Day 6 - Cody WY to Driggs ID
This is probably the last blog I'll write for this trip because once I start heading home, I don't carry the camera as much, and what's a trip report without pictures?
We wound up playing cards in the lobby of the hotel until nearly 11:00 last night. It was allot of fun, but it left us all a bit tired this morning. In fact, Nan decided not to ride with us, but to get an extra 90 minutes of sleep.
We wound up playing cards in the lobby of the hotel until nearly 11:00 last night. It was allot of fun, but it left us all a bit tired this morning. In fact, Nan decided not to ride with us, but to get an extra 90 minutes of sleep.
We all met up at 8:00 for the morning discussion and prayer, then we gassed the bikes and headed back the way we'd come into Code yesterday. We rode over the same Chief Joseph Highway, but we didn't turn right and go over Beartooth pass. We kept heading west to Cooke City Montana and the Silver Gate entrance to Yellowstone.
The ride was beautiful once again. Big sweeping hairpin turns and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. I got a 360 video on the way down which I hope will turn out good so I can post it with this blog. It's processing in the background while I type this blog.
As we turned onto the Chief Joseph highway I told everyone that I was going to meander the road at my own pace so I could take pictures and work the Ricoh Theta camera without having to make the group pull over all the time. I stopped for a few shots at various signs, then as I was about to go over the top of the pass and start down the switchbacks I turned on the Theta and began riding with a purpose. I didn't really ride fast, but I was trying to give a good show for the camera.
It felt so good to sweep along those turns and zip down the straightaways. I glanced around at the views and tried to keep an eye on when the camera would stop so I could restart it. As I got to the bottom, I found I had caught up with the rest of the group. I don't think I outsped them, I think they stopped to put on their warm weather gear. It was about 58 degrees and they were probably freezing. I just turned on the grip heaters and felt just fine.
Once I had the video I stopped again and put the 360 camera away. I think I'm done with it for this trip. I caught back up with the group and enjoyed the rest of the ride to Cooke City where we gassed up. The gas station didn't have a bathroom, they just had porta poties, and they kept them locked. We had to ask for a key, then pass it from person to person. I told my standard joke about the little sink barely having enough water to dampen my hands and face but the ladies didn't think it was very funny.
We headed on toward Yellowstone but stopped for pictures at the sign by the park entrance, then rode into the park.
Within a mile or two of entering the park we saw our first buffalo. It was right beside the road and traffic was slowing down to take pictures. I'm more cool than that, so I rode into the oncoming lane and got a picture of our group of bikes with the buffalo beside them.
We saw allot of buffalo in the open plains beside the road. In a couple of spots we saw herds of upwards of 100 buffalo. They weren't packed tightly together, but were spread over 5 or 6 acres and seemed to be gently cropping the grass. It was inspiring to see the herds.
When we reached the grand loop road we turned south. There were more buffalo and we began to see evidence of the 1988 fire. In some spots there were 8 foot tall trees interspersed with the dead and burned 30 foot tall trees. I'm not sure if they came in and planted trees, but there was allot of growth coming back in.
We rode down to the Upper Falls to meet up with Nannette. It was nearly noon, and we had decided to do a picnic for lunch rather than buying expensive park food. Nan slept in, then went to Walmart to buy fixings for sandwiches, then she came in the West entrance and turned North to meet us.
I started calling on the CB and the cell phone trying to reach her, and after 10 minutes we heard her on the CB. We tried to call her back but she probably had the squelch too high and couldn't hear us. We spent another 10 minutes calling on the CB before I heard her say she was nearly at Canyon Village. With a destination in mind, I headed back up the road a couple of miles and found her at the gas station. Then we looked around and realized we were missing 2 bikes. John and Ron had turned down into the Yellowstone Falls parking lot and were stuck trying to get through the crush of cars.
Once we got back together we stared down the road looking for a picnic area. I saw a turnoff and just as I entered, John came over the radio saying "That's the road we just went down", but it was too late. Everyone followed me back into the crush of cars trying to park and hike down to the falls. It took 10 minutes to get through and just as we were leaving, we spotted picnic tables. It turned out to be a campground so we found an empty spot and setup our lunch.
Nan had brought rolls, lunch meat, drinks, chips, and even a table cloth. We had a great lunch in the shade of the forest. It was cool and pleasant.
After lunch Rob packed up all of his stuff and wished us all luck, then headed towards Salt Lake. Now we are down to 8 people and 4 bikes.
We headed south down the grand loop toward the lake. We had one traffic backup with about 50 cars backed up. We were moving just over walking pace. Eventually we could see the road ahead of us and realized that the no cars in our direction were going down the road. But we were moving, so where were the cars ahead of us going? It took a while but eventually we spotted the problem. A buffalo was walking down our lane and the cars were following it. We all kept following the buffalo for another 10 minutes until it finally wandered off the road.
By this time I was tired and had "beautiful view" overload so I put the camera away and just concentrated on staying awake and in my lane. We made the long run from Yellowstone down to Jackson Hole with those beautiful Grand Teton mountains running beside us. I tried to take a few pictures but the light was so bad they didn't turn out.
