Best route from Great Falls to Yellowstone.
 

First ten days of my San Antonio TX to Yellowstone WY tour --- 515 miles in Texas: San Antonio to Hobbs NM, decided to get to Yellowstone via the Plains rather than the Rocky Mountains, turned right and rode to Lubbock TX. 10 days, 515 miles.

By surreal coincidence a friend in Lubbock requested my help in driving from Lubbock TX to Great Falls MT, my intended ending point. So quite against expectations, 24 hours later, here I am in Great Falls continuing my tour going south TO Yellowstone instead of FROM the south.

Needing advice on the best way to navigate the approx. 350 miles from Great Falls to Yellowstone, specifically Old Faithful.

Tks,
Mike

I don't have the "best" route, but for what it is worth:
- In travels between Helena and Old Faithful, I avoided US 287 between Helena/Three Forks because of the following report (and one other): https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...page_id=467156
- Instead, I came via GDMBR alternative route along short stretch of I-15 to Boulder, small road (small bits unpaved) across to Whitehall and then across via 287 and Ennis/West Yellowstone. These other stretches were all reasonable roads and Boulder/Whitehall was a nice out of the way ride.

Did you take MT 2 from Whitehall to 287?

Two years ago I rode from Ennis to Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park via 287 and MT 2 then through Whitehall to Butte. The crosswind on 287 was intense. Stopped to take my sleeping bag off the front rack and put it in s pannier. That turned into a headwind when I turned west onto MT 2.

Thank you gentlemen for that swift and informed response.

I suddenly find myself in the “real” West. Thus far across Texas it has been easy grades and a maximum of 40 miles between faucets and city water.

When it hit West Texas I upgraded to a total of six 24oz water bottles and a 3L Camelback bladder in reserve. Twice as much as I ever needed.
I have a LifeStraw (not used yet)but I’m wondering if I should buy a pump/water filtration kit to fill my water bottles.

The crux of the question being, how far is it between towns/running tap water out here?

From Whitehall, the first 9 miles were MT 69/MT 2. After that, I turned onto MT 359 for 15 miles to US 287.
By the way, between Whitehall and Boulder, MT 69 is paved (but longer) than the more direct but 50% gravel road I took.

Seems like a good amount of water. I've had occasional gaps of 50 miles in Montana, but not much more. On the water filter question, I'd think it might depend a bit on where/how you do your overnights. Finding surface water is sometimes hit/miss, though if you plan things right, you can sometimes camp not too far from a river/stream. In that case, I've found a filter helpful since I can just fill/filter when camping. If you are staying overnights in towns, then I find a filter less helpful and typically try to carry enough water get between stopping points during the day.

I staffed an ACA Cycle MT one year that started and ended in Bozeman. As I recall the stretch from Gardner to Livingston was real nice using mostly smaller state routes that parallel US 89. Plus if you use that approach you get to enter Yellowstone through the arch! ...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9c6a5f88bc.jpg

I cannot help much but I've just returned from a week in Yellowstone (rental car). An AMAZING place. "Bison blocks" are common where drivers of everything from small cars to class A motor homes loose their minds and create huge traffic jams. Be very careful cycling through those. Drivers have gone mad!!!

We did see touring cyclists enjoying the park ( best at dawn and at dusk) and I envied them. But when I saw them grinding up the long steep grades I was amazed and not envious. I could not do that. Good luck. Take the real long walks thru the various geothermal basins etc. I'd never been so in touch with our planet's internals before. Awesome.

Tks, riding an interstate shoulder would be a new experience for me. heck I would do it lots of places if I could.

Just to clarify, in theory at least I could ride most of the 117 miles from Great Falls to Boulder along the shoulder/access road of I 15?

Just finished another trip in Montana. IIRC, every inch of Interstate Highway in the state is bike-legal, even when frontage roads are present. You have to be careful with frontage roads though. Some dead end. Need to check them out on maps.

I expect it would be possible and allowed in MT. In my experience, these roads aren't inherently bad (wide shoulders, high speed traffic, not many exit/entrances), but I wouldn't do them for extended times if other alternatives exist.

However, that wasn't what I was suggesting. There is a ~11 mile section between Helena and Boulder where one either rides a (difficult) part of the GDMBR or one is on I-15. I did that part but otherwise was on smaller roads. I was coming from further north and then via Lincoln and MT 200 via Helena. One could also ride MT200 from Great Falls and then Helena.

Tks, 'nother option is to take 89 all the way (200+ miles) from Great Falls through White Sulphur Springs to Gardiner, steep climb at the start and I just dunno how far it would be between water/stores/restaurants on that road.

Had to ride a couple of stretches of I-90 west of Missoula during my recent trip. The first one was about 4 miles. No other alternative. Yes. Not inherently bad, but not the most pleasant riding. Very noisy at times. And that was early on a Sunday morning. I would definitely not ride one for 117 miles if there were reasonable alternatives. It looks like there are sections of through frontage roads between Great Falls and Boulder.

As luck would have it, the westbound lanes of the other two sections of I-90 I was forced to ride were closed to cars in preparation for roadwork. (Westbound vehicle traffic was being routed in the fast lane of the eastbound side.) Having an entire Interstate Highway to one's self is fun. I just went through the barricades, took to the roadway and hoped no bridges had been torn out.

Originally this started out as a San Antonio-Yellowstone run and then on to Great Falls to fly home ~ 2,000 miles total. By unlikely happenstance the wife of the couple in Great Falls was in Lubbock as I was passing through and requested my help on her drive home. So I find myself with some days lost doing the ride from the other end if time permits. My intended path is through Yellowstone to Cody WY. Ideally at Cody I have enough time left for the 1,400 miles back to San Antonio (20-25 days).

So at this point I mostly want to take the path of least resistance to Yellowstone.

This wouldn't be a difficult route. Looking more closely, it looks like there are frontage roads and parallel roads along a good portion, so one wouldn't be on I-15 for all of it.

Looks like these towns would provide food and water if you choose the US 89 option...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6abd6493b4.png

https://tinyurl.com/y62gh5ud

edit: green section of above route through Neihart known as Kings Hill Scenic Byway