Cross Country Road-Trip Day 4 (July 5):

Yellowstone and Beartooth Pass –

Idaho Falls to Red Lodge, MT.

       It was a nice day when we were getting ready to go, so Mike and Linda decided that they would ride along with us through Yellowstone on their Harley Davidson motorcycles.  The plan was for us to go on ahead and for them to catch up at the entrance to Yellowstone.  We wanted to get an early start so that we would beat the traffic on the busy holiday weekend.  We set the alarm early, ate a nice breakfast, and headed up Highway 20 into Montana to West Yellowstone and the entrance to the park. 

Even before we entered Yellowstone, we started to see wildlife.  We saw a Moose on the drive up and we enjoyed the scenery as we made the climb to the park.  Even though the smoke from the forest fires in California over 1000 miles away was partially obscuring our views we could still make out the Grand Tetons and Sawtooth Mountains to our east and the Bitterroot Mountains to our west.  Although we were able to make out the Grand Tetons, the view was not good enough for a photograph.

We made it up to the West Gate of Yellowstone National Park before most of the morning rush and we had less than a 5 minute wait.  Mike and Linda had not caught up with us, but we continued in order to stay ahead of the crowd since too much traffic would make it even more difficult with our rig.  We were able to get into the park for free with the National Park Season Pass that my mother-in-law gave us.  This ended up saving us a lot of time and money on the trip.   

Our route skirted the major tourist areas in order for us to avoid traffic, but we still went through some wonderful country, and we probably saw more wildlife by avoiding the crowds.  The speed limit in the national parks is 45 mph, but you would not want to go any faster than this, especially with all there is to see.  Despite a couple of mild “buffalo jams” and “moose jams” traffic was very light considering it was a major holiday weekend, especially after we took our first turn north off of the entrance road.

Many of the trees visible from the road had signs from elk rubs, and we saw a herd of elk just as we entered the park.  I had never seen so much Elk sign in my life.  Just after we saw the elk, we saw our first Buffalo.  There were many more to be seen, some very, very close.  It turns out that Buffalo are very abundant in the park and can be seen almost anywhere.  I hear that Buffalo injure more tourists than any other animal in the park every year.  With the size of the buffalo and the behavior of some of the tourists, I am not surprised.  We did all of our buffalo viewing from the safety of our truck.

The trip through Yellowstone was a fantastic experience.  We drove through prairie, upland forest, an 8860’ mountain pass, and the remnants of the fire damage from the big forest fire in 1988.  The smell of sulfur was quite evident as we drove by some hot springs and geysers.  Steam blew across the road in a several locations.

About half way through the park we saw a stream that was too good to pass up and we pulled over so that Nathan could fish for some trout.  The spot seemed almost perfect with a nice, deep hole.  Nathan, indeed, got some bites here, but the fishing in this area was catch and release.  We noticed several little hot springs beside the stream, one of which was producing boiling water.  It is easy to see how so many Yellowstone visitors suffer burns.

After our trout fishing, we started a climb that took us through the first major pass since the Cascades.  At 8860’ Dunraven pass was quite a bit higher than anything we had been through yet in the Cascades.  In fact, our starting elevation for the trip was nearly 5000’ which is higher than many of the passes in the Cascades.  The snow level in Yellowstone was much higher than in the Cascades, about 8000’, but it was evident from the flow through the streams, rivers, and numerous waterfalls, that Yellowstone had a big snow year, as well.  After the pass, the visibility improved, and we got some fantastic views of the vast landscape that stretched before us.  Apparently, it required over 1000 miles and an 8000’+ mountain range to block the smoke from the California wildfires.

The long descent down the mountain gave me a good opportunity to check the adjustment of my brakes.  I would go a few miles, pull over and check the temperature of my trailer and truck brakes and adjust braking power according to temperature.  By the time we were about half way down, I had things balanced perfectly well and ready for the upcoming Beartooth Pass that my friend Mike had been telling me about so much.

The other side of the pass yielded yet another side of Yellowstone.  We went across the Yellowstone River which was flanked by basalt cliffs.  We took some time to take in the view and snap a few photos on the bluffs overlooking the river.

We drove through miles and miles of high meadows before reaching Roosevelt lodge where we stopped for a snack and too some time to send off some postcards.  This was one of the few stops where there was ample parking for our big rig even though we had a bit of a hike from the parking spot to the lodge.  The lodge was one of the smaller tourist areas, which was to my liking.  We still hadn’t seen any sign of Mike and Linda, and we were wondering what happened to them, but we had a long way to go, so we continued on our journey.

After Roosevelt Lodge we continued through more mountainous regions and vast prairies.  It was difficult to get a sense of scale from the prairies until you see how small the buffalo appear in the distance.  In the attached photographs the buffalo are the little black specks in the distance.

       After much driving and much scenery, we reached the northeast gate of Yellowstone without seeing Mike and Linda.  I was wondering what happened, but I suspected that they got tied up in traffic at the west gate.  If they got tied up behind us, they could have got delayed considerably.  I tried calling Mike a couple of times, but there was no cellphone reception in the park.

We got to Cooke City and I saw a lone Harley Davidson Road King on the right hand side of the road.  Soon afterwards I saw Mike running out of one of the shops.  Cooke city is a very small town high in the mountains: basically a place to get gas and a bite to eat, and maybe a place to hunker down if the weather is too bad in the pass.  Apparently, Mike must have missed our rig at Roosevelt Lodge and passed us.  Luckily, we hooked up in Cooke city.  Linda didn’t want to continue past Yellowstone, so she turned back.

