Hailstorm

Saturday, August 25. Canyon, WY to Norris, WY.

In retrospect, I should have expected the hailstorm. Over the last few days I had been mentally going through my gear, trying to see if there was anything that I no longer needed and could send on to Oregon. The replacement bicycle clothes that I'd asked Becky to bring to Pueblo weren't necessary--the clothes I'd been wearing were holding up fine. The small, soft-sided cooler was also a candidate for being sent ahead. We hadn't had any food items that needed to be kept cool--other than snack food, we didn't really have any food that needed keeping at all. And my full-length, fleecey, rain-shedding tights could go, too. I think they were the final straw.

We rolled over to the post office at Canyon, planning to box up our unnecessary items and ship them out. But we had forgotten that today is Saturday, and the P.O. In Canyon is not only a temporary office, but closed on Saturdays. We'd have to haul around our extra stuff for another 2 days, and hope that the P.O. In Mammoth Hot Springs would be open for us on Monday. Before we could get rolling, we met a couple from Utah--and their white Scottie dog, Buddy. They come up to the park every year about this time, and have done so for the last 8 years. They've travelled all over the park, but prefer the central location of Canyon for their daily excursions. After the usual bicycle-trip questions, they gave us the scoop on our road ahead. Nice shoulders into Norris, nice campground at Norris on the Gibbon River. We thanked them and rolled out of Canyon.

Today would be another fairly short day, but we knew that there would be a number of stops on the way to Norris. Not far from Canyon, we stopped to see Inspiration Point and a glacial boulder. More fabulous views of the Grand Canyon and the Lower Falls area. The boulder was easily twice our height, discarded like a pebble by a passing glacier in the last Ice Age. Lodgepole pines had grown up around the boulder, so now it appeared to be caged in by their tree trunks.

A little further down the road we stopped at Grand View and Lookout Point, eager for more views of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. And in sort of a geological history lesson, Inspiration Point's viewing platform is about 100 yards shorter than before the 1975 earthquake in the area. The platform at Grand View is actually a little disconcerting to stand on. It's perched way out into the canyon, and visitors have an incredible view of the falls, the canyon walls--and all the way down to the river some 900 feet below. The disconcerting part is that at it's furthest point out into the canyon also tilts downward. I felt as though falling into the canyon would be far too easy.

From Grand View we walked down to Lookout Point, where an osprey nest had been sighted in the canyon. Several people had cameras and telescopes set up to watch the bird nest, and we could hear both the parent and young osprey's calls echoing around the canyon. We then walked back up the hill to our bikes.

Soon, the road would take sharp downhill, and take us down to the Norris Geyser Basin and the turnoff to the campground. Our plan was to head to the campground, set up camp and then go back to the geyser field sans trailers.

As we started down the incline, passengers in a car coming up from the other side were waving their hands excitedly--the international sign for "wildlife ahead". Sure enough, as we got part way down the hill, a lone buffalo was ambling his way down and across the road. I saw my chance to get a great close-up shot of a truly magnificent beast, and began to creep closer to him--using the traffic in the downhill lane as cover, of course. Unfortunately, this ploy worked too well, and I never did get a clear camera shot of the buffalo. Besides, I could hear Matthew behind me, whispering encouraging words like "stay right where you are, please" and sucking his breath in sharply.

Once free of the wildlife traffic jam, we sailed down the mountain and took a right at the crossroads. The Norris Campground, along with the Ranger Museum, was one mile ahead of us. Finding it was no problem, and as we pulled in to the registration area we saw the signs directing us to find a campsite and then come back to self-register and leave payment in the lockbox at the entrance. We would encounter more of the hiker/biker prejudice when a volunteer ranger allowed us to stay at a "regular" campsite on the condition that we only stay one night.

At Loop A, I found what I thought was a nice site, but Matthew declared it "kind of in a low spot". I followed him to higher ground, and as we passed one tent site, I recognized the occupant. Bill, whom we had met at Grandma's in Lamont. Even though it was after 1pm, he was packing up his stuff to try to reach West Yellowstone before nightfall. It had rained at the campsite the night before, and his tent was just beginning to dry out. As we stood talking, we felt what we first thought was rain, but quickly realized was hail. I slid my bike under a tree, thinking that the hail wouldn't last too long, but Matthew brought his bike and trailer up under the eaves of the campsite's restroom facilities. I joined him and Bill there in a matter of minutes, and then raced back out to my bike to put a rain cover on it (yes, the one that is shaped like a fitted sheet).

We stood under the eaves of the building for about 30 minutes, watching the pea-sized hail accumulate on the ground like snow, feeling the temperature drop, too. Once the hail finished, we watched dark clouds moving into the valley, and could hear the thunder, still off in the distance--but not too far off.

We both pulled on our waterproof booties and I put on my full-length, fleecey, rain-shedding tights before venturing out to set up our tent before the rain began. Just as we finished getting tent-stuff in the tent and food-stuff in the bear box, the lighting, thunder and rain began the afternoon show at Norris Junction. I was reading for a little bit, but after putting on another layer of clothes and getting into our human stuff sack, I decided a nap was a better use of my time. By the time I woke up, a couple of hours later, the storm had passed and the skies were clearing. This seemed like a good time to visit the Norris Geyser Basin, so we rode back up the road and arrived around 6pm.

A huge tour bus pulled up and disgorged its passengers just as we arrived, so we watched to see what direction they headed--and then took the opposite path. This geyser basin is large, and features geological wonders named Emerald Spring, Puff n' Stuff Geyser, Green Dragon Geyser and Steamboat Geyser. An information marker dated Steamboat's last major eruption in May 2005, but it was still spouting out water and steam today, making quite a respectable showing. As we walked on the boardwalk through the lower basin, a rainbow--and then a double rainbow--appeared in the sky. It was a beautiful, late summer, early evening, and yet the landscape was so other-worldly that I felt like I was on another planet. It was great.

As we cycled back to the campground, we passed a small herd of elk on the meadow right across from our camp. They were causing only a minor slowdown in traffic,though. Once back in camp, dusk was on us and we set about making dinner. The darker it got,the colder it got, and we left the stove flame on to generate a little heat while we ate. We didn't waste any time cleaning up the campsite and getting everthing stowed in the bear box. We snuggled into our silk liners, then zipped our two sleeping bags together to make one huge, human stuff-sack. The night was cold, but we stayed warm--and dry--all night. Tomorrow we head for Mammoth Hot Springs, and a room inside.