Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons

What's the best way to start a motorcycle tour? Dumping your bike five minutes into the trip; it really gets the blood pumping! Last Sunday marked the start of another week on the bike headed from my home in Lewiston, Id to Helena, Mt and then south into Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. I was at a stop light, messing with my phone, trying to get my head phones to play when the light turned green. As I let the lever out the clutch grabbed first gear and I felt my phone start to slip out of the front pocket of my tank bag. I hastily pulled the clutch back in and somehow forgot the road I was on was banked and it was a long way down for my foot back to the pavement. Unloaded the bike weighs over 400 pounds, add on all the gear and accessories and it would likely be closer to 500! At this point I felt the bike start to lean and my foot still had not touched solid ground. I decided to just let it go, falling rather ungraciously. My phone fell out of the front pocket and the bike landed on top of it. Luckily though it only suffered a bit of cracked gorilla glass. The other bummer part of this trip was that my camera (Cannon Rebel xt) decided to delete 3GB worth of pictures the second to last day on the road, eliminating all the epic photographs from both national parks. I still have some great pictures on my phone though, so onward with the adventure!

We started off hitting this great little bakery in Missoula called Bernice's Bakery. They have a great hot ham and cheese sandwich and the in house barista made a great London fog (earl grey tea, vanilla, and milk) steeped with local tea bags. It was just a couple more hours past the to our first stop for the night in Helena, Mt with my grandparents for the fourth of July and a little family gathering. 

Day two started bright and early with the jaunt to Yellowstone and a minor three hour delay at the Lewis-Clark caverns which boasts some really interesting stalagmites and stalactites. The tour was two hours and has some tight squeezes, steep descents, and some really good history. After this is was a straight shot to West Yellowstone with a dinner stop in Ennis, Mt. Apparently, the camp grounds in Yellowstone fill up quite rapidly so finding a site in the park was a no go, but there were a few spots just out of town that had places for us. We ventured into the park for some sunset hiking around the geothermal features and ended with some great sunset pictures (most of which are lost). The views in Yellowstone are a wonderful example of what you can expect from the 8th largest national park in the U.S. 

Our second day in Yellowstone was much the same as the first, packed with visiting lots of geothermal sites and taking in the local wildlife and scenery. We started the day with breakfast at Running Bear Pancaked House in West Yellowstone. This place has one of the best eggs Benedict breakfasts I have ever experience; at this level of cuisine its no longer just a meal. We sat across from a couple of gentlemen who were on their way back to the east coast after dropping off a truck in Montana. The people you meet on a vacation are always fascinating!  We were delighted to see a few buffalo hanging out off the side of the road, but the the pull off was so crowded there was almost no room for our two motorcycles. We snapped a few shots and continued on down the road. They are the little brown dots in the background.

Venturing on, we were pulled over at yet another geothermal point that was on the edge of a lake when we were joined by a large cow and a small bull elk. It is really quite phenomenal to be with in a few feet of an animal that is literally several times your body weight. They are not ignorant to the people that are surrounding them but rather embrace our presence, not running off in fright. Theses animals are spectacular!

After hanging with the elk for a few minutes we meandered on to the classic Old Faithful geyser. If you have not seen this wonderful thing it is totally worth it! Standing with several hundred people on a boardwalk to witness the magnificence is truly a sight to remember. This geyser shoots scalding hot water quite far into the air and does so every half an hour or so. Sadly, all the pictures of Old Faithful are gone and I didn't capture any on my phone.

Later that day we found a camp site to set up for the evening, giving me an opportunity to test out my new hammock made by grand trunk. Along with the hammock I purchased a set of the tree savers and can I just say these things work great! I utilized my hammock time to scout possible routes and sites to stop by the next day in the Grand Tetons. 

We rolled out of bed the following day to find that it had rained the night before and was still sprinkling. Rain while camping is really no issue but motorcycle camping means that the only place for getting out of the rain is under a tree or in your tent. When you are packing up your camp that leaves only the trees; it makes for an interesting camping experience when no matter what you do you are being rained on. We hit the road and rolled into Grand Teton National Park. 

The road through the southern entrance of Yellowstone is the northern entrance to the Grand Tetons and oh boy is it spectacular! Yellowstone is an amazing park with stunning views but rolling in to the Tetons is a whole different experience. These mountains are giant pillars rising thousands of feet out of the flat plains the road is laid on.  

We had a plan to do a hike on the other side of Jenny Lake. To get to the trail head its either a 2.5 mile hike around each side of the lake or a $15 dollar boat ride gets you to the same place. We opted for the boat ride which only took a few minutes. The hike runs up the face of a mountain with wonderful views of the lake and an even closer glimpse of the Teton peaks surrounding the area. The trail winds through the woods for a few miles before opening up into a vast valley with snow capped peaks on both sides. Further on, the trail splits and allows access to back country hiking and packing opportunities. There are several lakes that can be accessed from this point. We didn't make it that far into the hike but went most of the way to where the trial Y's. 

