Day 20: Upper Red Rock Lake to West Yellowstone - 46 miles
Our food stores are getting low so it is a good thing that we will be in West Yellowstone tonight. This will be the last large centre we are in for about a week so it will be necessary to stock up.
As the sun rose the lake was flat like glass. I made my breakfast of muesli and wandered down to eat it by the lake. There were scores of ducks and my approach disturbed them so they flew off for some distance. Even though this is a wildlife refuge, the number of hunters in Montana are such that it is not surprising that the wildlife are wary of humans. It has been sad to read in my book about Lewis and Clark that when they passed through this area it was a veritable 'Garden of Eden' with huge herds of buffalo, elk, antelope; the rivers teemed with fish and beaver. Now they are all gone.
It was still cold when we left but the clouds of the last few days looked to be lifting. After 3 days of rain we have earned some dry weather. The road was also improved after 12 h without rain; there was only a few deep, muddy patches but it was mostly dry. Before too long even I warmed of and so shed a few layers.
The road took us parallel to the continental divide which was a series of dramatic cliffs, often encased in clouds. The photo below barely does it justice. The cycling was good and for a change there was no headwind and little grade.
As we turned towards the mountains to cross the divide, Sean had dropped to the back. I continued on ahead and passed a number of farms with lots of cattle. The cattle seemed to view the road area as a place for congregating and stood there staring at me as I approached, running off the road quickly when I was only a few metres away. They were almost all female with calves--who were already a good size--and were protective of their charges.
A vehicle came driving up the road so I flagged them down and asked if they had seen Sean. I was relieved to hear that he was a couple of miles behind me. They asked the inevitable question, why would anyone want to cycle the continental divide, and accepted my standard answer 'for the challenge of it' better than most. I think that because Montana is such an outdoors country, people appreciate the challenge of outdoor activities more than many other Americans.
The climb to the divide was not that difficult, except for a short section towards the end which threatened to burst the lungs, and then I reached the divide which also marked the border with Idaho. Sean arrived in due course and the photos below were taken to mark crossing number 6.
The downhill run into Idaho was on a moderately good road, but I refrained from going too fast since I'm not confident of the quality of the welding job on my carrier. We passed stands of birch trees which served as shelter for cattle as welll as open fields which were also used for grazing.
Coming around a corner there were four men dressed in camoflage. They were elk hunters and had been up in the hills hunting for elk and were busy scanning the trees with binoculars and scopes for any sign of motion. They had yet to kill anything but I restrained from congratulating them on it. At least they were using bow and arrow which give the elk a sporting chance compared to hunters with rifles.
When we reached Henry's Lake we pulled out the map to check our options. We had been advised to take the north road but a vehicle stopped and recommended the south road instead. It was good advice as the road soon became paved and we made good time. The trees came down to the roads and there were huge mansions spread all along the way. Idaho seems richer than Montana.
We came across a campground and stopped by the store which advertised snacks. Junk food to be more precise, but we were not fussy. I called Lis in NZ while there as we hadn't spoke for several days. It was then onwards and upwards into a headwind, as we crossed a hill to meet the main highway which would take us north around Henry lake towards Yellowstone.
After a brief stop at a cafe where Sean got a sandwich, we began the climb to our second divide crossing of the day. The road was good with a wide shoulder but there was a lot of traffic. Sean was flagging a bit and I soon lost site of him. At the top I got the photo below which is a bit confusing--I was leaving Idaho and re-entering Montana (there was no sign on the Montana side marking the crossing). That was a very quick sojourn through Idaho, about 4 hours...
There was a good downhill run and as I was feeling quite good I kept my speed above 15 mph even when the road flattened out. The miles just clicked away as I headed through the plains towards the mountains ahead of me. Yellowstone was going to be anything but flat.
The town of West Yellowstone is, not surprisingly, nestled on the western side of Yellowstone park. I reached there just after 16:00 and then parked myself on a bench by the main street waitng for Sean to arrive. It was a nice sunny spot and so I enjoyed sitting back and reading more about Lewis and Clark.
A couple eventually joined me and we chatted. Larry was a retired ranger from Yellowstone (amongst others) and they came up here every September for 3 weeks. Apparently the park is a zoo (of tourists) until 1 September when the children go back to school. After that the clientele are more elderly, many of whom like Larry, make and annual pilgrimage.
Larry was able to tell me authoritatively about the cycling and also made other observations--such as watch out for the RV (recreational vehicle) drivers. They try and do sight seeing while driving these huge, unweildy vehicles. Larry said that at one point he recommended to management that they ban RV's during daylight hours, but this was not well received.
Sean didn't arrive for an hour by which time I was a bit concerned. He broke two spokes just outside of town and wanted to rush off to find a bike shop. I told him to chill out and went inside the petrol station and got directions--just around the corner. We went over and since they were gone for a few minutes, Sean parked outside while I went off in search of accommodation. I didn't find anything and when I returned the bike shop was open, but the mechanic wasn't there. Sean and I went searching for a place and eventually found a nice motel with a phone (which seemed to be an optional extra in this town).
The room was small and was soon occupied by our panniers. While Sean went off to drop off his bicycle I sorted out wet and dirty clothes, put my tent on the driveway to dry off, and checked e-mails. We then went out to dinner at a mexican restaurant and while the laundry was underway Sean collected his bike and then cleaned it (as well as the panniers) in the car wash. We were both astounded at the way it looked afterwards. The panniers were hung to dry in the room. If the manager could see our room we would have been charged extra...
While we wound down with TV (and I worked on e-mails), we both decided that we were still hungry so that was solved by a trip to the local dairy queen where we gorged ourselves. It was quite cold cycling back to the room and I was not looking forward to the next few days. I think that we are in for a cold spell.