Today started with a visit to Merlin's Hide Out. Merlin sells hides and leather goods from his garage in Thermopolis. I had been looking around at sheepskins for the trike because those long rides can really take a toll on one's butt. The sheepskin not only keeps you from sweating so much but the comfort level goes up quite a bit and the amount of time that you can spend in the saddle also goes up greatly. So with some new padding we were ready for a long day. Not so much in mileage but in time that we'd be on the road. I knew there would be a lot of stops for photos on this particular leg of our trip.
About twenty miles out of town around 10:15am, I watched the odometer turn 3000 miles. We were doing good and still having a ball. It's getting very hard to keep talking about the roads and the scenery because each day brings another awe inspiring ride through some of the most beautiful scenery that you can imagine. So I find that I'm getting a little repetitious with all of the adjectives I use to describe our day.
But although I've used beautiful and breathtaking and inspiring and awesome many times before, these are the only ways that I can use to describe what we're seeing.
After riding through three tunnels cut right through the mountain rock, we happened upon the Buffalo Bill Dam. Just another stop that was worth a photo op and something worth seeing.
Although the dam is only a couple of hundred feet wide, it is definitely a very tall dam. Another stop that makes our day just a little longer. But it is well worth the time to stop at these sights.
This is the view looking the other way while standing on the dam.
After the dam we were getting closer to Yellowstone so Faith thought that it as time we started seeing some bears or any type of wildlife. We really aren't in the best season for the wildlife but there is always the chance that you'll see something.
We stopped at a rest area/ information center and got a chance to talk with on e of the park Rangers. He told us that right now we probably wouldn't see any bear in this area but once we got into Yellowstone, things could change.
He did however have his friend Molly handy and she agreed to pose on the trike with Faith for a cute photo.
Shoshone National Forest is just before Yellowstone and the ride through it still gave us no wildlife.
As we got nearer to Yellowstone, the skies clouded over and some were very dark and ominous. We knew we'd hit some rain so when we got to the park entrance, we paid our admittance and the pulled under the roof of the toll booths to wait out the storm. And it did rain. But luckily it only lasted about 20 minutes and then we were on our way again in sunlight and warm temps.
At one point we came upon a number of cars pulled over so naturally we stopped to see what all the excitement was about. Then up on the mountain Faith found her bear. We sat there for a while so she could get her share of photos and then we moved on.
A little farther down the road we came to more buffalo out for a stroll right down the road. They were completely unaffected by the traffic or the cars that stopped to take pictures. Throughout the park we saw quite a few more herd of buffalo. You can tell when there's something along the road worth seeing because there are cars pulled over on both sides of the road. This of course adds more time to the trip. But we were getting closer to our stop so we took advantage of all the sightseeing that we could.
We found this waterfall right within what is called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The park can get very crowded but we were lucky that we visited on a weekday and I think that the threat of rain kept some people away.
Then a crowd of cars parked along the road got us to pull over to see a group of mule deer grazing in the pasture.
All in all it was a great day with lots to see and some fabulous photo ops.
To see more of the photos don't forget to visit my Facebook page.
230 miles and now we're in West Yellowstone, Montana until Saturday. Going to see Old Faithful tomorrow and then a 60 miles wildlife loop just outside of town.
Stay Tuned..................................
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