Day 19
June 20th, 2007

Today was such a jam packed day! Today I woke up very very excited to ride into Yellowstone. After breakfast we strapped the camera to my helmet and got ready for the ride. Today I swept, which means that I volunteered to be the last rider and make sure everything was alright in the back. Just After entering Yellowstone National park we crossed the Wyoming state border. Once in the park the first animals we saw were two big bald eagles. Bald eagles are so majestic and big. Today's ride was at a very slow pace which was great for enjoying the amazing views of the park. The weather was perfectly sunny and warm the whole day. Jacob Turner met up with us along the ride. Jacob is working in Yellowstone for the summer at a ranch. Throughout the ride we saw quite a few bison and elk. At the last portion of the ride it became very challenging. We had to cross over a range of mountains and cross the continental divide twice. At one of the last miles of our ride we came upon a long line of traffic. I had a strong feeling I knew just what the people were stopping for and sure enough it was a bear jam. A female grizzly bear and her two cubs had made their way up next to the road. It was really scary being so close to a grizzly bear with no real protection. After we made it to our lodging at Grant village in West Thumb Andrew, Jake and I unpacked our things and headed up north with Jacob Turner to see the area of the park that he works at. Jacob works at a dude ranch in the Roosevelt region of Yellowstone. Jacob takes care of horses, leads wagons and horseback tours and gets to live in a cool cabin in the park. For dinner we got a chance to see Jacob in action. We rode on a horse drawn wagon out to a site where we were treated to an amazing steak dinner. I love this place!