Wisdom, Montana through Twin Bridges, MT and on to Yellowstone
It was hard to leave the cabin this morning. It was very cold outside, even once I got going. As I moved through the valley, completely in the shadow of the mountains, and since the sun never came out from behind the clouds, my hands and toes got very cold. Still it was so inspiring, with high mountains completely surrounding me. I’ll have to invest in better socks and gloves for the ride ahead.
At about 25 miles into my ride, I started the climb up to Big Hole Pass, 7400ft! At the Top I got a super close fly-over straight overhead from a tiny prop plane. I think he saw me struggling up the pass and was giving me a celebratory salute! It was hard to breath the thin air at the top, and I had to deal with a strong headwind on the way down the other side. The wind was blowing me all over and made the downhill run a bit scary! Prairie dogs were everywhere, scurrying about the roadside as I sped by.
I met Rodney and two other bike packers doing the Trans Am the opposite way. The second mountain pass of the day was grueling and steep. 50 miles at the top and I was dead. Took a break for lunch and again couldn’t enjoy the downhill due to crazy winds. I kept grinding and made it through Dillon, Montana.
All of a sudden, just outside Twin Bridges, Montana, a car pulls up, pulls over, and out pop my cousins from New Jersey, Scotty and Daniel! They’ve flown in to meet me for some Yellowstone Hiking, and had driven north to find me! I gladly accepted a nearly 100-mile boost south with them to Yellowstone National Park.
We got to the park late, but managed to get in some of the requisite sights before nightfall: We’ve already seen bison, hot springs and the eruption of Old Faithful. SO COOL!
Tonight, we got really good BBQ pork sandwiches at a local barbecue. We are spending the night at Grant Village, and I look forward to my first off-day tomorrow! I’m so happy to have my cousins here with me to enjoy Yellowstone and boost my spirits. View Photos & Videos –>
Distance: 84.07(929.02 total miles)
Time: 6:23:51
Ascent: 2949
Descent: 4098
This picture of the 3 of you brings me absolute joy ❤️
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Max, love the road notes and pictures! Hope you’re enjoying West Yellowstone and the cousins. Look forward to the photos. Have fun & stay safe! ( :
Glad you had a much-deserved break, Max! I hope you enjoyed the wonders of that area. What an amazing way to see our amazing country! We’re with you in spirit! Keep rollin’!
Thanks Pete! Heard Lily’s enjoying the Cape too! 🚵♂️🚵♂️🚵♂️
Hey Max, so glad your cousins are there to explore with you. A day off from heavy biking sounds wise. We continue to read your blog each morning, appreciate and cheer every word and mile.
Bruce, loved your comment and we are thinking of you and Amy as you follow him so closely and with such strong anticipation. What an experience for all of you!
Thank you Fischers! I’m so glad you’re staying tuned in! It was a little break at the right time – going to be a hard week up until the 4th when I’ll have another good break at a friends in Colorado!
So Max, you know Mom and I like to follow you along on the “Find my iPhone” app, and its kinda fun to track you, knowing exactly where you are at any time during the day. Modern technology gives us that comfort! Well, on this day, as you warned, we lost you in a “dead zone,” and for most of the day, we had to rely on faith that you were moving well ahead of where your little icon positioned itself, stationary just South-East of Jackson Montana, for most of the day. Then, suddenly sometime well after 5:00 pm (our time), when I decided to check in to see if you had made it over the pass, that little icon abruptly jumped to south of Twin Rivers, Montana, and was moving along at a good clip. I breathed a sigh of relief to myself, and passed along to Mom the good news, “He’s out of the dead zone, and moving right along… at a good clip… a REALLY good clip.”
When you’re trackable, I can normally see your position on the map moving along at a steady pace, but this was really moving. I said to Mom, “He’s really cruising. He must be going downhill. Then a quick calculation in my head as I watched the dot moving, and I said, “He’s FLYING! He must be going down a very big hill.” Then, as I was simultaneously realizing what must be going on, like the time I watched you backtracking at 50 mph on day 2, I received a text you sent with the photo… You, Scotty, and Daniel smiling from behind their rental car on a vacant mountain road. It all made sense now. They had driven way up north to get you and make the most of the time you three will have together. What good cousins! You must have been so excited. Thank you Scotty and Daniel. I hope you three have the time of your lives out there.
Haha! Thanks dad! Just a little boost, but glad Scotty and Daniel were here with me for a couple days!