Biking in Yellowstone: 5 Reasons Why It’s Madness (but You Should Do it Anyway)

To say that a biking in Yellowstone is a challenging experience would almost be a laughable understatement. The ups and downs of my bicycle tour took me from moments of pure bliss as I looked over waterfalls, rivers and hot springs…to less happy times, like pedaling into a hail storm while going 30 mph down an 8,800-foot mountain pass.

But it’s exactly that unpredictable cocktail of weather, terrain, gear and mental fortitude that I live for. I’ve never been on a bicycle tour that was a breeze. And yet, despite the pain, occasional hospital visits and less-occasional tears that have been shed while sitting on my bike, I keep coming back for more.

Why?

Because I almost always come back a different person (or perhaps just more me?). I come with ideas that have surfaced while riding for hours a day. I come back with a new sense of gratitude for the people and things I missed while gone. And I come back feeling like I’ve achieved something great.

Because let’s be honest, if you’ve completed any sort of tour, you HAVE completed something great.

So, that’s why I go on bicycle tours in general. But here are a few reasons why I’d recommend you try biking in Yellowstone, even if it seems like a crazy idea at first.

For a bicycle tourist, mountains mean climbing.

Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em is up to you (personally, my legs hurt just thinking about it). But there’s no denying that the best views are always at the top of that 2,000-foot ascent.

What surprised me while biking in and around Yellowstone, though, was that the climbing was quite manageable. We had a few big days, but most of the roads are paved in the area, so you don’t need to be an expert-level 5,000 mountain biker to still have fun.

In fact, I’ve only been mountain biking two or three times and I had 50+ pounds of gear on my bike. And I only had to walk my bike twice during our 500-mile bicycle tour. Once, was when we had 20 mph headwinds, and the second time when we encountered a steep grade on the Teton pass outside Grand Teton National Park.

I love a good beach – it’s warm, it’s sunny and there are usually palm trees perfect for hanging my hammock. But there really is something completely awe-inspiring about biking down a dirt road in the Greater Yellowstone area and having 360-degree views of snow caps.

Or, you know, waking up a view of a secluded lake reflecting the Rockies.

Popular belief is that biking in Yellowstone is not a good idea because of narrow shoulders and tourists driving rental RVs. Plus, with this not being a popular cycling route (we only saw two other solo riders while in the park), people simply don’t expect to see you on the shoulder, making it even more dangerous to ride.

Valid concern.

However, from what I experienced, most of the drivers were completely courteous and gave us plenty of room when the shoulders were narrow. We even had some people pass us on Dun Raven Pass and yell words of encouragement out their windows.

If avoiding any type of traffic is your goal, you’ll be surprised at how bike-friendly the Greater Yellowstone area is when it comes to gravel trails, dirt roads and bike paths.

Most days, we had the option to select either pavement or gravel. I learned that I simply don’t enjoy gravel touring with my bike, which is a shame, because you can definitely enjoy a lot of views and areas that driving tourists will never see.

Now, I’ve been on a mission to see some bears in the wild for some time, with this mission turning into a low key obsession over anything bear-related (I even got a bear tattooed on me while cycling the Pacific Coast Highway). They equal parts scare me and amaze me. I can’t quit reading stories about gory bear attacks, but I also can’t stop scrolling through photos of fluffy cubs on my Instagram.

It’s all about balance.

Anyway, it’s no secret that Yellowstone National Park is second to none when it comes to spotting wildlife (especially bears). And I can personally vouch for how much more amazing the experience is when you are biking and without the safety of your car.

There you are, up close and personal with the animals along the road and throughout the park – you quickly realize how big they are and just how little you are.

And, when your camp gets invaded by buffalo in the middle of the night and you have to pedal between them to leave in the morning your heart skips a beat while watching their eyes watch you slowly roll by.

We pedaled through rain, hail and headwinds. Pushed our bikes down snowy mountain passes. We rode in the cold and we rode in the 80-degree heat with a full afternoon sun.

And that was all within the first three days.

Needless to say, weather can change the mood of any bicycle tour real quick, so it’s important that, when you are biking in Yellowstone, you remember the unpredictability of mountain weather and plan accordingly.

Thinking strategically about what time of year you go is important, too.

I didn’t do either of those things.

I saw the 20% chance of rain and 50-degree weather forecast and, thinking I could cut packing weight, decided to leave my gloves and rain pants at home because I had leggings that are made for stand up paddle boarding and my everyday cycling gloves. I usually wear those pants in the rain because I know that I can ride them dry in about 30 minutes after the rain stops or that I can just hang them in my tent.

But the weather we encountered while biking in Yellowstone called for a bit more serious gear. Gear I didn’t have. So there were more than a few days that I was simply downright miserable and one morning when the temperature was in the 20’s and I had to crawl out of my tent to put wet socks and shoes back on.

So there’s that fear of frostbite I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Do I think you should avoid biking in Yellowstone because of this?

Absolutely not.

But I do think you can help increase your chances of avoiding bad weather by simply changing the dates of your trip. We went from Memorial Day weekend into June, and I think we would have a much more enjoyable time if we would have delayed this by a month.

Beyond that, don’t leave any rain gear at home and have a plan for staying warm at night – which includes an insulated sleeping pad, three season sleeping bag, dry socks just for camp and a full layer of wool long underwear – and you’ll be golden.

If you follow me on Instagram, you read about our trespassing debacle and how inaccurate Google maps information landed us on private property in the first place.

While trespassing is never a good thing, you will likely get lost or, at the very least, find yourself in a place where no car would ever make it and that isn’t on your route (like this photo when we ended up on a road closed because of a landslide and falling rocks).

Type A personalities who thrive on knowing the exact mileage and what kind of terrain awaits them ahead may hate this.

Meanwhile, a few of my more roll-with-the-punches friends were having a blast dodging roadblocks and not knowing what surprises the next bend held. They preferred it, actually.

I like to strike a happy medium and do what I call “planned spontaneity.” This is planning in some of those unexpected moments.

For example, once you have your final daily mileage count in, cut off 10 miles a day. Work in an extra rest day on your trip in case you have a bad weather day and don’t want to ride, or hurt yourself and need one day to relax in your tent. Assume delays will happen. Think of them as a part of the trip and a fun surprise or challenge to be overcome – not as a “roadblock.”

Spending 11 days generally not knowing where I was at or how far I had to go that day to get to camp is a huge part of my madness story because it’s all about embracing the crazy in the moment and learning to love whatever comes your way. While biking in Yellowstone and the surrounding area, I often had to remind myself to breathe, look up from my handlebars and take in the beautiful scenery around me. And I think that’s a lesson that can be applied directly to any part of my life.