Just A Nice Day & Night

Spring (for a day) Bike Ride

A PERFECT DAY FOR IT

Just Don't Get Used To It

yet

.. A time comes when all the elements are just perfect. Take advantage of it. Today was the perfect day for a spring bike ride in Yellowstone National Park. This early spring ritual is available to all who should choose to gamble on the weather and construction. The closer you live to Yellowstone - the better your chances of having a perfect time. It's a perquisite of living near "Wonderland."
.. The roads have miraculously appeared from beneath the snow. Only the wildlife, construction crews, and administrative travel are on the roads. The historic canopy from the old entrance station has been moved to the new entrance station and construction is moving at an appropriate pace.
.. The visitors that arrived on this perfect day displayed license plates from Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, California, and Montana. The streets adjacent to the park entrance filled up early and bikers of all stripes ventured to the park.
.. Walkers, joggers, runners, skaters, bladers, and boarders are welcomed to the park for free during the shoulder seasons and it is a joy.
.. Should you find yourself in the neighborhood, and be sans wheels; fear not!
.. There are two bicycle shops and this is as busy as it gets for both of them. They have trailers for the youngsters, and bicycles for whatever style of riding you chose to enjoy.
.. Recumbent, road bikes, trail bikes, balloon tires, tandem, you name it you get it.
.. While in town the most exciting thing, other than being mowed down by a bicyclist, is the new roof being installed on the Union Pacific Dining Lodge. This structure has nearly 1/2 acre of roof. It is an Underwood building and is on the National Register of Historic Places. As such the shingles had to be specially ordered and manufactured. The crane was erected last fall and work progressed until the snow became too deep. Roofing resumed last week and is well underway.
.. Should you choose to take advantage of the free entrance and the uncrowded roads, be advised that not all days are like today. And there won't be many more between now and the 18th when the 35 foot recreational vehicles descend upon Yellowstone.

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It's Still Winter

Yellowstone For The Bicyclists

JUST A BIT COLD

But A Wonderful Experience

.. The first bicycle tour of Yellowstone National Park took place in 1883, when three members of the Laramie, Wyoming, Bicycle Club came to visit.
.. In June of the following year W.O. Owen wrote a piece for "OUTING."

To three members of the Laramie Bicycle Club — C. S. Greenbaum, W. K. Sinclair and W. O. Owen — belongs the honor of having made the first wheel tour of the Yellowstone National Park, and, having been appointed historian on this memorable trip, it falls to my lot to set down the incidents of the journey for the readers of Outing. There are two routes open to residents of Wyoming; one lies by way of Bozeman, Mon., the other via Beaver Cañon, Idaho. (HTML - PDF)

.. Ever since that historic outing bicycles have been welcomed in Yellowstone National Park. However as stage roads gave way to auto roads, and auto roads became more congested the bicycle has become less common, and is now both a dangerous and congestive mode of transport in Yellowstone.
.. The shoulder seasons belong to the bicyclists. There are only bears, bison, bears, cougars, bears, eagles, bears, waterfowl, bears, and a few administrative travelers on the roads. If you pick the right day, and have prepared well, there is nothing like a Spring bike ride in Yellowstone.
.. Because of construction at the West Entrance, and bears in the Old faithful area there are new restrictions on bicycle travel this year.

READ THE FOLLOWING IN PREPARATION
FOR YOUR SPRING RIDE

-- National Park Service Press Release
-- Yellowstone Park 'Spring Bicycling' Page
-- Yellowstone Park 'Hiking In The Park' Page
-- Yellowstone Park Bears Resource Page
-- Yellowstone Park Pet Regulations, your pet dog cannot run free beside your bicycle - no matter who you are.
-- Yellowstone Park Rules and Regulations,
-- Yellowstone Park 'Viewing Wildlife' Page
.. Many people, including Park Rangers, Park Employees, Concessionaire Employees, and self styled "experts" get hurt every year because they treat wildlife viewing as a game or a pleasant sport. Don't be fooled: if you join a screaming crowd of bicycle riders ooohing and aaahing this Spring, you too may become a target.
.. The videos below are from the Yellowstone Park Video Page. There is more danger and stupidity there if you care to look.
Bison Trees Visitor
Bison at Old Faithful

In 1896 the 25th Infantry rode, walked, and carried their bicycles cross country to Yellowstone Park, 500 miles from their Fort Missoula base. They pose below on Minerva Terrace at the town of Mammoth Hot Springs in a photograph taken and hand colored by Yellowstone's official freelance photographer F. Jay Haynes (1853-1921). Note that the troops mounted from the left side of the bike, according to the custom for mounting a horse. (FROM: Northern Rockies Heritage Center.)

The Straight Skinny

JUST THE CAMS, MA'AM

..

.. The Yellowstone National Park website has a web cam page that is always current, and so far always correct. It's originality in titling is wonderful: Yellowstone National Park's WebCams. For those of you that like to view the park from afar - this is a blessing.
.. The recently added streaming camera at Old Faithful has had some glitches and some address changes, during it's set up and the usual tinkering that goes along with new installations of this sort. You can always be sure of your address or link if you go to the above mentioned page.
.. Come July and August the air quality cameras should prove interesting - given the price of gas and it's continuing escalation.

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.. As an aside, the NPS photo above shows a genuine UFO captured by the Old Faithful Web Cam. Don't believe it? Go to the National UFO Center for more information.
.. And, the current streaming web cam is the outgrowth of discussions with the Ames Research Center in their development of the 2005 wayside interpretive center. But - it seems that Mars and Yellowstone have stopped being a topic of discussion.

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.. Finally, the west entrance station will have it's old canopy moved to the new entrance station and the construction will hamper free access during the shoulder season. Read the NPS Press Release.