Today was a recovery day from yesterday’s long ride. We rode out Yellowstone’s south entrance with Lewis Lake on our right. Moose falls was worth stopping for, partly because we could get next to the falling point.
We ate lunch at Flagg Ranch and continued into Teton National Park. I saw an interesting series of signs (made popular by Burma Shave from yesteryear) that reads something like this:
“we’ve seen wildlife…from afar…until you hit it…with your car…slow down!
I finally got to see the Teton’s. To me, they’re special because they rise so quickly and distinctly for ~7,000 ft.
Finding a camp spot was frustrating. The definition of “hiker biker campsite” is unfortunately different here in that it’s not dedicated just for us folks… It’s puzzling since it’s a national park like Yellowstone. My guess is its a variation in the way the concessioner’s implement the policy. It’s just a normal site but a reduced rate. We stopped at Lizard Creek and they phoned ahead to our planned campground (Signal Hill) only to learn it was full. So, our only option was the huge (350 sites!) campground called Colter Bay which is right on Jackson Lake.
We swam near the marina and relaxed on the shore. At the store we saw a recumbent bike tourist (3 wheels) which is rare. It looked like it weighed over 100 pounds – and that’s before you count his dog. He said he rode with the dog on his lap! Just when I thought I’ve seen it all.
Our campsite looked like a Christmas tree lot and we were next to a Chinese family with 3 generations.
Out of the blue, at 10:30pm, a confused elderly couple came into our campsite and asked us how to get to the main road south. I felt sorry for them because this place is a big maze. I hopped on my bike and escorted them out with my blinking light. They were very grateful.
We rode 43 miles.
Tomorrow is our last bike riding day, where we ride into Jackson Hole to pick up the rental van and drive home.
I stumbled across your blog while thinking about a bike tour thru Yellowstone – my friends and I have done a couple weeklong tours on the East coast (and one along the PCH in California). I took my wife and kids to Yellowstone (in a car) in July 2014 (we were there the week after you, actually), and I kept thinking it would be awesome to tour the park by bicycle.
Funny, we saw the same guy on the recumbent bike while we were there – he was literally riding with his dog on his lap!