Woohoo! We're in Yellowstone National Park!
It's a fair ride from the east entrance to the nearest campground and I know that Yellowstone fills up FAST so with no reservation we'd have to boogie if we were going to find a place to sleep tonight!
We must cross the Absaroka mountain range to reach the interior of Yellowstone National Park-
Great road, no traffic!
It rained a bit- the huge screen on the Land Yacht kept us pretty dry though
The rain created lots of little waterfalls right next to the road-
Higher and higher we go!
This road is closed during the winter, but a ranger told us that they did try one year to keep it open and it cost the National Park Service some $200,000 to do so.
Sylvan Pass, at 8524 feet is one of the highest roads in Yellowstone National Park-
It's flippin cold up here! 59 degrees is quite a contrast from the heat back in Cody!
Wait a sec, this bike has heated grips and seats. This is the first time to try them out- nice!
We made it over the pass and start down the other side-
We soon see evidence of the Yellowstone Fires of 1988, which combined formed the largest wildfire in Yellowstone's recorded history.
From Wikipedia- Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames spread quickly out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km[sup]2[/sup]), or 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
Once over the mountains we began our descent and Yellowstone Lake soon appeared like a mirage through the trees.
The road drops right down to the lake and follows the shore all the way to Fishing Bridge where we turned right (north) onto the Grand Loop Road. It was raining and gray, not great picture taking weather.
I was aiming for Canyon Village and the Canyon Campground and stressing a bit about what we'd do if we couldn't find a campsite in the park.
Kristhawee was happy as a clam, warm and dry on the back of the bike and really excited to be in Yellowstone-
We made it to the Canyon Village and sure enough, the campsite was full... Hmmm... Let's go to the Canyon Lodge, grab something to eat and drink, and figure out what to do. By this time it was raining pretty hard and was looking pretty miserable. Not the kind of weather in which you want to be setting up a tent, that's for sure...
Hot chocolate for the little guy-
and a local beer on tap for me - ah, I feel better already!
There's a big, no, HUGE fireplace in the Canyon Lodge and I told Kristhawee to go warm up by the fire, but the sofas and chairs surrounding the fireplace were occupied by a bunch of tough looking Harley guys in leather and their women and Kristhawee was being shy.
So I took his hand and walked him over there and asked them if he could warm up by their fire. Of course they said yes and when they noticed we were wearing motorcycle gear we got to talking and as is so often the case, the tough guy image is replaced with smiles and warmth. They were from Montana and were just heading home after a long ride to Iowa. (We met a lot of HD folks coming from Iowa in July- apparently there was some big rally there.)
The women were kind of doting on Kristhawee and of course he was soaking it up and soon enough his shyness was gone and he was all over them- really fun to watch my son interact with strangers. I regret not taking any pictures.
It was still raining and if anything the weather outside was looking worse than before. I spoke to some other folks in the lodge and they said the forecast was for more rain and possible hail...
Hmmm, if that's really the case, I'd expect at least some people with reservations to cancel or no-show. With that in mind I bundled up Kristhawee and we walked back to the Canyon Campground where they have a "reservation desk" that handles bookings for all the big campgrounds in Yellowstone.
Sure enough, they had cancellations, but not at Canyon- we'd have to ride back the way we came and then head east along Yellowstone Lake to the Bridge Bay Campground about 20 miles away. Cool! At least we've got a place to sleep tonight!
We needed to get some food so we hit the General Store- Here's Kristhawee doing his bear impression-
By this time the rain had stopped, the sun came out, and it was time to hit the road! The Yellowstone River looked beautiful after the rain-
How quickly the weather can change! Riding south on the Grand Loop Road-
Ok, time for a little rant- the largest campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park are managed by a private company (Zanterra) sp? and are noisy, expensive and overpriced.
The queue for checking in to the campground was ridiculously long. The staff was friendly, but clearly they need more staff. And their computerized reservation system is farked- Bridge Bay is the largest campground in Yellowstone National Park and we were sent all the way to the "H" loop, only to discover that our spot was already occupied. And the nice folks there told us we were the first to come by with a double booking.
So we had to ride all the way back to the "check in" area, and I cut the line, because dammit, enough is enough, it's getting late, my kid is tired and hungry and we need to get this sorted. Again, the staff were very nice and apologetic and confessed that their computer system doesn't work very well.
Why is it that the corporate campgrounds are the most expensive, are understaffed and can't handle reservations, while the the old school campgrounds still managed by the National Park Service cost way less and work just fine?? Just another example of privatization run amok...
We were supposed to be in a "tent only" area but ended up surrounded by noisy RV's. It was late and I didn't want to ride all the way back to the check-in area a third time, so we stayed put, but in the future I will make a point to avoid the "corporate" campgrounds at Canyon, Bridge Bay, Madison and Grant Village. (And I discovered over the course of our trip that these corporate campgrounds exist in many National Parks and they are all equally over-priced, under-staffed and are lousy "value-for-money" compared to the remaining campsites that are still managed by the National Park Service.
Kristhawee didn't care one bit- he was just happy that we found a place to sleep!
(that's the campground paperwork tucked into the seat in front of him)
I managed to get dinner going before the sun went down- You can see on the table the fishing pole that we bought earlier in the day in Cody- Kristhawee was really looking forward to doing some fishing! I taught him how to cast and he practiced casting while I set up the tent and finished cooking dinner.
We managed to find enough wood for a fire and had some smores before calling it a night.
I was very happy that his injured toe didn't seem to bother him too much and still looked un-infected.
