| We wake up at 6:15am. It is sunny and chilly. The tent temperature
is +9, but outside it is only +5 degrees of Celsius. We have breakfast buffet
in the restaurant for $8.70 each (+ coffee and OJ). We start riding
around 8am.
We cross the continental divide twice today. We reach the first crossing (elev. 8391') after riding 11.3km in less than an hour. We descend for 6 kilometers before starting to climb again. The second crossing, the Craig Pass, is at 8262' (see the picture below). |
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| The lake at right is Isa Lake at Craig Pass. Interesting thing
about this seemingly uninteresting tiny lake is that its water flows
into both oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Around 1pm. after 36km we are in Old Faithful. We check the tourist attraction briefly and enjoy small cups of ice cream for $1.95 wondering how large the double size-cups would have been ... | 
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| After 47km on bicycles for almost three hours we are in Midway Geyser Baysin . We take some time off from riding to hike around. See the pictures below. We chat with the drivers that have passed us several times today, and the first time in my life I hear I don't have an accent. Amazing! | |
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| We continue north toward Madison through the landscape
characterized by geysers puffing steam. We enter Madison (elev. 6806') around 3pm. We have ridden 63.9km in 3:50. We follow Madison
River downstream to West Yellowstone,
Montana (elev. 6666'). In many places the road is blocked by parked
vehicles; tourists stop to photograph elks bathing in the river.
It is 5pm. when we reach West Yellowstone, but the sun is still really hot.
Today we rode 86.3km in 5:10. |
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Local tourist info helps us find accommodation. We choose to camp at Grizzly RV Park Campground for
$32; a comfy campground close to downtown, with showers and laundry
and very warm and sunny spot for the tent.
Tei takes care of the laundry, Tomi heads to the bikeshop to replace the broken spoke. It is Saturday night and nearby stadium hosts a rodeo. |
We find out that there is a microbrewery in town, Wolf Pack Brewing
Co. They don't have their own website, but
here are some reviews. The campground's local business map is
outdated, so we need to consult the tourist info again to find the
brewpub's location downtown. Unfortunately, we come up empty-handed:
the brewpub's closing time is 8pm. and we are there 8:05pm. Montana
alcohol law requires places that make alcohol themselves to
close by 8pm.
Luckily, the pub gives us some suggestions where to taste their beer after hours. First we try Stagecoach. We are seated promptly, but never receive further service, so we leave after a 15-minute wait (we are hungry, too!). Next we go to Bear's Tooth BBQ place. Here we have a long wait too, but at least the place is busy. We taste Wolf Pack's Crazy Horse and Creamy Lager. They are not bad but weird; probably the beers have not matured properly. Tomi has a pulled pork sandwich, Tei a smoked turkey, both around $7. To finish the night we visit a quiet and warm lounge for one beer and finally Iron Horse Saloon and Casino, which is full of rodeo people. At 11pm. we wish "good night!". |