Wing Ding 2010 to Yellowstone Park

[Boscoporp]

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you didn't eat as much as I did today. Haha

Next year we are riding out to Wing Ding in Des Moines with our GWRRA group.(L-2Charlotte NC) After the rally we will ride to Yellowstone and see all the sights. Is their someone out there that has made the Yellowstone ride and can give me some direction as to what I should go see while visiting that area. After we see Yellowstone we intend to ride across the northern border and see the Badlands and go south after we get into Michigan.

This is our first major ride & I don't need to make this too much of a hardship on the wife or we won't get to do it again! I'm sure that you all hear me loud & clear! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Road Runner]

While in Yellowstone area, go over Beartooth Pass, then on to Glacier Ntl Park and Going To The Sun Road.
Or drop south to Rocky Mountain Ntl Park near Estes Park, Co. South from there, Mt Evans, then on to Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs.

[oleman69]

Just remember it gets pretty cool at night even in summer up on the high plains, have fun

[Gorilla]

The Grand Tetons just south of Yellowstone are also nice. I second Beartooth (really loved that ride) Also second to the cool. We were out there after the Sturgis rally in "08" and it was in the 30's in the morning in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

[oldmustang]

I live and work in northwest Montana, and I think all of the suggestions are good ones. Yellowstone, the Beartooth Pass, Grand Teton are all spectacular, and those three are at least in the general area of each other.

The Beartooth has a rally schedule (though out of date) and lots of other information about the Yellowstone-Cooke City area, on line:

Beartooth All American Road - Cooke City Montana, Cody Wyoming, Red Lodge Montana

Check the map though for Glacier/Waterton Peace Park (Canadian side) and Rocky Mountain National Park -- it's about 375 miles north via Hwy 89 between the two. From Yellowstone to Rocky Mountain National Park, about 560 miles in the other direction. Pikes Peak is about 70 miles farther south of Denver near Colorado Springs. All three are well worth seeing and it would be a shame to come out here and not have the opportunity to ride them, but you know your logistics better than anyone.

One caution about Pikes, Rocky Mountain, and Glacier -- all three have stretches where the road is right on the edge of some sheer drops. If this kind of cycling bothers you or your wife, you might want to think about these.

The advice to bring warm clothes is exactly right. Even during hot summer days the evenings cool off into the 50s or less, especially at altitude. Although rare, it's possible to have snow any day of the year up in the high mountain passes; certainly rainy weather is always possible.

Have a great trip, and if you'd be interested in riding together for a day or two when you get out here, PM me. I hopefully should have my trike on the road by then.

Steve, near Libby, Montana