Canadian Rockies '18: Day 4

START LOCATION: Cody, WY
END LOCATION: Yellowstone
MILES TRAVELED: 202.6
TOTAL MILES TO DATE: 2772.1
WEATHER SUMMARY: Miserable

My Monday started with a man who was walking down the hall at the Holiday Inn in Cody, dressed much as I was in full rain and cold-weather gear, asking me a simple question: “Are we ready for this?” I replied honestly by saying, “I’m not sure,” and then I continued to my bike. Rain or sine, it was time to get ready to go.

The rain started again on Sunday evening as we were finishing dinner in downtown Cody, Wyoming. The 13-minute walk seemed like a good idea, as no one really wanted to get back on the bikes after such a long day. So the 13-minute walk back to the hotel was in order. It rained through the night, and while it wasn’t raining when I went out to get everything ready to go, the sky was foreboding. I honestly don’t remember if it was raining as we left the Holiday Inn, but I know it was raining as we stopped to top off our tanks before leaving town. By the time we approached the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park, the rain was pouring down on us. The temperature was in the high 30s and low 40s and we were climbing as we made our way into the park. I was cold. I was wet. And all that we were experiencing was not at all what we envisioned. But we rode on.

An early stop as we made our way into Yellowstone National Park.

The Harleys. The riderless one is mine.

The rain stopped for a bit - and we were encouraged by the break in the gray.

Our first stop of the day was the West Thumb Geyser Basin. We parked, stowed the things that needed to be put away, and set out to see the sights. I enjoyed this series of thermal geological features when I last visited Yellowstone with these guys in 2014. This time… not so much due to the steady rain. But we pressed on.

Our next stop was Old Faithful. The plan was to grab lunch here, as well. Desperately needing a break from the rain that was still falling steadily, we opted for lunch before seeing the geyser. In the overly-crowded Geyser Grill, where I ordered a bacon double cheeseburger that tasted a lot like something you might expect in a park diner, I came to the conclusion that after seeing Old Faithful, I thought I’d be ready to head for our home for the night and try again on Monday. “I’m done,” were my actual words. Because I was done with riding on and pressing on.

We had a bit of a wait before Old Faithful was predicted to erupt, but none of could stay at the congested Geyser Grill for another minute. We headed over to the Visitor Center that looks out on Old Faithful. A park employee told me about another geyser – Beehive -  that was predicted to blow in the next ten minutes or so. We got to see that one erupt before heading over to the Old Faithful viewing area, fascinated by the release of superheated water and steam through the geyser vent.

We had time to kill, and that means we laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more – because sometimes you just have to stare adversity in the face and get over it.

During this time of geyser watching… wait for it…… the rain stopped. We enjoyed watching Old Faithful faithfully do what it does - spewing more water and steam high into the air. It really is quite spectacular. I think Beehive is actually more impressive, but Old Faithful is predictable, making seeing an eruption almost a certainly. More than a thousand people waited patiently to see the geyser erupt almost exactly at the predicted time.

So we decided to head over to the Fountain Paint Pots to see the geological features there. After the entire morning and part of the afternoon of irritating, aggravating rain – it STOPPED! With the weather improving, we decided to ride a little more. We crossed the Continental Divide and stopped at a pretty cool waterfall before approaching Flagg Ranch.

Because we were riding right past our lodging place for the night, Matt, Steve, and Junior decided to pull in and call it a day. Randall and I chose to press on to see part of the Grand Tetons before returning to the ranch for a better-than-average dinner.

Our accommodations were pretty cool. We stayed in quaint log cabins with no air conditioning, television, cell service, or WiFi. Yikes! This accounts for the day-late update. Honestly, it’s kind of nice being unplugged. For a few hours. But that’s all. No more.

On Tuesday, we’ll be off to enjoy a full day in Yellowstone. We’re getting up early to try to beat weather and the crowds. But in sunshine or in rain… we’ll ride on.

Until tomorrow…