day of super awesome, the 2nd

woot. today rocked. again. this trip is really ending on a high note.

today was all about yellowstone. i wanted to make sure i had plenty of time to do the park (at least the route i was taking through, which was barely 1/4 of the whole park), so i got an early start, taking off from cody right around sunrise, a little after 7am. a side effect of this trip is that it may be making me even more of a morning person.

after a quick 50 mile trip to the park gate, i was ready for some sight-seeing. i had bundled up quite a bit, even though it was in the mid-50s in cody, since i knew i'd be gaining a lot of altitude and a good thing i did, since it was probably around 40 degrees when i got to the park at 8am. i wasn't wearing my gorrila gloves, though, since i wanted to have better dexterity and control for the park. i wasn't going to be going that fast once inside, and there was no way i'd be operating a camera with the taped gloves.

there were so many amazing views and pictures that i took it was really hard to pick some to show here, so i've tried to pick a few from some different areas. they'll be scattered throughout chronologically. this first one was in the first few miles into the park, just one of the awesome landscapes spread out as i was riding along throughout the day:



and that was just the beginning. remember earlier, how i was mentioning the lack of wildlife on this trip so far, and how i was a little disappointed? well, it didn't take long to remedy this as, a couple of miles down the road from this view, i almost hit a deer. oops. i was riding through a forested section when a 3- or 4-point buck (big deer) leaped across the road right in front of me. i hit the brakes in time, so no harm no foul, but it sure got my heart going. it was a great way to start the park (as opposed to hitting the deer, which would have been lousy) and was actually rather exhilarating. a few minutes later i saw some less active deer by the side of the road and got a few pictures, but nothing spectacular. a promising start, nonetheless.

moving on down the road a bit further, the road wrapped around yellowstone lake, which was perfectly calm, with the last few remains of mist rising up from the morning cold:


again, beautiful. i'm going to stop stating that everything i saw was beautiful, or gorgeous, or breath-taking, because this post would become very redundant very quickly. anyway, i rode on down the road into the park when i quickly came upon a herd of bison grazing by the side of the road. by the way, bison are awesome. you think honey badgers don't give a sh#t? try a bison. they just go wherever they want because what are you going to do? they're huge, they don't care about you or what you're doing and they're everywhere. seriously. i saw so many bison, it was crazy. this one was grazing right up on the shoulder of the road:


i was seriously that close. probably 6 feet away, if that. this happened again later down the road when i stopped to look at something else (i'll tell you in a second) and two more GIANT bison were just moseying down the road. probably 6 feet from me and the bike and much bigger than this guy (the pics weren't as good, though). let me tell you, from personal experience, you don't really realize how much of a safety net a car is until you don't have one. the only thing i had between me and these guys was my riding suit and helmet. yeah they were just ambling along, but damn it was still a little unnerving. and very, very cool.

anyway, the reason i had stopped was because i was catching glimpses of something across the river and i had stopped to see what it was. it turned out to be one of the most amazing things i have ever seen in person, in my life. granted i haven't had kids yet or anything, but this was a truly awesome thing to behold. across the river were two elk, one doe and one juvenile (mother and baby?). the young one was in the middle of the river while the doe was on the edge of the opposite bank, fending off two black wolves. they would approach, she would drive them back. they came at her again, she charged again. sometimes she would retreat into the river, sometimes she would successfully drive them off for a minute or two. but they kept at it, trying different angles, testing her. it was incredible to watch. i must have stood there for 20 minutes, absolutely spellbound, until they moved out of sight down the river. i have no idea what happened to the elk, or the wolves, but it was an amazing experience. it seemed very surreal to get back on my motorcycle, push a magic button and tootle on down the road at 40 mph after that. but there it is.

i was traveling up the east side of the grand loop, which took me by the canyon (apparently it doesn't have a name), which had some cool falls and some awesome scenic views, like this one:


i spent a fair amount of time chilling at the various points, including a small snack at inspiration point, where i got someone to take my picture. unfortunately, they didn't frame it very well, so the only picture of me at yellowstone is less than impressive.

the other major stop i made was at the norris geyser basin, with sulfur pits and thermal zones, lots of which were bubbling, none of which were geysering. smelled great, though. i was still smelling rotten eggs until i took a shower at my hotel. there were some amazing colors present in some of the pools, though. nature can do some pretty amazing things.


what struck me while riding through was how varied the landscape was in such a small (relative) area. i went through forests, high mountain tundra, sulfurous thermal zones, canyons and more, all within a 100 miles stretch (and not even a straight 100 miles). i was wondering if it was a coincidence that all these cool features are so close together or if their creation was all interconnected. i'm sure there's an answer, but i don't feel like doing the research right now.

i spent a total of about 5 hours in the park and, as i said, i barely saw 1/4 of the whole place, and i wasn't even truly taking my time where i was. i'd stop in, snap a few pictures, maybe hang out for a few minutes and then move on. another place i really want to go back to and spend some serious time there.

i think i'm in danger of becoming a national park addict. i hear there's a passport you can get to mark off all of them. i think it would be awesome to do them all on a motorcycle. although there are a lot in alaska. that could be tricky. still, worth looking into (i'm sure my mom is thrilled to hear this line of thought).

the rest of the day was fine, but non-descript. i went out the north gate of the park on highway 89. according to my dad's harley davidson road atlas, this is one of the best motorcycling highways in the US. it was very nice, but i can see why it was recommended in a harley book. lots of super wide, sweeping curves perfect for a half-ton harley loaded down with HD gear and two riders, with a nice, fast speed limit. true, it was through a gorgeous valley with great views but, after yellowstone it wasn't nearly as awe-inspiring as it may have been otherwise and, on vixen, some of the straightaways that accompanied the curves were a little boring. still a good ride, though.

after that it was I-90 which went quick, except for battling a few headwinds. i got into butte (my intended destination) around 3:30, which was way too early for my tastes. again, when i'm by myself and there's nothing for me to do, i'd rather keep going and get some more miles down as opposed to hanging out in a hotel room or wandering around (i'm not much of a shopper). so i kept going for a while, and now i'm in missoula. much better. got in around 5:30, found pizza, beer, ice cream and sunday night football. i'm a happy camper. and tomorrow i have an easy cruise down highway 12 to walla walla, followed by a short day home. it's truly almost over. my long days are behind me, as is my major interstate travel. a good feeling, to be sure.

almost home!

rftc,

scott