Day 18, June 14

Ruby Creek campground,  near Ennis to West Yellowstone
Approximately 60 miles.

As I was getting ready to head to bed last night a very strong wind kicked up. Even though my tent was behind a row of bushes and trees the constant flapping of my rainfly made it impossible to sleep, so I took a risk of getting wet and removed it.

Although it did not rain, the wind had not abatted a bit by morning and I spent the first half of the day riding almost straight into it across a no man's land of fields. They had beautiful mountains on either side, and followed a river a bit later, but that didn't really make up for the fact that it took me over 5 hours to cover just 23 miles.  The wind, which I would estimate at 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph, will hopefully stand as the strongest I encounter during my trip.  It pushed me off the road into the gravel about 2 dozen times.  During that stretch I also had my 2nd flat repair, which went smoothly enough.  Some pictures of the area appear below.

There was a small town named Cameron along the way but it was really nothing more than a single saloon.

About 35 to 40 miles into the day the road slowly turned east and climbed into the hills near an incredible lake called "Quake Lake".  Those huge gusts became a plus and helped push me up the hills. At a couple of  points I covered a few hundred feet of uphill roadway (2 to 4% grade) without pedalling, powered solely by wind gusts.  Here are some pictures of Quake Lake, which was formed when an earthquake and resulting landslide blocked the river (and buried a campground, killing a number of people).

From there I rode along much larger but less scenic Hebgen Lake until I made a right turn and tackled the last 10 or so miles to the town of West Yellowstone, which is actually not in Yellowstone Park.

After a huge meal there I discovered that all of the nearby campgrounds were full and resorted to my first "stealth camp" of the trip, camping at a random spot in the woods about 1 mile outside of town.  Since this is bear country, i put all of my food and toiletries (anything scented) into one pannier and hung it about 15 feet up in a tree, 100 feet or so away from my tent.

It was a very peaceful night except for and on and off rain that started sometime after midnight.