Teton and Yellowstone (7/6/23 Thu)

It was a little colder last night, so I zipped the fly down fully. Resulting in the fly being damp on both the in and outside. Not enough wind and no sun in my campsite, so eventually I wiped it all down with my dish towel and got on the road around 0800.

Back through Jackson Hole and into the Teton park where I had to buy a $30 ticket (even to just ride through to Yellowstone). Another $30 ticket for Yellowstone later today. Or buy a yearly parks pass for $80. Should have done this before Glacier and Lewis and Clark. The good news is that the pass emits two bikes.

Teton was a drive through, but pretty. I stopped to take pictures a number of times. Yellowstone had a lot of construction and waits for single lane sections. But traffic seemed less on northern route.

Looking over the Yellowstone options I chose Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring. I got off too early and saw a smaller hot pots of dazzling colors called Bisquit Basin . When I went to the Grand version in Midway Geyser Basin I was glad I saw the smaller one too. It had better colors and less steam.

Parking was a pain at each attraction. In the giant Old Faithful parking lot I saw another bike, and parked with them. Laughed hard when they had NH plates. Old Faithful was off schedule on the early side today. Good for me because I was there an hour ahead of it's penciled in time. It was 17 minutes ahead. I visited the restroom and gift shop, so the other bike left before me. But he left me a napkin note.

My last attraction completed I headed for the campgrounds on the parks northeast entrance. But at the next intersection was an officer standing roadside. He warned that a major accident would close the road for at least an hour. I asked if he knew if my target campground was full. He said it was closed. So I thanked him and u-turned to check the campground 1/4 mile to the west.

Unfortunately they had a full sign hung out front. But it never hurts to ask. However they really didn't have one, but I got food and coffee at their store and sat by the river for an hour. Beats sitting in traffic, and someone might have even canceled.

Back on the road and far to quickly back into stopped traffic. We crept along about as slow as I can ride. Not with the clutch out, but frequent feathering just enough to keep balanced. After 30 minutes or so two vehicles went past on flatbed tow trucks. Traffic still didn't flow correctly, but that might just be holiday Yellowstone congestion...

I finally reached Canyon Campground, not Nelson Canyon Campground (which everone tells me is closed). But the open one also had a full sign hung. Take two, not the same as the first. I got the last site, just had to accept there could be a slight bleach smell. Never smelt any bleach. And D82 was a great site, on the tip of the D loop. And it has just enough cell coverage for text or voice calls.

That let me text my fellow rider from NH, and talk with Anne. While we talked I had hung a clothesline and dried the tent fly. Setup the tent without fly and added my bedding, and then prepped my shower gear. By the time we ended the call I saw my first drip. In the time it took to attach the tarp and jump on the bike it raining. I got wet on my ride to the shower. I waited about 10 minutes in the lobby post shower until the rain let up.

Lots of water today, but it's dry in my tent. Tomorrow I hope to hike to the nearby falls, then ride Beartooth Pass on my way to the Dakotas. Maybe Nate will locate the motel in Sturgis run by the woman who wrote the Butterfly Route.