Yellowstone, Biking and the Boiling River
Every spring and fall some roads in Yellowstone are closed to cars but open to bikers as they get ready for the changing of the seasons. Yesterday I experienced this for the first time with a 42 mile trip from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Geyser Basin and back. I bought a new bike last week, a Giant OCR 1. It is a road bike. I’m excited about it. Yellowstone without any cars is rather grand. The weather was fairly warm (despite there being an abundance of snow that hadn’t melted yet). The 42 miles went by quite quickly. Riding a bike made for the roads is a lot faster than riding a mountain bike with some slick tires on it.
The 3rd picture is the Boiling River. It is a lot of water that emerges from underground after being heated inside the earth. It is quite warm and swimming directly in it is illegal. However, right after the spot where the picture was taken it meets with the very cold Gardiner River, and that is where you can swim.
The really hot water meeting the cold water makes for a very good temperature. Its like a giant outdoor hottub that is continually flowing past you. I’d driven past it many times, but never actaully checked it out. It is quite awesome, I’ve never seen anything like it. You just hang out in this warm water and watch the elk around you, (we actually saw a bald eagle as well). Pretty classic stuff, I was feeling very spoiled by my surroundings yesterday.
The last one is Luke pondering. When I learn how to put text inbetween these pictures I will, but its not really that easy to do if you don’t know how.
