Beaver Creek Campground

With so many incredible places to compare it to, it is still easy for me to say that Beaver Creek Campground is my favorite so far.  Near Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake it's a paradise for fishermen but also for those who just want to go camping in the mountains.  There were only two or three other people in the whole place and it was unbelievably quiet there, especially after spending the last few days in Yellowstone.  There we saw more stars in the sky than either of us had ever seen.  I think we remained in a constant state of jaw-dropping awe during our entire stay.  I hope I got some pictures that can give you a glimpse of this amazingly beautiful, vast, and tranquil land that we were lucky enough to call HOME for a night.

We had planned to go farther than 25 miles but I just KNEW we had to stay here.  That little voice inside of me that I know how to really listen to now, told me to STAY HERE.

Aspens.

Did you know that underneath the ground all these trees are connected to one another?

We explored for hours.

We were on Loop B.  This was the only water on the loop.

It was so good and cold.

We used this water to make some dinner.  A Mountain House Chicken and Potatoes dehydrated dinner that you just have to add boiling water to.  If you've never tried this, you really oughta give them a try.  They are surprisingly good and each package has two small servings in it.  After we had our chicken we made a Mountain House Cheesecake and picked fresh huckleberries to put in it.  Yum!

They weigh practically nothing.

We went to bed early and Ken read me to sleep.  We woke up once and went outside to look at the billions of stars that filled the big Montana sky.   

The next morning we woke up late and took our time getting ready, sipping our coffee, saying nothing.

HOME.

Yellowstone

We have mixed feelings about Yellowstone.  On one hand, it's a place I'd heard about my whole life and had always wanted to see.  There are some amazing things there that is for sure!  But the road construction, the bike unfriendly roads and the constant roar of traffic really took away from it for us.  Other cyclists we'd met who had already come through the park said the same thing, it was a mixed experience.  Something not to be missed, but difficult to ride through and often not enjoyable.  So, we got a ride.  As long as we admit to that it's not cheating and it is our ride afterall.  Why do something you know is going to suck?  Instead we rode around the park some with my Dad.  We saw some of the highlights and didn't have to risk getting run over by a rented RV.  :)

Click on these for a bigger version so you can understand the pics that come next.

The boiling water was SO blue.  It's hard to tell since it was an overcast day.

Rabbit ears. :)

After this we went to see Old Faithful.  Something everyone has heard about since childhood, and something I've always wanted to see.

We got there right before it erupted.  It goes off about every 90 minutes or so.

There were a lot of people there.  

All the clouds in the sky kinda took away from it, but it was still so neat to see.

It erupts for 2-5 minutes, depending on how much pressure has built up.

Our lasted about 3 minutes.

The ones I love.

Next we went to Geyser Basin.  Another interesting place on this earth.

See that little dot?  Guess what it is...

Snicker.

There was some great driftwood out there. Some people took pictures of their families in it...

That's going to be a great shot!

Next we went to see the Paint Pots.  They bubble and boil and are very muddy.

Kinda hard to catch the bubbling action with a still camera.  lol

We left here and headed toward the Montana State Line and guess what we saw!

Bison and their babies.

More dangerous, unpredictable, and aggressive than bears people get too close to these all the time and get injured.  Just a few weeks ago a woman got tossed 15 feet into the air when one came after her when she got too close to try to get some video.  The camera was still on and caught the whole thing.  If I were her I think I would have kept that video to myself.  It kinda tells people how DUMB you were, right?

This one kept looking at Ken and Ken stayed WAY back.  lol  Simon too.

We made it to Montana!  Crossing a state line in a truck is not as much fun as doing it on the trikes, but still, this makes our 9th state!  Hard to believe!  Thanks for the ride Dad!  We appreciate it!

The Teton Spur - Jenny Lake

We had heard about Jenny Lake and I was drawn to it simply because of it's name (I was Jenny when I was younger, but now that I am mature (snicker) I prefer Jen.)  Anyway, we also heard that the tent sites fill up quickly so we pedaled as fast as we could to get there before they put up the dreaded FULL sign.  We got there just as they were hanging it out and our hearts sank, but then the Ranger told us that the sign doesn't apply to cyclists because we have our own hiker/biker area to camp in.  Our hearts lifted right back up and we quickly found a spot and set up.

The road that leads back to the camping area.

The spots were not nearly as private or shaded as Signal.

But the views were intense.  This was taken from inside our tent as the sun came across the mountain first thing in the morning.  Ahhh....  It was pretty chilly there too.

See, the neighbors here were close, but nobody seemed to talk to each other.  I guess that's okay, but to us it just seemed like everyone here was in a hurry and sort of off to themselves.  There were A LOT of people in the park and many of them were from other countries.  The trail we hiked on went around the perimeter of the lake and we had gotten about a 4th of the way around when we realized we weren't supposed to have Simon on the trails at all so we had to head back.  Someone told us that we weren't even allowed to have him in the park at all, but we knew that wasn't true since the Ranger knew Simon by name.  The water in Jenny Lake can be as blue as the ocean in Hawaii.  It's a glacier lake and at it's deepest point it goes down 260 feet!

I took some pictures in the early morning but at that time of day the water doesn't look blue.  

While we were waiting on my Dad to come get us to take us through Y-Stone, we had an encounter with a wild animal...

Snicker.

Ken accidentally dropped a piece of donut.  :)

Simon didn't seem to mind.

Jenny Lake was great, but if you plan to be in this area, we suggest Signal Mtn.