Cycle Across America – Day 27

West Yellowstone (Montana) to Yellowstone Canyon Village (Wyoming)

39 Miles / 2057ft climb

Determined to leave by 5.30am and beat the traffic jams that we had heard about, we all retired early last night.

No matter how organised we might be as a group, today proved easier to set off at staggered times and no matter how organised we are as individuals, we rarely set off quite as early as we intended. So it was a 4.45am wake up call for John and I and we set off just after sunrise.

The air was cold, the sun low in the sky. There was a certain magical quality about the Yellowstone we saw in this light. Mists sitting above the water, elk and bison roaming their natural habitat and chinks of light as we cycled through the wooded landscape warming and lighting our route. It was exhilarating, beautiful and slightly surreal at the same time.

We beat the traffic, we cycled steadily through the early morning sunlight and tackled the hills with determination. We met up with Marianne and Steve and cycled the latter part of the ride with them.

Trailing behind John on the largest hill, he ditched his panniers and headed back down the hill to meet me. This time I was almost at the top the hill and completed the remaining few feet of climb with my panniers still attached to my bike. Progress indeed.

So many beautiful sights along the way, a long, fast (by my standards) downhill into Canyon Village and by midday completed one of the most exhilarating cycles I have experienced.

We meet the others late afternoon and visit some of the most popular sights Yellowstone has to offer including the Grand Canyon, Artists Point and The Falls. The traffic jams and the crowds that we had been expecting didn’t materialise, so we had time and space to enjoy their beauty uninterrupted.