headed straight to bed.

Great day... Great day indeed.

23 JUN 2016

Today was another awesome day! It started when I had to pack up camp for the first time in five days. It took a minute because I had unpacked most things. Madison Campground had served well as a home base. I took my time and made sure everything was squared away, and after an hour, I was on the road.

I headed north out of Yellowstone on US 89 towards Choteau, MT. Almost immediately there was a hungry growing since I skipped breakfast. Thankfully, Livingston, MT is about 50 miles out of the park.

Once there I fueled up the bike and Google'd somewhere to eat breakfast, albeit a late one. I ended up at a place called Gil's Goods and had the best breakfast that I have eaten since embarking on this adventure - two eggs cooked perfectly, hash browns that were cooked soft and crisped on the outside, house made maple sage sausage links (yum), a biscuit, and some awesome jam. Heaven.

While eating, it occurred to me that I'm out of clean clothes and heading to Glacier National Park for a couple of days. I need some clean skivvies. Not to mention that I haven't a proper shower in five days either. I don't stink, but the swass is getting to be too much. So, I start thinking about some place where I can do laundry and take a shower. Bingo! A truck stop. Flying J? TA? Where's the nearest one? Great Falls, MT.

Great Falls is past my planned stop for the day, Choteau. Heck, in all honesty, I don't know why I planned to stop there. It's only a couple hundred miles from Yellowstone. Anyways, Great Falls here I come.

US 89 north of White Sulfur Springs, MT is really nice. It actually runs through Lewis & Clark National Forest. First, you're in the mountains. Then, canyon carving. Then, rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see. It even runs with US 2, a route that I took across New Hampshire and Vermont, I do believe.

Ranchers and farmers grow a lot of things in Montana - cattle, horses, more hay than I've ever seen, wheat, and field crops that I didn't recognize. All of these in fields or pastures that rival those in Kansas. I'm talking contiguous fields that stretch beyond the horizon. Amazing. How do they coral the cattle? The horses? How do they know where to find them?

Back from my tangent, I washed my dirty clothes while refreshing myself in a piping hot shower at the Flying J. While the laundry was drying, I charged my electronics and spent most the time on the phone trying to score some tires in Spokane, WA, my next major stop. I'll need tires before heading into Alaska. The rear tire is about done. It's wore down to the wearbars, and I might be showing cords by the time I pull in to get them changed. The service light is now displaying on the bike's instrument cluster, so it wants an oil change too.

So I've called Westside Motorsports twice and left messages with the service manager. I called the first time days ago. No return call. No text. Nothing. I guess they don't want my business. So, I moved on to another establishment. They don't have my tires, but they point me to another local shop that does, thank you - Allsport.

Laugh! "I have your tires in Stock for $528," says the Allsport parts guy. Say again?! "$528. That's with a 15% discount." Excuse me while I laugh again. You're out of your mind. I bought the same tires that are on the bike now for $350. You, sir, can piss up a rope.

Back on the phone, Cycle Gear says they have some tires. Not the exact kind I want but something that will fit. Oh, and they change tires, but only when they can get to them. They're a retail shop and mounting tires gets relegated, if they're busy. Roll with the punches I tell myself. More on this story later.

I look at the map and determine that Glacier is only another 150 miles north. It's 1630, and I decide to make a run for it.

Little less than two hours later, thanks to the 80 mph interstate and 70 mph state roads, I pitched camp at St. Mary Campground. It's a far cry from Madison Campground in Yellowstone, I have to say. It's a dump comparatively, so you can see where the money goes.

Let me tell you that the first words out of my mouth when I laid eyes on Glacier National Park were, "Oh my God." Breathtaking. Magnificent. Truly an amazing sight to behold.

I can't wait to hike some trails tomorrow. Night.