West Yellowstone, MT to Grant Village (Yellowstone National Park, WY)

Via Hwy 289. 56 miles.

It was a really hard day again, and Penny strained her left knee. Despite the natural splendor everywhere around us in Yellowstone, we didn't enjoy it as much as on past visits. The traffic was very, very heavy all day and the road through the park has only a small shoulder in most places. So I had to concentrate completely on steering and keeping an eye on the many RVs, etc. clogging the road. We did have good weather (very cool again, but mostly sunny all day). And we managed to see two moose as well as the Old Faithful geyser erupt. But nearly the entire route today was uphill, with a surprising amount of steep stuff as we crossed the Continental Divide twice more.

We got to the campground at Grant Village to find the place packed. Although we had a tent site reservation, they had booked another camper in our spot - a Chinese guy who spoke almost no English. But through gestures and pointing at our reservation form we managed to communicate the problem and he was kind enough to agree to share the site for the night. Next to us is a huge group of young kids on a Backroads* mountain biking trip. They are going kayaking tomorrow while we try to get motivated to get back on the bike. We also have to figure out how we're going to get around 9 miles of road construction. From the sounds of it, they definitely had more fun than us today.

I will try to get the pictures from today posted tomorrow. Too tired now.

*Backgrounds is a commercial guiding service. We have been on a Backroads bike trip in the past - they haul your stuff, set up camp, provide food, etc.

West Yellowstone, MT

It's foggy and 28 degrees this morning. Holy frostbite Batman!
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