Tomorrow we start exploring Yellowstone National Park!! :happy1:
It's a fair ride from the east entrance to the nearest campground and I know that Yellowstone fills up FAST so with no reservation we'd have to boogie if we were going to find a place to sleep tonight!
We must cross the Absaroka mountain range to reach the interior of Yellowstone National Park-
Great road, no traffic!
It rained a bit- the huge screen on the Land Yacht kept us pretty dry though
The rain created lots of little waterfalls right next to the road-
Higher and higher we go!
This road is closed during the winter, but a ranger told us that they did try one year to keep it open and it cost the National Park Service some $200,000 to do so.
Sylvan Pass, at 8524 feet is one of the highest roads in Yellowstone National Park-
It's flippin cold up here! 59 degrees is quite a contrast from the heat back in Cody!
Wait a sec, this bike has heated grips and seats. This is the first time to try them out- nice!
We made it over the pass and start down the other side-
We soon see evidence of the Yellowstone Fires of 1988, which combined formed the largest wildfire in Yellowstone's recorded history.
From Wikipedia- Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames spread quickly out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km[sup]2[/sup]), or 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
Once over the mountains we began our descent and Yellowstone Lake soon appeared like a mirage through the trees.
The road drops right down to the lake and follows the shore all the way to Fishing Bridge where we turned right (north) onto the Grand Loop Road. It was raining and gray, not great picture taking weather.
I was aiming for Canyon Village and the Canyon Campground and stressing a bit about what we'd do if we couldn't find a campsite in the park.
Kristhawee was happy as a clam, warm and dry on the back of the bike and really excited to be in Yellowstone-
We made it to the Canyon Village and sure enough, the campsite was full... Hmmm... Let's go to the Canyon Lodge, grab something to eat and drink, and figure out what to do. By this time it was raining pretty hard and was looking pretty miserable. Not the kind of weather in which you want to be setting up a tent, that's for sure...
Hot chocolate for the little guy-
and a local beer on tap for me - ah, I feel better already!
There's a big, no, HUGE fireplace in the Canyon Lodge and I told Kristhawee to go warm up by the fire, but the sofas and chairs surrounding the fireplace were occupied by a bunch of tough looking Harley guys in leather and their women and Kristhawee was being shy.
So I took his hand and walked him over there and asked them if he could warm up by their fire. Of course they said yes and when they noticed we were wearing motorcycle gear we got to talking and as is so often the case, the tough guy image is replaced with smiles and warmth. They were from Montana and were just heading home after a long ride to Iowa. (We met a lot of HD folks coming from Iowa in July- apparently there was some big rally there.)
The women were kind of doting on Kristhawee and of course he was soaking it up and soon enough his shyness was gone and he was all over them- really fun to watch my son interact with strangers. I regret not taking any pictures.
It was still raining and if anything the weather outside was looking worse than before. I spoke to some other folks in the lodge and they said the forecast was for more rain and possible hail...
Hmmm, if that's really the case, I'd expect at least some people with reservations to cancel or no-show. With that in mind I bundled up Kristhawee and we walked back to the Canyon Campground where they have a "reservation desk" that handles bookings for all the big campgrounds in Yellowstone.
Sure enough, they had cancellations, but not at Canyon- we'd have to ride back the way we came and then head east along Yellowstone Lake to the Bridge Bay Campground about 20 miles away. Cool! At least we've got a place to sleep tonight!
We needed to get some food so we hit the General Store- Here's Kristhawee doing his bear impression-
By this time the rain had stopped, the sun came out, and it was time to hit the road! The Yellowstone River looked beautiful after the rain-
How quickly the weather can change! Riding south on the Grand Loop Road-
Ok, time for a little rant- the largest campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park are managed by a private company (Zanterra) sp? and are noisy, expensive and overpriced.
The queue for checking in to the campground was ridiculously long. The staff was friendly, but clearly they need more staff. And their computerized reservation system is farked- Bridge Bay is the largest campground in Yellowstone National Park and we were sent all the way to the "H" loop, only to discover that our spot was already occupied. And the nice folks there told us we were the first to come by with a double booking.
So we had to ride all the way back to the "check in" area, and I cut the line, because dammit, enough is enough, it's getting late, my kid is tired and hungry and we need to get this sorted. Again, the staff were very nice and apologetic and confessed that their computer system doesn't work very well.
Why is it that the corporate campgrounds are the most expensive, are understaffed and can't handle reservations, while the the old school campgrounds still managed by the National Park Service cost way less and work just fine?? Just another example of privatization run amok...
We were supposed to be in a "tent only" area but ended up surrounded by noisy RV's. It was late and I didn't want to ride all the way back to the check-in area a third time, so we stayed put, but in the future I will make a point to avoid the "corporate" campgrounds at Canyon, Bridge Bay, Madison and Grant Village. (And I discovered over the course of our trip that these corporate campgrounds exist in many National Parks and they are all equally over-priced, under-staffed and are lousy "value-for-money" compared to the remaining campsites that are still managed by the National Park Service.
Kristhawee didn't care one bit- he was just happy that we found a place to sleep!
(that's the campground paperwork tucked into the seat in front of him)
I managed to get dinner going before the sun went down- You can see on the table the fishing pole that we bought earlier in the day in Cody- Kristhawee was really looking forward to doing some fishing! I taught him how to cast and he practiced casting while I set up the tent and finished cooking dinner.
We managed to find enough wood for a fire and had some smores before calling it a night.
I was very happy that his injured toe didn't seem to bother him too much and still looked un-infected.
Tomorrow we start exploring Yellowstone National Park!! :happy1:
