Day 12 - Beartooth Hwy to Yellowstone

 

The Beartooth Highway runs back and forth along the Montana and Wyoming state line.  Red Lodge, Montana is on the east end and is our starting point. Yellowstone National Park lies on the west end.

 



Following our stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, we drove to Perry's Campground just south of Red Lodge to spend the night before heading west.  Perry's is a nice campground and we were able to get a level space right next to the river.  We arrived late so didn't have time for a campfire and listen to the river, but we would not hesitate to return in the future.

 



Rapids in the stream behind our camp site.

Around 8:00 am we headed west.  I know, those who know Carolyn wouldn't think we could be on the road that early in the day, but we were on Mountain time so her body clock thought it was 10:00 am.  Anyway, we were on our way and looking forward to this drive. 

The GPS shows the distance is only 64 miles and an hour and 12 minutes to make the trip on the Beartooth, but this isn't a drive that anyone would want to rush. The road is too winding and the scenery too good. Four hours is more realistic.





The sun was coming up so the first stop was just a couple miles down the road.

Check out the switchback in the road. The drive is full of blind corners and curves. No problem. Who wants to drive fast and miss the scenery anyway?

 

 

There are lots of pull-offs. Many have signs with information about building the road or points of interest.

 

Almost 10,943 feet at Beartooth Pass. Very close to the highest elevation.



The top is a plateau; for a few miles, the road is flat and fairly straight.  A look around will tell us we are WAY above the tree-line.  What's that on the side of the mountain ahead?

It's early September and there is still snow from the the previous year. How about a chilly dip in this mountain lake?

We made it to Beartooth.

The highway got it's name after the pointed peak in the right center that resembles a bear tooth.

We spotted a family of mountain goats near the summit. A National Geographic photographer was nearby taking pictures and video. We didn't want to mess up his work so we didn't stay long.



Here is some video of the goats.  They must have to dig and scratch a lot to get enough to eat from between the rocks.

 

There was actually quite a but of moss-like growth between the rocks. It was soft to walk on. Now that I think about it, I think it was tundra. As you can see, there is a lot of hard work involved in taking these pictures. The air is thin at this altitude but I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't do too much huffing and puffing so maybe it wasn't that much work after all. It was cold up here though - 40 degrees.

How about dangerous. Sometimes, the best pictures come with a bit of danger but the view from the edge was spectacular! OK, just in case my mom reads this, there was a big flat area over this hill so I wasn't actually close to a cliff nor in any danger, but the view really was quite amazing.



Here is one last picture of "wildlife" we saw along the Beartooth. It's a pika. They look like a small rabbit with tiny ears. A National Geographic crew was trying to get video of a weasel chasing a pika for his dinner.

This is the road down the mountain and toward Yellowstone. This was a great morning and now Carolyn and I are trying to figure out which is the more scenic road...Needles Hwy, Bighorn Mountains, or the Beartooth. Personally, I'm going to take the easy way out and say they are all amazing...why not vote a 10 for all of them and call it a tie!

Just a couple quick stops and we would be at Yellowstone. We checked the visitor's center in Cooke City then stopped at the Wildlife Along The Rockies gallery.   Dan Hartman (the owner) was one of the photographers we talked with on the Beartooth Hwy.  WOW, he has some great photos.  If you are ever in the Cooke City area, stop by and check out his work.