Nannette left us in Jackson Hole and drove on to Driggs Idaho to have dinner with a highschool friend. The rest of us parked in Jackson and walked over to get pizza. It was good pizza but we ordered way too much. I had to leave half of my calzone and several wings which is very hard for me. I hate wasting money and leaving uneaten food is like wasting money to me. But I also need to loose weight, so if I order too much, it's good, but very hard to just leave that food rather than forcing it down.
After dinner we walked around town a bit and stumbled across a "shoot out" in the town square. A group of shops sponsor a little melodrama in the street with allot of shooting and shouting. I was too far back and couldn't hear, so I wandered the little park instead. Once it was over, we mounted back up and headed towards Driggs Idaho where our hotel is. The road climbed up over the mountain on a beautiful road that was completely unexpected.
Starting the Chief Joseph Highway
Shoshone National Forrest
Beautiful views on in the valley on Chief Joseph Highway
More views
How we try to appear to the world
How we really are
Our first buffalo
Wide open plains in the park
Yellowstone
Remains of the 1988 fire. The far mountain is bare of trees
Our picnic lunch
The road through the trees exiting the forrest
My 360 video riding down the Chief Joseph Highway. **NOTE** I intentionally shot it slightly off center because there's a flaw on the center of the lense. Just click and drag the video over a bit to see it more centered, or to look around.
When we reached the grand loop road we turned south. There were more buffalo and we began to see evidence of the 1988 fire. In some spots there were 8 foot tall trees interspersed with the dead and burned 30 foot tall trees. I'm not sure if they came in and planted trees, but there was allot of growth coming back in.
We rode down to the Upper Falls to meet up with Nannette. It was nearly noon, and we had decided to do a picnic for lunch rather than buying expensive park food. Nan slept in, then went to Walmart to buy fixings for sandwiches, then she came in the West entrance and turned North to meet us.
I started calling on the CB and the cell phone trying to reach her, and after 10 minutes we heard her on the CB. We tried to call her back but she probably had the squelch too high and couldn't hear us. We spent another 10 minutes calling on the CB before I heard her say she was nearly at Canyon Village. With a destination in mind, I headed back up the road a couple of miles and found her at the gas station. Then we looked around and realized we were missing 2 bikes. John and Ron had turned down into the Yellowstone Falls parking lot and were stuck trying to get through the crush of cars.
Once we got back together we stared down the road looking for a picnic area. I saw a turnoff and just as I entered, John came over the radio saying "That's the road we just went down", but it was too late. Everyone followed me back into the crush of cars trying to park and hike down to the falls. It took 10 minutes to get through and just as we were leaving, we spotted picnic tables. It turned out to be a campground so we found an empty spot and setup our lunch.
Nan had brought rolls, lunch meat, drinks, chips, and even a table cloth. We had a great lunch in the shade of the forest. It was cool and pleasant.
After lunch Rob packed up all of his stuff and wished us all luck, then headed towards Salt Lake. Now we are down to 8 people and 4 bikes.
We headed south down the grand loop toward the lake. We had one traffic backup with about 50 cars backed up. We were moving just over walking pace. Eventually we could see the road ahead of us and realized that the no cars in our direction were going down the road. But we were moving, so where were the cars ahead of us going? It took a while but eventually we spotted the problem. A buffalo was walking down our lane and the cars were following it. We all kept following the buffalo for another 10 minutes until it finally wandered off the road.
By this time I was tired and had "beautiful view" overload so I put the camera away and just concentrated on staying awake and in my lane. We made the long run from Yellowstone down to Jackson Hole with those beautiful Grand Teton mountains running beside us. I tried to take a few pictures but the light was so bad they didn't turn out.
Nannette left us in Jackson Hole and drove on to Driggs Idaho to have dinner with a highschool friend. The rest of us parked in Jackson and walked over to get pizza. It was good pizza but we ordered way too much. I had to leave half of my calzone and several wings which is very hard for me. I hate wasting money and leaving uneaten food is like wasting money to me. But I also need to loose weight, so if I order too much, it's good, but very hard to just leave that food rather than forcing it down.
After dinner we walked around town a bit and stumbled across a "shoot out" in the town square. A group of shops sponsor a little melodrama in the street with allot of shooting and shouting. I was too far back and couldn't hear, so I wandered the little park instead. Once it was over, we mounted back up and headed towards Driggs Idaho where our hotel is. The road climbed up over the mountain on a beautiful road that was completely unexpected.
Starting the Chief Joseph Highway
Shoshone National Forrest
Beautiful views on in the valley on Chief Joseph Highway
More views
How we try to appear to the world
How we really are
Our first buffalo
Wide open plains in the park
Yellowstone
Remains of the 1988 fire. The far mountain is bare of trees
Our picnic lunch
The road through the trees exiting the forrest
My 360 video riding down the Chief Joseph Highway. **NOTE** I intentionally shot it slightly off center because there's a flaw on the center of the lense. Just click and drag the video over a bit to see it more centered, or to look around.
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