Day Fifty-one (42.8, 2340.8 total): A Blast From The Past

5:30AM. I wake up to the pitter patter of rain falling on my tent. Rain wasn't in the forcast when I had checked the night before! I lie my head back down on my pillow and wait for the rain to pass. Around 6:15AM the rain lightens up and I bolt out of my tent to pack up before it rains again. I rush around shaking out my wet tent, throwing gear into packs, loading everything onto my bike and getting dressed into my cycling clothes. While I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off, Ella is following close behind nipping at my heels. Joel and Keith are still getting ready, so I park my bike under the shelter of the bathroom overhang and make some breakfast. After enjoying some coffee and oatmeal, Joel and I wait for Keith to finish getting ready to go. It's not until 8:15 that Keith is packed and we finally ride out of Grant Village.

It's a cold, wet, cloudy morning and I'm bundled up like Nanook of The North. Ella is buried in her basket under her blankets and protected by her rain cover. The roads leading from Grant Village are riddled with small hills climbing further into the mountains. I ride with Joel and Keith for about an hour before I really start jamming up the hills and soon they are out of sight. The forests around me are extremely dense, carpeted at the roots with a thick, green, layer of moss. It almost reminds me of pictures I had seen of the Canadian wilderness. The woodlands around me were unlike anything I had seen throughout the rest of my trip.

I climb yet another hill, the rain finally lets up again and I am able to take a few pictures. At the top of the hill, I cross the Continental Divide again and stop for another photo. The hills are getting longer riding up, and longer on the way down as well. At the top of the first major pass of the morning, Joel and Keith catch up as I am taking pictures. We all stop for a break and take in the amazing views before bombing the next hill. At the bottom of the hill, we immediately begin the next ascent up our second major pass of the morning. With cool air and no winds to hold me back, I cruised up the next pass and over the Continental Divide like it was nothing. Later into the ride, we would end up crossing the Continental Divide one more time. After the last pass, it was basically all downhill for the rest of the day. I was flying and it felt great.

The sun still hadn't shown its golden face, but I felt good and it was a great ride. I found an interesting lake at the bottom of the last pass called Scaup Lake. I had to climb down through the foliage to get to it and it was worth it. I ended up on the shores of an eerie green lake surrounded by blown down or dead trees. There were no birds singing, the air wasn't moving, and the lake was still. After a few minutes of exploring the shores, it felt like something was almost watching you, despite being in the light of day. I climbed back up the banks and cruised back onto the highway.

Joel and Keith catch back up to me and we talk about the rest of the trip. They tell me about a few places to visit in Montana and ride with me all the way to Old Faithful. We take a minute to say goodbye and they head on down the road toward West Yellowstone. I cruise on into Old Faithful and explore the gift shops until it was time to go watch the famous geyser.

As I am walking around taking pictures, a guy decides to get upset with me and tries to start a fight. Now I never bumped into this guy or got anywhere in his way. Why he decided to get pissed off I'll never know. The man starts screaming and yelling all sorts of profanities right in front of his young children. That's not cool, you don't act like that or use that kind of language in front of kids either. I keep my cool and his wife starts yelling at him to calm down. While I am standing there amused, a British couple pulls me over near them and keeps me from getting in trouble. We talk and wait for about half an hour for the geyser to finally go off.

The geyser wasn't as spectacular as I remember and quickly head out on the road again. The sun finally comes out and burns away the clouds. I spend the rest of the day stopping by absolutely stunning geysers and hot springs. Despite the smell of sulfur hanging low in the air, I enjoyed exploring all of the amazing colorful hot springs along the road. The springs were filled with a mind blowing array of colors and each one was very different from the last. They were much more enjoyable to see than the predictable spout of Old Faithful.

After another hour of pedaling, I finally arrived at Madison campground. It was a campground I had stayed at with my parents when I was really young and it was great to be back. I had a sudden wave of memories flood back to the front of my mind as I stepped into the campground amphitheater. I remembered receiving my little junior ranger badge and dissecting owl pellets when I was little. It was really amazing to be back and remember so much. As a I was setting up camp, another cyclist shows up and sets up camp. He was heading East to west.

Out of nowhere, the sky turned dark and the rain camp pouring down. It rained for hours on end and we could see blue sky in the distance. Another group of three cyclists show up to hide from the rain for a bit before setting off later in the afternoon. After they leave, two more cyclist show up riding the Continental Divide! After the rain finally passes in the early evening, another two cyclist show up who are also riding the Continental Divide. Everyone was doing their own little thing and really kept to themselves. Finally one more camper arrived who had been hitchhiking to backpack all the National Parks he wanted to go visit. His name was Doug and he was a pretty cool guy. Everything was too wet for a fire, so Ella and I called it a night as soon as the sun went down. It had been an amazing day of riding and I enjoyed every moment! Thank you for all of your support and we hope you continue to follow us as we head for Montana!