Day 14 Ennis to West Yellowstone

76 miles (122 km) – Total so far: 735 miles (1,183 km)

The latter part of the evening was spent with an extremely drunk local guy who worked underground in the platinum mine. Despite his inebriation he was humorous, at least for a short time. Clearly Ennis on a Saturday night is the scene for much partying amongst the locals. I retired before it all got going.

Sunday breakfast is also a place for all the locals to meet, and it was decent also at the Ennis General Store. I had also been speaking to the waitress at the bar last night who also wrote for the newspaper. The news all around town was there had been a major 4 car smash 11 miles south at Cameron. It was the first and only small town on the road I headed south on (287). No sign of it now, but the one ambulance had shuttled up and down to Ennis several times last night. Apparently they couldn’t fly a helicopter in.

Consequently the Cameron shop was closed. The road continues up the Madison valley, steadily climbing, until it bends west and becomes steeper. At the junction with route 87 there is a great cafe / restaurant which was no great place to stop, after a steady 40 miles gradual uphill.

There is also a visitors centre after a steeper climb, which revealed to me that my lower gears are not shifting well again. The lowest means the derailleur brushes the spokes as before. The road passes two lakes. Hebgen Lake was the scene of a 7.5 earthquake in 1959. This caused a huge landslide which is still very clear to see. Small potatoes one might say, having endured the Chilean 8.8 in 2010 on the day before returning to work.

The day had been cooler, but was hotting up now, and after another break the road flattened out at 2,000 meters and the riding into town was easier, despite there being a headwind. I could have stopped at two or three of the campgrounds around the lakes, they all looked excellent, but some rain is forecast tomorrow, and I am hoping to get the gears looked at in West Yellowstone after some good advice from the Ranger at the Visitor’s Centre.

Distance 76 miles, Ride time 6 hours 20 minutes, Average Speed 11.7 mph, Max Speed 34.3 mph, Departed 9:30 am, arrived 5:45 pm Altitude 2,008 metres

I am pleasantly surprised by the campsite. It is busy, but quite peaceful. The atmosphere seems to have rubbed off on the people. I am deliberately not here at a weekend, which would be much busier. $11:75 a night, and with that is hot showers, free wifi, free coffee and a launderette. Trudy, who checked me in, said she had 5 cyclists last night doing the Trans Am (I am sure I passed them today, they had no time to stop for a chat…) and only 2 of them stayed, as the other 3 thought it too expensive. It is illegal to camp wild, quite strictly here in Yellowstone, but I guess that’s what they did.

Surreal that as one drifts off to sleep the noise is of the wolves at the next door Discovery Centre.