Yellowstone, Land of the tourists

We rode into Yellowstone the next day.  Thankfully, the campgrounds (which usually fill up by 11 in the morning) always keep a few campsites open for hikers and bikers.  This was the first time I had to pay for a place to sleep since the start of the trip, but we figured that stealth camping in YS (land of the super bears) would probably be a bad idea.  Shit, its probably even a felony.  So we paid up.  But the campgrounds were quite nice and only five bucks a night for cyclists.
We spent the next few days riding to a campsite, setting up, then riding on, unloaded, to check out the sights.  Let me just say, that Yellowstone is an awesome place.  There is some incredible scenery and a great deal of wildlife cramed into that park.  We saw hot springs, gysers, canyons, waterfalls, elk, buffalo and I even got to see a grizzly (though it was pretty far away).  Here are some pictures:

But Yellowstone did have a few drawbacks.  Unless you go on some serious hikes, you never really get away from the most abundant animal in the park, Homo Sapiens.  Cars everywhere, busses, RVs, children, the elderly, the obese, the ignorant, Yellowstone can proudly claim them all.  And they're not bad people, I really have nothing against them, I was just kind of expecting a more personal and intimate experience with the park.  But Oh well.  I would love to come back some day and do some real backpacking/camping.

My last day in the park I rode out the North East entrance through Cooke City.  It was the first time in a while that I could get cell reception or check my email, and I was a little disappointed to be connected again.   I stopped for a little while in Cooke City before riding up and over Coulter Pass (around 8800') to my campsite on the other side.  The next day would be probably the biggest physical challenge of the ride so far:  Beartooth pass.  Topping out at just under 11,000 ft, I had been dreading this one ever since arriving in Yellowstone.  I honestly wasn't sure if I would be able to get over it.  And what would I do if I failed?  Would I have to stealth camp with the bears somewhere halfway up?  Would I become sick with the altitude and have to ride all the way down?  What if I had to turn all the way around and go back through Yellowstone?

I didn't sleep too well that night.
But I did oversleep the next morning!  Pop quiz, folks: Was Greg (a) early to depart the campsite (b) right on the desired ETD or (c) late ?

If you answered (a) or (b) you clearly haven't learned anything about how Greg works.

I was a little late to start to the day which wasn't good because I was worried that Thunderstorms would pop up in the afternoon.  But I rode on.  I started the day looking up at the Mountains surrounding the Clark Fork River around my campsite and by late morning I was looking down on them and I still had at least 1000 ft to climb.  It was a slow ride to the top, but it was honestly, a lot better than I thought.  The grade was steady and the road was in good condition.  And the view all the way up (and going down) was sooo incredible. 

 I received a lot of encouragement and looks of astonishment from the drivers as they passed me by, which was fun.  I also received a lot of mosquito bites.  I was only putting out about 6-8 mph on the way up and with the slight tailwind I had, the mosquitoes where able to keep up with me.  So I had to try to swat them away as I churned up the never ending pass.  (I later counted over 80 mosquito bites on me, mostly on my back.  They had no problem poking me through my jersey)  But it was all worth it at the top.  What a view!

That's me at the top

See that road down there? That's were I will be riding in just a few minutes.

And the ride down the other side was great! I rolled into Red Lodge around 4:00 PM.  I took a little break and looked around for a place to camp.  I didn't have much luck, So I decided to make a run for Billings.  Its only 60 more miles.  So a little before 6:00 PM I set out for Billings, where I knew my man, Danny W, would have a place for me to crash.  I made good time to B-town, but i was sooo tired by the end.  120 miles by the end of the day.  I slept well that night.