Beartooth Highway

Monday, July 2, 2012 (Day 227)

We started the day in Red Lodge, Mt, and ended up outside of West Yellowstone. Oh, what a glorious day it has been between these two points!

One of the many glorious vistas on the Beartooth Hwy

Helen and Joe led the way from Red Lodge over the Beartooth Pass to Cooke City. This is a gorgeous road that goes climbs to 10,947 feet before it starts down again. It is curvy and windy and utterly breathtaking. We saw marmots, mountain goats, beautiful wildflowers and snow at the top. In fact, we were surprised to see a small ski lift at the top, and people hiking to the snow fields with their skiis!
We felt we were at the top of the world.



The four of us near the top

The road descends into Wyoming for a few miles, then winds back into Montana just long enough to claim Cooke City. When we crossed into Wyoming, we first saw road signs that said, “This is grizzly bear country.” Ok. Then just a mile or 2 later we saw road signs that said, “Open range, watch for cattle”. Hmmm. We didn’t see either one, but it did seem to be an odd combination!



Marmot checking us out

Mountain goats near the ski lift on the BT hwy

Beartooth Peak

Cooke City is an interesting tourist town full of motels, shops, outfitters and a great general store that is on the national historic registry. We bought sausage and cheese for a picnic lunch, and enjoyed walking around seeing all the old time scales, cash register, spice bins and such inside.


100+ year old general store at Cooke City

When we left Cooke City, we agreed we’d stop at the first good picnic spot inside Yellowstone for our picnic lunch. Well. This is July. The weather is glorious. And the park is a bit crowded! The first 4 spots were jam packed, so we kept driving until we found a pull out with a rock wall we could sit on and enjoy the view. We shared our sausage, cheese and crackers with Helen and Joe, and they shared their blueberries, chips and oranges with us. As long as we’ve known Helen (about 36 years now), she’s loved picnics. We used to picnic with them in Juneau..even in the snow! So these sunshine picnics are especially treasured.


Not more than a few miles into the park and...

We entered Yellowstone via the northeast entrance, drove past Tower Falls to Canyon Village and then around the north shore of Yellowstone Lake to Old Faithful before exiting through Madison Junction and the West entrance. Along the way, we saw buffalo (of course), elk, and were lucky enough to see a mother black bear and her 2 cubs. We stopped for ice cream at Old Faithful just after it had erupted, so waited about an hour for the next show. No hardship to eat ice cream on a hot day with good friends! Just before Old Faithful erupted, Beehive geyser went up, so we really got a show.


Mom and 2 cubs (although you'll have to take our word)

The weather was perfect all day. Yellowstone is so vast, even driving all day just barely scratches the surface of things to see and do here. We may go back tomorrow to see a bit more.


The mini Grand Canyon

We stopped in the town of West Yellowstone long enough to see where Helen and Joe’s motel was, then drove 3 miles further north to a national forest campground called Baker’s Hole, along the Madison River. We have plug ins here so were able to turn on the air conditioning for a while. Harris cooked a steak for dinner, we visited some more with the Donahues, then said goodbye. They’re on their way tomorrow to see relatives, and we’re heading for Belgrade. We’re sooooo glad they suggested this route!


Elk in Paradise

And of course...Old Faithful

Total miles driven today=210