August Rides

[north woods gal]

Enjoy, Sky. That's some mighty rugged and and remote territory, beautiful in its own harsh and desolate way, though. Lived in Boise for a time, back in the 70s and did some exploring, there.

[north woods gal]

Finished the month, WAY down on miles, thanks to all my mountain biking, but also because of all the time and effort I put in making MTB trails on our property. In terms of hours biking, still at least a fair month of bicycling for me. Wish there was an accurate way of translating MTB miles into road bike miles, because I'm passionate about both, but the two types of biking are just too different, I guess.

Oh, well, on to September.

[emily_in_nc]

I've been away for a couple of weeks with zero internet (but worth it to be in Bighorn Canyon NRA and Yellowstone NP!) My blog is about three weeks behind real time as a result, but I finally got this post on bicycling Bismarck, ND up. It seems like months ago since we have been so many places since then!

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...round-the-city

We have done some really wonderful rides in the past few weeks: through Little Bighorn National Monument and Bighorn Canyon Nat'l Recreation Area (the latter being one of the prettiest places we have ever ridden), a couple of rides in Yellowstone (not very conducive to cyclists), and a couple now here in the amazing Grand Teton National Park, which is as cyclist friendly as Yellowstone is not! And the scenery is simply breathtaking. This place should be on every road cyclist's bucket list. I had no idea!




Hope everyone has been well...it will take me awhile to get caught up on the posts here. We have excellent Verizon signal here in Grand Teton, fortunately, so when I'm not riding, I'm getting caught up online.

[north woods gal]

Keep those pics coming, Emily. Really enjoying them. What was the problem with Yellowstone biking? Just curious.

[gingergirl]

I live in a flat area and to see the mountains in your photos...wow...stunning. Thanks for sharing.

[emily_in_nc]

Keep those pics coming, Emily. Really enjoying them. What was the problem with Yellowstone biking? Just curious.

Well, there are no bike paths, and the shoulders are quite narrow. On some of the roads, there are no shoulders at all. And there is a LOT of traffic, including many large RVs and tour buses. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been mid-summer since we were actually there in what is considered the shoulder season for this part of the country. We did do a couple of rides, but we were disappointed. Just not much thought given to cycling infrastructure there; in Yellowstone, cars rule.

Contrast that to Grand Teton, just one park south, where there are much wider shoulders on the roads, paved bike paths through much of the park, and some paved "back" roads that have almost zero traffic. Less hilly besides. And the views are much more dramatic with the mountains. In Yellowstone, you mostly see lodgepole pines. The lake was beautiful, and there were certainly other gorgeous areas here and there, but we had to take a bus tour to really see the park.

[north woods gal]

Thanks for the low down on both parks. Have never bicycled Yellowstone, but have driven through it and the traffic was bad, like you said.

[azfiddle]

I concur with the comments on Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We hesitated to bike in Yellowstone but saw several groups and individuals. Grand Teton was fabulous for cycling though.

[Sky King]

Well, there are no bike paths, and the shoulders are quite narrow. On some of the roads, there are no shoulders at all. And there is a LOT of traffic, including many large RVs and tour buses. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been mid-summer since we were actually there in what is considered the shoulder season for this part of the country. We did do a couple of rides, but we were disappointed. Just not much thought given to cycling infrastructure there; in Yellowstone, cars rule.

Contrast that to Grand Teton, just one park south, where there are much wider shoulders on the roads, paved bike paths through much of the park, and some paved "back" roads that have almost zero traffic. Less hilly besides. And the views are much more dramatic with the mountains. In Yellowstone, you mostly see lodgepole pines. The lake was beautiful, and there were certainly other gorgeous areas here and there, but we had to take a bus tour to really see the park.

I really wish Yellowstone's website would communicate better for cyclists - it isn't a good place to bike (I keep trying to tell people that ) As the nations largest national park, a very limited "road building season" and horribly strapped for cash, I don't see an improvement in the near future. They do offer some spring riding - before the gates are open to car traffic but even now, the fall visitors have increased dramatically - lots of photographers coming to capture bull elks in rut.

[emily_in_nc]

I really wish Yellowstone's website would communicate better for cyclists - it isn't a good place to bike (I keep trying to tell people that ) As the nations largest national park, a very limited "road building season" and horribly strapped for cash, I don't see an improvement in the near future. They do offer some spring riding - before the gates are open to car traffic but even now, the fall visitors have increased dramatically - lots of photographers coming to capture bull elks in rut.

Yes, there were a ton of people there when we were, even with a couple nights with lows in the 20s -- I was so glad to be in our motorhome and not in a tent, but there were many, many tenters. The days we rode our bikes (only 2 out of a full week there), we never saw any other cyclists on the road at all. The springtime is just too early for us to get there since we spend winters east, and we don't like cold weather. So, I doubt we'll be going back to Yellowstone. There are just too many other better places to ride and enjoy wildlife!