I spent another lazy morning in the tent, hiding out from intermittent rain, then gave up and waited for a break in the weather. I hurriedly broke camp and packed up, then hit the road. I didn't make it far before I had to break out my rain gear.
The morning went slowly, as I had to climb up to the continental divide twice before coasting down to the Old Faithful area.
Yellowstone has more geothermic features -- over 10,000 geysers, springs, fumeroles, and boiling mud pits -- than the rest of the world combined. I rode through several geyser basins as I headed for the park's west entrance. Here's a shot of Faerie Falls:
I reached Madison Junction just after noon, having stopped for lunch at Old Faithful. Then I turned west and followed the Madison River out of the park, ending up in the tourist-trap laden gateway city of West Yellowstone. The ride out of the park was easy enough, following the river in its search for lower ground.
I entered Montana -- state number eight, for those of you scoring along at home -- just before leaving the park.
I've received several death threats from faithful readers that had become fed up with my lack of updates -- it has been three weeks, after all. Normally I ignore such things, but as I entered Montana -- the militia state -- I began to wonder if maybe I should give you guys something to read when you are supposed to be working. I checked out about 50 motels in West Yellowstone before choosing one to do updates from. I plan to take two days off and get myself up to speed.