Day 42: Madison to Island Park, Idaho

Total mileage: 33 (+6 miles hiking!)

Evidence of paying for camping. It felt rather luxurious.

Daily vitamins: a Brazil nut (for its selenium, Google it!), and a Tums (calcium, for the altitude, according to Barbara) 

We slept in and still had time to go hiking! We chose a less-traveled trail up a mountain that was just a quarter of a mile away. It turns out that our Toms are entirely capable of hiking 6.5 miles and 1500 vertical feet. The view from the top was excellent and we saw lots of wildflowers along the way. We were a bit nervous, since the several people we saw on the trail had holsters of bear spray attached to their hips, but we saw exactly 0 bears. We did make sure to talk most of the time to warn the bears of our approaching.

Unidentified wildflower

You can kind of see the Tetons in the background towards the left (we rode all the way from them in a day!)

It looks like pink asparagus! Any ID ideas?

Peaceful, enchanting trail. (Would've been more relaxing if we hadn't been stressed out about bears!)

After hiking, we traveled to West Yellowstone and then 20 miles south to a Warmshowers place. Our ride took us up a pass and by a top notch rest area. 

One of the most restful rest areas we've been to, complete with potable water from a mountain stream and lovely little trails back in the forest.

Our route traveled along the Nez Perce trail, so there are some interesting memorials along the way.

The view in Idaho, land of "famous potatoes" (and nicely paved roads with wide shoulders!)

The Warmshowers place itself was both wonderful and bizarre. This was the view from the outside. 

Once inside, we found everything we could need: washing machine, quasi functional dryer, food, 5 beds, shower, snowmobile. The guy who owns the place lives in Idaho Falls and doesn't go out there much, but lets touring cyclists stay for free! He just texted us the key code and we let ourselves inside.

Basically, it was a giant garage + house fused into one!

Kitchen

The living area, with flat screen TV and our clothes drying everywhere

Thank you, Travis!