“The purpose of life is to live it,
to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Alright, it was a cold, clear night. For the first time in days I could see the surroundings of West Yellowstone. The town is still in hibernation, only locals frequent the supermarket, the bars, and the occasional coffee shop. Everything else is till boarded up.
There are still 2 feet of snow on the ground, huge snow piles cover the parking lots. Around ten o’clock I had my hot chocolate and a pastry, ready to roll. I was dressed like an explorer near the North pole, plastic double boots, fleece pants, insulated snow pants, fleece and soft shell, mittens, the whole yard. It felt right, given temps were still in the teens. Soon after the park entrance I encountered my first group of bison. Probably the first biker of the season. We checked each other out. Females and their young. We came to an agreement. Giving each other space…
A few miles later three big bulls…
Different story. They did not feel like budging, standing in the middle of the road, staring at me, not giving an inch. Luckily a maintenance worker came by in his pickup truck and offered me to stay on his safe side while passing the big boys. Hope they are gone on the way back 🙂
I rode 14 miles following the Madison river to the junction. Just north of the junction I found a thermal feature with bubbling water, a lot of steam and some hoar frost. That was beautiful.
On the way back I ran into 4 groups of other bikers, including a tandem. Bike season has started, even it is still nippy around here.
Luckily, the male bison were gone!
Can’t wait to shed some layers, although that may not happen soon, according to the forecast. It looks like snow and rain and wind for another week…
Bearly 
Beautiful image, but it still sounds very cold.
Bikers in the snow? You mentioned you ‘rode’. Does this mean bike or something else?
Yes, bicycling. They opened the road for bicycles. Most of it was dry or wet, there were snow drifts and ice, no problem though.
I like the wonderful picture, the fine and wise quote and it’s courageous experience…
It must be nice to feel like an explorer and to have the feeling of opening the season 🙂
This sounds amazing. Don’t know if I could handle the cold but I’d give it a try.
At the end of the day, there is a warm place, unless you go winter camping. That’s where I said “Not this time.”