West Yellowstone it’s a great little town loaded with hotels, restaurants, and tourists. The traffic was heavier than normal for early morning. Those that were up the majority of them were starting to head into Yellowstone. I was headed out to the north toward Bozeman and that’s where the other bulk of the traffic was headed. The cool temperatures were great. The route today was pretty simple. There was only one turn to make sure Lisa and I were headed in the same direction. The route took us along a lake which I later found out was called Earthquake Lake. This was the most beautiful part of today’s ride. Approximately a 16 mile long lake was created in 1959 after a 7.3 earthquake struck the area. I was amazed at the minimalistic development around this beautiful lake. There were a few homes scattered about. There was quite a few fishing and boating lodges that I never saw while planning my route using Google Maps. These little lodges nestled right up against the lake look like so much fun. The scarcity of the developments was surprising based on my experience in Michigan along the waterways or lakes. I wondered if this particular road was closed during the winter maybe reducing the opportunity for access.
A little bit later I ran into Steve who was out working in his lawn taking care of evasive weeds and I stopped to talk. He said his parents bought the home, he now owns, over 40 years ago. He mentioned that most of the land around the lake was protected, hence lack of big developments. Steve also told me the road was open year round. So much for my thoughts about snow.
Getting to the end of the lake I came to the dam. I didn’t stop to take a picture because it was a super steep downhill and I was enjoying the speedy ride. Getting to the bottom as I was cornering I came across three men getting ready to go fly fishing for trout. Mark, Chris, and Rob were high school buddies getting ready to enjoy an afternoon looking for dinner. They asked what I was doing and we discussed my route moving forward. They noted some narrow shoulders and a very steep climb that I was well aware of early tomorrow. Getting beyond the lake the river returned and I watched the landscape return to the meadows with a river running through it. When you could see the river there was a constant supply of fly fishermen scattered along its banks and in the river itself. For awhile the river disappeared and there were plenty of cattle farms and wide open spaces. The best part of this section was the win was directly behind me and at one point I probably peddled for 45 minutes at about 30 miles an hour. This made the miles cruise by which was completely unexpected. We got into town after 5 hours and Lisa and I decided to have lunch. The little cafe was inside a pharmacy, can’t I have ever seen one of those before. Because I had made such good time I decided I wanted to move out of town and try to put a few more miles on which men starting the climb that the fly fishermen mentioned. The temperatures were extremely warm and I wasn’t sure how far I could get. In the end I only wrote out an additional 5 miles because the temperatures were exceeding 116 degrees and it wasn’t worth the risk. Tomorrow we’ll get an early start and go back to where I left off.
For an updated route and stats please click here — Completed Route
Insights from Lisa Marie
Left West Yellowstone early to start the ride to Ennis, Montana. It was great weather till lunchtime at 73 and sunny. Along the river and lake got some great pictures and Norm was flying! Had lunch in Ennis. The population sign coming in states 840 people and 11000 trout😂. To me it was a typical western looking small town with one Main Street for about 3 blocks. Tomorrow we will make our way to Dillon.
