Alaska Day 33 Part 2

Up and out of Helena to a little town called Townsend some 40 miles away where we ate breakfast. Then off to Yellowstone we went. Bruce and Dave took the loop in Yellowstone and visited the Grand Tetons on a side trip. John and I headed for Cooke City. On our short journey to Cooke City I learned a lot about trails. While traveling leisurely through Yellowstone John decides to pull into this dirt and gravel road that had a sign read "Hellroaring". I followed and we parked in a gravel potholed parking area about .1 mile farther. John explained this was a trailhead where he used to pack out and take the horses down this trail and across the bridge. The sign at the beginning of the trail said the suspension bridge, swinging bridge, was a mile away. It looked straight down hill to me. Guess what, it looks straight up hill from the bridge. John wanted some pictures and I was curious so off I went. Now I first called this a path and John corrected me with "its a trail". The difference is a path is a path and a trail is a path with horse poo all over it. This was a trail. Made it to the bridge with a little sore knee caps. Took some really nice pictures nice pictures of the bridge and river and talked a little with the people there. Here comes the part I didn't see, the trek back up the mountain. Ihad left my rain pants and leather jacket on. After 4 or 5 much needed stops I arrived back at the top. John had just woke from his NAP and said " It only took you 2 hours. Thats 1 mile an hour pace. For somebody napping he has a lot of nerve. Being winded with sore legs now, I still think it was a great adventure to take that trail and visualize taking horses and traveling down that trail and across that bridge. It was back on the bikes then off again to Cooke City. We arrived about 4:30 got 2 rooms because we knew Dave and Bruce would be in late. I left my bike at the entrance of the motel so they would know where we were. John and I checked out the local character of the town. About 11:30 we had seen enough of the town and headed for the rooms. We looked down the road and there were "no vacancy" signs everywhere and Dave and Bruce were pulling in to our motel. Dave and Bruce had about a 16 hour day while John and I had an 8 hour day. But glad we did because we had a room waiting for them.