Day 332
Earthquake Lake
After yesterday’s chilly wet day we were treated to a stunning late spring day. The sun shone, it was shorts weather again!
Before we left Madison we were treated to some ‘trail magic’. A fellow camper came over and invited Tom to raid his food supplies. Perfect timing as we had run out of breakfast and lunch food. Never has a cheese sandwich tasted so good. We then had a chat with Dana, a great lady who we had met at Headwaters campsite a few nights before. These chance encounters with fellow travellers mean such a lot to us. Seeing Dana was like bumping into an old friend. She had worked at the Madison campground many years ago so was full of information about the area too. We find out so much from meetings like these, often about other cyclists on the road, where best to eat, spot animals, etc. Dana and others become our road family and we just love them!
Onwards though, out of Yellowstone and out of Wyoming. Our favourite state so far, beautiful beyond words, windy as hell, cold at times but we loved virtually every minute we spent there.
Montana was calling us on. Immediately the landscape changed. Gone were the geysers and forest lined hills. Now we had snow-capped mountains and the stunning Madison river and lakes to ride by.
We were making our way to Ennis to stay at the house of a Warmshowers host, Rachel. The original plan was to ride the 86 miles over two days, but a bed for the night and the chance to meet a fellow long-distance cyclist who was staying there made us decide to try and get there in one day.
The riding was easy, the roads flat-ish with little traffic. We passed through the town of West Yellowstone, a culture shock after so many days away from civilization then onwards towards an area of Montana with a tragic recent history. The earthquake of August 1959 which damaged the Old Faithful Inn had its epicentre here and the impact was both tragic and long-lasting.
At 11.37pm on 17 August 1959 the 7.5 magnitude Hebden Lake Earthquake hit southwest Montana. It became known as the night the mountain fell. It struck along the Madison River Canyon. Part of the mountain simply slipped into the river, and the bed of the river tipped. A lake, now known as ‘Earthquake Lake’ was formed. Ghost-like remains of tree rise from its waters. The road was destroyed, a popular camp site was buried under tons of rubble and 28 people, many of them sleeping campers, lost their lives.
It also impacted on Yellowstone, Sapphire Pool, located in an area called Biscuit Basin, a quiet hot spring began erupting, sending boiling water and steam 200 feet into the air, and most of the biscuit-like formations for which the area was named were destroyed. Old Faithful went from erupting at roughly every 65 minutes to every 74.
We felt so lucky to be able to ride along in safety and just enjoy the beautiful sunshine and views. The wind slowly built up and we were both uncertain if we could make it to Ennis. Tom sensibly made me stop and eat a second lunch of a crisp sandwich, and refuelled we dug deep and made it to Ennis for 7pm. We were greeted by Frankie, who is completing his interrupted Transamerica crossing but missed the two girls heading to Alaska. We had a great night comparing notes and stories of life on the road.
