Ride Report, Yellowstone, Old Faithful & Grand Teton

Got a call from the folks this afternoon, somewhat upset that the blog hadn't been updated! Ooops. Sorry folks. So, here's an update!!

We started the day fairly early... I got up around 7am, showered, and we were on the road around 8:30. The plan for the day?
1. Old Faithful
2. Grand Teton
3. Whatever we have energy left for

A view of the hotel (the Alpine in Cooke City, MT) room (did I already show this?)


The sink wasn't in the bathroom, rather it was in the bedroom... interesting, but nice.


Turns out that one of the roads through the park (that would have saved us over 20 miles) was still closed for the season. So, we had to divert through the town of Mammoth Hot Springs (where a good deal of the park staff make their home) and turn southward through the park toward Old Faithful from there.

So, the entire route, here, was a pretty rough ride for a single day. 175.4 miles (round trip) is tough on sportbikes, especially when the roads don't curve all that much! But the trip was worthwhile.

Tired and sore already we rolled into the 'Old Faithful' area... basically a metroplex of motels, restaurant and other tourist things, built up around the geyser. We got some lunch and stretched out, the headed for the geyser.

The obligatory visitor's center shot.


The main boardwalk approaching the geyser.


A basic area shot.


This was supposedly a SLOW day, remember a good many roads through the park were still closed, it's still 'off season'.... I don't even want to think about how busy it must be here during peak season.

Looking left along the boardwalk.


Right along the boardwalk.


The geyser erupts about every 90 minutes... thankfully, after lunch and our little walk to the geyser we didn't have long to wait...

Geyser shots...
















So, after the eruption we mount back up and head for Grand Teton. Unfortunately, as we approach the mountain, it starts raining, so we decide not to stop for shots on the way there and instead push on through to Jackson Hole...

A shot of downtown Jackson


MMMMM... blizzard!


We never did figure out what they were after.... but there were four of them, all in a big hurry. They stopped just outside the DQ and all ran underneath the bridge nearby.... Oh well! All the police out here either drive SUVs, big 1/2 ton trucks, or Dodge Chargers, and all of them have extremely bright LED lighting.




Clear weather on the way back, so we stopped to get some shots of the Tetons.












Here's some info on the Tetons.










... and a couple more shots of the Tetons.




So, after getting a few shots of the Tetons, we made the long journey back through Mammoth Hot Springs...

Here's a few shots of Mammoth.






We got back to Cooke City, MT completely worn out. This little town is sooo small that only one restaraunt is open each night... each one takes a turn cooking something for the town, it's tourists and residents (at least during the off-season). Our first night in town was fantastic food at the Bistro, the second evening we had dinner at the Soda Butte Motel & Casino where I had a pretty good broiled trout and Dave got a decent fillet. Our last night in town we were in the bar across the street from the motel where I had a fairly good chicken sandwich and Dave got a burger and fries.

Anyway, now that I'm done describing our diet for the past couple nights... back to some Yellowstone info! Well, let me first say that sportbikes DO NOT BELONG in the park. While we weren't the only ones, we were definitely out of place. I didn't realize this when planning the trip through the park, but it turns out that Yellowstone is FIRST AND FOREMOST a wildlife refuge. If you area a wildlife enthusiast, then Yellowstone is totally the place for you! There were cars parked all over the place... on both sides of the road, in the middle of the road, around blind corners... anywhere that some random animal just happened to be close enough to the road for a bystander to catch a glimpse of.

Here's a shot of the bison.




And another of some mule deer (at least I think that's what they are...)


The biggest business in the park, by far, are 'wildlife tours' where people pile into big SUVs or vans and get shuttled around the park by folks who carry large telescopes for viewing the wildlife.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is, this isn't the place to enjoy the 'scenery' at a moderate pace. Expect to stop FREQUENTLY... and expect to overheat, FREQUENTLY. Bison and other animals were often blocking the road entirely. Of course, as it turns out, a Yoshimura exhaust on a 600cc sportbike is quite effective at clearing the roadway, much to the dismay of onlookers who wanted to 'reach out and touch'.

While it may be considered bad form to 'clear the road' in this way, I was less than 5 feet from the bison on more than 5 occasions... each of which involved 'clearing the road' for a fairly long line of vehicles that seemed to want nothing more than to sit for however long it was going to take for the buffalo to eat its fill of the grass growing in the cracks of the road.

Ok.. rant-off. Don't get me wrong, I totally love wildlife .. all I'm saying is, if you really want to enjoy Yellowstone, go in the early season (because I totally can't imagine the traffic stopped on the roadway during peak season) and go in a convertible and plan to hike... hike a lot! Don't go on a sportbike!

OK.. enough of that mess. We stayed our last night in Cooke City in the Soda Butte Lodge because no rooms were available at the Alpine Friday night. Shortly after arrival in our room we realized why all the Alpine rooms were booked.... the rates were higher at the Soda Butte, and there wasn't any AC, the toilet didn't flush well and the window to the room had been busted, and taped back together! What a dump! But hey... it was that, or find a campsite at nearly 10pm after having been on the bikes all day.

Anyway, that's Friday's update... more to come.

Ride Report, Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph

We rode back to Cody today.... up the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. It was totally the best ride so far. Switchback after switchback, beautiful ride. Once again we found ourselves struggling to focus on the road instead of the amazing scenery.

We made it back to the overlook at the top (see pics from the last post) and I got a pic of the bikes.


