Slow Slog Through Yellowstone
A rest stop in Yellowstone, just before the second patch of construction.
The OFMC left Cody headed into Yellowstone National Park wondering just how bad the tourist traffic would be. We weren’t going in to see the park–we’ve all been there many times–we just needed to get through and out the north gate at Gardiner. If there had been a realistic alternative we would have avoided the park.
Somewhat to our surprise, the road from Cody to the park was not busy and as we got into the park the road was still not busy. Maybe we were going to have a pleasant ride after all.
U.S. 14 into the park goes up over a small pass and it was inevitable that we would get behind some campers going up the hill but there were passing lanes and some of the camper drivers were polite and used the pull-outs to let other traffic pass. Nice. We got down on the other side to where the road runs along Yellowstone Lake and all was clear sailing. And then we hit the construction zone.
For about 12 miles or so, from Yellowstone Lake to Fishing Bridge, the road was totally ripped up. I didn’t mind because I was on my V-Strom but Dennis was on his Indian and Bill was on his Harley. Neither of them ever willingly gets off onto the gravel. This time they had no choice.
So we weaved our way through and around loose gravel and mud holes. Loose gravel is one thing but you really don’t want to go into the mud holes. We did our best. And we uneventfully reached the intersection where the road goes north or west, with our route north.
I was in the lead and the construction ran all the way to the very lip of the road we were getting onto. It was not clearly visible at all but just before I hit the pavement there was a considerable dip that sent my front end first down and then up sharply to the point of getting some air with my front tire. Then bump-boom as the rear did the same. OK, glad I have deep suspension. What about those guys?
Dennis was right behind me and he saw me go up and down. But he’s short and sure as heck didn’t want to come to a stop in the middle of that mess, with no way to touch the ground. So he powered on through. What else could he do? Bill followed, doing the same. Great. No harm, no foul.
It was on this stretch going north that we did encounter the idiotic tourist delays Yellowstone is famous for. Is there a bison way over there? Everybody stop and grab your cameras. Oh, we’re in the middle of the road? Who cares?
So we got on through that section and headed west at Canyon Village, over toward the Norris Geyser Basin, then north hoping for clear sailing out of the park.
Wrong. Long before we reached Mammoth Hot Springs we ran into more construction. More gravel. More slow going.
While this stretch was in pretty good shape, not as torn up as the stretch coming in, it was wet. The truck had obviously just recently sprayed water to keep the dust down, and while there was no dust, the wet made things very slippery. Time to take it really easy around these curves.
And finally we were out of the park. OK, that wasn’t so bad. We’ve definitely seen it worse. Try cruising past Old Faithful just after that geyser has done its thing, for example, and everyone is leaving. Yeah, that wasn’t too bad.
Biker Quote for Today
Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: Our idea of a date night is riding to a sleazy biker bar.
