Sunshine, sulphur and flying white water

White water rafting down the Yellowstone River is a great way to start a day. After an overcast start the sun comes out and soon we are paddling our way along an American Icon. White Water is flying in over the front of the boat but we are confident in our guides ability to navigate the river and keep us safe even if very wet. It is a great way to spend a couple of hours before setting off for a day exploring the park itself.

The first National Park in the world Yellowstone covers 2.5 million acres. It contains such a variety of wilderness that you would need weeks to see it all. In our little time staying in the park we have time to visit some of the highlights and some of them visit us. Herds of Bison are visible clearly from the back of the bike. Grazing and obligingly swimming across the Yellowstone river, which makes a great photo. The Bison wander across the road without any care for the cars and RV’s. Deer are more cautious taking their time to choose when to leap across.

The thermal and sulphur pools that thrust their way to the surface of the park making some areas look like the gates of hell. The ground is white and orange and brown. It bubbles, moves and erupts all to its own pattern. Yet turn around and there are pine trees, lakes, wild flowers and wildlife unperturbed by any of the instability in ground around them.

The timber built Old Faithful Inn dates from 1904 and was constructed to provide a first class hotel in the park. In 1904 this did not include en suite bathrooms, and the hotel remains unchanged today. It is our overnight destination in the park, and it sits right next to Old Faithful herself, the highly reliable geyser which erupts about every 90 minutes expelling thousands of gallons of boiling, flying white water up to 150 feet into the air. It provides a unique back drop to our post riding beer.

The next morning we spend riding through the park taking a roundabout route to eventually lead us out of the park at Silver Gate over 100 miles later. As if Yellowstone is not enough ahead of us is either the Beartooth Pass or the Chief Joseph Highway and for some riders both! Beartooth is a dramatic and winding mountain pass and is a stunning ride. It is narrow (for a US road) and has countless hairpins (or switchbacks for American readers) as it climbs around the mountains and lakes. At the top of the pass the lookout point is inhabited by a family of chipmunks who have trained the human visitors to feed them nuts. For this they reward the visitor by taking the food from their hands or even sitting in their hands while eating. They are certainly fattening up for the hard winter ahead.

The ride down the far side of Beartooth is a real tester and reveals just how capable the GS is in all circumstances. The twists and turns lead us back to the valley and a stop for “World Famous Banana Cream Pie” and while world famous might be a bit of an over claim it is certainly excellent and well worth the stop. Some of the team then take the turn for the Chief Joseph Highway as if Beartooth isn’t enough and take on the extra 90 miles of road up to Dead Indian Pass and back.

At Cody we are in the real west. The home of Buffalo Bill is awash with Stetsons, cowboy boots and pick-up trucks and a fair smattering of “Howdy’s”. In the UK “You are a complete cowboy” is not a compliment, but here it is met with a “Why thank you sir” We have time to visit the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre and the Cody Fire Arms collection which has the largest collection of Winchester Rifles in the world before spending an evening at the Rodeo.

The nanny state, Health and Safety Culture doesn’t seem to have reached this part of the Wild West yet. The rodeo bill includes girls under 12 barrel racing – This involves girls as young as 6 riding “quarter horses” flat out round three barrels and then boys under 12 steer riding – yes this is boys under 12 riding a young bucking bull! They do wear what look like ice hockey helmets and a padded jacket, but that’s about the only nod to the nanny state. A few leave the arena limping, some leave smiling but all of them look proud to be part of this wild west tradition.

All the bikes are running well with only a small list of minor jobs to be done in Tucson. A few sets of rear brake pads have been changed (Dalton dirt tends to wear them prematurely), Scottoilers topped up meaning no need to adjust any chains yet, along with engine oil on a few bikes and we have had one puncture to deal with. Beyond this the bikes have behaved perfectly so far. Long may it continue.

From Wyoming we are heading into Utah and Red Sandstone Canyons and then on to Arizona.