July 10th:West Yellowstone - Old Faithful or pools all over the place

 My first National Park of the trip – also the oldest one in the USA: Yellowstone! I am so excited entering it through the wooden gates.  It doesn’t take long before we enter Wyoming – sales tax again! The first part meanders along the Madison river (still): the dark blue colors and the different greens around it, the quietness early in the morning (if you don’t count the cars passing). The eagle’s nest is gone…but a view of some elk grazing along the river makes up for it.

The trumpeter swans are still on their holidays…but the occasional fly fisherman completes the scene. At Madison Jct it’s a sharp right and immediately after crossing the Gibbon river it’s an ascent. For once I choose not to cycle along the Firehole canyon – wanting to know how steep the main road feels like.  Both routes join again at the top of the plateau and from there on I cycle happily and peacefully upstream the Firehole river. A traffic jam is the next obstacle to take: this means wildlife! A coyote is standing as a statue in the grass along the road.

Painted pots and midway geyser basin are the next places to visit, but I keep on moving. I have my favorite spot coming up where I’d like to rest for a while: Cycle America’s aid station stop with the view over the basin!

Alas, I didn’t count on the mosquitoes flirting around my head and in my hair and neck…my head is sooooo itchy! I just have to keep moving. And yes…further down the road I meet Bison Bison! My day is already perfect!

It’s only a short hop to Old Faithful: I’ve been in Yellowstone many times, but this year I’ll sleep at the Old Inn! A huge building in wood – a wonderful structure that towers among the trees. My room is oh so wonderful and dark: wooden logs and a bison on my bed.

Also a first timer is my hike around upper basin – I even walk up to observation point (and come singing back down because there is no one around me anymore!). I discover a Belgian pool – why it’s called like that remains a mystery.

Of course I do not miss Old Faithful blowing it’s water up in the air. For those who do not know what I am talking about: geysers, mudpots, basins with steaming water like a whirlpool. Yellowstone has so much to offer and is different every time I come here!