23: Leaving Montana
After a delightful ride out of Lionhead, I spent the afternoon in West Yellowstone hoping to get my spoke fixed and generally being a tourist. Partial success on the spoke: the bike mechanic called in sick; the shop let me use their bench; they did not have the correct spoke length or washers for the nipples. So, while my wheel is no longer held together with string, I am still in search of a proper fix in Driggs.
After several meals and several beers and copious ice cream, I took the wonderful Yellowstone shore line trail back to the CDT.
The area south of West Yellowstone and West of Yellowstone National Park is a bit of an odd no man’s land. The area is extensively crisscrossed with historic logging roads that get used for winter snowmobiling, but there is no water, and no people. Just an endless sea of adolescent Lodgepole Pines.
After turning off the CDT at the junction leading into Yellowstone national Park, I began my next bike-legal alternate and pedaled wide and empty roads until dark, partially making up for a mostly fruitless five hour diversion into West Yellowstone.
