Cody was our gateway to Jellystone National Park.
We were up early and had a wonderful hour ride to the gates of the park in time for it’s 8am opening. Let’s start with a video.
I chose this video because Susan got off the bike reasonably nimbly. I’ve got to be honest and say sometimes she balances like a flamingo on one bike peg trying to get her other leg over whilst I’m hanging on like mighty mouse trying to keep us upright. Some days are graceful. Some days are not. All days are amusing for us both.
So what’s Jellystone all about?
Well I’ve always wanted to visit. Always.
You see Yellowstone National Park sits over a supervolcano and magma lies just below the surface. Past volcanic eruptions have been global disasters and, though it stirs occasionally, Yellowstone currently sleeps.
Thermal activity throughout the park is, nevertheless, extensive. Yellowstone is home to more than 500 geysers; that’s more than half of the total active geysers on Earth! Geysers come in all sorts of shapes and levels of activity, from towering eruptions that occur sporadically to small fountains of steaming hot water that erupt almost continuously.
In amongst all this volcanic activity live the bison or, more commonly called, the North American buffalo.
Then there’s the geysers, mudpots and hot springs with their multicolored layers caused by different species of thermophile (heat-loving) bacteria.
Absolutely amazing. And there’s the wastelands created by the acidic hot water.
And there’s the Grand Prismatic Spring with its striking colours.
And the bubbling mudpots.
And the crystal clear hot springs.
And the magnificent caldera lake.
And of course, there’s the famous geyser ‘Old Faithful’ that gets its name because of it’s 50 metre high eruptions of boiling water every 60 to 90 minutes.
Yeah I know, photo of Old Faithful doesn’t look impressive. To be honest, it wasn’t that impressive in real life either. Still it was good to see
And how did we get around the park over two days? By iron horse of course!
Talking about iron horses, just look at this bar diner sitting on the banks of the Yellowstone River.
What a fitting place to end our two days in Yellowstone National Park. The beer was wonderful and the food was great.
So what did I have to eat at the ‘Iron Horse’? Well I like seeing Buffalo on the American plains so, of course, I had to try one. What a great BBQ buffalo burger.
Before my buffalo dinner I must admit to having a small pre dinner beer at our high class rustic lodge. Unfortunately, there’s a limited choice of beer from the gas station but at least it helps cut down my calories.
No we didn’t see Yogi and Boo Boo but the scenery, sights and experience of this park were exceptional. I will repeat myself – this place is exceptional.
Let’s now move on and get this blog right up to date.
We left Yellowstone and made good progress north. Weather and roads were great and we were soon crossing the border from USA to Canada. Great border crossing and we were through in a couple of minutes. Thanks USA and Canada border people.
Here we are entering Alberta.
How about a retro shot.
That’s from last time when we cycled through Alberta. As you can see I’ve matured since then and I don’t wear tights anymore.
Then it was straight to Calgary and the bike shop to ask if they could arrange a service and new tyres. They understood our circumstances and did it there and then whilst we waited.
The mechanic even replaced quite a few bolts that had been rattled loose and lost. He said the bike was in good shape though his eyes widened when I revealed I had a fuel filter bag floating around in my tank and the petrol gauge wasn’t working.
So we’ve been in Calgary in a lovely Airbnb apartment for the last few days chilling in the extra time we had because the bike was serviced so promptly.
It’s nice to be here in Calgary again after having visited on our cycle ride across Canada. It’s just like I remember which is surprising since it’s so unmemorable.
Now, we move on towards Anchorage and it feels like the journey is nearing its end. It’s a sad thought. No genuinely it’s a sad thought and so we’ve been thinking about plans to extend this trip to cheer us up.
That said, there’s still another 6 weeks to go.
That said, we’ve still got another 4,500 miles to go.
And did I mention our planned road to Anchorage, the main Alcan Highway, is currently closed due to multiple forest wildfires?
Yup, there still appears to be some life in this old journey!
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