We were also pleased to see a mother black bear and her two cubs along the hiking trail. Most people carry bear spray with them while hiking but we opted not to. The bear we came across was perfectly content eating the local vegetation and watching her cubs run around. It also makes one think about carrying the bear spray; coming between a mother bear and her cubs can be tragically dangerous even if you mean no harm. 

We headed on down the road and found that most of the camp sites were full, but we lucked out; grabbing one in a "dry" campsite just outside of the park. After setting up the tents we went a few more miles down the road to Jackson, Wyoming. This little town has a ton of character and was bustling like a city. Every restaurant looked packed so we stopped in and asked a friendly sales lady where the best burger in town was. She recommended the Liberty burger and man was she spot on! Hands down the best burger I have consumed. The place was packed like sardines but if you put your name down they send a text message when your table is ready; allowing you to wander the streets and bop into cool shops that line main street. 

Bellies full and bikes fueled back up we cruised back to camp only to find that a bull moose had been visiting our camp ground and was bedded down just a few yards away! Trying not to spook the massive animal we crept up and snapped a few photos, this guy was huge! It was after this while taking some shots of the stars that my camera decided to glitch out while saving a picture and erase the last few days worth of pictures. I was pretty upset for a while but didn't want to ruin the rest of the tour. The French have a saying for situations like this: cest la vie, or such is life. Truer words could not have spelled out this situation. 

The following morning was the beginning of our longest day on the bikes; Grand Teton National Park to Boise, ID. But we had to stop for breakfast at The Bunnery; a quaint little shop in downtown Jackson that had excellent food. A perfect start to the day. From Jackson we headed south, in the wrong direction, thanks mostly to my apparent lack of map reading skills. It actually worked out really well though; we skirted the Palisades lake which had some beautiful scenery and a fun beach trail that we took the bikes on. I really can't reiterate enough how terrible it is to ride fully loaded in the sand but once we were on the hard pack it was a really good time. 

After a quick stop in Idaho Falls for some Red Robin we jammed out to Craters of the Moon, about a 130 miles West. This is a really cool national monument established by president Coolidge in 1924. The "craters" were created from the volcanic activity in the Great Rift, which runs through the Snake River Plain. It is really something to see all the evidence of volcanic activity, though nothing has erupted in the last 2000 years. 

The second half of our day was from Craters of the Moon to Boise, a grueling stretch of tarmac with lots of highway speeds. For those of you who don't know the KLR650 has one large single piston, so riding it at highway speeds is similar to riding an electric razor; lots of vibration. Then the wind factors in and it is actually quite a lot of work to keep the bike on the road. None the less we made it to the great city of Boise, Idaho. A metropolis teaming with action, full of life, and a wonderful city to experience. I particularly enjoy the cleanliness of the streets. For a city of that size, roughly 214,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area, it stays clean and has a low amount of crime. We grabbed a motel for the night and were up bright and early to hit Blue Sky Bagels for some breakfast. This place has bagels of epic quality; made fresh, in house every day. They have a variety of great choices along with sandwiches, cream cheese, and the like of favorite toppings. Pair a breakfast bagel with a great cup of coffee and you are set for a fantastic day. Our second stop was at a motorcycle shop; we were on the hunt for some additional baggage made by Wolfman. Wolfman motorcycle luggage has been a tremendous asset to our touring abilities; producing bags that are build specifically for long distance touring in all sorts of weather conditions. Our quest was unfruitful, but we did discover a shop that had this years coveted adventure bike; the Honda Africa Twin. For all you motorcycle enthusiasts, its a great bike! It looks good, the seating position and the handlebar placement are proper, it feels lighter than it is, and not to mention it is much cheaper than its comparative brothers from BMW, KTM, and Yamaha. For everyone else; its a really cool motorcycle! 

After seeing the motorcycles we ventured on up to McCall, Id, a town similar to Jackson for its resort and mountain roots. McCall is at the base of Brundage mountain which offers skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer but is also on the shore lines of Payette lake which hosts great boat tours and fun summer activities. Our stop for lunch was at Lardo's, one of McCalls local restaurants that has been around ever since I can remember.

With a good helping of red meat stuffed into our stomachs we started the last leg of our trip home. Leaving McCall it was nice and sunny but further on we encountered a heavy bank of clouds rolling in our direction. We pulled off to put the liners in our jackets not a minute too soon; the rain started as we merged back on to the highway. It didn't stop until we were home in Lewiston; leaving us at our door step with damp luggage and soaked boots. 

What an amazing trip! We had some ups and downs but through it all we made an adventure out of it and that is what this is all about. Much love, and thanks for reading. Have a great day!

-Rhino