We left Cody this morning after a great stay at A Western Rose Motel. If you are ever in the area, consider Brenda, Mark and their team. It’s an old-style motel that is super clean, they care that you are there and do anything to help make your time in Cody memorable, including taking one in our party horseback riding.

We spent the day riding through Yellowstone. Since we have never been there, I can’t compare the crowds to a normal June season. Some in our group have said that all parking lots are full and there is a ton of traffic; thankfully, the crowds have been sparse for the past two days. One thing that Yellowstone has done is provide ample pullouts for large slow vehicles or people who want to go at a slower pace. The pullouts allow them to get out of the way of other travelers. Now, if they would only use their blinkers. We spent quite a bit of time in the Old Faithful area sitting, exploring, picnicing in the shade and people watching. One thing to say about Yellowstone…it’s HOT, The air is plenty cool. but the sun is hot and shade is few and far between. Yellowstone has a great app that includes geyser eruption predictions, and Old Faithful was right on schedule. It is quite accessible, but honestly, Grand Geyser in the same area was more spectacular. If you are planning a trip here, bring sunscreen, water and good shoes, because you’ll walk a ton.

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*As an aside, Kyle left something in Cody, so he rode back to get it and was away from the group most of the day. He met some kind folks at the post office, got a second round of BBQ and brought it back to us in West Yellowstone and rode through a hail storm! I think he might have hit a few twisties at speed if the smile on his face when he arrived tells the tale.

The highlight of the day was viewing the Grand Prismatic Spring from above. I had researched that while you can see some great colors from the boardwalks, you can take a short walk and view it from above. A hot, dusty walk! Well, like the Pied Piper of trip planning that I am, I convinced the group to walk up the quarter mile to see this great view…except, I had left my notes at home and ~MAYBE~ it was more like a mile…in the scorching sun…up hill…at altitude most aren’t used to. Oooops! We all made it to the top and though it was beautiful…maybe for most, it was just the lack of oxygen talking, but I enjoyed it.

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Tomorrow will be more of a drive-by day in the park and we’ll head to Teton and Jackson. We look forward to seeing new things as we roll on 12!

Post Trip Edits:

First off, many thanks to Terry, Matt, and Bob, who strapped stuff on their bikes for Jim, Amy, Stephanie, and Kevin – most notably our riding gear as we moseyed around Yellowstone. Two hot days would have been miserable without you!

Finally, check out Huang’s site for great pictures of many Yellowstone geysers (I don’t know Huang, but I know that he hiked a long way for some of his shots).