Wednesday, July 18th: Canyon Village Yellowstone Nat’l Park, WY or … cycling along the rim of the caldera

Excitement is in the air: we are entering Yellowstone Nat’l Park. 

In 1992 we came here for the first time and I remember thinking: open your eyes, sniff the air, stay close to your woman and enjoy, ‘cause you are only going to be here once in your lifetime. Not so… The spirit of Mother Nature captivated my boss and now she has this urge to return here to this paradise where she can stock up on energy for a whole new 10 months. The West Entrance of the park soon takes us into a new state: Wyoming. 

The calm flow of the blue Madison river relaxes your mind at once (take the passage of cars and RV’s away). 

We are slightly climbing to Madison Jct. The story goes that in 1870 this was the spot where the national park concept was born. Today,  we turn left and head for Norris. The new road is excellent and smooth and wide enough to have some kind of shoulder for cyclists. We are now following the Gibbon river (which is one of the tributaries of the Madison – the other one being the Firehole River, which we followed last year). Gibbon falls (26 m drop) is a must stop for us. There is now a parking lot and a walkway. It’s always nice to look how high we have climbed already. 

The road brings us all to the edge of the caldera. Over halfway to Norris, on some meadows,  I smell some big game. And for sure: there is a traffic jam – usually meaning there is wildlife to be seen. Across the river two elk are grazing. 

Standing up they look to me like they have just been crowned with their antlers and are now proud to show off. We zigzag through the cars safely and head on. Some miles further there’s another traffic jam – this one is almost 2 miles long. We pass so many cars waiting in line. Road work at Norris junction. Too bad – the Norris geyser basin is closed today. Comes the last stretch to Canyon Village: 12 miles. Once across the Gibbon (again) my woman decides to stay on the main road instead of seeing Virginia Cascade, where that crazy Céline took off her shirt to wet herself. She knew that ride was a climb – she had no idea the ride she was going to do would be even harder. There was a sign: 3 miles 8%. She swallowed – and went on. Some advice: take the more scenic Virginia cascades road – it takes your mind of the hard work. When the roads came together again, the climbing wasn’t over yet. This was definitely more than 3 miles climbing and there was even a mile where it was steeper than 8%. A moment of rest – and a cyclist without gear passes us. Come on, Renet, you can do it! Going this slow on the road makes me more alert for wildlife spotting. It’s my job then to warn my woman. But there is hardly anything to see. Finally we make it to the top where the road levels at 2395 m. The last 3 miles we drop through the forest into the valley and see Canyon Village in the distance: we will stay here at 2306 m altitude for two days. After getting into our cabin my boss goes food hunting. When she returns to the cabin, she tells me about real mashed potatoes, bison and elk beef (did you bring some for me?) and spinach and she has a surprise for me. Wait till tomorrow!