Day 8 – 6/25/2018 – Idaho Falls, ID to Red Lodge, MT – 305 Miles
Idaho Falls, ID to Red Lodge, MT – 305 Miles – MAP LINK
After a continental breakfast we hit the road in the morning. It felt like slow going in the morning getting stuck behind people on US20. Once we passed through Ashton and climbed a bit in elevation it got considerably cooler. 100 Miles of riding and we said goodbye to Idaho for this trip. We tipped back into Montana and headed to West Yellowstone, where I wanted to fill up on gas before getting into the park. We stood in the sun to try and warm up.
The town was bustling and I think we both had a bit of anxiety about what we were about to encounter in the park, to put it plain and simple, having to deal with tourists. The gas station we stopped at was at the corner of US20 and US191, so from there we took US191 to the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The entrance was a bit backed up, but we moved through quickly and got in. Seven miles into the park we hit our first traffic jam. The problem with people, at least in my opinion, is that when they see an animal, they simply stop in the middle of the road to take all their cell phone pictures of it instead of finding a stop to pull off and not completely clog up everyone behind. We eventually realized this traffic jam was due to a coyote cruising around down by the Madison River. There happened to be a pullout right close by, so I turned in and tried to get a few pictures of it. I’ll admit, initially I thought it was a wolf, but I never could convince dad. Ha!
We watched it for a few minutes and I took way too many pictures of it. At one point it pounced on something in the grass, but we both failed. I missed the shot and the coyote missed its meal.
It eventually moved on, running along the river, then along the road, across the road and up the rocky hill on the other side. It’s amazing how unfazed they are by vehicles and people.
Moving on from there we stayed on US191 as it turned south and made our next stop at the Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail. We whipped into the parking lot and parked right at the front, hoping to not be given and problems by the ranger directing traffic in the lot. We started walking down the trail, I had only planned to see a bit of it and then head out, but as we went along we just decided to walk the whole trail, which isn’t that long. The first set of pictures below is of the different pools and scenes along trail.
Next up was a boiling pool of mud.
Then there was some serious churning mud and across from it was another clear pool.
On the back part of the loop are two active geysers.
And here are a couple pictures from the walk back to the bikes.
The next stop was more for a restroom break, which happened to be at Flood Geyser.
After a quick stop there we continued south and headed for Old Faithful. I told dad to prepare himself for what has been built around a geyser. But, the good part about being on a bike was we shouldn’t have too much of a problem finding a place to park. We rode through the huge circus and found a place to park near the exit. We then headed up to the store to see when the next eruption would take place. This was probably the biggest bummer of the whole trip. The next eruption wasn’t for another 90 minutes. It was still steaming from the last time, so we went and checked it out. 90 Minutes was just too long to wait around and do nothing, and I told Dad that from experience he would probably be disappointed in the end. When I saw it a couple years ago my first thought was, “that was it?” And my wife and I didn’t have to wait 90 minutes to see it. We took a few pictures and moved on. I just wish the timing had been right so Dad could have seen it because we were there.
We got out of there and continued on US191. As we crossed Firehole River I spotted an elk grazing, so we looped around and I took a couple pictures of it.
We took US20 east and rode along Yellowstone Lake. We stopped one time to take in the view.
Somewhere along the lake I saw a side road that looked enticing so we took it. That turned out to be a mistake and a waste of time because the loop was under construction and we had to come back the same way we went in after turning around in a tight spot in gravel. It was just a waste of time.
We turned onto Grand Loop Road and headed north. Two years ago on a road trip my wife and I stopped at Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River and I wanted to take Dad there. We rode along the river up to N. Rim Drive and made a stop at Brink of the Lower Falls. As the name states, there is a trail that leads you down to the top of the Lower Falls as it plunges into the canyon. The trail is only .4 miles long (one-way), but it’s over 300 ft. in elevation change. I told Dad it would be worth it, so hopefully he thinks it was.
On the way back up, we took a couple of short breaks, and I snagged a few pictures of Upper Falls from a distance.
The next stop was right down the road at Lookout Point, which has a view of the falls we were just at the brink of. Also in the canyon is a huge osprey nest that usually sits atop a rock tower, but I heard that it was destroyed this year and there were no babies.
Here’s the brink from a distance, zoomed in and out.
There’s good and bad sides to riding a bike through the park. Good: parking isn’t a problem. Bad: clutch work sitting in traffic and taking gear on and off at stops.
Up the road we stopped at Canyon Village for some souvenirs. From there we continued north on the Grand Loop Road. We passed herd after herd of bison, it seemed like over 10,000 of them. Somewhere along the way we came to a stop, again because of a coyote. People stopped on both sides of the road and we couldn’t go anywhere, just had to sit and wait until they got all their Instagram photos. We joked that it looked like it was the same coyote from earlier and it had ran all the way across the park. It was rough looking and appeared worn out.
We started climbing into the mountains and stopped for a break at some snow.
With a decent amount of riding left in the day, we cruised on until we hit a roadblock at the Roosevelt Corrals.
At Tower Junction we turned onto US212 and headed for Beartooth Pass. We finally exited the park and picked up the pace. After a quick trip in and back out of Montana, the road starts to get really good. We stopped for a break at a spot with a fantastic view.
TC10_Day 8_2018.06.25_116 by
Kory, on Flickr
TC10_Day 8_2018.06.25_127 by
Kory, on Flickr
It wasn’t long until we were almost surrounded by snow.
Further along at the Beartooth Pass Summit there was lots of snow!
We stopped one last time before heading down.
From there we rode into Red Lodge and checked into the Yodeler Motel. We stayed there several years ago and I wanted to stay again. We talked to the owner, Mac, for a bit, unloaded and then headed across town to Red Lodge Ales. We both enjoyed the place and they had a cool sign, so we both picked one up, after dad tested to make sure they would fit in a side box.
After dinner we headed back to the Yodeler for a steam shower (for me at least) and a good night sleep.