For a day that started off at 32 degrees and with many miles of road construction and rough roads, the last few hours of the day just kept getting better. The first 30 miles were very rough and bumpy and dusty as Highway 287 was being worked on. After the first 30 miles, the highway started following the Madison River and the pavement smoothed out. The rest of the trip to West Yellowstone was gorgeous. Since so many of the pictures are of the Madison River, some history is in order. The Madison River originates in Yellowstone National Park. It, along with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers form the Missouri River, which was the path that Lewis and Clark used for about the first half of their early 1800's journey from St Louis to the Pacific Ocean. They named the river after James Madison who was the US Secretary of State at the time. He later succeeded Thomas Jefferson as President.
So it was fun to follow this river for so many miles. As we got further upstream and gained elevation, the landscape became less arid and more green and alpine. The blue sky and blue water and the green evergreen trees made for good picture taking along the way. We only had to ride 70 miles today, so it was easy to go slow and get pictures and take in the scenery.
Tomorrow is a rest day here in West Yellowstone. They plan that so that you have time to do other things in the area while you are here. I don't yet what I'm doing but I'll definitely find something. This seems like a nice town and I'm looking forward to walking around and exploring it. On Sunday we head for Jackson and the Tetons which should be a lot of fun. I'll continue the blog Sunday evening after we arrive in Jackson.
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