A drive to Cooke City, Montana

July 20, 2010. Since this is our day off we decided to take the bike out and drive to Cooke City, Montana. The bike ride is approximately 160 miles round trip taking us through valleys, mountains, hills, curves, and woods. Need I say more? We will be leaving the park, going into a small town in Montana. Just a few days before outside of town, a grizzly bear had attacked a man while he was sleeping in his tent. The man was killed by the bear. This bear also attacked two other people but they fortunately were able to escape. After capturing the bear and the rangers had no other choice but to euthanize her. This mama bear had two cubs that were captured and soon transported to a zoo. They say here in the park when you feed the animals you are actually killing them. People just don't seem to get it that the animals are wild and need to stay that way.

Starting out on our journey, we pass through Hayden Valley and begin the climb up Mount Washburn. The road is quite steep and has many curves and switchbacks. Being on the bike you feel like you are on top of the world but I am sure Claire looked the other way as the road just drops off, offering no room for error. As we got higher in elevation the wildflowers were in bloom by the thousands. We stopped to get photos of tons of yellow daisies. Leaving the mountain you start heading down into a wooded area which is called Tower-Rooselvelt. This area is common to the black bear. Once we leave the woods we enter into another valley which is called Lamar Valley.

We had taken a sack lunch with us so we found a spot near a stream just outside of Lamar Valley and had a picnic. This valley is known for the many animals that roam the area which includes the wolves. We didn't see any wolves but the bison were plentiful and were very active as they are nearing the mating season. The bison are also plentiful in Hayden Valley which we have to pass through on the way back to our RV park. Here the Park Rangers were busy herding bison out of the road. Being on the bike allows you to get up close to these huge animals and, yes they are very intimidating, to say the least.

One reason for this particular trip was to hike up to Trout Lake. I had done this hike three years ago without Claire and I wanted her to go on this trip. The hike to the lake is one mile, all steeply uphill, requiring many stops for us older folks. It is a pretty hike through wildflowers and around trees. When we got to the lake, hearing thunder encouraged us to notice the dark, heavy clouds overhead. I was disappointed as I wanted to hike to the other side of the lake where I had seen an otter family in the past. With the possibility of lightening, and because we were near to trees and water we decided to leave. It did spit rain a little but we did not get wet.

The drive back to the RV park was great since the stormy weather by-passed us. We stopped at Canyon, which is another area where there are lodges and gift shops. Claire decided to go into the book store at the Visitor Center, so I relaxed on a comfy chair. We each had ice cream (wild huckleberry) then headed back to camp.

We are very fortunate that we have been able to spend many months in the oldest National Park in this country. Being able to see Yellowstone from the vantage of being on a motorcycle is very rewarding. We will always have many fond memories of the park, and as we get older, we can sit in our rocking chairs and imagine we are in the "Stone".