Yellowstone changed in major ways for me each day. Late in the day I had to cross some big hill, so I guess that while I was still in the caldera, geologically things were quite different. Today things are dominated by cold water and yellow stone - Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone River, and Yellowstone canyon.
Still, I wasn't entirely "free" of thermal features.
One big change in the last 50 years. Back then park staff still fed bears scrap food, there were few bison around, and no wolves. Today we have more people, including "tourons" (tourists who are half morons) out to get that selfie with a "fluffy cow" or a grizzly bear that doesn't look a bit like Yogi. It's probably less fun on a bicycle too.
I don't have a letter for today. I was going to spend the night at the Canyon Campground, but it was closed to tenters because a bear was lurking around. So I had to climb over Dunraven Pass which is high enough so I expected to be in tundra, and then zip downhill to the Tower Campground which was open and had plenty of room.
I expected a harder climb, but it was only about 900 feet up and 2,200 down. I think I knew that (well, more like 1,000 up and 2,000 down, but it was an easier climb than I expected and very fast downhill. I must have been in decent shape by then!
At the start of the climb, some car coming downhill slowed and the driver told me "If you hurry up you might see a bear!"
I didn't share his enthusiam - I had seen my bear, while going downhill, and had no interest in seeing one while going uphill. I did get a glimpse of it as I rounded a corner, but it was heading into the woods and didn't come back out for me. Whew!
Return to index page
Return to home page
Written 2024 June 24, last updated 2024 July 3.