We refueled on the way out of town on US26 which we took to Swan Valley before taking ID31 (a very nice motorcycle road) to Victor where I should have turned right on ID33 to Jackson. Instead we took a "little" detour up towards Drummond. I caught the error of our ways, computed the options of heading for West Yellowstone or turning around and taking ID33 to Jackson. Here's our stopping place.
Turning around won out, and I'm glad we did. ID33 is a wonderful road, although we had a DOT dump truck lead the way down the pass and he wouldn't pull over which caused some driver frustration (other drivers that is that led to some very unsafe passing).
Jackson (formerly Jackon Hole) is a very touristy town and it was packed. We refueled once again and headed into the Grand Tieton National Park. We bet among ourselves what would be the first animal that we would see. The unamimous choice was a buffalo.
The Tietons were out in full majesty.
Soon we saw our first animal and it was an elk. We both lost the bet.
Passing through Grand Tieton National Park, we were soon entering Yellowstone National Park. Once again my lifetime park pass saved us $25 ($50 in total for this trip). About 50 miles north of Jackson, we came upon another automobile accident. One person was on the ground beside a car that had been rear ended, and a new Scion station wagon was in the trees.
A ranger arrived at the same time as we did and took control of the situation and it wasn't longer before 4 more rangers came towards us from the north followed by an ambulance and a fire truck. Some more people were not having a good day.
We continued our ride up the main Yellowstone highway crossing the Continental Divide. (One of many crossings on this trip)
We took a lunch break at Lewis Lake and continued on our route to the Fishing Bridge and out over Sylvan Pass (elevation8,559 to the East Entrance where we snapped a photo to document our trip through the Park.
The ride along the east entrance road to the Buffalo Dam is really pretty. Here's an example. Once again pictures don't do it justice.
Arriving at the Buffalo Bill dam, we took our documentary picture.
It was then time to visit the gift shop for a commemorative "dam" tshirt.
When it was built in 1905, this dam was the tallest in the world. Here's a few shots from the top of the dam.
The new powerplant is now located downstream some 4,000 feet.
Leaving the dam, one passes through a really cool tunnel on the way to Cody.
Then we were greeted with some more great rock formations as we motored towards Cody.
Arriving in Cody, there was no doubt that this was a "happening" tourist town. There were HD motorcycles everywhere. They were parked on the Main Street and all of the side streets. Many were heading to/from Sturgis. We decided to forgo the festivities and challenge of finding lodging and ride WY120 to Thermopolis. It was a GREAT choice. Angela lost count of the number of Pronghorns and deer that she could see and the road was terrific. Arriving in Thermopolis, we rode the length of the town and decided to try this neat little motel called the Rainbow. It's very clean and neat with a full kitchen and has a Taco John's across the street. A fine dinner was had (sorry, no picture tonight - it was scarfed down).
Our plan for tomorrow is ride some 400 miles to Denver for our convention where we'll be situated for 4 days before starting home. It continues to be a great trip and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
TRIP Statistics: 424 miles
GAME SPOTTED: Several elk, a buffalo herd, one solo buffalo, some phantom moose, lots of Pronghorns, and lots of deer.
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