It turns out that Linda had a close call on the way back to Idaho Falls.  She actually got hit by a driver that didn’t see her and pulled out into the road just as she was passing.  Her quick reflexes saved her.  She hit the gas and the car only glanced her back tire, making her rear end skid about 4 feet according to some fellow riders that witnessed the incident.  Due to her driving skill she recovered safely.  She was doing about 60 miles per hour at the time.  

We looked around a bit, snapped some photos, and got a snack in Cooke city.  Mike decided he wanted to ride with us through Beartooth Pass, and we offered to have him stay in our trailer for the night.  He said that Red Lodge, Montana, would be a nice place to stay.  The proprietors of the little gift shop and café in Cooke city noticed the little outboard on the back of my trailer and offered to buy it from me.  Apparently, they had just bought a boat and outboards were hard to come by due to the isolated location.  I liked my little motor and didn’t want to sell, but I told them that it was a good one and they should try to pick one up like if they could find one.

On our route through Yellowstone we went 14 miles on Yellowstone Avenue and then turned left (North) on Grand Loop road for about 13 miles.  We then took another right on Norris Canyon road for another 12 miles.  We connected again with Grand Loop Road for another 18 miles and then onto the Northeast Entrance road for another 29 miles.

After Cooke City and Yellowstone The Beartooth Highway was an experience all to itself.  The Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone National Park near Cooke city is the least traveled, bringing just a few hundred cars over every year.  One of the reasons for this is that the Beartooth Highway is only opened 4.5 months of the year, normally from the end of May until mid-October.  I talked to some folks in Red Lodge, Montana that said when the pass opened June 16th this year (Just 3 weeks before our trip!) there was 30’ of snow in some places and it was like driving in a tunnel.  They needed to use augers to clear the road since plows could not clear snow that high.

We left Cooke city and began to climb … and climb ... and climb.  We got higher and higher eventually going above the treeline. As the road got higher and higher we began to see more hairpin curves, U-curves, and s-curves.  I pulled over near a stop in the road near the Wyoming/Montana border called “Top of the World” and assumed we were near the summit.  Mike pulled up next to me.  I asked “are we near the top yet”.  He said, “No, there is a long way to go.”  I thought, “How high can this pass be, it is a PASS, right?”

The drive continued past rugged cliffs, partially frozen mountain lakes, snow covered mountain peaks, alpine tundra, snow banks, and even some very adventurous skiers that were doing some backcountry skiing in July. We finally crossed the 10,947 ft summit of the pass and crossed into Montana. I thought,”Geez! This is almost as high as Mt. Hood.” Through the highest and most rugged stretches of road, there were several very rough stretches and potholes.  Although the ride was bumpy, my load was well secured, and I had no trouble controlling the rig.

The pass is very popular with motorcycle enthusiasts in the few months that it is open in the summer, and a few of Mikes friends fell in behind us as we went through the pass.  After going through the highest and roughest part of the road, I stopped off at a rest area to cool the brakes and take in the view.  I walked over to Mike and his biker friends.  One of them said “Wow, riding through those mountains is an intense experience.”  I thought for a second and responded, “Driving a 15 000 pound truck and trailer through the pass is a REAL intense experience.”  Another biker and his wife responded, “When you were driving through some rough stretches of road the rear tires of your trailer totally cleared the ground … did you feel that?”  I hesitated, thought, and then responded, “No … it’s got a Hemi.”

From the rest spot we had a few more miles of steep descent, but the roads were relatively good.  At this point my main concern was getting into Red Lodge without running out of gas.  I drove into town gassed up, and looked up campgrounds in the Yellow Pages, the KOA didn’t have a big enough spot for our rig, but Perry’s campground had a nice spot for us right near the river.

We backed into the spot, got the trailer secure and unhooked, washed up a bit, and hopped into the truck for the short drive into town.  Red Lodge is a tourist town that still has the feel of a 19^th century mining town.  It was originally established as a coal mining town, but the mines have been shut for decades, and now it is a jumping off place for Beartooth and Yellowstone and a destination all to itself.  There are various festivals there all summer long, and when we were there the town was preparing for the upcoming Beartooth Motorcycle Rally.

There was already a lot of activity in town and there were several bikers downtown, several that Mike knew.  I was in the mood for a nice sit-down dinner.  Since Mike hosted us for a couple of nights at his home, I offered to pay for his dinner.  It was a nice evening, so we decided to eat outside on the patio at Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen and Wine Bar.  Nathan ordered pasta, Mike ordered steak, but I couldn’t resist ordering the Buffalo rib-eye steak with sweet potato fries.  When we got our meals, both Mike and Nathan were sorry they didn’t order the Buffalo, as well.  It was fantastic.  I was a good guy and gave both Mike and Nathan a taste. 

After dinner we walked around town a bit and talked to some of Mike’s friends and the locals.  We also let Nathan play some video poker since he was now 18.  As he managed to win hand after hand, Mike and I had a couple of beers and talked to some locals at the poker lounge.  Eventually Nathan drew a bit of a crowd.  Too, bad it was only nickel poker.  Nathan ended up winning about 5 bucks, however.

When we got back to the campground it was late and the long day, altitude, and allergies had pretty much worn me and Nathan out.  Nathan was especially exhausted and went right to bed, but Mike and I stayed up late catching up on old times, telling stories, and just talking. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and slept like a rock.

Just for fun, I found a link to a helmet cam video of a trip through Beartooth Pass from last year with less snow: YouTube - LEANDREW Beartooth Pass … easy with a motorcycle.  Try it with a 15 000lb. load.