We rode into Cody and got some gas, a snack and a drink, then rode back up the Chief Joseph. We got a little wet, but the weather cleared right up as soon as we got out of town and back onto the scenic highway.

Everyone told us that the Beartooth pass was closed, but we turned up it anyway. The last hotel owner told us that this was the absolute best scenery / ride in the entire area and that it is rated one of the best motorcycle (scenery) roads in the country. We turned up the road anyway. Just figured that we'd turn back once we hit the barricade. Make a right at the stop sign to hit the beartooth :)


They were 100% right. The scenery up this road was by far the best of the entire trip. I had the camera out more times here than I've had it out anywhere else! On the way up we came across a sweet waterfall.


Then the Beartooth Lake... still mostly frozen over.




Nice name for this store (it pretty much was at the peak).




Leaving the 'top of the world'


Really incredible views... absolutely amazing.


You can see the weather pattern that we were about to get caught in.










Bikes... and us.






Think this might be why the pass is still closed?




More scenery...




End of the line... all the equipment and the crews are here to begin clearing the road further.






On the way down from Beartooth we saw the 1st group of sportbike riders we've seen the whole trip. They were loaded out, each with saddle/tankbags. They told us a story about how they had a helicopter after them earlier today, just before they entered the park and that a nice ranger had a chat with them about speeding, and called of the chopper without giving them a ticket! They were headed for the Chief Joseph Highway and we told them about the Beartooth.... they headed off toward the Beartooth pass, and hungry and needing gas we headed back for Cooke City and the motel.

It's been a pretty awesome couple of days. Tomorrow we'll be heading into Yellowstone again. We hope to see Old Faithful, then head south to Grand Teton.

From Graybull to Cooke City, WY

Sorry for the delay in updates. We've been doing quite a lot the last couple of days.

The drive from Graybull was incredible. We left the motel without checking the gas gauge (big oops) and I was very worried for a bit about whether we were actually going to make it all the way to Cody, WY (the next town) because there's absolutely nothing between the two, just rolling hills and a view of the Teton moutain range. So, we coasted into Cody on fumes and got a bite to eat at the Subway.

We left Cody and started making our way to Cooke City. This road was the curviest, largest change in altitude, and most scenic road that we've come across so far!


There was an amazing overlook from the top (about 8700'). This climb was really the first time that my little truck had to be dropped into second gear... we probably did about 30 mph most of the way up. While the ride up was taxing on the little truck, I must say that it has done very well so far. I've been really impressed.


The views were spectacular. Notice the road winding down the mountain. I think we'll be riding this little road :)






There were some very interesting storyboards there... note the elevations.














About a mile from Cooke City we came across a broken down Subaru and stopped to help. They had somehow run out of oil, as there was no reading on the dipstick. So, we gave the driver a lift into town to get a few quarts of oil. Got a reading on the dipstick after pouring 3... car still wouldn't start. Drag... so he and his girlfriend climbed into the car for a ride into town. He wound up calling a friend who brought a truck and car trailer.

While I was doing all that running around Dave found us a nice little hotel with free Wifi.


The view from the hotel itself was pretty amazing... this shot looks over the hotel's office.


Here's another shot from just up the road.


Funny, the owner of the last hotel in Graybull told us that this place was like something straight out of Northern exposure and he was right!

Here's a view up the street.


.. and another.


Got the ladies unloaded, we're ready for a great day tomorrow! (well, we had a great day riding today... updates on that after a bit)


So, with the bikes unloaded, and given that it was only about 3pm, we decided to head into Yellowstone toward Mammoth Hot Springs. The park was pretty neat. Not long after we entered we saw herds of Buffalo along either side of the road. A bit farther up the road there were a few standing directly in the road. I could have reached out and touched them they were so close!

As we got further into the park we noticed a large gathering of folks, all with expensive photo equipment, parked off to either side of the road. There was a park ranger there who told us that there were wolves that might be crossing the roadway and to keep our bikes 'smooth' through the next bit so as not to scare them.

We didn't see the wolves, but we did see quite a few more buffalo, and a bear on the way to Mammoth. We stopped briefly in Mammoth, then headed back to Cooke City. On the way back to town I saw one of the wolves cross the road directly in front of me! We got back to town and met the owner and a friend of her's who invited us over for a glass of wine. Turns out that the owner's friend is from Texas and they both sponsor the wolf research program in Yellowstone and that their friend Rick, who happened to be one of the lead researchers, would be coming by with an update for them.

So, we invited everyone to join us for dinner and had a fantastic meal across the street at 'The Bistro', pretty much the only place open at that time, but it was an excellent meal!

The Graybull Motel

I didn't talk much about the place we stayed in Graybull, but it's just neat. The Graybull motel. Owners were VERY nice... I talked the owner and his wife for over an hour when we got here last night, and again this morning... one couldn't ask for better people. In fact, that's been a theme out here. Everyone we've talked to out here so far has been really awesome.

Bill, the owner, says he has been in every one of the lower 48 and this area, especially the Tetons and Yellowstone, is the most beautiful place he's ever been. I think I'll probably be back here again before long... it's only about 12 hours from Seattle.

Here's a few pics of the motel. There's a porch around the whole thing, and little seating areas, beautiful flower planters, and rope lighting all the way 'round.


There's a porch around the whole thing, and little seating areas, beautiful flower planters, and rope lighting all the way 'round.




Very nice place, and the rates were also pretty good.