Day 59 - July 1 - Madison Campground (Yellowstone) to West Fork Cabin Camp (Somewhere in Montana) - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

July 1, 2023

Day 59 - July 1 - Madison Campground (Yellowstone) to West Fork Cabin Camp (Somewhere in Montana)

Into the Storm

Ed’s Story

It wasn’t as cold this morning as yesterday, although I did put my tights and wool jersey on around 4:30 AM. I was feeling chilled.

One of the first things I did was wipe and lube my chain following yesterday’s rain. The bike gave a sigh of relief.

Packed everything up, ate breakfast, said goodbye to Thomas, and hit the road. Today promised to be relatively easy compared to the past few.

We saw several animals on the way out, both bison and elk. There are signs along the road about animal crossing.

Once again the views are spectacular.

The photo doesn’t do this view justice. Between the clouds the trees in the mountains are multiple colors.

One more state under our belt (or tires). Three more to go. My daughter Jane said John looked mad in this picture. What do you think?

We approached West Yellowstone, MT, and the west Yellowstone National Park entrance. Traffic was backed up to and through the town. John has a photo.

When we got to town, we headed to the grocery store to replenish food stocks. I then went looking for a shoe store as my right shoe is falling apart. I didn’t have any luck. We’ll be in Missoula in a few days and they have several shoe stores there.

We headed north out of West Yellowstone on a road with a very nice berm. We passed a sign that said bighorn sheep crossing but never saw any.

We split off to the west and continued on US 287 where we followed a lake for about 16 miles. The lake is called Hebgen Lake, is well known for the Hebgen Lake earthquake in 1959.

I’ll let geologist John talk more about it.

We stopped at the Quake Lake visitor center for lunch and a tour. I bought a book about Yellowstone there because I needed something to read.

The book traces the history of Yellowstone from 1805 to 1877. It promises to be a good read. The man at the visitor center who sold me the book said it was a very book.

We had 9 miles to go to the campsite after we left the visitor center. The wind picked up and it rained briefly. The closer we got to the campsite, the darker it got. It appeared that we were going into the storm.

About 4 miles from camp the rain started. As we already had our jackets on, we put on our rain pants. It started raining harder and harder. Soon the hail started. We pulled into the campsite to check in, and it stopped.

We used that opportunity to hurriedly set up our tents and throw our bags in. We went back to the office area and sat in there during the thunderstorm.

That storm eventually ended so we were able to shower and eat. There is no more rain predicted for tonight, and tomorrow promises to be clear with a tailwind.

We made reservations for tomorrow night’s campground and for 2 nights at a hotel in Dillon. We will be there over July 4th so maybe we can find some festivities to attend.

Tomorrow is a 57 mile day but has almost 2600 ft of climbing. One of the climbs is 1900 ft over 8 miles. The funny thing is that we will end up 800 ft of elevation lower than we are now.

Until then happy biking!

John’s Story

Funny thing this morning. I AirDropped a picture to Thomas, and he appeared on my phone as Tom Handy. Yesterday he told me his name was Tom Hay (a Scottish surname though he knows of no Scottish ancestry). I pointed it out. Turns out Handy is the German word for Cell Phone. We had a good laugh about my ignorance.

We continued to see awesome scenery as we followed the Madison River toward the western boundary of Yellowstone.

We entered Montana without fanfare. Some fanfare would have been nice.

Yellowstone National Park actually extends a short way into Montana, so it was still a short way to the west entrance. There we found multiple lines of cars lined up for perhaps a quarter of a mile waiting to get into the park. Shortly thereafter we entered the town of West Yellowstone. By the time we left town after a grocery run, and a coffee shop visit, the lines had backed up all the way into town. It was probably hours before those at the back got into the park.

As we biked from the Madison Campground to West Yellowstone I noted that the number of vehicles entering the park outnumbered those leaving by at least 50 to 1. Now I know what will set off the next great eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano. Too many cars in the park will cause the caldera to collapse, releasing a volcanic cataclysm that will end civilization downwind as we know it. Just saying.

At the grocery store we ran into John from Belgium (remember him from yesterday?) and his wife Els. We will be leapfrogging them for a number of days I’m sure. I convinced them to stay where we are tonight, and they also plan a rest day in Dillon on July 4. I asked about the name Els. It is the Belgian equivalent of Elizabeth, not a nickname.

Ever saw signs like these in Yellowstone. Only after we left the park.

We continued to see similar permanent signs for many miles, but never again saw a large mammal. I liken it to my experience driving in Canada. Moose crossing signs everywhere, but not a moose to be seen. Cross back into the U.S. to either Alaska or the lower 48 and moose are falling over themselves to be seen.

I added a cue to our route about a bison guard at a certain point that bikers should walk their bikes across rather than ride. When we got there it was just smooth pavement. They had removed the bison guards from the roadway and stacked them on the roadside. I can see why they would be tough to cross on a bike. Perhaps they figured out that bison can be fooled by lines painted on the road just like Texas cattle. 😁

I found this painted rock lying on a boulder by the roadside near the bison guards.

I’m intrigued by the symmetry of this mountainside.

We approached the site of the greatest devastation of the Hebgen Lake earthquake. The picture below is downstream of the Hebgen Lake dam (built in 1915). On August 17, 1959 the largest earthquake in the recorded history of the Rocky Mountains struck near here. The 7.2 earthquake caused an entire mountainside to collapse into the valley of the Madison River. Twenty-eight people were killed, mostly campers in the valley. About 250 people had to be rescued by Air Force helicopters because the roads in the valley were destroyed. The rockslide dammed the Madison River. Meanwhile the tremor caused the land around Hebgen Lake upstream to tilt down 20’ on one side, causing huge waves called seiches (think water sloshing in a pan) to overtop the dam and spill into the valley downstream where the river was now blocked. A new lake was formed that rose about 9’ per day until it was between 120’ and 180’ deep. The Corps of Engineers frantically built a spillway through the rockslide to relieve the pressure. Eventually in a few hundred years the Madison River will cut back down to its base level and the new Earthquake Lake will be no more.

Earthquake Lake. You can see the 3/4 mile wide scar left by the collapsing mountainside and the huge pile of debris in the valley. Note also the dead trees in the lake.

Someone’s idea of humor near Earthquake Lake.

The railings lining the ramp to the entrance mimic lines on a seismograph.

Fabulous view as we left the visitor center and headed downhill. It was accompanied by a 30-50 mph wind blowing up the valley from the plain below, because of the constriction of the narrow valley. It’s not often you have to pedal to go down a steep hill.

The bridge across the Madison River to tonight’s campground,

Behind the photographer is the West Fork Cabin Camp and RV Park. This is the nicest surface we’ve camped on. Mown grass.

I found the kind of motorhome I want. GMC made these from 1973 to 1977. I’ve seen a few over the years, though apparently thousands are still on the road. It is so stylish compared to the ugly boxes on wheels you see everywhere today. I’m reminded of the Jetsons. I want one. I’ll be looking.

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 1,262 miles (2,031 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0