Last night I was camped a little over 20 miles from West Yellowstone entrance, so I got up very early and set off around Hebgen Lake. I got to the  gates in good time and was in the park. The state line is only a short distance from the entrance so I waved goodbye to Montana and entered Wyoming.

The road continues to follow the Madison River into the park, and in the park there’s a giant figure of 8 roadway that forms two loops. The TransAmerica Trail goes counterclockwise around about a third of the south loop, past Old Faithful, crosses the continental divide three times, and exits to the south directly into Grand Teton National Park.

I planned to spend 2 nights in the park and do more of the south loop, which is over 100 miles long. I was going to travel clockwise round to Canyon Village campground, so called because it’s adjacent to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

This took me past some smaller geothermal features, a small herd of bison, and the huge geothermal site at Norris. Really the geothermals blew me away, they were so other worldly, the earth was literally belching out steam, water, and strong smells of sulphur. I didn’t know what to expect but it really didn’t disappoint. The bison were cool but the geothermals were captivating. I did a few of the shorter loops, there was so much to see. Being on a bicycle really helped with the parking situation too, the parking lots were overflowing with long queues of cars, I just breezed up to the front and locked up my bicycle.

I got to Canyon Village in good time, but there was heavy ranger presence, and they told me the campground was closed for a few more days, which was the first I knew of it. I asked a ranger what was going on and they said it was a law enforcement event, I remembered then reading a headline about a shooting in Yellowstone, I think that must have closed a big chunk of the village. But shoot! That threw a wrench in the cogs. I was planning to cycle back the other direction tomorrow to join up to the trail and see Old Faithful. Without any internet access I decided to press on around the loop, ideally making it to Grant Village at the bottom, it would allow me to see some more of the park and be a shortish trip to Old Faithful tomorrow.

From the village I continued clockwise to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and wow, I didn’t have high expectations, after all Yosemite has the biggest waterfalls in the country, but the canyon was stunning, the river had carved a huge cut into the soft rock, the waterfalls were 600 feet, but the canyon walls are up to 1,200 feet deep, it was huge and very steep.

As I continued on I was quickly wearing out, the wind was gusting head on, and the road was undulating along the banks of the Yellowstone River. Also riding in the park isn’t that much fun, there is a constant stream of cars, and in this section the small shoulder disappeared so I constantly had cars queuing behind me itching to pass. I went past another geothermal feature, which again didn’t disappoint, these things are magical.

I ran out of steam entirely and decided to get a campsite at the Bay Bridge campground, it’s still another 20 miles south to Grant Village, it looks like it undulates a lot as it traces the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake, which is absolutely huge(!!), I think I’ll move my campsite down there tomorrow and continue around the loop to see Old Faithful.

I’m pretty exhausted tonight, I cycled further than I had planned. I’m buzzing from the experience of Yellowstone though, what a place, even without the geothermals it would be a huge nature reserve with thick forest, wide open planes, huge river canyons, an absolutely giant lake, large interesting wildlife, and mountains and lakes as well. But in addition to that the geothermals are so trippy, they really did take my breath away, and literally too, I can still smell the sulphur.