Day 17 - Cameron, MT to West Yellowstone, MT (July 23)

Riding the Madison.

Today's ride was very tough. It started with an uphill ride into the wind. At mile 15, I passed a windmill vigourously turning in the wind. Not a good sign.

At least the scenery was nice. I rode along the Madison River. A Blue Ribon River for fishing. There were many ranches and lodges along the way that catered to fly fishermen. For example, this lodge, perched on the cliff above the Madison:

After 34 miles of flat, slightly uphill riding into the wind, I entered this river canyon (still the Madison River) that led to West Yellowstone.

Just as you enter this canyon, you see this 1959 slide that created another lake (Quake Lake) downstream of Hebgen Lake. This slide was similar in size and scope to the slide I had seen earlier in Alberta near the town of Frank. The Frank Slide was 74 million metric tonnes, while the Quake Lake slide was 80 million English tons (a metric ton is roughly equivalent to an English ton).

This is a picture of one of the boulders that slid all the way from top of the mountain across the river and up the adjacent hill.

Here is a picture of the other boulder (with the hillside slide in the background).

After marvelling at the forces of nature, I rode onto West Yellowstone stopping along the way at Campfire Lodge Resort for my second breakfast of the day. The restaurant is right next to the Madison River and the property is located under a grove of pine trees. A nice place to visit and stay.

As I neared West Yellowstone, I saw a big thundercloud in the distance. All of a sudden the head wind kicked up again and I had to ride with a stiff headwind for the next 4 miles. Finally, I turned 90 degrees to the storm, but I saw sheets of rain in the distance. I didn't mind the rain, but I was worried about the wind. Fortunately the riding wasn't as hard because I had turned perpendicular to the wind. But as I approached the sheets of rain, the wind turned into my face again which made the last 4 miles into West Yellowstone a rainy and windy experience. Of course, once I finally arrived in West Yellowstone, the rain and wind stopped.

Day 17 - Cameron to West Yellowstone - 64 Miles