The Road to Gardiner, Montana (and the Beartooth Highway)
Wow. Each day I saw WOW what a day! Today was breathtaking.
We left Thermopolis this morning and drove through desolate Wyoming landscape. Miles and miles and miles of nothing but scrub and brown. We drove through Cody, WY so we could take a side trip to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. This was the site of one of the Japanese Internment Camps created in World War II. This was a terrible time in our history and it should never be forgotten. And with History buffs in the car, I put this place on the itinerary.
From Heart Mountain we headed north towards Montana. Somewhere along there I missed where we were supposed to turn. Luckily, I bought a good ol' State Farm Atlas because there's not much cell availability out here. We made a stop for gas in Bridger, Montana and had a family meeting. Since we were already 'lost' and I saw that the road to the Beartooth Highway was close by and I told everyone how amazing the pictures were, we all decided to go for it. The highway itself is 63 miles long from Red Lodge, MT to Cooke City, Mt. What a decision it was. It is probably the highlight of the trip. We stopped so many times. took so many pictures, saw some mountain goats, played in the snow, and probably said Holy Shit wayyy too many times. I can't possibly show you how incredible the views were. Around every corner was a more amazing view. The summit was 10,947 ft and the views were unforgettable. I'll put some pictures in here, but the pictures don't compare to the view we saw.
And then when we came down out of the Beartooth Highway, we entered the Northeast side of Yellowstone. We drove through the Lamar River Valley hoping to see a bear. We saw lots of buffalo and pronghorn and elk but we wanted to reach our sleeping spot so we drove on and out the North Entrance and into Gardiner, Montana.
We left Thermopolis this morning and drove through desolate Wyoming landscape. Miles and miles and miles of nothing but scrub and brown. We drove through Cody, WY so we could take a side trip to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. This was the site of one of the Japanese Internment Camps created in World War II. This was a terrible time in our history and it should never be forgotten. And with History buffs in the car, I put this place on the itinerary.
From Heart Mountain we headed north towards Montana. Somewhere along there I missed where we were supposed to turn. Luckily, I bought a good ol' State Farm Atlas because there's not much cell availability out here. We made a stop for gas in Bridger, Montana and had a family meeting. Since we were already 'lost' and I saw that the road to the Beartooth Highway was close by and I told everyone how amazing the pictures were, we all decided to go for it. The highway itself is 63 miles long from Red Lodge, MT to Cooke City, Mt. What a decision it was. It is probably the highlight of the trip. We stopped so many times. took so many pictures, saw some mountain goats, played in the snow, and probably said Holy Shit wayyy too many times. I can't possibly show you how incredible the views were. Around every corner was a more amazing view. The summit was 10,947 ft and the views were unforgettable. I'll put some pictures in here, but the pictures don't compare to the view we saw.
And then when we came down out of the Beartooth Highway, we entered the Northeast side of Yellowstone. We drove through the Lamar River Valley hoping to see a bear. We saw lots of buffalo and pronghorn and elk but we wanted to reach our sleeping spot so we drove on and out the North Entrance and into Gardiner, Montana.
A day well spent - we're beat!
Very cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Rick Acord
Thanks for reading!
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