Today we entered Yellowstone National Park and crossed into Wyoming! It was difficult to leave the comfort of a real bed this morning. Shayne stopped by a bike shop in West Yellowstone to buy new tires. We also checked with a Ranger Station, and they recommended that we ride around since the park was closed beyond Old Faithful, and they couldn't guarantee that the roads would be plowed. This was disheartening as it would add over 100 miles to our trip. We didn't end up leaving West Yellowstone until after lunch. The plan was to take our time and enjoy the park as we rode to Old Faithful. I had never been to Yellowstone so it would have been a shame to be this close and miss it, even if it meant adding another couple of days to our trip. We saw lots of wildlife, including bald eagles, bison, and elk:
Once inside the park, we stopped and talked to a maintenance worker. He told us that all of the roads in the park were indeed plowed. We hoped that the Rangers didn't want to tell us that we could go past Old Faithful since then they would be responsible if anything happened to us.
We made it to Old Faithful by late afternoon. After we stopped to watch, we waited for the crowds to disperse, and then we rode past the barricades. A couple miles beyond Old Faithful,we set up camp at the observation deck overlooking Kepler Cascades. This probably wasn't allowed, but we weren't within view of the road, and even if a Ranger did stop, we figured we could talk our way out of it.
