At the start of Tuesday's route from Ennis to West Yellowstone Montana (73 miles, 3100' elevation gain) my quads were stiff enough that getting down the motel stairs with bike and baggage was a jerky yowza experience. Maybe they would loosen up on the bike? A cold front is moving into the area, and since it was in the low 40's I broke out the long fingered gloves; here I am all dressed up and ready to roll:
Cold and smokey sunrise pulling out of the motel:
The ride started with a long 1%-2% stretch up the Madison River valley. It was tough riding but not as hard as I was expecting. The first hour was cold, smokey, and windy on a two lane main highway that seemed to stretch on forever with no signs of other riders (I had left a bit early but expected to see others). Turns out Rachel M was up the road and being early has its advantages since she got to see some antelope:
The valley was quiet wide - say about as wide as the Livermore Valley with the massive Gallatin Range of mountains hinted at through the smoke to the east. The valley floor was about 5,000' elevation and the visible peaks rose above 10,000'. But eventually the valley started to narrow and I could see why the Madison River is renowned for trout fishing.
Surprisingly the valley opened up again to a huge sagebrush-filled bowl with a low rim on in the southern distance which forms the continental divide back to Idaho and Pacific Ocean drainage.
We didn't ride far in that bowl though. The road took a left turn and, with the legs still hurting, I followed the river up a gorge,
entering the Earthquake Lake Geologic Area.
As you probably know, earthquakes in the Rockies are pretty rare so the 7.5 magnitude that hit in 1959 is still pretty memorable, especially since it triggered a landslide that dammed the river into it's eponymous lake that's still there today.
Further up the valley we had the treat of some classic Rocky Mountain viewscapes.
We continued to climb to get to the level of a hydro-electric dam and lake
for the day's second very welcome rest stop.
Those legs still hurt but I had the feeling that the little repair gremlins inside were starting to get the upper hand. The end of the day was an 8 mile straightaway into a mild headwind directly to the tourist town of West Yellowstone. Since the route was short and the good stopping areas few, the lunch truck was set up in the city park next to our lodgings. That was great because it meant I could eat all I wanted without worrying about being too full to ride afterwards!
Wednesday is a rest day which we'll use to tour & do a little walking in Yellowstone National Park and give those legs a chance to recover.
