Fernley, NV to Powell, WY featuring Yellowstone National Park: DAY 2 -- Pocatello to Powell via W. Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, and Cody

     We started Sunday morning, 8-16-2009, with a delicious breakfast that my fantastic Aunt made. The weather forecast had told us this would be our coldest day, so I suited up in all my layers before we headed out. We stayed off the interstate and headed north through Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Then up through Blackfoot, Idaho home of the giant potato that lives in front of The Potato Museum. I really want to visit that museum sometime, but I always seem to be in Blackfoot on a Sunday and almost nothing is open on Sundays in Idaho. Then on through Shelley, Idaho where my dad grew up. Both Blackfoot & Shelley have very nice old main streets, worth driving through to see. The countryside on that part of the ride was pretty farmland; I saw a lot of beautiful horses, especially in the Fort Hall area.

     We stopped in Idaho Falls, to warm up with some hot drinks and for Mike to work with the GPS a bit.

     Well, I had a hot drink, Mike had his iced. It wasn't yet as cold as it would get that day. From Idaho Falls we took Highway 20 through Rigby & Rexburg (where my parents went to college and met), then to Island Park. Island Park is a beautiful mountainous spot. My parents lived there when my older brother & sister were born. Just past Island Park it started raining lightly.

Pond's Lodge, in Island Park. My mother used to work here, before I was born.

Getting ready for the rain

     We crossed into Montana for a wee bit, going through West Yellowstone, Montana and entered Yellowstone National Park through the West entrance. We wanted to make sure we would get lunch, so we bought a couple of sandwiches to take with us. Shortly into the park we saw a few cow elk at a little bit of a distance.

     Then, passing one of the thermal spring areas, we saw Buffalo in the grass right next to the parking area. We pulled in and there was a huge crowd. I'm always a bit surprised in Yellowstone about how bold some people are about approaching the wildlife. The buffalo were standing where the parking lot turned to the next row. Cars were pulling up and dropping people off to take pictures maybe 10 meters away from the Buffalo. Buffalo aren't small animals, and though they seem quite docile, I have seen one charge before and it is seriously scary. We ate our sandwiches near the river across from a thermal spring and watched the Buffalo. It was really neat, there were two babies. So sweet!

Sleeping Baby Bison

Baby Wakes Up

Mike films the Buffalo keeping a respectful distance.

Nice spot for lunch, eh?

     It hadn't rained much during the time we had lunch, but once we started going again it began again. It started about the time we skirted Yellowstone Lake and got steadily worse as we descended to the East Gate. I thought the landscape between the East Gate and Cody was as pretty as any inside the park, but in a different way. It is tall rocky cliffs; incredibly beautiful. We saw several deer on the east side of the park with their antlers in velvet.

Hot Spring Across Yellowstone Lake

     I was surprised at how well I felt, in spite of the cold & wet conditions. I had never really been tested too far in the weather before. My raingear kept me dry, and I didn't realize just how cold I was until we rolled in Cody and got off the bike. Then I couldn't stop shivering!

     A cold rest stop on the way to the East Gate. This spot is called "Corkscrew Bridge Turnout," it is on a long winding downhill (if you're headed east). It's a fun ride, the rain made me a bit nervous, but I know Mike is a really good motorcycle rider. There were a couple spots near the top that had the guard rail crashed out. That seemed a bit scary.

Some of the scenery East of Yellowstone

Really Raining Now!

One nice thing about the rain is that it makes rainbows

     As we rolled into Cody's old main street area, Mike noticed there were about twenty BMWs parked at the historic Irma Hotel. We thought it would be fun to get dinner there and maybe we would run into some of the riders. As we parked we noticed they had British plates on the bikes, which likely meant a round-the-world trip. We checked the dining room but it was so crowded in there we decided we would go somewhere else. We did run into a few of the riders though, they were on a trip from Alaska to Argentina. They were taking 5 months to do it. I was surprised though that they really didn't want to chat about it. I guess that is what happens when you are in such a big group, you are rather self-contained and don't really feel like meeting outsiders.

     We went across the street to a really cute coffee shop and got some hot drinks to try and warm up. It was hard to make ourselves get back up and go into the cold, but knowing we only had about 30 miles left helped. It also helped that it stopped raining while we were inside and a bit of sun actually came out. We pulled up to my brother's house at twilight and saw him through the window putting books away in his new place. He saw us too, and came out to greet us.

Day 2 Map:

View Larger Map

Photos hosted on flickr