Day 33 Two Continental Divide Crossings

Old Faithful

Lower Geyser Basin

Fountain Paint Pots

Sulphur!

Excelsior Geyser Crater

Grand Prismatic Spring

Really?

First view of Yellowstone Lake!

Another Continental Divide Crossing! Yahoo!

Date: Aug. 21, 2009

From: Madison Campground in Yellowstone Natl. Park

To: Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone Natl. Park

Route: Hwy. 287

Passes: Craig’s Pass (8762’) Unnamed (8391’) Both Continental Divide Crossings

Miles: 42 miles

Top Speed: 47.7 mph

Weather: Sunny and warm

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana plates

Today was a full day of sight seeing and riding from one end of the park to the other. We took in the amazing thermal features of the park including Old Faithful. It was a long day of riding especially with the many stops to walk the boardwalks and we had two continental divide crossings.

We were blessed to have our new friends from Madison campground offer to haul most of our gear over to Grant Village where they had planned to camp also. We pulled in to camp and found their note on the bulletin board and headed down to site I-290 right near Yellowstone Lake. It was past 7 P.M. and we were happy to find a roaring fire and their offer of hot dogs and pork and beans. They let us camp on their site at no charge and Gregory and his new buddy Cole slept in a tarp tent that the dads rigged up next to our tent. Cole was generous in letting Gregory use his bike and they had a blast exploring the lake shore and watching the ground squirrels collect their pine cones for the winter.