Day 20 -Biking through Yellowstone

Day 20 - Near Tower Junction, WY to Cooke City, MT - 37 miles - 2477 ft of elevation gain

Everyone loaded up in the van at 8:30am and we drove through the northwest entrance of Yellowstone towards Tower Junction (still in the park). I found a pull off and we unloaded the bikes. After a few minutes of bike checking, tire filling, and water storing, we began our ride.

We had a slight climb and then a descent into Tower Junction before turning towards the northeast entrance (exit in our case) of Yellowstone. This was a new area to explore and this time we got to do it by bicycle. The roads in this section of the park are not as heavily trafficked so we could ride safely on the roads without shoulders. We all wanted to see a herd of bison and that is exactly what we saw this morning. And we even had a few standing close to the road, we kept moving and had no issue with the bison. Because we were only riding 37 miles, we could really take our time. We made several stops for views and picture taking, as well as filling up water bottles.

Our lunch stop was near a glacier river, and lots of ground squirrels. The boys tried feeding the squirrels from their hands. Again there does not seem to be a limit to the things they can find to entertain themselves. Rock throwing is still their favorite.

After lunch we biked a few more miles to another picnic area with better access to the river. Here the boys got in the freezing water, threw rocks (to the chagrin of the downstream fisherman who relocated after we apologized), and tried to break rocks with other rocks. See what I mean about rocks being entertaining? I took the opportunity to find a log lounge chair of sorts and really could have closed my eyes for a nap.

We finished up our rock playing and pedaled the 4 miles into Cooke City. Today we got to 7,740 ft, our highest elevation to date. This is all good practice for tomorrow and that big mountain pass we go over.

We walked to dinner and saw a family we met at yesterday’s lunch stop. It was nice seeing them again. I tried to get it so that we could have devotions outside by a fire, but the propane tank was empty, so we huddled in a conference room. Mike talked about life mirroring cycling with the ups and downs and how God has a plan to refine us through the challenge (just like tomorrow will do for us). Then we talked about our game plan for the big day.

It’s going to be fun, amazing, and super dooper challenging! This WiFi in Cooke City is terrible so pictures will be added later.