June 12, 2016 - Wapiti Campground to Yellowstone National Park

Today was the finale! The guys were on their way at 6:50 this morning for the final 23 miles of their journey. It was sunny but cool when they started out, and they hoped a smooth ride.


We went 10 miles and waited … and waited … and waited. More than an hour had passed and we were starting to get worried, so Marcia turned around and went back to find them. Just after she made the turn, Tobey came over the hill, but no Phil or Bob. Turns out Bob had not one, but TWO flat tires and had no more spare tubes with him. Tobey was riding ahead to catch us. We loaded his bike and went back a little more than 2 miles to meet up with the others. Repairs finished, we got Tobey’s bike unloaded and they started off again.


I went ahead to the park entrance to buy my Senior Lifetime pass and wait for their arrival. Marcia waited 30 minutes then started out. When Marcia got to the park and we were waiting for the guys arrival we started chatting with people who were taking their pictures at the Yellowstone sign about their trip. Several of them stayed to welcome their arrival because they were amazed at what they had accomplished! At 10:15 they arrived. No Bust – 500 miles - Yellowstone was accomplished!

We loaded the bikes and headed into the park.

It started raining as we drove and the guys commented on how lucky they have been all week because they had no rain while riding!

We had no reservations in the park and headed immediately to the Bridge Bay campground in hopes of finding sites. We pulled in shortly after 11 and were lucky enough to both get campsites … and they were right across from each other! God was smiling on us today.

We quickly fixed lunch then decided to tour the northern loop of the park from Bridge Bay up to Mammoth Hot Springs and back. We all piled into our RV and took off.
Our first stop was at the Mud Volcano in the Hayden Valley.

We then headed to Artist Point for views of the falls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Canyon lava flow was about 484,000 years ago. The canyon is 20 miles long and has a depth of more than 1000 fee. The height of the upper falls is 109 feet and the Lower Falls is 308 feet. This is probably one of the most beautiful places in the park.
We made several stops for pictures as we continued north, including one where we saw a grizzly bear very close to the road enjoying grubs or some other tasty morsels!
We stopped at Tower Falls for pictures and ice cream. This is where Bob got a souvenir for his wife, Meg, who couldn’t join us on this trip … but he was afraid it would melt before he could get it home, so as a sacrifice, he finished the ice cream for her! Sorry, Meg!!

At Mammoth Hot Springs we walked over to see the hot springs terraces before starting the drive back to Bridge Bay.

We had a great sight-seeing day. We saw bison, grizzly bear, a black bear, elk, deer, a red-tail hawk, coyote, and deer.

It was almost 7 by the time we got back and we quickly got ready to go out for a celebration dinner. However, before we could go to dinner, we had a champagne toast to the victory with some yummy champagne from our neighbors. Thank you Dante and Lisa!

We planned to go to the Lake Village Lodge, but when we arrived we found out the dining room was temporarily closed because someone accidently set off their bear spray and it had been evacuated! Unsure of how long the airing out process was going to take, we opted to just head over to Fishing Bridge and eat a sandwich in their cafeteria. Not fancy, but the food was good and we got there before they closed!

We picked up two girls who were hitchhiking back to Lake Village Lodge where they are working for the summer and dropped them off on our way. We finally got back to our campsite and leveled up about 9:45! Tomorrow we get to sleep in – YEAH!!!!