Day 13 West Yellowstone, MT to Ashton, ID

It was really cold this morning when I woke up.  I set my alarm for 5:15 every morning, and I always wake up well before then.

Anyway, after I had all my stuff packed up and was ready to go, I could hear howling in the distance. I didn't know if it was coyotes or wolves.  One of my fellow riders said it was wolves.  It's not a sound I've heard in real life before!

We had breakfast at Bullwinkles, the same place we had dinner last night.  Then, it was time to head out.  It was a beautiful morning as we rode west from West Yellowstone.

We went over the Continental Divide again.  This time the pass was at 7,072 feet in elevation.  That might seem pretty impressive, until you realize that we started out at an altitude of over 6,600 feet.  We're also back in Idaho for one night.

There were some nice views along Highway 20.

But there were also lots of cars, trucks, and RVs, and very little shoulder most of the time.  It wasn't that much fun riding along there.

Fortunately, we turned off of the highway and got on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  Right at the beginning of that road, there's a large plaque giving the geologic history of the area.  We were in the center of a HUGE ancient caldera.  We could see the rim of the old caldera, but it was too big to fit in one picture.

It was a beautiful ride, and we got some glimpses of the Tetons far in the distance.

Our lunch site was right next to Lower Mesa Falls.

We saw more views of the Tetons, the mountain that we'll be crossing next.

We crossed over Warm River, and watched a man feeding the fish.  (Tony is standing next to him.)  He had a huge bag of cat food in the back of his van, and the trout were going crazy for the food.  It's hard to see the fish, but you can see where the water looks like it's bubbling.  That's the trout.

I loved the clouds as we headed towards Ashton.

Today's ride was the easiest day so far.  We had less than 1,500 feet of climbing, and the distance was "only" 64 miles.  It was almost like a rest day!  I even had time to go into town (population 950), mail off some things I don't need, and get a root beer float with Barb and Pam.

I've had two root beer floats so far on this trip.  I predict many more in my future!