calgary-yellowstone-torrey

Hello everybody,

I finally found some time to update my log.
My route was : calgary-great falls-yellowstone-jackson-vernal-torrey.

On monday, september 8th, i left Calgary heading south to the USA and looking for warmer weather.
Although the days were still very good the nights are cold with sometimes freezing temperatures.

On tuesday i was near the border when i read a sign that the border closes at 6pm. So i cycled hard to be there on time. On a viewpoint i ask 3 older ladies how far i had to go. They said it is just around the corner at the most a mile. They were very friendly and looked very nice just like the grandmothers you see on TV.
I had still an hour so i took my time and than continued. Than i turned out that it was more than 10 miles. I reached the border just in time. The guards were so friendly to restart their computers and do the paperwork but i must admit by this time the old ladies had turned into 3 old witches or bitches (i dont know which the correct english term is but both are useable i think).
So i was in the USA in the state Montana. The welcome here is also one i will remember. Just after i crossed the border a storm reached me and it started to rain, thunder with lightning and i was cold.

So i put my tent up just next to the road because of the closed border there wouldnot be any traffic. The rain continued till noon next day. A borderguard saw me, asked for my papers but luckily i was in an indianreservation and he had no authority here but did get the advice to leave. So i did that.

I am back in the mountains now and i noticed it quiet fast. That wednesday night was very cold. I frooze so hard that i couldnot open my zipper and had to pool out a pick before i could leave my tent.
I was camping on a rest area and very late in the evening a RV stopped close to me. That morning the guy came to apologize to have bordered me and offered me a cup of coffee. Well, when it is freezing you can allways border me in the night if you give me a hot drink in the morning so i was even happy with this.

Today it is also 9/11 but i didnot notice it much accept for an motorcycle ride in Great Falls where i stayed the night with Lindsay, a member from CS.
He showed me the town and the falls of the Missouri. He was a very nice host and even showed me the way i could continue along a scenci byway (HW 89). It was very beautifull.
I had a mentall dipp here in the morning but i met 2 other cyclists from Nevada. Jonathan and Mike. We cycled together for a day and had a good time.
We crossed a pass at 7393 feet and i was the first on the top, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

On sonday, september 14, i reached Gardiner, a small town just before Yellowstone. Here i had a not so good experience with a CS member. She completely forgot i was coming. So i ended up camping in the yard of her neighbour and even took a shower there.

Yellowstone is a gigantic vulcano and there fore very different from the others NP. I liked it a lot. I saw mudpoles, steam coming out the ground, sulphur damps and ofcourse the famous geyser : old faithfull.
Here i noticed that my knowledge of geology and of english wasnot good enouhg to understand everything but it stil was very interesting.

There is also a lot of wildlife : moose, elk and bisons. While watching the bisons i almost got in trouble. There was a small herd crossing the street and i stopped and took a picture. A car passed me and stopped just there were the bisons were crossing. Others cars stopped behind me and the bisons couldnot cross anymore. The few remaining bisons were looking where i was easy to cross and join the herd and than i noticed i was the weak point so i moved forward and stopped next to the car before me so i was protected and they could cross. My look to the driver was not really friendly

I was amazed by the grand canyon of yellowstone especially when they told me i was formed in a few days or weeks when i gigantic glacierlake rushed away after the glaciers melted.

Unfortunally, the zippers of my tent broke here and couldnot close my tent anymore. While it was freezing at night and the forecast was bad weather in the weekend i cycled through yellowstone and grand tetons in 4 days and couldnot do a long hike.

On Thursday, sept 18, i reached Jackson where i stayed with Karen and Chuck, the parents of a Warmshowers member. She moved away to go to college but didnot change her profile but she arranged my stay with her parents.
Chuck and Karen were very nice. They searched and found a lady who can fix zippers. So my tent was fixed fast and on Friday Karen offered me a ride in Grand Tetons so i could do a day hike.

On saturday Chuck who is a hunter took me on a elkhunt. He is hunting with bow and arrow. This was very new to me and i had fun hiking in a way i would not do on my one.
They also coocked me some great meals and so on.
Karen and Chuck, i really loved my stay with you and enjoyed the things we did and our conversations.
The only thing that was not very good was getting up at 4.30am for the hunt. I am really not a morning person.

I left on sunday and had that day my 5th flat tyre. That night some bad weather passed but because i was not so high in the mountains i had no snow. I did see a car coming from the mountains covered with 2 inches of snow. I stayed in my tent till the afternoon when it cleared up.

On wednesday, sept 24, i reached Vernal where i had another good stay with Lori and Chris. Here i had my first burrito ever in a mexican restaurant.
Now the indian summer has started and i enjoyed my cycling. Here is also a region where they gain a lot of oil. I am also cycling more in the valleys but that means that i have to cycle on high mountain passes. One was 8428 feet high.

Feeling more and more physical exhaustion and because several of the NP i wanted to visit are high in the mountains i decided not to go to Arches NP, Monument Valley and Canyonlands. I hope this give me the time and opportunity to visit Yosemite.
I am a bit disappointed because several other cyclists told me it is very beautifull there.

Vernal is in the desertstate Utah. I am still high enough so it is semidesert but i did see my first cactus today.

On saturday, september 27, i reach Torrey a small village just before Capitol Reef NP but that story i will tell in a next message.

I can say that i had again a good stay with a CSmember Vassi and we watched an excellent movie together called Babel.

greetings,

nico